The global pandemic notwithstanding, most California owners are still on the hook to pay their property taxes next week — thus far, the state isn’t granting any reprieves. Though both federal and state lawmakers postponed the deadline for income taxes through July 15, the statewide due date for homeowners and commercial real...
California Governor Wants Sales Tax Relief for Businesses
LOS ANGELES — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday called for letting small businesses keep up to $50,000 in sales tax receipts for the next year as the COVID-19 outbreak has forced people to stay home and many shops to close. Gov. Newsom said the reprieve would function as a loan...
Will Local Districts Follow Newsom’s Advice and Not Re-Open Schools?
Schools across the state should plan on teaching from afar for the rest of the academic year, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday. “The right thing to do for our children, the right thing to do for the parents, for households, for the community which they reside, is to make sure...
California Cities Want Transparency Rules Waived in Pandemic
SAN FRANCISCO — Citing the unprecedented challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic, city officials across California are asking Gov. Gavin Newsom to suspend or delay numerous state laws, saying they can't comply with everything from environmental regulations to public records laws that give people a window into how the government...
Coronavirus Stretches California’s Special Ed System to the Brink
By Elizabeth Aguilera and Ricardo Cano, CalMatters In Modesto, Claire Lazaro is working full time while caring for her kids with autism. She worries about just how much progress her kids stand to lose now that they’re mostly without their critical hands-on services, such as her 11-year-old daughter’s one-on-one aide...
Retired Docs, Nursing, Med Students: California Wants You
LOS ANGELES — California is recruiting thousands of retired health care workers along with medical and nursing students to help as emergency hospitals that could include sites like the Los Angeles Coliseum and other sports arenas handle an anticipated flood of coronavirus patients, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday. Newsom signed...
Walters: PG&E Makes Two Deals to Survive
In any other week, major actions affecting Pacific Gas and Electric’s chances of emerging from bankruptcy as an intact and operational utility would have been big news. But with everyone in and out of government riveted on battling the COVID-19 pandemic, there was only proforma media attention to two big...
California’s Shelter-In-Place Order, Explained
By Byrhonda Lyons, CalMatters As President Donald Trump considers easing national restrictions by Easter, Californians are into their first week of an official shelter-in-place directive to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered Californians to stay home except for essential services, leading many to wonder: What’s essential? That’s...
California Halts Evictions for 2 Months Amid Outbreak
LOS ANGELES — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday banned all evictions of renters for the next two months, his latest effort to offer a lifeline to the many millions in the state harmed by the economic fallout from the spreading coronavirus. Newsom signed an executive order that prohibits landlords, law...
Two Deaths Tied to California Cruise Ship, With Few Tested
SAN FRANCISCO — Two men who traveled on a coronavirus-stricken cruise ship stalled for days off the California coast have died, federal officials said Thursday, and they confirmed that fewer than half the ship’s passengers were tested for the virus despite assurances that everyone would be tested. The men, both...