By now, most employers know there are certain questions they can ask, and certain questions they must avoid when interviewing a candidate for a job. They know that anti-discrimination laws apply before a worker is even hired, and have heard stories about costly lawsuits resulting from an employer asking the wrong question of a prospective employee during a job interview.

Do Capitol employees have enough protection to believe that they can report sexual harassment or assault and maintain their careers?​

For the past seven years, I have taught a class at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, which is called “The Business of Politics.” As a guest speaker, Chris Micheli has presented a lecture for several years on lobbying at the State Capitol.

There’s sometimes a fine line between good governance and trolling.

One of this year’s most controversial—if not quite as consequential—state bills is a proposal by Democratic Sen. Mike McGuire of Healdsburg that would require presidential candidates to release their tax returns before they can appear on a California ballot.

Environmentalists are accustomed to notching wins in the California Legislature, where their projects often receive a friendly hearing from a supermajority of Democrats and a governor with a laser focus on climate change.

When an at-will termination is at issue, there are certain steps to take and considerations an employer should evaluate to minimize the risk of later becoming the target of a wrongful termination lawsuit.

It’s hard to fix a housing crisis.

Just ask the California Legislature. After months of tough negotiations to put together a package of bills aimed at plugging the 100,000 unit affordable housing gap, lawmakers finalized a deal just 24 hours before adjourning for the rest of the year.

California Gov. Jerry Brown created the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, or GO-Biz, in 2012 to serve as a single point of contact for assisting entrepreneurs and others looking to start, grow or move a business that creates jobs in the Golden State. We recently sat down with Director Panorea Avdis to learn more about what the agency is doing to help California businesses.

It should come as no surprise that when the California Legislature recently began the process of divvying up proceeds from the state’s cap-and-trade auctions, a cavalcade of local officials, community activists and lobbyists rushed to Sacramento, with hands out.

At this point, it’s practically a California tradition.

First, state judges find a loophole in California’s constitutional bulwark against new, higher taxes. Then conservative legislators and anti-tax activists rush in to patch the hole with a new ballot proposition.

More than 23 years in, and the North American Free Trade Agreement still hasn’t lived up to the hype.

When Davy Bui decided to start a bread-baking business, he wasn’t sure how much demand there would be for his “drunken” loaves.

California Gov. Jerry Brown just won a big victory in his efforts to fight climate change, but Canada’s Ontario province has been pushing him to go further.

Watch any news channel, listen to any talk radio station or read virtually any online news or social media feed, and chances are, you’ll learn about a new lawsuit being filed against a company based on allegations of harassment, discrimination or retaliatory conduct in the workplace.

Anyone who has applied for a job before understands the dilemma of having an incongruous mix of work history on your resume, reflecting a career shift that has occurred somewhere along the line.

Some call it altruistic investing. Others use adjectives like responsible, sustainable or social impact. The concept is to strategically choose where to invest so that you can have a positive effect while still making a profit.

For creative people across the U.S., the Ghost Ship tragedy demonstrates the tough choices many face as they try to remain in their community while the cost of living climbs.

As the legend goes, Didar Singh Bains arrived in his new home of Yuba City in 1958 at age 18 with only $8 in his pocket, which was enough for him. A young immigrant from India with humble origins, he says he believed that in the U.S. “money could grow on trees.” In the course of his lifetime, that youthful optimism has proven true — at least figuratively.

It began when an online discussion about the Golden 1 Center in downtown Sacramento that devolved into what typically happens on these forums — personal blows, attacks and a palpable sense of us vs. them. No surprise there, but instead of engaging in the same behavior manifesting from behind the safety of screens, a local business owner offered another setting for such a conversation: At his brewery, over beer — and he’s buying.

Punjabis first emigrated from India to California at the turn of the 20th century, and soon carved out a prominent role in the economy, culture and identity of Yuba City. They overcame discriminatory laws that prevented immigration, citizenship and land ownership — and have flourished. Most Punjabis in the Yuba City area practice Sikhism, a religion with values that resemble those in the U.S. Constitution. An estimated 15,000 Sikhs now live in the Yuba-Sutter area.