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At times, the California Legislature is reminiscent of a high-school student council, except that instead of working with few-hundred-dollar activities budget lawmakers are spending more than $300 billion in revenues. I’m not the first commentatorto notice that politicians often promise things they can’t possibly provideand are no more realistic than a student body president offering free pizza on Fridays.

What can you do? Democracy is, as Winston Churchillsaid, “the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” Fast forward to the latest capitol silliness. A group of Democratic lawmakers is starting the End Poverty In California caucus, which is unlikely to be as EPIC as its name suggests. Ending poverty is a large promiseand the Legislature is much better at passing laws that exacerbate poverty (minimum wage, anti-competitive union work rules, onerous licensing requirements) rather than reduce it.

For starters, legislative caucuses are notoriously ineffective. They’re the equivalent of those high-school clubs where like-minded people get together to engage in virtue signaling and whatnot. The state legislature has 16 caucuses centering on identity (gender, ethnicity), issues (aviation, environment), or locale (rural communities, the Bay Area).

The latest newsworthy caucus formation is theProblem Solvers Caucus, which promises to put good policy over partisanship, but which has accomplished nothing remarkable. We can only hope the “ending poverty” effort is equally ineffective given the people whose ideas it is based upon. Politicoreportsthe name is a “nod to Upton Sinclair’s 1934 gubernatorial campaign” and is the “brainchild” of former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs.

Sinclair was a socialist and Tubbs is best known for promoting “universal basic income.” Sinclair’s EPIC campaign plan promised to “develop a state-managed cooperative economy that would initially provide livelihoods for the unemployed while pointing the way to the eventual replacement of the private economy based on profit,” the University of Washington explains.

The new EPIC chairman is Assembly Majority LeaderIsaac Bryan (DLos Angeles) so this comes from one of the Legislature’s most powerful members. Tubbs has created a nonprofit groupof the same name. He served as the mayor of one of the state’s mostimpoverished citiesa San Joaquin Valley industrial city best known for its municipal bankruptcy (caused in part by excessive benefits for city employees) and atrocious crime rates.

Tubbs apparently was so busy basking in hisnational attention as a young progressive rising star that he didn’t tend to matters at home. He lost re-election to a Republican political neophyte in a city with a two-to-one Democratic voter registration advantage. After his loss, he became an economic adviser to Gov. Gavin Newsom. Tubbs’ major initiative was that privately funded project to provide $500 monthly in free money to select residents.

If you’re still not understanding where this caucus is headed, then I’ll quote from Tubbs’ testimony at an Assembly subcommittee on poverty and inclusion, as captured in avideothat his nonprofit released. Tubbs said the state has a “unique opportunity” to pass “common-sense, well-researched policies from baby bonds to guaranteed income to housing as a right to more affordable housing to truly make the state a golden one for all.”

Baby bondswould have the government provide a set amount of money to every newborn child. Guaranteed income means the government would provide a stipend to everyone. Turning housing into a “right” means that landlords would lose the ability to evict tenants and also includes rent controlseven though “well-researched” studies have found such policies deplete the housing stock. More “affordable housing” means more subsidized housing.

Tubb’s group is correct that poverty rates in California are atrocious. “California has the highest rate of poverty at 13.2% of any state in the U.S.,” itnotes. “28.7 percent of all California residents were poor or near poor in fall 2021.” EPIC doesn’t address that California’s poverty rate is the worst in the nationespecially when cost-of-living factors are includeddespitethis being the nation’s most progressive state. It offers the most generous welfare programs.

One would think that politicians who are serious about ending poverty would at least address that paradox. The video features union organizers who point to the need for an even more powerful union presence in our state, yet unions were on the vanguard of some of the state’s most poverty-inducing policiessuch as Assembly Bill 5, which tried to ban most forms of independent contracting and destroyed moderate-income jobs throughout the freelance economy.

With their progressive policies, lawmakers are destroying the incentive for developers to build more housing. They’re always addingregulations and taxesthat shutter businesses and discourage people from investing in new ones. Instead of recognizing that California’s poverty problem largely is the result of government meddling, EPIC will propose more-aggressive interventions. At some point, lawmakers need to stop making unattainable high-school-level promises and begin wrestling with complex realities.

This column was first published in The Orange County Register.

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Deion eyes QBs, not ceremony, in CU spring game

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April 20, 2025

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Deion eyes QBs, not ceremony, in CU spring game

  • ESPN News Services

Apr 19, 2025, 08:52 PM ET

BOULDER, Colo. — Deion Sanders didn’t get a chance to fully enjoy the moment as his son, Shedeur, and his just-like-a-son, Travis Hunter, had their jerseys retired Saturday before the spring game.

The Colorado coach had too many other obligations — checking out his new QBs, watching special teams and making sure the product was entertaining for a national television audience tuning in.

He was appreciative of the moment, though, even if the jersey retirement has rankled some former Colorado players and fans.

“I looked in both of their eyes — I know [Shedeur and Travis] were pleased, they were thankful, and they were proud,” Deion Sanders said. “That means a lot to me.

“The time frame, nobody’s going to be happy with. Somebody’s always going have something to say. But the way we are right now, we are a now generation. … those guys deserve what they deserve right now. So I’m proud of them.”

It was one of the last times that Hunter and Shedeur Sanders will team up on the turf at Folsom Field. Standing at midfield, they watched their retired jersey numbers — No. 2 for Sanders, No. 12 for Hunter — unveiled on the east face of the stadium.

This kicked off a busy week for Hunter, the Heisman Trophy winner, and Sanders, the Johnny Unitas Award winner as college football’s top QB. Both are expected to be high draft picks when the NFL draft starts on Thursday.

Once the retired ceremony concluded, the Buffaloes got down to the business of football.

Namely, finding a successor for Shedeur Sanders.

It figures to be a two-QB race between Kaidon Salter, a transfer from Liberty, and Julian “JuJu” Lewis, the five-star recruit who arrived on campus last fall to get an early start.

Lewis was the first to take the field and there were early jitters. He mixed the pass with the run, which will be a familiar sight as Colorado emphasizes the ground game this season now that the younger Sanders is gone. The Buffaloes brought in Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk as the running backs coach to provide a spark.

“He’s still a young man,” Deion Sanders said of Lewis. “We don’t care about the age and the stage, though.”

Salter showed a veteran’s poise when it was his turn. The dual-threat QB threw for 56 TDs at Liberty and ran for 21 scores.

“I fell in love with the offense,” Salter said of why he chose Colorado. “We have a fully loaded staff here that knows what it takes to get to the next level.”

Shedeur Sanders sauntered along the sideline, taking in the action of his heirs apparent, Lewis and Salter. Looking on as well was Hunter.

Sanders and Hunter became the fifth and sixth players in Colorado’s 135-year history to have their jerseys retired.

At halftime, the Buffaloes announced the late coach Bill McCartney would be honored next season with a statue. McCartney, who led the program to its only football national championship in 1990, died in January at 84.

Deion Sanders said he only wishes the tribute came earlier.

“Why are we waiting? Wouldn’t (McCartney) have wanted him to see (it), to be involved in it, to feel it, to feel the love, the respect, the appreciation? Why’d we wait?” asked Sanders, who plans to honor McCartney next fall by donning a similar hat and jacket as the Hall of Fame coach used to wear. “Everything we get is right now. We want something, we order it off Amazon — right now. We’re not a … waiting generation no more. That’s over. That’s a wrap on that. Everybody in here is impatient. You download stuff right now, putting it out as I speak. Let’s stop.

“I’m sad because I wanted him to see that. He can’t see that.”

Bring on Syracuse?

The attendance was announced at 20,430 fans, which was down from the previous two spring games. Sanders thinks the NCAA nixing a plan to play Syracuse hurt ticket sales. Still, he wants to see more seats filled.

“We do have a tremendous fan base, but we need a little more support when it comes to whatever we do inside the stadium,” Sanders said. “We should be packing it like it’s a game.”

Walk-on honored

Walk-on safety Ben Finneseth was awarded a scholarship by Sanders.

“As soon as I put my head in his shoulder, I said, ‘Thank you for believing in me.’ Because he’s believed in me since Day 1,” Finneseth said. “I can’t thank everyone enough for giving me the opportunity.”

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Missouri State safety dies in possible gun mishap

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April 20, 2025

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Missouri State safety dies in possible gun mishap
Apr 19, 2025, 06:20 PM ET

Missouri State senior football player Todric McGee died early Saturday from what police believe was a “possible accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound.”

A spokesperson for the Springfield (Missouri) Police Department said they found McGee at his residence while performing a wellness check Friday morning. He was transported to a hospital, where he died from his injuries.

He was 21.

“Our football family is in shock and in mourning at the loss of Todric,” Bears head football coach Ryan Beard said in a statement. “We ask everyone to please respect the privacy of his family and our MoState football team at this time as we begin the healing process. Join us in praying for Todric and the people who loved him.”

McGee, a fifth-year senior, started each of the past two seasons for the Bears. He earned All-Missouri Valley Football Conference honors in 2023.

“This tragedy has shaken our football program to the core, and we want them to know we are here to support them in every way possible at this extremely difficult time,” athletic director Patrick Ransdell said in the school’s statement.

The investigation into McGee’s death is ongoing, police said.

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U-M’s Underwood has up-and-down spring game

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April 20, 2025

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U-M's Underwood has up-and-down spring game

  • Associated Press

Apr 19, 2025, 02:50 PM ET

Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood showed glimpses of the growing pains he will experience as a freshman and flashes of the promise that made him the nation’s top-rated high school football recruit in the Wolverines’ spring game Saturday.

Underwood was 12 of 26 for 187 yards with a scrimmage-ending, 88-yard pass to tight end Jalen Hoffman on a reverse flea-flicker in a 17-0 win for the Blue over the Maize.

He also recovered his fumble, had a pair of delay-of-game penalties, several errant throws – high and wide – and some dropped. Underwood lost 12 yards on two sacks and gained 17 yards on three runs.

“He did well,” coach Sherrone Moore said. “Made some really, good throws and had some things we need to clean up and get better at.”

As the Wolverines wrapped up spring football in front of about 40,000 fans at the Big House, all eyes were on Underwood and he has become comfortable with that.

“It’s just the pressure that came with my arm,” Underwood told The Detroit News earlier this spring. “I can’t stop that.”

Underwood was sacked on his first snap and his first completion went for a loss. He did throw some darts, usually in the flat, and was quick enough to escape collapsed pockets to pick up yardage with his feet.

Underwood is expected to compete with sophomore Jadyn Davis and Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene for playing time ahead of the season-opening game on Aug. 30 at home against Fresno State.

“It’s a battle,” Moore said. “It’s going to go all the way to fall camp.”

Underwood is motivated to start and kick off a legacy-building career with lofty goals.

“A couple of Heismans and at least one natty,” Underwood said last month in an interview on the Rich Eisen Show.

Underwood knows there will be people doubting he can live up to the hype.

‘He’s just a freshman. He won’t be good enough,'” Underwood said. “I might keep that chip my whole three years.”

He attended at Belleville High School, which is about 15 miles east of Ann Arbor, and flipped his commitment to Michigan after telling LSU coaches last year he intended to play there.

Tom Brady, a former Wolverine and seven-time Super Bowl winner, talked with Underwood during the school’s recruitment via FaceTime and Oracle founder Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people, also connected with him.

Jay Underwood told the Wall Street Journal that his son is expected to make more than $15 million at Michigan, but that doesn’t guarantee he will take the first snap next fall.

“He wants to earn everything,” Moore has said. “He doesn’t want to be given anything.”

Hoffman said Underwood has simply blended in with his teammates.

“He’s really humble, like not a big head, ego, nothing like that,” he said. “Comes into work and every day, he wants to get better every day. He’s not riding off his success in high school. He’s really trying to be one of those top players in college football.”

Underwood participated in practices with the team before it beat Alabama in a bowl game, enrolled in classes in January and gained a lot experience in 14 private practices before a public scrimmage.

“Football is football,” he told MLive.com. “School is a little bit more overwhelming now.”

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