This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. California lawmakers started the year signaling they were ready to get tough on data centers, aiming to protect the environment and electricity ratepayers. Nine months later, they have little to show for it. Of four data center bills...
Millennial Democrat Ian Calderon Announces Bid for California Governor
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Former state lawmaker Ian Calderon is joining the crowded 2026 race for California governor, he announced Tuesday. The Whittier Democrat is framing his candidacy as one from a “new generation of leadership.” He was 27 when he became...
Federal Judge Orders 500 Health Science Grants at UCLA Restored, Rebuffing Trump
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. A federal judge in California on Monday ordered the Trump administration to restore 500 National Institutes of Health grants that it suspended at UCLA in July over accusations the campus tolerates antisemitism. Judge Rita Lin’s decision provides researchers...
California Issues Historic Fine Over Lawyer’s ChatGPT Fabrications
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. A California attorney must pay a $10,000 fine for filing a state court appeal full of fake quotations generated by the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT. The fine appears to be the largest issued over AI fabrications by a...
Imagining California 25 years From Now: What Will Golden State Look Like in 2050?
This commentary was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. One hundred and seventy-five years ago, our state was the prize in an unjust war whose aim was to extend slavery beyond the plantations of the South to the valleys of California. Fifty years later, those valleys were...
Newsom Signs Climate Overhaul, Extending Cap and Trade While Boosting Oil Drilling
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Gov. Gavin Newsom today signed a sweeping package of climate and energy policies to extend the cap-and-trade greenhouse gas emissions program, increase oil drilling and allow the state to create a Western regional electricity market. The overhaul that...
Billions in CA Research Grants Hang in Balance at Obscure Federal Court
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Following a complicated Supreme Court ruling in late August, the fate of billions of dollars of science research grants is now at the mercy of an obscure federal law known as the Tucker Act. “I had never spent...
These Rural Californians Want to Secede. Newsom’s Maps Would Pair Them With Bay Area Liberals
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Over several rivers and through even more woods, flags advocating secession from California flutter above hills dotted with cattle, which outnumber people at least sixfold. This ranching region with a libertarian streak might have more in common with...
Here’s How Newsom’s Maps Are Already Changing California’s Congressional Races
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to redraw California’s congressional map has kicked off a game of musical chairs as candidates evaluate which districts they’ll run in and see new possibilities to jump into districts that were previously not competitive....
California’s Sky-High Living Costs Afford It the Nation’s Highest Poverty Label — Again
This commentary was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Last year’s presidential election underscored, particularly to Democrats, that the costs of living were a major factor in the outcome. Inflation had increased sharply during Joe Biden’s presidency, and voters’ angst about rising prices worked against Vice President...