California Local

Image caption: There's too much information these days. But explanatory reporting can help.

STATEWIDE EXPLAINER

What Makes a News Article an ‘Explainer,’ Anyway?

In an era of information overload, here’s how a rising form of journalism helps explain it all for you, and why California Local publishes ‘explanatory’ reporting.

Image caption: RCDs look after the land, whether it’s used for grazing, growing, or getting out into nature.

STATEWIDE EXPLAINER

California Dirt

What do resource conservation districts protect? Pretty much everything that’s worth saving.

Image caption: There are still 27 oil platforms off the California coastline.

STATEWIDE EXPLAINER

Offshore Oil Drilling in California Waters, Explained

Why is California still experiencing offshore oil spills half-a-century after the catastrophic Santa Barbara disaster? The answer is found in the state’s longtime, close relationship with the oil business.

Image caption: Local cities and counties struggle to regulate the exploding short-term rental industry.

STATEWIDE EXPLAINER

Short-Term Losses

The short-term or ‘vacation’ rental industry spawns hundreds of horror stories and damages the housing market, but governments struggle with how to bring it under control.

Image caption: Placer County’s water system was birthed in the throes of the Gold Rush.

EXPLAINER

Placer County’s Water History and Current System, Explained

Placer County’s water management and delivery system: where it came from and what it looks like today.

Image caption: Cargo ship traffic has reached record levels at California’s ports in 2021.

STATEWIDE EXPLAINER

Link Between Port Traffic Jams and Oil Spill, Explained

Here’s why cargo ship traffic has been dangerously heavy at California’s ports in 2021, and how the backup may have caused a disaster.

Image caption: The state's economic recovery from the pandemic has been slower than expected.

STATEWIDE EXPLAINER

Why California Jobs Have Been Slow to Come Back, Explained

Extended unemployment benefits, the state's eviction moratorium and other COVID relief measures have ended. But people are still out of work and hurting in California as the recovery remains slow.

Image caption: Gov. Gavin News signed a broad new set of police reform laws Sept. 30.

STATEWIDE EXPLAINER

California’s Sweeping New Police Reform Laws, Explained

Gov. Gavin Newsom and California’s Democratic legislators have enacted a sweeping new package of police reform legislation. Here’s what the new laws will accomplish, and why.

Image caption: A firefighter battles the Dixie Fighter, a massive blaze started by PG&E equipment.

STATEWIDE EXPLAINER

PG&E’s Record of Causing Fires, and What the Company Is Doing About It

The state’s largest power utility faced new criminal charges Sept. 24, but PG&E has a long and disturbing history of causing wildfires. Why? And how can the company change?

Image caption: Water is a human right under California law, but it doesn’t always work out that way.

STATEWIDE EXPLAINER

Agriculture and Water Shortages in the State’s Breadbasket, Explained

Residential wells are drying up in the state’s main agricultural region at the same time that agricultural businesses consume almost 90 percent of the water there.

Image caption: California’s increasingly dangerous wildfire outbreak has led to another crisis, this one in fire insurance.

STATEWIDE EXPLAINER

California’s Fire Insurance Crisis, Explained

Even as California’s wildfires grow more intense seemingly every year, insurers are cancelling policies for homeowners in the path of the fires.

Image caption: California will soon be getting a new hotline number as an alternative to 911 for mental health crises.

STATEWIDE EXPLAINER

988, the New Mental Health Emergency Number, Explained

California will soon add a new emergency hotline service with the number 988. Here’s the story behind that new service, and the original 911 number.

Image caption: California’s three-year-old legal cannabis industry is already struggling. Here’s why.

STATEWIDE EXPLAINER

The Crisis in California’s Legal Cannabis Industry, Explained

Cumbersome state bureaucracy and competition from their illegal counterparts has made life perilous for California’s nascent legal cannabis businesses.

Image caption: States have expansive powers to protect the health of the general public.

STATEWIDE EXPLAINER

The State’s Broad Power to Protect Public Health, Explained

Since long before the COVID-19 pandemic, states have possessed broad authority to protect public health, even to suspend laws and commandeer private property. Here's why, and how it works.

Image caption: A Pyrocumulus cloud generated by the Dixie Fire in July, 2021.

STATEWIDE EXPLAINER

What is Fire 'Containment?' That and Other Terms, Explained

What does it mean when firefighters call a fire "contained?" Here's a brief guide to commonly used fire prevention terminology.

Image caption: Too much noise is a form of pollution. So what are governments doing about it?

STATEWIDE EXPLAINER

How Governments Try to Quiet Down Noise Pollution, Explained

Noise is a form of pollution that threatens public health like any other type of environmental pollution. Here's what federal, state and local governments are doing to quiet things down.

EXPLAINER

Long form articles which explain how something works, or provide context or background information about a current issue or topic.