All California Local Articles


Image caption: In several test programs throughout the state, Medi-Cal recipients are receiving healthy meals by prescription at "food pharmacies."
Medi-Cal Reform Proposal: Prescriptions to Cover Healthy Foods

Medi-Cal and other programs are testing food prescriptions that advocates say could improve chronic conditions, lower health care costs and reduce hunger.

Image caption: Feud between the “blue” and “red” governors has been broiling for over a year.
Newsom Vs. DeSantis: Feuding Govs Agree to ‘Red vs. Blue’ Debate

Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis finally agreed to debate California Gov. Gavin Newsom after a feud hat has lasted for more than a year and included DeSantis dumping planeloads of immigrants in Sacramento.

Image caption: Unexplained land purchases surrounding Travis Air Force Base on three sides have raised national security fears among U.S. officials.
Why Is a Mysterious Company Buying Land Around Travis AFB?

Travis Air Force Base in Solano County is now surrounded on three sides by a Delaware company with millions of dollars and no public record of who is behind it. And the federal government hasn’t been able to solve the …

Image caption: Striking Hollywood actors and screenwriters are seeing support from other labor unions, such as the Domestic Workers Alliance.
California Summer Strikes Cut Across Wealth, Class Barriers

Showing solidarity with other social classes is a prominent union strategy in the so-called “hot labor summer” sweeping California. It’s too soon to say if the inter-union activity will get employers to bargain.

Image caption: Young actors and writers hoping to break into Hollywood say that current strikes will let them have viable careers.
Hollywood Strikes Vital to Livable Industry Careers, College Students Say

Strikes by the Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild have shut down Hollywood. As workers demand fair compensation and regulations on artificial intelligence, college students aspiring to break into the industry are caught up in the historic moment.

Image caption: After a historic drop in enrollments due to the pandemic, community colleges are pouring money into marketing campaigns to get students back.
Community Colleges Use Flashy Marketing to Get Students Back

After a historic drop in enrollment during the COVID-19 pandemic, California community colleges are ramping up marketing efforts, spending more than $40 million in state and federal dollars to lure students back. Is it working?

Image caption: After an extensive and costly treatment process, sewage may help ease the state’s water crisis.
Sewage Could Be Converted to Drinking Water, State Plans

Waste would undergo extensive treatment and testing before it’s piped directly to taps, providing a new, costly but renewable water supply. The state’s new draft rules are more than a decade in the making.

Image caption: Will voters be willing to keep borrowing money, even to address critical issues?
Voters Asked to OK $35 Billion Debt to Attack Housing Crisis

Three of the biggest housing bonds in state history are bound for the 2024 ballot. But with no shortage of crises facing the state, California can only borrow so much and voters may succumb to “bond fatigue.”

Image caption: Data shows that homelessness immediately decreased once renter protections were put in place.
Here's How California Policy Makes Homelessness Worse

Renter protections and eviction bans put in place for the COVID-19 pandemic have expired. By keeping them in place, California could slow the spread of homelessness. But that's not happening.

Image caption: Doctors and psychiatrists say they are the "linchpin" of California's prison medical system, but working conditions are driving away staff.
Despite Six-Figure Pay, CA Prison Doctors Authorize Strike

Almost half of the jobs for doctors and psychiatrists in California prisons are unfilled. Now, their union says it’s ready to strike over pay even as the state faces a steep budget deficit.

Image caption: School board meetings about educating children have deteriorated into battles over hot-button culture war issues in some districts.
State Moves to Stop Culture Wars Upending California School Boards

California grants school boards much local control, but recent events have pushed the state to take steps to stop local school board meetings from turning into potentially dangerous culture war battlegrounds.

Image caption: Air pollution, such as seen here in Los Angeles circa 1972, contains greenhouse gases which cause the climate to change.
7 Ways California Leads the Battle Against Climate Change

Since 1947, California has led the United States in the fight against climate change. Here is a list of some of the steps the state has taken to battle global warming, greenhouse gases and air pollution.

Image caption: Women workers face an ongoing pay gap with men, but undocumented women earn the least of all.
Undocumented Women Face Widest Pay Gap of Any Workers

A new study shows women without legal residency face a lopsided pay gap. In California they take home 44 cents for every dollar that white, non-Latino men make and 87 cents for every dollar undocumented men make. Would raising the …

Image caption: It's a “complicated time for health care" in California, says the executive director of the state exchange,
Covered California Announces Steepest Premium Hike in 5 Years

California still offers generous subsidies, but the rate hike signals that runaway health care costs are back after five years of low premium increases.

Image caption: Even a small rise in temperature makes workers more likely suffer injuries on the job.
Extreme Heat Injures 20K California Workers Every Year

A workers comp study says one day above 100 degrees can cause 15 percent more accidents, costing workers and employers millions. A new advisory panel may help the state improve its work heat rules.

Image caption: Now-retired Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) was the most outspoken climate denier in Congress for many years.
10 Frequently Heard Claims Made by Climate Deniers

Here are 10 of the most often-heard climate change denial claims and arguments. Do any of them hold any water?

Image caption: The surprising history of climate change denial can be traced back to fears over nuclear war.
It Started With ‘Star Wars’: Understanding Climate Denial

To understand climate change denial, we must go back to the Ronald Reagan presidency and his proposal for the “Star Wars” space-based missile defense system.

Image caption: Low transfers are also the fault of the UC and Cal State systems which rejected 30,000 applicants in 2020.
Community College Transfer Numbers Remain Far Below State’s Goal

Transfer to a four-year institution is a benchmark for success among community colleges, but the numbers are low and disparities across the system persist, especially between colleges in rural areas and those in wealthy suburbs.

Image caption: In 2001, Barbie faced her first real competition when MGA’s Bratz hit the market.
Ten Trendsetting Toys

Barbie is the most famous California-born toy. But there are other iconic playthings that were created or brought to market here.

Image caption: Gov. Gavin Newsom promised "universal" health coverage, but new Med-Cal purge takes California in the other direction.
More Than 220K Californians Lose Health Coverage in Medi-Cal Purge

Many of the people who lost Medi-Cal are likely still eligible for health care coverage if they can get their paperwork to county offices in the next 90 days. Otherwise, the program that provides health insurance to low-income Californians just …

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