In January 2021, seven of the 11 California Republicans in Congress refused to certify the 2020 presidential election results, boosting former President Donald Trump's false claim that he lost in a rigged vote. Now, as Trump attempts a return to the White House, only a third of California's Republican U.S....
Could California Crime Measure Prop. 36 Increase Deportations?
A tough-on-crime ballot measure that appears destined to pass could lead to more Californians being deported, immigrant advocates warn. Proposition 36 would reclassify certain misdemeanor drug and theft offenses as felonies, which means immigrants convicted of those crimes are more likely to face deportation if they have a case before...
Some CA Legislators Miss Hundreds of Votes, but Even ‘Excused’ Absences Count as a ‘No’
Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes, a Democrat from Corona who is running for state Senate, missed about two-thirds of her votes this year — 1,647 of 2,510 voting opportunities she had based on her committee assignments and floor sessions. In most cases, the missed votes came from two "excused" absences during busy...
Confused About Prop 33 Rent Control? We Fact-Checked the Ads
Confused about Proposition 33? You're not alone. A recent poll shows the ballot measure to give local governments more ability to limit rent increases is running neck and neck, with nearly a third of voters undecided. Prop. 33 would repeal a state law known as the Costa Hawkins Rental Housing...
Outside Groups Spend Millions in CA’s Valadao-Salas US House Race. Will It Make a Difference?
Voters began seeing dueling ads last month in one of California's most contested congressional districts — a rematch between former Democratic Assemblymember Rudy Salas and GOP Rep. David Valadao. Only a sliver of those ads were paid for by their own campaigns. The candidates have each released a 30-second spot,...
Notoriously Slow: Lengthy Investigations Into California Politicians Leave Voters in the Dark
A $1,044 outing at a glitzy Hollywood nightclub. A $1,316 meal at a Los Angeles steak and seafood restaurant. A $4,500 experience to see the L.A. Dodgers. Isaac Galvan paid for them all — with campaign cash, a state probe found. In his nine years on the Compton City Council,...
California’s Needy School Districts Back $10B Prop 2 Even Though It Favors Rich Schools
In Culver City last year, the high school put on a performance of the hit musical "Mamma Mia." The student actors had full costumes, makeup and microphones. The hand-painted set was lit beautifully, and audiences cozied into the state-of-the-art Robert Frost auditorium, a complex that can fit 1,100 people. Every...
‘Dirty Delta’: California’s Largest Estuary Is in Crisis. Is State Discriminating Against People Who Fish There?
More than two dozen fishing rods were braced against the railing of San Francisco's Pier 7, their lines dangling into the Bay. People chatted on the benches, shouting in Cantonese and leaping up when one of the rods bent or jiggled. One after another, the men and women at the...
The Brutal Story Behind California’s New Native American Genocide Education Law
In the 1860s, an armed militia swept into the historic land of the Serrano people in the San Bernardino mountains and went on a killing spree, attempting to slaughter the entire tribe. A tribal leader named Santos Manuel led the surviving 30 members to safety in a nearby valley. Now,...
K-12 Reading and Math Scores Inch Up, but Still Below Pre-Pandemic Levels
California's K-12 students are gradually rebounding from the pandemic, with nearly all student groups — especially low-income, Black and Latino students — showing progress in math and English language arts, according to standardized test scores the state released today. "Today's results suggest that California's public schools are making encouraging gains,...