Amid the torrent of laminated campaign ads churning through the postal system this season, the slate mailer stands out as a perennial — and many say unseemly — California political tradition that dates back to at least the 1950s. Though new restrictions may be on the way. You’ve seen these before: A...
Juvenile Justice Overhaul: How the Governor’s Plan Shifts Care of Serious Offenders to Counties
For decades, California teens who committed the most serious crimes – robbery, assault, murder – were sent to state juvenile prisons to serve their sentences. Now that is about to change. A controversial new law that takes effect next year will dismantle the state’s current juvenile justice system and transfer responsibility...
Replacing Cash Bail: Fairer Justice or Robopocalypse?
California is either about to right decades of inequality between rich and poor defendants by eliminating cash bail, or it’s about to turn over its justice system to robots. The question of what to do about the system that decides whether people should be free while awaiting trial will be...
When Will Your Ballot Be Counted? The Perks of Voting Early.
Flo Hodes is doing everything she can to avoid post-Election Day BS. A Democratic voter living in Oakland, she has watched with mounting concern President Donald Trump’s refusal to say whether he will abide by the reported election results, his continued efforts to undermine public confidence in voting by mail, and recent...
Prop. 20: Should California’s DNA Bank Expand to Shoplifters, Opioid Offenders?
DNA evidence — a speckle of spit or a drop of blood — can exonerate a suspect or help put them behind bars. Now California voters are being asked to expand the pool of DNA data that law enforcement taps into. A little-noticed provision of Proposition 20 would require law enforcement to...
What No Trump Stimulus Means for California Schools, Unemployment and More
Last week, as federal stimulus talks crumbled and California’s unemployment system faltered again, Tracy Greer packed her car with recyclables and hoped the cash would pay for groceries. Greer, 48, is an accountant by training who was furloughed from her job as a restaurant server in the high desert town of...
Lawmakers Want to Amend This Prop? It’ll Take a “Super, Super, Super-Duper Majority”
By Ben Christopher, CalMatters A reader has asked us a question about a lesser-known provision buried in one of the year’s most controversial ballot measures: Hey @FromBenC & @CalMatters - was hoping you could answer a #prop22 Q. Is there precedent for rqring 7/8th vote from legis for “consistent” changes...
‘Totally Inadequate’: Most Californians in Wildfire-Prone Counties Aren’t Signed up for Emergency Alerts
Tracey Aldrich had never heard of CodeRED, Butte County’s opt-in emergency notification system, until she came upon a roadblock leading up to her mother’s house in August. At the roadblock, police told her a firestorm was bearing down on her mother’s neighborhood in Berry Creek. Neither she nor her mother...
It’s Complicated: School Reopenings, Hybrid Learning Look Different Across California
The night before the first day of in-person instruction for elementary students in San Diego County’s Poway Unified School District, principals sent families detailed instructions on how to drop off their children. The following Thursday morning, “welcome back” balloons adorned campuses’ front gates and school employees took students’ temperatures as...
Freeze First, Verify Second: Unemployed Californians Get a Fright From EDD
Joseph Wood went to buy gas in Ventura in anticipation of driving up the coast to visit his children this week. The 39-year-old gig driver knew he had money on a debit card connected to his unemployment payments when his purchase was declined. Unable to fill up his tank, he...