News & Commentary

Solitary confinement can eat away at someone’s mind, making mental illness worse and leaving many people depressed, suicidal, hopeless or hallucinating. It’s no place for individuals with mental illness.

From revelations of widespread NSA spying to high profile data breaches, transparency about how personal information is collected, used and disclosed is more important than ever. 

“Veterans don’t deserve special care, benefits or assistance.” How many Americans hold this view? How many would vote for a politician who supported it? And yet this is the message that veterans like Greg Valentini hear every day.

This summer Californians celebrated a historic victory when Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law AB 1266 – the School Success and Opportunity Act.

Sergio Villatoro was waiting to pay a traffic ticket at the Kern County courthouse in Lamont, California, when the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid began. ICE agents blocked all of the exits. Although ICE agents made no attempt to establish Mr. Villatoro’s identity – much less his immigration status – they placed him under arrest, along with five others waiting to pay tickets, all Latino. Agents told them they were being arrested for “being in the country illegally.”

Today, I feel grateful to be a woman in California.