Contributed

Cheers and laughter erupted as Rep. Barbara Lee pitched a $50 per hour federal minimum wage during a labor-hosted U.S. Senate candidate forum Sunday in Los Angeles. Fellow Democrats and primary opponents, Reps. Adam Schiff and Katie Porter supported half that, but still far more than the current $7.25 an hour, with Schiff advocating for $25, and Porter a $20 federal rate and a $25 in California, indexed to inflation.

Neither the draw of making California the first state to pass such a law, nor the month-long hunger strike by supporters persuaded Gov. Gavin Newsom to add caste to the list of categories in the state’s housing, education and employment discrimination laws. In his veto message on Oct. 7, Newsom said the bill was “unnecessary.”

As Washington, D.C. mourns the loss of longtime California senator Dianne Feinstein, it’s worth looking back at her legacy on the issue of immigration.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill Saturday that would have decriminalized the possession and personal use of a short list of natural psychedelics, including “magic mushrooms.”

California leaders talk a good game on fighting climate change. But when it comes to cutting the state’s biggest source of planet-warming emissions — cars, trucks, airplanes and other modes of transportation — the spending doesn’t match the rhetoric.