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The California Report Magazine

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Calderon Case Exposes Campaign Finance Loopholes
Political aftershocks are still being felt in California, more than a week after Al Jazeera America revealed stunning details about an FBI sting operation at the State Capitol. According to an FBI affidavit obtained by the network, a federal agent posed as a movie producer and funneled tens of thousands of dollars in alleged bribes to State Senator Ron Calderon. As the California Report's Sacramento Bureau Chief Scott Detrow explains, the FBI document sheds new light on how money talks in state politics.

The Influence of Money in California Politics
For more on the possible fallout from that FBI investigation at the State Capitol we turn to someone who's seen the influence of money in politics from all sides. Scott Shafer talks to Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California. He's served as chair of the state's political watchdog agency and was previously an advisor to former Gov. Pete Wilson.

Reading, Writing and Keyboarding
Smartphones, laptops and tablets are ubiquitous today. But it wasn't that long ago when most people learned to communicate via the typewriter. They've mostly gone the way of VCRs, but the standard typewriter keyboard design is alive and well. And in California, a new set of academic standards will require public school kids, as early as kindergarten, to learn how to type.

Tijuana Program Acclimates U.S.-Born Kids
Learning how to type is the last concern for some 300,000 U.S.-born school kids now living in Mexico with their families. Some of their parents were deported, and many more went back to Mexico when jobs on this side of the border dried up. Now their kids are struggling to adapt to Mexican schools. A new program in Tijuana hopes to help these children adjust and prepare them to perhaps return home to the U.S. some day.

A California Winery, by Veterans
California's wine industry has some new recruits -- military veterans. Valor winery was started by a few guys from the Iraq War. And to kick off this Veterans Day weekend, KQED's Aarti Shahani tastes their new venture.

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