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Uber, Lyft and Why California’s War Over Gig Work is Just Beginning
This week, a yearslong battle over how gig companies should treat the hundreds of thousands of Californians who find work through their apps finally came to a head. It also proved that even after high-profile protests and showdowns in Sacramento, the state is still far from figuring out what work will look like in a more tech-dependent world — and it’s testing the patience of Uber and Lyft, which are now threatening to temporarily close down in the state.
The latest clash started with a 34-page
14 Aug, 2020
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7 min read
Nonpartisan Reformers Are Ready for Another Historic Year
With under 3 months until election day, enthusiasm for nonpartisan election reform has hit monumental levels. NANR members are on track to make 2020 another historic year for reform.
That’s why NANR is partnering with Open Primaries to present the second NANR Spotlight of the year! Mark your calendars for September 9 at 2pm ET for a virtual conversation with leaders on the front-lines of election reform -- from Alaska to Florida.
The NANR Spotlight is our opportunity to educate legislators, jo
13 Aug, 2020
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5 min read
What California Knows About Kamala Harris
More than any other vice presidential contender in a generation, Kamala Harris’ biography is singularly Californian.
Born and bussed to school in Berkeley, tested by San Francisco’s cut-throat municipal politics and propelled onto the national stage as the state’s top law enforcement officer and then its first female senator of color, Harris’ approach to politics and policymaking were honed here.
Although most Americans are now focusing on Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s ticket p
12 Aug, 2020
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17 min read
Should the State Investigate Local Police Shootings? California Rethinks its Resistance
If officers shot and killed Sean Monterrosa in Connecticut or New York — instead of in Vallejo, California — a state agency would investigate the June 2 incident, when a police officer reportedly mistook a hammer in the 22-year-old Latino man’s sweatshirt for a gun and fired shots through the windshield of his police vehicle.
If officers shot and killed Michael Thomas in Georgia — instead of in Lancaster, California — a grand jury could investigate a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy’s claim
11 Aug, 2020
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13 min read
Side Hustles, Liquidating 401(k)s: Here’s How Jobless Californians Are Getting by Without the Extra $600
Since the federal weekly $600 boost expired last month, unemployed Californians have been living on impossibly low budgets — and expect to do so in the coming months even if President Trump’s weekend executive order helps break a partisan impasse in Congress. That’s because even if the federal unemployment stimulus gets extended, the state Employment Development Department estimates it could take the agency’s antiquated system as much as 20 weeks to deliver the payments.
Overnight, the maximum
11 Aug, 2020
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7 min read
#LetHerSpeak: Libertarian Demands for Open Presidential Debates Trend on Social Media
Libertarians across the country organized #LetHerSpeak convoys Saturday with vehicles adorned in purple and gold and messages calling on the Commission on Presidential Debates to include Libertarian presidential nominee Jo Jorgensen in the fall presidential debates.
The effort was so widespread - spanning from coast to coast -- that these voters, frustrated by what they call explicit voter suppression, were able to get the campaign to trend on Twitter:
There is public support to open the presi
10 Aug, 2020
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2 min read
Fact Check: Can Mail-In Ballots Be Sent to the Wrong Address?
Editor's note: This article originally appeared on The Fulcrum and has been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher.
Absentee voting refers to when a voter requests a ballot for an election and is then sent one in the mail. Vote-by-mail, which is what Sen. Tom Cotton is most likely referring to as "mass mail-in voting," is a system of sending every registered voter (an important distinction from "everyone") a ballot without a request. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Colorado, Hawa
10 Aug, 2020
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2 min read
The 18th-Century Reason Biden's VP Pick Should Be a Night Owl
If Joe Biden were to ask the framers of the constitution what qualities he should look for in a running mate, they might single out one in particular: a love of lucubration. It literally means working by candlelight. This “nocturnal study,” as Samuel Johnson called it, was an important part of the political lingo of the 1780s and might just be one of the best measures of one’s fitness for executive office.
Lucubration matters because, despite their many moral blind spots, the framers did have
06 Aug, 2020
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3 min read
Top Virginia Newspapers Endorse Amendment to End Party Control over Political Redistricting
The Richmond Times-Dispatch is the latest newspaper to publish an endorsement of a constitutional amendment that would end single-party control over redistricting in Virginia and bring transparency to the process. The Times-Dispatch joins other major newspaper endorsements in Virginia, including The Virginian-Pilot, The Washington Post, Daily Press, The Roanoke Times, and others.
“It’s time to bring a system that has been cloaked in darkness into the public spotlight,” writes the paper.
“This
03 Aug, 2020
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2 min read
These 24 States Have Already Made Voting Easier in 2020
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on The Fulcrum and has been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher.
With fewer than a hundred days to the presidential election, almost half the states have now altered some normal laws or regulations to make casting a ballot easier and safer in light of the coronavirus.
Most of the changes so far, but not all of them, are designed to promote voting by mail — the healthiest way to exercise the franchise this year, but a practic
03 Aug, 2020
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3 min read

