Romy Varghese

California's Newsom Escalates GOP Jabs to Build National Profile  Bloomberg

California's Newsom to Decide How to Spread Wealth From the 1%  Bloomberg

California’s population declined 0.3% last year, as births couldn’t keep pace with an aging population, residents leaving for other locales, Covid-related deaths and restrictive federal policies on immigration.

The American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative group that writes model laws and tries to convince state legislators to pass them, said it is looking to stop public pensions from making investments it calls “politically motivated.”

California is so awash with money that Wall Street is advising it to buy out some of its debt investors.

A California agency voted Wednesday to reserve some of the state’s limited private activity bonds to non-housing uses, providing an opportunity for projects such as a private-equity backed train to Las Vegas and a controversial desalination plant to apply for the coveted financing.

Musk's Texas Move Surprised Even Staff, California Official Says - Bloomberg

Musk's Texas Move Surprised Even Staff, California Official Says - Bloomberg

Brightline Holdings, Fortress Investment Group’s rail company, will finalize the financing plans for its $8 billion project laying train tracks to Las Vegas from southern California within the next six months, Chief Executive Officer Michael Reininger said during a press briefing Tuesday.

California lawmakers on Thursday approved $35 million to provide no-strings-attached monthly checks to residents, a major embrace of a nationwide movement toward granting people guaranteed income.

California Governor Gavin Newsom began the week touting a situation that any governor would envy: He has an extra $100 billion to spend on his priorities.

For the first time in more than 25 years, San Francisco is forecasting that its property tax base will fall -- a decline that reflects the tough straits of the city that is among the hardest hit by the pandemic downturn.

The wildfires, power outages and extreme weather that have ravaged California are setting the stage for a deepening economic crisis for an engine of U.S. growth.

Fortress Investment Group plans to sell a record $3.2 billion of unrated municipal securities next week to finance a passenger train to Las Vegas. The pricing will signal how far investors will go for higher returns amid persistently low rates and economic uncertainty.

The news landed just after 9 p.m. U.S. Pacific time: the investment chief at California’s massive state pension fund was abruptly stepping down. Before dawn the next day, Sacramento was abuzz -- and a sense of crisis was descending over the mighty California Public Employees’ Retirement System.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed on Friday proposed a budget that fills a $1.5 billion shortfall through June 2022 by drawing down reserves and asking employee unions to defer wage increases or risk layoffs.

In Nevada’s Washoe County, a presidential battleground, the fastest-growing age group is 65 and older and the demand for Alzheimer’s services runs about three times greater than what’s available. Homebuilder PulteGroup’s Del Webb is putting up two 55-and-older gated communities near Las Vegas, in the state’s south, for the first time in a decade.

California officials on Wednesday postponed to February a decision that would have cleared the way for Virgin Trains USA to sell as much as $2.4 billion in tax-exempt debt for a railroad to Las Vegas after learning the project has yet to secure a key federal approval.

In San Francisco’s Mission District, vegan ramen is sold across a busy street from a decaying corner building where vagrants loiter outside its boarded-up walls. An advocacy group wants to turn the property into residences for families who can’t afford the city’s $1.5 million median home-sale price.

Virgin Trains USA is planning to sell bonds for a line that starts 90 miles from downtown L.A.