This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Ever been streaming a show or a movie and been jolted out of your entertainment reverie by an ad so loud it felt like it rattled the windows? If California’s lawmakers have their way, those blaring commercials on...
California, Epicenter of the Nation’s Housing Crisis, Is Finally Getting a Housing Agency
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. After years of soaring rents, increasingly out-of-reach home prices and an enduring homelessness crisis that touches every corner of the state, California is finally creating a state agency exclusively focused on housing issues. You might wonder what took...
Zohran Mamdani Jolted Progressives. Can California Candidates Replicate His Success?
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. For California progressives, Zohran Mamdani’s New York City mayoral bid offers something of a formula to follow. When the 33-year-old democratic socialist pulled off a historic upset in the primary last month, Golden State progressives rejoiced. Some deemed...
Higher Premiums and Lost Coverage: How Trump’s Budget Will Change Health Care in California
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. The new federal budget signed into law by President Donald Trump is expected to raise some health care insurance premiums and force millions off coverage, reverberating the most in lower-income families and communities that are already struggling. Trump’s...
CA’s Population Shrank in Trump’s First Immigration Crackdown. It Could Happen Again
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. It hasn’t happened yet, but California is bracing for a demographic and economic hit under President Donald Trump’s multi-pronged effort to limit the entry of people born abroad and deport those already in the U.S. In fact, during...
Controversial Climate Rule That Could Raise Gas Prices About to Take Effect
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. California’s revamped Low Carbon Fuel Standard takes effect on Tuesday, despite fierce Republican criticism and increasing Democratic trepidation over its potential to raise gas prices. The new rules — which expand a program to reduce climate-warming gases and...
Much of LA’s Community of Immigrants Is Hiding, Leaving a Hole in the Fabric of the City
This commentary was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. In immigrant-rich Westlake in Los Angeles, stores were empty Friday morning. The computer repair place was closed. Gates were down in front of a check-cashing operation. One of the area health clinics, where residents often line up for...
Newsom and Legislature Tangle With Construction Unions Over Minimum Wage
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. California lawmakers are on the cusp of striking a last-minute deal to tie one of the year’s most ambitious and controversial housing bills to a new set of minimum wages for housing construction workers — a proposal that...
4 Million Acres of California Forests Could Lose Protection. What Trump’s ‘Roadless Rule’ Repeal Could Do
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. The Trump administration’s plan to repeal a rule prohibiting logging and road construction in undeveloped parts of national forests would strip protection from more than 4 million acres within California’s borders. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced...
Dying Honey Bees Threaten CA Economy. Can Central Valley Lawmakers Save Them?
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Honey bees across the country are under attack from tiny, eight-legged parasitic mites. These mites burrow between the segments of the bees’ adult bodies or invade their larvae and infect them with viruses — deforming their wings and...