Joel B. Pollak

Retiring congressman George Miller, a Bay Area Democrat and lieutenant to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, told a local NBC News reporter May 9 that his roommate, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), “has not made his bed in 30 years.” Miller

The extended drought in California–one of the worst in the state’s history–is hitting the Central Valley farming region, and several key crops in particular. The Sacramento Bee reports that almonds, the state’s largest farm export in dollar terms, are in danger

Brent Roske, a television producer and director who was running as an independent, has dropped out of the race for the congressional seat held by retiring Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and endorsed fellow independent Marianne Williamson. The Williamson campaign released

Republican Neel Kashkari is still blasting rival Assemblyman Tim Donnelly’s claim that he was involved in encouraging sharia-compliant finance–that is, banking in accordance with Islamic law–in his role overseeing the Wall Street bailout at the U.S. Treasury, and specifically through

Debate over sharia, or Islamic law, has suddenly seized California in the midst of an election year. In Beverly Hills, Hollywood A-listers are boycotting the Beverly Hills Hotel to rebuke the owner, the Sultan of Brunei, for harsh anti-gay laws

The Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, is consistently ranked among the richest men in the world. When he last visited Los Angeles in December 2011, police halted traffic on the 405 freeway–normally one of the busiest roads in the U.S.–during

President Barack Obama told donors at an exclusive Hollywood fundraiser for the Democratic Party that he needed their help to undo the “frustration” of politics in Washington. There is “an anxiety, and a sense of frustration,” the president–now in his

In accepting the “Ambassador for Humanity” award from Steven Spielberg and the USC Shoah Foundation in Los Angeles Wednesday evening, President Barack Obama recounted his 2009 trip to the concentration camp of Buchenwald–the camp his maternal grandfather helped liberate–with Nobel

Hollywood mogul Steven Spielberg praised President Barack Obama’s creation of the Atrocities Prevention Board in 2012 in awarding Obama the “Ambassador for Humanity” prize, the highest honor of the USC Shoah Foundation, in Los Angeles Wednesday evening. The Atrocities Prevention

Hollywood superstar and power broker Steven Spielberg has recognized President Barack Obama with the USC Shoah [Holocaust] Foundation’s highest award, the “Ambassador for Humanity.” It is an odd award to present to a president who has been called “dangerously silent

Was Golden State Warriors head coach Mark Jackson fired for his Christian views on gay marriage? That’s what Ann Killion is asking at sfgate.com, noting that Jackson’s lukewarm reaction to the coming-out of Jason Collins last year was something of

President Barack Obama is visiting California this week–and that promises to make traffic even worse than usual in Los Angeles. Drivers are being urged to avoid Century City and Bel Air, as the president’s visit will see portions of West

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to explore regulations that would screen ice cream vendors for criminal records for violations “such as molestation, sex offenses, pornography or abuse,” the Los Angeles Times reports.  Because ice cream

Democrat Wendy Greuel, running to succeed 20-term Democrat Rep. Henry Waxman (D), has released her first campaign ad of the 2014 primary as early voting starts ahead of the June 3 primary. The ad, according to the Greuel campaign, “highlights

The majority of UCLA students running for undergraduate student government officer positions–though none from the inclusive, centrist “Bruins United” coalition–have signed a pledge drafted by radical groups and several ethnic organizations promising never to travel to Israel on student trips sponsored

A controversial assignment given to eighth-grade students in the Rialto Unified School District in San Bernadino County that asked them to evaluate whether the Holocaust actually happened or was a myth created for “political and monetary gain was designed in a