After a years-long battle reignited in recent months by controversies over misunderstandings of critical race theory, California students will soon be required to take ethnic studies to graduate high school. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 101 into law on Friday afternoon, requiring California high school students to take ethnic studies to graduate, starting with the […]
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Newsom is Running Out of Time to Sign Bills
T-minus three days. That’s how much time Gov. Gavin Newsom has left to decide the fate of the remaining bills on his desk — and as the deadline draws nearer, the buildup for big-ticket and contentious proposals is getting more intense. The direct impact of Newsom’s decisions was particularly apparent Wednesday, when he signed a […]
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What’s at Stake for Newsom’s Biggest Recall Campaign Donors
As Gov. Gavin Newsom wraps up a month of high-stakes decisions about what should become law in California, he’s also making calls that impact many of the donors who just spent millions of dollars to help him defeat the historic Sept. 14 recall. Labor unions, real estate moguls, tech titans — interest groups that lobby […]
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Restoring the Name of Sue-meg State Park
Since time immemorial, the Yurok people have called the coastal area north of Trinidad — located in the heart of their ancestral lands — Sue-meg. Now, some 170 years after the name was usurped, the 1-square-mile property with meadows, forest lands and long beaches stretched out below soaring cliffs will officially be known as Sue-meg […]
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Student COVID Vaccinations: California Becomes First State to Require Them for Kids in Schools
In another aggressive effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 and ensure schools remain open, Gov. Gavin Newsom today announced a vaccine mandate for students ages 12 and older, making California the first state in the nation to require students to be fully vaccinated for in-person instruction. The mandate would add the COVID-19 vaccine to […]
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State Commission Votes to ‘Restore the Name Sue-meg,’ Remove Patrick’s Point from Park’s Name
The State Parks and Recreation Commission voted unanimously today to — as one commission described — “restore the name of Sue-meg” to the unit currently known as Patrick’s Point State Park to honor the designation used by the Yurok people for the area since time immemorial. “This genuinely historic decision represents a turning point in […]
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Judge Requires COVID Vaccines for California Prison Workers
California prison workers will join the list of state employees who must be vaccinated against COVID, a federal judge ruled Monday — a loss for the state prison guards’ union and Gov. Gavin Newsom. For months, the politically powerful union and the Newsom administration have resisted a COVID vaccine mandate for prison workers, despite the […]
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Rapid COVID-19 Tests in Short Supply in California
Sarah Voit likes to keep 10 to 15 rapid test kits on hand in case any of the residents of the Family Emergency Shelter Coalition in Hayward need to be tested for COVID-19. They’ve had some infection scares, and the antigen tests — which return results in minutes — have been crucial to curbing the […]
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California Still Won’t Make COVID-19 Workplace Outbreaks Public
Supporters of a push to require companies to report workplace coronavirus outbreaks publicly say they plan to keep fighting despite recent setbacks that they say allow big businesses to keep outbreaks secret. In February, Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes, D-San Bernardino, proposed a law requiring the California Department of Public Health to report COVID-19 outbreaks by […]
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Lightning Could Spark more California Fires as World Warms
Wildland firefighters don’t admit to fearing much, but lightning is one terror that even the most experienced veterans say they hope to never encounter. The worry is not being struck by a bolt, although it can be deadly. Instead, their primary concern is that lightning, slashing down in remote areas, can trigger unseen fires that […]
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Students with Disabilities Across California Stuck in Limbo
The school year at Duarte Unified School District, 20 miles east of Los Angeles, started a month ago, but Brady, Ellie and Jack Fitzgibbons have yet to receive any instruction from their teachers. The 13-year-old triplets are on the autism spectrum, and their mother Julie Fitzgibbons didn’t feel safe sending them to school because she […]
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California Commits $500 Million More to Student Housing: ‘A Drop in the Bucket’
Free tuition is great, and California excels at that compared to the rest of the country. But with rents sky high, affordable housing has become the chief expense for most students – and relief is harder to come by. Lawmakers have a plan for that: They’ve poured $500 million into this year’s state budget so […]