Crosscurrents

The arguments continue over the merits of the viral video and Kony 2012 social media blitz that this week have exploded onto the Web.

But what can’t be debated is that millions of Americans, many of them young people, now know about Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony and know a little bit more about the years of civil war in Northern Uganda.

Public employees are in the spotlight this week. In the coming weeks, Ward v. Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is expected to impact how the state handles hiring. In the case, former Chief Dentist James Ward at Ironwood State Prison was offered a permanent position when, in fact, there only existed a temporary one. Now that the job has fallen through, laws about who can offer state jobs have been called into question...

California’s high-speed rail project has taken a beating over the past couple of months. The price tag for building the super fast train is now expected to be almost $100 billion, more than twice what voters approved in 2008. The High-Speed Rail Authority, which is designing and planning the project, has to convince voters – and an increasingly skeptical Legislature – that funding high-speed rail is feasible.

This song sounds Irish – and it is. But the Black Brothers, who perform it, live in the Bay Area. Brother Michael is a lecturer at San Francisco State University, and brother Shay has a weekly Irish show in Berkeley.

This Saturday the Black Brothers will be at the Larkspur Theater, in Larkspur, for St. Patrick’s Day!  Their performance begins at 8pm, following a documentary about Irish Step Dancing. 

Senate Leader Pro Tem Darrel Steinberg says he's happy about the tax initiative compromise reached yesterday by Governor Jerry Brown and the California Federation of Teachers. Steinberg estimated that the new plan would generate about two billion extra dollars for the state through June 2013...