Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget would cut funding for coastal resilience projects almost in half, eliminating more than half a billion dollars of state funds this year that would help protect the coast against rising seas and climate change. The cuts are part of Newsom’s proposed $6 billion in reductions to California’s climate change programs […]
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After a Pandemic Pause, State to Restart Checking Medi-Cal Eligibility
California will soon restart its annual eligibility review for people enrolled in Medi-Cal, a process that has been suspended since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that starting in mid-April, residents enrolled in Medi-Cal, the state’s insurance program for low-income people, will start to receive renewal notices in the mail. The process will […]
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Jump-Starting Electric Car Batteries: Will Supply Problems Stall California’s Mandate?
After more than 30 years toiling in obscurity in the ultra-complex world of battery technology, Kurt Kelty and the other chemists, electrical engineers and minerals experts racing to design the next generation of electric vehicle batteries are at last having their moment. Kelty, who ran Tesla’s battery cell team for more than a decade, now […]
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Is California Breaking Its Promise to Cut Health Care Costs?
Brian Iv works in a factory in Orange County, earning around $26 per hour. He suffers chronic pain from a lifetime of manual labor jobs and previous workplace injuries, but often treats the pain with home remedies or traditional Cambodian practices. Going to the doctor is too expensive, he said. Iv recently got a raise […]
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California Homelessness: Where are the State’s Billions Going? Here’s the New, Best Answer
In Sacramento, there’s a word that keeps popping up during discussions about the state’s homelessness crisis: “accountability.” Gov. Gavin Newsom has scolded cities and counties for failing to get more people off the street, hundreds of millions in state spending notwithstanding. “Californians demand accountability and results, not settling for the status quo,” the governor said […]
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More than 12,000 Californians are Getting Cash from Guaranteed Income Experiments
Four years after Stockton conducted a nationally-watched experiment, giving 125 households $500 a month with no strings attached, dozens of programs throughout California are testing the idea of a guaranteed income. CalMatters identified more than 40 similar pilot programs that have run, are operating or are planning to launch around the state. They are sending […]
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Helping Homeowners: California Expands Mortgage Relief
Angela Morrow was only eight months into a new career as a flight attendant when she was laid off from her job due to the COVID-19 pandemic, putting her at risk of losing her three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in San Bernardino County. Morrow, 63, said she was able to save her home in Bloomington through the […]
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California Lawmakers Try Again to Cap Insulin Costs
As many diabetics across the Golden State struggle with insulin costs, California’s efforts to make the medication more affordable have yet to yield results. This year, lawmakers will revisit legislation that would address at least one piece of the affordability puzzle. Senate Bill 90, by Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat, would limit what […]
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Can California’s Power Grid Handle a 15-fold Increase in Electric Cars?
As California rapidly boosts sales of electric cars and trucks over the next decade, the answer to a critical question remains uncertain: Will there be enough electricity to power them? State officials claim that the 12.5 million electric vehicles expected on California’s roads in 2035 will not strain the grid. But their confidence that the state […]
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Colleges Experiment with Restorative Justice in Sexual Assault Cases
When a sexual assault survivor walks into Alexandra Fulcher’s office at Occidental College, it’s the first step in a process fraught with consequences for both the survivor and the accused. If Fulcher, the school’s Title IX director, launches an official investigation, the survivor could be asked to recount their trauma and cross-examined about it in […]
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Study: Paid Family Leave in California Keeps Women in Jobs
If you work in California and your sister is undergoing cancer treatments, or your spouse gets knee surgery, you might be able to get paid while you take time off work to care for them. It’s a less well-known part of California’s paid family leave benefit, which also covers new parents who leave work to […]
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New Blood, Big Oil: California Legislature Starts Special Session
California regulators would cap the profit margin for oil refiners and could fine companies that exceed that limit under a proposal announced Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom, the latest escalation in his battle with the oil industry over a summer of record gas prices. Newsom unveiled the measure, which does not yet include key details […]