California Assemblymember Laura Friedman authored a bill signed into law in 2022 that will prohibit the entire class of PFAS, a.k.a. “forever chemicals,” from cosmetic products sold in the state of CA. We will discuss the expected ramifications of that legislation, as well as the public policy she champions to combat climate change. As Chair for the Assembly Committee on Transportation and the bicameral Environmental Caucus, Assemblywoman Friedman has her finger on the pulse of the most pressing environmental issues facing the Golden State.

This has been inescapably the summer of the Eras Tour. This is Taylor Swift’s world and we’re all just living in it. But does anyone remember trying to buy those tickets? The price was enough to make a girl cry but, for the throngs of fans across the nation, it was Taylor Swift and they were willing to spend the money.

If drivers seem more aggressive today than just a few years ago, well, they are. Pedestrian deaths are at their highest level in 41 years. Our streets are getting more dangerous, and lower-income neighborhoods and communities of color are disproportionately impacted.

REBRAND FOR WESTLANDS — For 22 years, Tom Birmingham served as general manager of the Westlands Water District, aggressively lobbying for farmers' water access and making enemies of environmental groups along the way.

He fought for controversial proposals like expanding Shasta Dam, saw longtime lobbyist David Bernhardt appointed as Interior Department secretary under Trump, and earned the sobriquet the "Darth Vader of California water."

Let's begin with something everyone seems to agree upon: Far too many pedestrians are dying on California's streets.

Pedestrian deaths have been rising nationwide over the last decade, and last year they reached their highest level in 41 years. In California, an estimated 1,100 pedestrians were killed in 2022, making the fatality rate in the state 25 percent higher than the national average.

Let’s begin with something everyone seems to agree upon: Far too many pedestrians are dying on California’s streets.

Pedestrian deaths have been rising nationwide over the last decade, and last year they reached their highest level in 41 years. In California, an estimated 1,100 pedestrians were killed in 2022, making the fatality rate in the state 25 percent higher than the national average.

California was so dry and its water supply so precarious by May 2022 that the State Water Resources Control Board issued an emergency order: No drinkable water could be used to irrigate grass that had no function other than to look nice.

The regulation does not apply to residential lawns, although they were already turning brown due to local restrictions on sprinkler use.

Drivers in three Southern California cities may soon be getting automated speeding tickets from speed cameras in the mail if a new bill is approved by the state legislature and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Assembly Bill 645 would authorize the installation of speed cameras in school zones and high-injury streets with speeding problems in six pilot cities: Los Angeles, Long Beach, Glendale, Oakland, San Jose, and San Francisco.

Several highly trafficked intersections in San Francisco will be getting cameras that can automatically detect and ticket drivers who run red lights.

Once they’re installed, by 2025, the eight red-light cameras will join the ones that the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency already operates at 13 locations throughout the city. The cameras take snapshots of front license plates and drivers’ faces when their vehicles cross intersections after the lights turn red, and citations are mailed to violators.