Gov. Gavin Newsom today unveiled a much anticipated proposal to address a mental health crisis increasingly visible on trash-strewn sidewalks and in cramped jail cells around California. The proposal, known as the Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment (or CARE) Court, would provide a framework for courts to compel people with serious mental illnesses and substance […]
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How Long are Californians Waiting for Rent Relief?
Only 16 percent of nearly half a million renters who applied for rent relief from the state of California have been paid, according to a new analysis released today. And the clock is ticking: Under state law, landlords will be able to evict tenants who failed to pay rent by April 1. Of more than […]
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As California Expands Medi-Cal, Hundreds of Thousands of Immigrants Will Still Be Left Behind
Lucia Marroquin knows what it’s like to wait out pain in hopes that it will go away on its own. She is suffering from kidney stones and may need surgery. But because she lacks health coverage, her first question when she falls ill is always “how much will that cost me?” So when California officials […]
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No End in Sight: California Drought on Course to Break Another Record
The first two months of 2022 are shaping up to be the driest January and February in California history, prompting state officials to warn of dire water conditions ahead. “There’s no precipitation forecast through the remainder of February. And there’s very little precipitation in the long-range forecast for March,” Erik Ekdahl, a deputy director with […]
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‘A Change in Narrative’: Ethnic Studies Program Helps Incarcerated Youth Navigate Identity
When Nate Tan, a professor of ethnic studies at San Francisco State University, logs on to virtually teach his 8 a.m. class, he sees several dozen students sitting at desks with laptops, some framed by towering bookshelves. But these students aren’t Zooming in from campus dorms. Instead, they’re taking classes in three different youth prisons […]
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Is This Another Way to End California’s Death Penalty?
Instead of outright abolition, opponents of the California death penalty are pushing legislation to limit death sentences. But the blowback to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to dismantle Death Row at San Quentin demonstrates the political risk. Unable to persuade California voters to do away with capital punishment altogether, the movement to abolish the death penalty […]
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California Plans to Update School Mask Rules
California appears to be on the brink of what could be one of its most dramatic shifts in COVID policy since the pandemic began nearly two years ago: changing school masking rules. State health officials announced Monday that they are working with “education, public health and community leaders to update masking requirements at schools to […]
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California Will Reward Volunteering College Students with Aid — but Spend Half the Money on Overhead
A new California program to financially reward college students for volunteering has drawn national attention — but less than half of its budgeted money is going to actual student aid. The California Volunteers College Corps program, backed by $159 million in mostly state money, promises to award up to $10,000 to 6,668 low-income students who […]
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Why Single Payer Died in the California Legislature, Again
Despite, or perhaps because of, an aggressive last-minute push by progressive activists ahead of a crucial deadline, legislation to create a government-run universal health care system in California died Monday without coming up for a vote. The single-payer measure, Assembly Bill 1400, was the latest attempt to deliver on a longtime priority of Democratic Party […]
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Gavin Newsom was the Face of Legal Cannabis in California. Can He Fix Its Problems?
When California voters legalized marijuana for recreational use in November 2016, it was also a victory for Gavin Newsom, who spent months traveling the state as the face of the campaign. At an election night party at a San Francisco nightclub, the then-lieutenant governor celebrated this “point of pride,” telling attendees that California had sent […]
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McGuire Named State Senate Majority Leader
North Coast state Sen. Mike McGuire has a new title today — majority leader —which moves him up the Capitol ladder to the rung of second highest ranking member of the upper house of California’s Legislature. He was named to the post by Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins. “With bold leadership along with the […]
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Amid Low COVID Vaccine Rates, More California Children Hospitalized in Omicron Surge
COVID-19 hospitalizations among California’s children — especially those too young to go to school — are the highest they have been since the pandemic began. Chalk it up to the highly contagious Omicron variant, kids exposed during in-person instruction at school and other public places, and infants and preschoolers being ineligible for vaccination. The state […]