Dec. 21, 2012 By Joseph Perkins Employees at Chevron’s San Ramon corporate headquarters received an unexpected email yesterday. It notified them that a quarter of their jobs are being moved from California to Texas. The oil giant, the Golden State’s largest corporation, offered no detai...

Dec. 14, 2012 By Joseph Perkins I met Darrell Steinberg last week. The state Senate president pro tem said that he and his fellow Democrats recognize the awesome responsibility that comes with the supermajorities they now enjoy in both chambers of the Legislature. To which I say, facta, non...

Dec. 08, 2012 By Joseph Perkins “California’s lawsuit against the tobacco industry has reached a successful conclusion that provides a major victory in the fight against smoking.” So said Bill Lockyer, then the state’s attorney general, back in 1999. The settlement guaranteed the st...

Nov. 30, 2012 By Joseph Perkins Taking time out from negotiations over the fiscal cliff, a half-dozen U.S. senators asked the Justice Department this week to investigate whether “market manipulation” by California oil refineries led to the run up in gasoline prices the Golden State’s mot...

Nov. 23, 2012 By Joseph Perkins My wife turned me on to a new reality show, “Start-Ups: Silicon Valley.” It airs on Bravo, between installments of the cable network’s “Real Housewives” franchise, which chronicles the lives of too-well-to-do ladies in places like Beverly Hills and Or...