This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Facing a mountain of lawsuits, California K-12 schools will have a system in place beginning this year to prevent teachers and other staff from sexually abusing students. A new California law creates an array of measures to educate...
California’s Solution for Senior Health Care Hides in Plain Sight
This commentary was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. You’ve likely never heard of PACE, but for thousands of California seniors, it’s the reason they’re still living at home. PACE stands for Program of All Inclusive Care for the Elderly, and it is an effective option to...
New CA Law Bans Federal Agents From Wearing Masks in Showdown Over Immigration Raids
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. A series of immigration raids across California in 2025 had one thing in common: Most of the federal agents detaining people wore masks over their faces. In January, the state of California and its largest county will ban...
Everything You Need to Know About How to Use California’s New Mental Health Court
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Information accurate as of December 2025. Please be aware that CalMatters is not continuously updating this story. What Is CARE Court? CARE, which stands for Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment, is a court-based way to deliver mental health...
How Does Newsom’s New Mental Health Court Work? Here’s What Real People Involved Say
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Gov. Gavin Newsom two years ago launched a new program called CARE Court that gave hope to families struggling with severe mental illness. It promised to provide treatment and housing through court-supervised plans that would keep difficult-to-help individuals...
California’s Minimum Wage Is Increasing in 2026 as LA Debates $30 an Hour
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Californians will see the minimum wage increase to $16.90 per hour starting Jan. 1. The adjustment — a boost of 40 cents per hour — was calculated in August by the Department of Finance as part of its...
How a Speeding Ticket Can Be Worse Than Killing Someone With Your Car in California
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. In California, you can kill someone with your car and not even have a point on your license. That’s because of a criminal justice reform law passed in 2020, allowing judges to effectively erase a misdemeanor case from...
‘False Hope’: Why Families Who Celebrated Newsom’s Mental Health Court Feel Let Down
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Boom. Ronda Deplazes had just gotten out of the shower and placed curlers in her long blond hair when she heard something slam against her front door. Boom. Outside, her son — a man who could fix...
Republicans Ask Federal Court to Overturn California’s New Prop. 50 Maps
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Just last week California’s secretary of state officially certified that nearly two-thirds of Californians voted to pass Proposition 50, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to temporarily gerrymander the state’s congressional maps in favor of Democrats. Nevertheless, Republicans and the...
Rob Reiner Was More Than a Hollywood Legend. He Helped Shape California Politics
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. The rest of the country may remember Hollywood legend Rob Reiner for his work in front of and behind the camera, but in California, he leaves behind a political legacy that endures beyond his films and movie and...