Recent News

A solar panel is installed in mid-October on the roof of the Governor’s Mansion State Historic Park in Sacramento. California consumers are embracing rooftop solar with practical enthusiasm, bringing the state halfway toward its goal of a million solar rooftops by 2020. New rules proposed by a state agency, however, would impose fees that would wipe out the savings of solar, effectively ending customer choice for middle-class California ratepayers. Whether Californians continue to have the choice to generate some…

Unmitigated climate change is likely to reduce the income of an average person on Earth by roughly 23 percent in 2100, according to estimates contained in research published today in the journal Nature that is co-authored by two University of California, Berkeley professors. The findings indicate climate change will widen global inequality, perhaps dramatically, because warming is good for cold countries, which tend to be richer, and more harmful for hot countries, which tend to be poorer. In the…

The widened Gatun Locks (foreground) on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal (seen behind) are still under construction, with completion anticipated next spring. The West Coast ports, including the Port of Oakland, have enjoyed decades of success serving as the point of entry for billions of dollars worth of goods, mostly from China and East Asia. Imports from Asia to the United States generated 9 million American jobs, 4 million in California, Oregon and Washington, in 2014, according to the Pacific Maritime…

The announcement on Wednesday by the New York restaurateur Danny Meyer that he was eliminating tipping at his restaurants shows that he understands the impact tipping really has: It has created a two-tiered wage system with deep social and economic consequences for millions. Mr. Meyer’s move to establish a transparent, fair salary for his staff is laudable, and I hope it will help set a new standard for the industry. But to achieve change across the…

This brief summarizes key points and critical questions about the “Future of SNAP,” highlighting approaches to improve nutrition policy to ensure health and food equity nationwide. This summary emerged from a workshop held in May 2015 at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), which brought together leading researchers from UCB and other universities as well as representatives from respected non-profit organizations and government agencies. The following is intended to serve as…

As the autumn semester begins, thousands of college students are back on campus preoccupied with class schedules, roommates, and pursuing their majors. But undocumented students at our nation’s universities are focused on more pressing concerns. Because they are ineligible for federal financial aid and vulnerable to deportation, the school year is fraught with fear and very real choices between buying food and paying tuition. Why should we care about these undocumented students? Many of these young people have…

Does preschool work? Although early education has been widely praised as the magic bullet that can transport poor kids into the education mainstream, a major new study raises serious doubts. Since 2004, Tennessee has offered state-subsidized prekindergarten, enrolling more than 18,000 of the state’s neediest 4-year-olds. An early evaluation showed that, as you’d expect, youngsters who attended pre-K made substantial gains in math, language and reading. But, startlingly, the gains had evaporated by the end of kindergarten. Those…