Gov. signs, vetoes Holocaust-related bills

By Tom Tugend
Published on October 4, 2010

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, faced with two bills rooted in the Nazi era, has signed one and vetoed the other.

Who Killed the Biodiesel Car? [VIDEO]

By Rob Eshman
Published on September 30, 2009

This past summer, the last two Westside gas stations offering 99 percent pure biodiesel closed down their pumps. You can still buy regular gasoline at those stations, but the Great Green Hope of the Millenium, a powerful fuel made from sustainable organic matter, is nowhere to be found. Well, not quite.

L.A.‘s young Iranian Jews mix partying and politics

By Karmel Melamed
Published on August 17, 2009

Return of Nazi-Looted Art Proves a Good History Lesson

By Tom Tugend
Published on April 13, 2009

It was a mix of state ceremony, mutual admiration fest, education forum and Seder symbolism when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who orchestrated the event, returned two Nazi-looted paintings to the grandchildren of the original Jewish owners, on behalf of the State of California.

I hear you knocking

By Steve Greenberg
Published on October 9, 2008

California kids deserve better

By Nancy Sokoler Steiner
Published on May 21, 2008

The Governator's proposed education budget is inadequate

Local students go to lobby in D.C., seniors party at ‘senior prom’

By Danielle Berrin
Published on April 24, 2008

Local Students Lobby at the Capitol


A group of University Synagogue religious school students paid a springtime visit to Washington, D.C., where they

California Jewish voters maintain liberal reputation

By Tom Tugend
Published on November 16, 2006

California's Jewish voters upheld their liberal reputation in the Nov. 7 election, despite a strong effort by the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) to focus on the Bush administration's pro-Israel record.

California Jewish voters maintain liberal reputation

By Tom Tugend
Published on November 9, 2006

Political scientist and Jewish Journal columnist Raphael Sonnenshein of Cal State Fullerton termed the national election results "the most colossal wave of change going back to 1980."

‘We Will Remember Your Story’

By Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
Published on April 20, 2006

Let me tell you why this honor means so much to me. I did not learn about the Holocaust in school. I did not really understand what happened until I came to America. And even today, I am still learning. Just when I think I have heard a story so horrible that it cannot be surpassed in barbarity, I hear or read something even more inhumane and incomprehensible.

Should Tookie Die?

By Daniel Sokatch
Published on November 10, 2005

Our Faux Democracy

By Jill Stewart
Published on November 3, 2005

This is not democracy. The California legislature stole our democracy while we slept. All districts in California are now rigged this way. That's why, in California in the fall of 2004, not a single state legislative or Congressional seat changed party hands.

Schwarzenegger Is Losing Jewish Vote

By Raphael J. Sonenshein
Published on August 4, 2005

In November 2003, California voters recalled Gov. Gray Davis and replaced him with Arnold Schwarzenegger. White voters backed the recall by a large margin, but Jewish voters swam against the tide, with 69 percent voting against the recall. On the second part of the ballot, where voters chose a replacement candidate, Schwarzenegger collected a surprising 31 percent of Jewish voters.

I suggested then in these pages that Schwarzenegger might eventually do well with Jews: "Jewish voters aren't likely to abandon the Democratic Party anytime soon, but will likely give Arnold Schwarzenegger a chance to prove that he can govern in a bipartisan, moderate manner.... If Schwarzenegger truly seeks to solve the state's problems without being a tool of right-wing forces, and with an open-minded, progressive approach, he may find a surprising number of friends among California's Democratic-leaning Jewish voters."

Chance given, chance blown.

Sacramento Politics Take Strange Turn

By Jill Stewart
Published on December 25, 2003

The radical outsiders in Sacramento are the moderates and pragmatists, a strange truth that was brought home dramatically this month, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature compromised on a ballot measure to refinance the state's huge debt and hem in future
spending excesses by the Legislature.

Recall Golus

By Gaby Wenig
Published on September 18, 2003

If Golus is recalled, then the entire state of California will be transported to the Holy Land, and we won't have to worry about a budget crisis, Davis's lack of personality or unsavory Arnold Schwarzenegger interviews -- which definitely makes recalling Golus something worth thinking about.