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Image caption: Zoning laws tell you what you can and can't build on the property you own. How does government get away with that?
How Zoning Laws Shape California and Society

Zoning laws determine what can be built and where. These laws have shaped California, but are they really just tools for social engineering? The history of zoning is closely tied to racial segregation, as well as the state's shortage of …

Image caption: Renters face an uphill battle but have made at least legislative gains recently.
California Renters’ Rights: Tenant Advocates Make Some Advances

As groups representing landlords and real estate pour millions of dollars into political coffers to influence housing policy, tenant groups are celebrating recent victories.

Image caption: California's budget crunch may means lights out for new state spending, even on worker pay.
California Salaries Not Covering State Workers' Bills

State workers' say their lower salaries than the private sector were offset by pensions, better benefits, job security. Is the tradeoff still worth it?

Image caption: What happens if the state constitution gives everyone a basic right to housing?
Voters May Make Housing a Human Right in CA

More than 170,000 people are homeless in California. Some Democrats want to make the state the nation’s first to declare housing a human right with a state constitutional amendment, but opponents worry it would be costly.

Image caption: California's Employment Development Division was at the center of a widespread systematic breakdown.
How Did California’s COVID Unemployment Disaster Happen?

As congressional factions volley responsibility for pandemic breakdowns, Silicon Valley’s home state leads off a new book about “why government is failing in the digital age.”

Image caption: Food banks, meant as emergency aid, are now permanent food sources as many Californians face hunger.
California Food Banks Flooded by Families Needing Help

As extra pandemic benefits end, food banks say that they're becoming long-term supermarkets for Californians facing food insecurity. Several bills to boost CalFresh are before the Legislature, but the state budget deficit may get in the way.

Image caption: Newsom announced his push for a Constitutional Amendment to regulate guns on his Twitter account.
Newsom Pitches Constitutional Amendment on Guns

Gov. Gavin Newsom took to his Twitter account to propose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would regulate gun sales and use nationwide, in a way that courts cannot change.

Image caption: Sen. Aisha Wahab (D-Hayward) who introduced the caste discrimination ban bill.
Caste Discrimination: California Bill Ignites Controversy

A bill to ban caste discrimination in California brings a global conflict to the Legislature. While many South Asian groups support the measure, some say it could backfire.

Image caption: Protesters demonstrate against the Supreme Court’s landmark decision on affirmative action in 1978.
Affirmative Action: What SCOTUS Decisions May Mean for CA

California bans affirmative action in college admissions, but two pending Supreme Court decisions may go further than the current state law, which was passed as Prop 209 in 1996. Here’s what that could mean for the state.

Image caption: As the news desert fades, the information islands come into view.
News Deserts and Information Archipelagos

In which we contemplate the demise of the "newspaper of record" at the hands of private equity, and the rise of the small newsroom network to replace it.

Image caption: Gavin Newsom (l) has lashed out at Florida Gov. and GOP Presidential candidate Ron DeSantis (r).
Newsom Wants DeSantis Charged With Kidnapping Migrants

‘You small, pathetic man,’ Gavin Newsom wrote in a Twitter post suggesting he’d pursue criminal charges against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over recent migrant flights to Sacramento.

Image caption: In what appears to be a power play that worked, a developer proposed building 14 residential highrises with a combined 4,260 units in Santa Monica.
How California Developers Twist Affordable Housing Laws

A new interpretation of an old law gives homebuilders leverage over California cities and their zoning codes. They’re using it to push through thousands of new apartments around the state.

Image caption: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield voted to toughen welfare work requirements, while state lawmakers back home chose another tack.
CA May Loosen Welfare Work Rules as US Tightens Them

State lawmakers want to loosen CalWORKs job requirements so people keep cash benefits. Congress’ debt limit deal could curb that.

Image caption: California ranks seventh in wind power, with 3.5 percent of all U.S. wind energy produced here.
California Inches Toward Renewable Energy Goal

Renewable energy sources provided 37 percent of California electricity in 2021, a new record for the state as it moves toward its 2045 goal of 100 percent clean energy. Battery storage will play a huge role in reaching that goal.

Image caption: Senate Bill 584 would hit short-term rentals with a new, 15 percent tax.
New Tax on Airbnb Could Fund CA Affordable Housing

A bill to tax Airbnb and other short-term rentals to fund affordable housing projects could be voted on by the Senate as soon as today. The proposal has revived the debate over Airbnb and its role in the housing crisis.

Image caption:
What Happens to a Town When its Prison Closes?

California is unwinding the prison-building boom of the 1980s and 1990s. The cuts are falling on small towns that banked on government jobs to anchor their communities.

Image caption: Members of Teamsters, CSUEU, UAW 4123, and CFA faculty gathered to ask for fair wages outside the CSU Chancellor’s office in Long Beach on May 23.
Report: Cal State Has $1.5 Billion Funding Gap

A new analysis shows that the California State University system doesn’t make or receive enough money to cover its costs, even with state support. The report and lawmakers urge the system to increase tuition, but even that might not be …

Image caption: How many innocent people have been executed? There is no way to know for sure.
Death Penalty Mistakes: When the State Kills the Innocent

More than 4 percent of death penalty convicts have been wrongfully convicted, data shows. But courts including the U.S. Supreme Court have failed to provide protections for the innocent facing death at the hands of the state.

Image caption: The death chamber inside San Quentin. Gov. Newsom has ordered the facility dismantled.
Is California’s Death Penalty Finally Dead?

The death penalty remains legal in California, but Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered a moratorium on executions in 2019. Will capital punishment end in the state? Here’s what’s happening.

Image caption: California’s 1,000 megawatts of power from the Colorado River’s Hoover Dam have been in jeopardy.
California To Cut Colorado River Water Use

California will cut use of water from the Colorado River drastically under a new agreement announced by the Biden Administration on May 22. Nevada and Arizona have also agreed to the cuts.