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.
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.
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.
The California Supreme Court has kept the state at the forefront of legal issues surrounding abortion, the death penalty and same-sex marriage, starting in its earliest days in the Gold Rush era.
Comics may have been born in New York, but they came of age in California. And there’s more to the story than San Francisco comix.
Almost one million California residents are forced to drink from contaminated water supplies, or pay for bottled water. Economic inequality makes the crisis worse. What is the state doing to fix it?
The Golden State has masqueraded as everything from the Sahara Desert to the Swiss Alps. But which films best capture the real California?
Shopping malls revolutionized how Americans shopped, socialized, and lived. Now, malls face an uncertain future. How did the dream of a new town square go so wrong?
America has become a mostly suburban country, and California is known for its sprawling ’burbs. But what is a suburb? It turns out California may not be as suburban as people believe.
Silicon Valley has been hit with repeated boom and bust cycles throughout its history, and layoffs are sweeping the tech industry in 2023. Here's why the Valley will survive the latest downturn, as it has all the others.
Black History Month provides an opportunity to remember the achievements of African Americans who fought for equality in the Golden State.
2022 was a year that needed a lot of explaining. And California Local was there. Here are our 10 most important explanatory journalism stories from the year gone by, from immigration to cryptocurrency to wealth inequality and more.
From its early days of hard-charging, Jewish immigrant moguls to today's domination by megacorporations, here's how Hollywood continues to hold its place as one of California's most important industries.
Known for high elevation, bounteous snow and its remote location, Kirkwood has been a beloved ski resort for generations and celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. It also has a fascinating history, created from scratch and a lot of hard …
By MIKE AKAY More than 20 years ago, I interviewed Daron Rahlves, arguably one of the best skiers in the world, for Tahoe Weekly. Since that time, he has competed in three more Olympiads both as a downhiller and ski …
California is the most American of all states, both setting the direction for the rest of the country, and acting as a mirror of what the U.S. is today. Here’s why, and how it got that way.
David Schmaltz outlines a pivotal point in California history in his Monterey County Weekly cover story on the Battle of Natividad.
California's government was born out of utter chaos. Here's how the state developed some sort of order to the way it operates, and how it makes and enforces laws.
California is full of places and communities, but most are not cities. Here's what it takes for a community to become a city, the benefits of being one—and why the state has a 'de facto moratorium' on new cities.
Julia C. Bulette was brutally murdered 155 years ago, but her memory lives on in historic plaques, chautauquas, a saloon named after her and stories. Even the popular American television series “Bonanza,” set on a fictitious family ranch near Lake …
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