Think CEOs have crazy schedules? Try being a member of Congress. The most carefully planned itinerary can be scrambled — or even scuttled — thanks to a call from the White House, an emergency vote, or urgent negotiations across the aisle. “We have to be flexible, and everyone else has to be flexible. That’s what’s different from being a CEO and running a company,” says Congresswoman Doris Matsui.

As a newly elected member of the Elk Grove Unified School District — one of the largest in the state — a partner in a law firm representing high-tech companies and a molder of young legal minds as a professor, it’s important for Michael Vargas to give back to the community.

Julie Phillips had a good idea early on where her interests lie. After growing up in Roseville, she attended UC Davis as a political science major and got strongly involved with the Greek community there. She wasn’t interested in pursuing politics; public policy fascinated her instead. 

As Walt Kelly’s cartoon possum Pogo said on posters for the first Earth Day in 1970, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Comstock’s president and publisher considers how the motto applies to California. 

Newsom announced his intent in March to divert nearly one-third of the state’s Mental Health Services Act money  — roughly $1 billion — to housing homeless individuals with severe mental illness or drug addiction. 

In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order to identify excess state-owned property that could be converted into affordable housing. Few local examples exist, leaving architects and developers to wonder if they are financially feasible and what, if any, kinds of funding are available.

According to one watchdog agency, California is “falling short” in its ambitious organic waste recycling efforts and may need to hit the pause button until state agencies and local governments can sort themselves out.