SACRAMENTO — When police in California's capital city searched an apartment in mid-January, the most telling item they found wasn't the illegal assault weapons — it was a small red notebook filled with 55 names and their birthdays, Social Security numbers, usernames and passwords associated with accounts at the state's...
Walters: How Do We Close the Economic Divide?
The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) is one of the state’s treasures, supplying invaluable, in-depth research into our thorniest issues such as water, housing, transportation and, most importantly, the state’s socioeconomic fragmentation. California’s politicians rarely make any progress in addressing those issues, but PPIC’s research — and its high-quality...
Fugitive Arrested in Michael’s Crafts Credit Card Scam
CAMDEN, N.J. — A California man charged in a widespread credit card scam involving arts-and-crafts retailer Michaels is back in New Jersey after several years on the run. Jose Salazar fled to Mexico after he was indicted in 2015, according to the U.S. attorney's office. Salazar and others were accused...
Lawmakers Agree to Help Californians Pay Past-Due Rent
SACRAMENTO— California lawmakers on Thursday agreed to use $2.6 billion in federal stimulus money to pay off up to 80% of some tenants' unpaid rent — but only if landlords agree to forgive the rest of their debt. The legislation, which Gov. Gavin Newsom helped negotiate and is expected to...
Audit: California Jobless Agency’s Inaction Led to Fraud
SACRAMENTO — California’s unemployment agency was warned early in the pandemic about an increase in fraudulent jobless claims yet waited four months before it made any substantive changes to its systems, according to a new audit released Thursday that blames Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration for “significant missteps and inaction” that...
Blue Shield of California Tapped to Speed Up State Vaccines
SAN FRANCISCO — Health insurance giant Blue Shield of California will be the outside administrator tasked with ramping up coronavirus vaccinations, which to date has been slow, stilted and plagued by confusion, the state health agency said in a statement Wednesday. Another major health care provider, Kaiser Permanente, will also...
Recalling a California Governor, Explained
“Recall Gavin Newsom” signs are popping up around California. At shopping centers and street protests, people fed up with the Democratic governor are asking voters to sign petitions. What began as a far-fetched effort by Republican activists has turned into a credible campaign attempting to throw Newsom out of office....
After Criticism, California Discloses Math Behind Easing Stay-at-Home Order
California’s health director on Tuesday revealed the math behind the state's calculation that it was safe to lift all remaining stay-at-home orders, a response to criticism that Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration was hiding key data affecting people's lives and livelihoods. A half-dozen formulas were used to project that all regions...
Audit: Millions May Have to Repay California Jobless Aid
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California's unemployment agency might have overpaid millions of people since March after it stopped enforcing some eligibility rules so they could process claims faster, according to a new audit released Tuesday. As millions of claims poured in during the height of state restrictions on businesses, state officials...
California Public Schools Suffer Record Enrollment Drop
California’s K-12 public-school enrollment has precipitously declined during the pandemic, dropping by a record 155,000 students, according to new state projections. That drop-off is about five times greater than California’s annual rate of enrollment decline in recent years. The state, which boasts the largest student enrollment in the country, has...