As fires rage through Southern California and exacerbate the state’s insurance crisis, the California Senate has no one in charge of its Insurance Committee due to questions surrounding a federal corruption investigation. Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire said he is waiting to hear from federal prosecutors about Sen. Susan Rubio, who’s been questioned...
LA Fires Underscore How Much CA Has to Lose if Trump Withholds Disaster Aid
As wildfires erupted in Southern California, so did a years-long feud between incoming president Donald Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom. On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly threatened to cut off disaster funding for California. He stopped short of that on Wednesday, but in a social media post, he called Newsom...
CA Infernos In January? Why Wildfire Season Is Longer and More Devastating
As climate change warms the planet, wildfires have become so unpredictable and extreme that new words were invented: firenado, gigafire, fire siege — even fire pandemic. California has 78 more annual "fire days" — when conditions are ripe for fires to spark — than 50 years ago. When is California's...
New Homelessness Data: How Does California Compare to the Rest of the Country?
California's homeless population remains the biggest in the nation, but the crisis is growing more slowly here than in most of the rest of the country, according to new federal data. The number of homeless Californians increased just over 3% last year compared to the year before, with more than...
California Businesses Sue State Over New Workplace Law
California businesses are suing to halt a new state law that bars them from requiring employees to attend anti-union meetings at work. The state's Chamber of Commerce and California Restaurant Association filed the suit in federal court on New Year's Eve, a day before the new law was to go...
If CA Wants to Lead on AI, It Can’t Let 3 Companies Hog the Infrastructure
When California state Sen. Scott Wiener introduced the nation's most ambitious AI safety bill last year, it became a flashpoint in the debate over how to govern artificial intelligence. Senate Bill 1047 caught the attention of tech billionaires, large corporations, Hollywood, researchers and the media for good reason — it...
‘People Are Still Mad’: Will California Pass Reparations Bills?
After two reparations bills stalled in the final day of session last year, reparation advocates are campaigning today at the state Capitol to drum up support for the same measures. In partnership with the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California, the advocates are calling the rally “the first reparations advocacy...
Five Things to Watch as CA Legislature Returns to Capitol
With the election and the holidays behind them, the California Legislature returns to Sacramento today to kick off a new session in earnest. It will be several more months before the political wrangling over the state budget and thousands of proposed bills truly ramps up. Still, priorities are emerging as...
Why 2025 Will Be a Pivotal Year for Mayor Karen Bass and LA
Here comes the hard part. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has plenty to be proud of in her first two years as the chief executive of the largest city in the largest state in America. Violent crime is down. Public transit ridership has fought its way back up. She's replaced...
Can California Keep ICE Away from Schools? Lawmakers Want to Try as Crackdowns Loom
California lawmakers are proposing steps to protect K-12 students and families from mass deportations — although the real value of those proposals may be symbolic. A pair of bills in the Legislature — AB 49 and SB 48 — aim to keep federal agents from detaining undocumented students or their...