California’s housing costs have been rising for decades, making buying a home a dream very few families can afford. The California State Auditor’s scathing report about the $2.7 billion in wasted affordable housing funds demonstrates yet again that the Democrats’ attempts to spend our way out of the housing crisis will not...
After This Year’s Wildfires, California Must Spend to Manage Forest Health
By Robert Dugan and Jeff Harris, Special to CalMatters The uncontrolled wildfires that raged across California this year devastated lives, homes, forests and entire watersheds. We set a dubious record for most acres burned in a single year: 4.1 million and counting. It takes a long time to recover from such intense fires....
How California Reached Historic Voter Turnout Despite Pandemic, Distrust
Californians faced the naysayers and voted by mail in record numbers this election, potentially avoiding a pandemic super spreader event and showing the nation it could be done. CalMatters interviewed voting officials in most of the state’s 58 counties and their verdict is in: The experiment with voting by mail...
Despite the Distancing, Making a Connection This Holiday Could Save a Life
The holidays are here, and it’s time to put out an SOS. Much like the signal transmitted by a ship in distress, this SOS is a call to action, a request for help: Start a conversation. Offer a connection. Save a life. The 2020 holiday season will be unlike any...
‘Bizarro Beach’ or State Park? Living Next to Off-Roading Mecca Oceano Dunes
Dave Congalton always turns right at the beach. The local radio host, who has lived near Oceano Dunes for 33 years, leads an informal group of hikers and beach walkers. His pack usually heads north, away from the tumult of off-road vehicles that descend on the state park. One morning...
Change in Food Bank Distribution Service Sets off Alarm Bells
COVID-19 has meant many Californians are struggling to stay healthy, keep their jobs and put food on the table. In this moment, organizations that provide food to the needy are serving more Californians than ever before. So why has the state chosen now to dramatically change the way commodities are distributed to...
A 40-Year Conflict Over Oceano Dunes: Has It Finally Reached a Breaking Point?
At the end of an arcing sweep of shoreline tracing the pocket coves and steep cliffs of the Central Coast lies Oceano Dunes and its rippling sea of sand. The park south of San Luis Obispo is the last state beach where visitors can legally race their 4X4s, dirt bikes...
How Bank of America Helped Fuel California’s Unemployment Meltdown
For a brief moment this summer, Stephanie Moore thought she might finally see a glimmer of hope at the end of the coronavirus recession. Unemployment benefits provided a lifeline for the 38-year-old Los Angeles housekeeper to leave a bad relationship and rent an Airbnb while she looked for a job....
How Risky Was That Napa Party Gavin Newsom Attended?
Just how risky was the birthday party that Gov. Gavin Newsom attended at a ritzy Napa Valley restaurant? According to a modeling tool, if held today, there’s an 11 to 12% chance — odds of about one in nine — that one of the dinner guests was infected with the coronavirus....
The Trumpiest and Most Anti-Trump Counties in California Revealed
November’s election results showed that most of California’s Democratic counties moved further away from President Donald Trump — and the bulk of its Republican counties did too. With less than 1 million ballots left to count, the 2020 election here was an unsurprisingly blowout for President-elect Joe Biden. In 2016, Democrat...