Contributed

California has taken a beating lately, with (mostly Republican) governors of other states blasting many aspects of life here, not to mention the state’s biggest-name politicians.

I have not written much about the war in Ukraine lately because so little has changed strategically since the first few months of this conflict, when three overarching facts pretty much drove everything — and still do.

Decisions by governors, legislators and bureaucrats have consequences, some intended and some not. Were politics a rational exercise, decision-makers would fully explore potential effects before acting, thereby minimizing chances that what they have wrought would backfire.

Ellen Tichy watched her daughter Cassi lose her battle to Ewing sarcoma on May 20, 2018. On the fifth anniversary of that loss, Tichy is hosting a blood drive in San Jacinto to help others in need while honoring her daughter’s memory and bringing awareness to the need for more childhood cancer research.

The Hemet City Council last month doubled down on its opposition to a proposed wellness village at the southwest corner of East Menlo Avenue and North State Street, voting to send a letter to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors requesting the board reconsider the project’s location.