Politics

San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi continues to be in hot water as the City of San Francisco determines whether or not he should lose his job. Mayor Ed Lee suspended Mirkarimi on March 20th, after he plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of false imprisonment. The charge is connection with a New Year’s Eve incident in which he grabbed his wife's arm during an argument, causing a bruise. 

(Capitol Weekly) // Tax collections haven’t met the Governor Brown’s forecast so far. In fact, this month, the state is $2 billion short of its $6.35 billion goal. The biggest budget threat comes from personal income taxes which are $3 billion short. It is still uncertain how this shortage will impact education, which benefits the most from tax revenue...

(Contra Costa Times) // Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, two power players in the tobacco industry, have donated more than tens of millions of dollars to defeat Proposition 29, a new tobacco tax on the June ballot. Prop 29 would increase taxes on a pack of cigarettes by $1 to $1.87, which would generate approximately $735 million annually that would mostly fund cancer research...