SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – More than a decade after California set a national trend toward longer sentences for habitual criminals with its three-strikes law, crime in the Golden State is down, prison costs are up – and voters are poised to soften the hardline stance.

A California ballot measure that would let some nonviolent offenders out of jail faster is the most high-profile example of what Adam Gelb, a criminal justice expert at the Pew Center, calls “a sea change across the country in attitudes on crime and punishment.”

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A battle to save California’s schools through ballot box politics is turning ugly as two competing campaigns and their allies train their focus on each other, risking both initiatives.

California voters have shown profound skepticism about raising taxes, but a ballot measure sponsored by Governor Jerry Brown is squeaking by in polls ahead of the November election. However, Brown is promoting his measure in terms that his rival considers unfairly similar to her own, and she is fighting back.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – California Governor Jerry Brown has a problem. Call it the Munger problem.

They’re scions of a billionaire financier, one a liberal lawyer in Los Angeles and the other a conservative scientist in the Bay Area. Neither claims to enjoy politics.

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 3 (Reuters) – California Governor Jerry
Brown has a problem. Call it the Munger problem.

They’re scions of a billionaire financier, one a liberal
lawyer in Los Angeles and the other a conservative scientist in
the Bay Area. Neither claims to enjoy politics.

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 14 (Reuters) – Las Vegas Sands
deceived a Nevada court in an attempt to stall a lawsuit by the
former head of its Macau operations, a state judge ruled on
Friday, fining the casino operator and abridging its right to
object in a fight over key evidence.

The ruling gives former Sands China Chief
Executive Steve Jacobs new room to pursue his wrongful
termination case, which has become a public fight over the
leadership and business methods used by Sands Chief Executive
Sheldon Adelson.

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 1 (Reuters) – Bond insurer Assured
Guaranty, facing massive losses in Stockton,
California’s bankruptcy, on Wednesday said the largest U.S.
public pension fund, Calpers, was getting preferential treatment
among creditors.

That may set the stage for a fight over whether cities in
dire circumstances legally have the ability to change
obligations under pension plan benefits agreed to in much better
times. Calpers, the California Public Employees’ Retirement
System, so far has said that the cities don’t have that ability.