Reps. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) and Joe Heck (R-Nevada) and nearly 70 bipartisan members of the U.S. House want to know how the military plans to stop using live animals in medical combat-trauma training.

The Department of Defense began scaling back the use of pigs, goats, monkeys, chickens and other animals as part of its medical training in 2015. A letter from Speier and Heck, signed by the others, points to recent research by the Department of Defense that using simulated human tissue rather than live animals is cheaper and provides better training.

“The Department of Defense has the responsibility to provide the best available combat preparation to its medics. But according to its own studies, simulations are more effective than maiming and killing animals for medical training,” Speier said in a news release. "This is a no-brainer and we expect there will be no further delays in ending this barbaric practice."

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa continued to stoke will-he-or-won't-he speculation on running for governor of California in 2018, telling Fusion's Jorge Ramos that he'd announce his decision after the presidential election in November.

"I think I’ve made it pretty clear what I want to do," Villaraigosa said in the interview, conducted last week. "I’m going to work as hard as I can to stop [presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald] Trump, to get Hillary Clinton elected. And then in November I’m going to make an announcement about my future." 

Villaraigosa also said he wasn't interested in the vice presidential spot on Clinton's ticket. 

The head of the state agency in charge of regulating myriad utilities, including electricity and ride-sharing companies such as Uber and Lyft, lamented what he called an outdated system for protecting residents and ratepayers in a speech to the Sacramento Press Club on Monday.

But Michael Picker, who leads the California Public Utilities Commission, stopped short of endorsing a measure pending in the Legislature that would strip the agency of its power.

Picker said the agency’s structure, formed a century ago to regulate railroads, makes it difficult to adapt to technologies that are transforming electricity and other industries at a rapid pace.

This planet is the only place we can live happily.

Families gathered with umbrellas, parasols and spray bottles filled with water on a sweltering afternoon as they waited more than an hour for the arrival of the world's most famous monk. 

Ahead of the Dalai Lama's planned speech to the Legislature, children decked in traditional Tibetan dress waved flags and took photos with their friends on the lawn in front of the Capitol's West Steps.

A lone protester shouted from a megaphone but was soon drowned out by shouts from the crowd and Tibetan music.

A survey Monday commissioned by several Native American tribes with concerns about legalizing Internet poker in California found a majority of California's likely voters oppose the idea.

Before hearing any arguments for or against, the survey found that 52 percent of likely voters oppose allowing online poker games, which is proposed by a poker legalization bill by Assemblyman Adam Gray (D-Merced). It would legalize and tax online poker in California.

When those surveyed were told Internet poker is illegal in the state but thousands of people still play it without consumer protection, 41% supported legalization and 51% opposed.