After exchanging long-distance insults for months, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will supposedly have a face-to-face debate some place and some time in the fall. DeSantis is trying to gain traction as a Republican candidate for president in 2024 while Newsom is trying to establish himself as...
Is Sexual Harassment Out of Control in the CSU System?
The sexual misconduct scandal at California State University brought down one chancellor and looms as a huge challenge for the new leader. But how bad is the situation at America’s largest public university system? No one really knows — and the two most detailed looks at the problem came up...
California Needs Thousands of Nurses, but Leaders Can’t Agree on How to Fill Jobs
Ashley Hooks always planned to retire at Lakewood Regional Medical Center, where she has been a nurse for 12 years. But now, Hooks said, staffing issues are so bad and burnout so severe that she’s rethinking how she wants to spend the rest of her career. Since the COVID-19 pandemic...
CA Public Employees Making $343K a Year Threaten to Strike
Some of California’s highest-paid public employees are in an intensifying labor battle with the Newsom administration over staffing shortages at state prisons and hospitals that workers say endanger patients and staff. The union representing doctors and psychiatrists working in California correctional facilities said that 91% of voting members authorized a strike Monday....
Dispensaries for CA Medical Marijuana Patients Are Going Underground
After California legalized medical marijuana in 1996 and then recreational cannabis a decade later, one might think that for many patients, the state would be a sanctuary for seeking treatment. But as CalMatters’ state Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff explains, those who rely on cannabis to treat pain, seizures, glaucoma, and...
Don’t Call It ‘Toilet to Tap,’ but CA Plans to Turn Sewage Into Drinking Water
Californians could drink highly purified sewage water that is piped directly into drinking water supplies for the first time under proposed rules unveiled by state water officials. The drought-prone state has turned to recycled water for more than 60 years to bolster its scarce supplies, but the current regulations require it to...
CA Republicans Change Delegate Rules. Trump Likely to Benefit.
In a presidential year, California’s 2024 primary is in March instead of June, and the state is the biggest prize for the Republican nomination. Over the weekend, the state GOP changed the rules in a way that appears likely to boost former President Donald Trump and to make California the...
Is Third Time the Charm for Expanded CA Rent Control?
California voters will soon get a third chance to say “yes” to rent control. This week, the Secretary of State announced that supporters of a measure that would let cities put new restrictions on how much landlords can hike the rent have gathered enough signatures to put it on the November 2024...
Culture Wars Burning Through CA School Boards Likely to Get Hotter
Last week’s tussles between state officials and a pair of Southern California school boards may have died down, but they’ve thrown a spotlight on deeper tensions over who makes decisions for local schools — a rift that’s likely to grow as the culture wars escalate. Both incidents, which garnered national...
California Turns to Gift Cards to Fight Meth
Among the most difficult addictions to witness at San Francisco general hospital’s drug clinic is methamphetamine, which leaves users tearing at their skin and unable to eat, sleep or sign up for help. The worst part: The clinic workers largely are powerless because unlike opioid addiction, for which doctors prescribe...