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Image caption: Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (right) waited until just before Thanksgiving to hit legislative leadership with a drastic overhaul.
Rivas Shakes up Legislative Leadership: Winners and Losers

Assembly Speaker Rivas puts key allies into leadership posts and shuffles the top posts on committees heading into the 2024 session of the Legislature. One big winner: pro-housing advocates.

Image caption: Despite rising homelessness, the state lifted its COVID-era eviction ban. Now renters are feeling the consequences.
End of Pandemic Ban Sends Renter Evictions Soaring

The number of Californians facing eviction was relatively low for years during a lengthy statewide moratorium. In the year after it ended, cases soared and still remain high in large counties.

Image caption: Almost half of all low-income Black adults in California experience food insecurity.
Hunger and Food Insecurity in California: What It Is, What to Do About It

Hunger and food insecurity have become persistent problems in California. With the world’s fifth-largest economy, what steps can we take to make sure that everyone has enough to eat?

Image caption: Even as the state has set ambitious clean energy goals, California is once again slashing incentives for rooftop solar power.
California Slashes Rooftop Solar Incentives—Again

The utilities commission reduced payments to apartments, schools and businesses selling solar power to the grid despite a barrage of criticism. Commissioners say it reverses unfair subsidies.

Image caption: Second Harvest CEO Erica Padilla-Chavez (at right) with a group of local Rotary members who helped wrap Holiday Food & Fund Drive barrels.
Setting the Table for Social Change

Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County CEO Erica Padilla-Chavez looks at food insecurity as a symptom of an underlying disorder—one that can be cured.

Image caption: It's becoming more difficult to have a healthy childbirth in California as maternity wards close at an alarming rate.
California Hospitals Closed 46 Maternity Wards Since 2012

Hospitals all over California are closing their maternity wards, including in dense cities like Los Angeles and in more remote communities in the Sierra Nevada.

Image caption: Sparky and Cheri Clarke, formerly based at Cal Expo, lost everything in the barn fire at Tioga Downs, including six horses.
Cal Expo Horsemen Step Up After Devastating Barn Fire

Local harness trainers and owners donate trailer-full of supplies after Tioga Downs tragedy in upstate New York.

Image caption: A definitive federal report says California’s economy suffers more than almost all states from the effects of climate change.
California Among Top 5 Worst Climate Change States, Report Says

California ranks among the top states suffering economic damage from climate-related disasters. The report describes food shortages, floods, droughts, wildfires, pollution, disease—all linked to climate change.

Image caption: Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has directed the city’s housing department to conduct a comprehensive review of all residential hotels in response to an investigative report.
LA Hotel Housing Story

A hotel in Hollywood is receiving more than twice it would get per room by renting to the city of Los Angeles rather than to long-term tenants.

Image caption: Under a new law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, California students must now be educated in media literacy and critical thinking skills.
How to Spot Fake News Now Part of California School Curriculum

A new law requires K-12 schools to add media literacy to curriculum for English language arts, science, math and history-social studies. Among the lessons will be recognizing fake news.

Image caption: Translated from the Greek, “Democracy” means “people power.” How much power do the people have in California?
People Power! What Is Democracy, and How Does It Work in California?

Democracy is a 2,500-year-old system of government still looked on today as the best system, because under a democratic system, the people govern themselves. But is that all there is to it? What is democracy? And how does it work …

Image caption: Voters have many decisions to weigh before March 5.
One Citizen, One Vote

A year from now we’ll be choosing the next U.S. president. But there are many important decisions to be made before then. Now’s the time to start getting ready for the March 5 primary.

Image caption: Farm workers had argued that reforms now in place in California would reduce employer retaliation for unionization efforts.
Farmworkers in Stanislaus County Win Union Vote Under New Law

The United Farm Workers, which represents nearly 7,000 workers, won a unionization vote in Stanislaus County. It’s the first such win in six years and first under a law that went into effect in May.

Image caption: Lobbyists have been big spenders in 2023, with oil companies alone spreading around more than $15 million.
Led by Oil Companies, Lobbyists Flood State Govt With Cash

By the end of September 2023, more than $358 million had been spent this year on lobbying California’s Legislature, agencies, and Public Utilities Commission.

Image caption: There’s no “magic solution” to the state’s homeowner fire insurance crisis, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s office says.
Despite Promises, Homeowners Still Face Fire Insurance Crisis

While state regulators craft new regulations and consult with the insurance industry, many Californians are paying extra-high premiums—or going without insurance entirely.

Image caption: Like last year, three different respiratory viruses threaten to infect Californians this season. How bad will it be?
COVID, Flu and RSV: California’s Outlook for the ’23/24 ‘Tripledemic’

New vaccines for RSV and an updated booster for COVID-19 give Californians more tools to protect themselves from respiratory viruses this fall.

Image caption: How does social media affect the minds and well-being of children? According to California and other states, not well.
California Sues Meta For Damaging Kids’ Mental Health

California and 32 other states are suing Instagram’s parent company, Meta, saying that their apps are damaging to children. Is there evidence for those claims? Here’s why social media is under attack.

Image caption: Californians continue to set clocks back every fall, and ahead each spring.
Daylight Saving Time, Explained

After a 2018 vote authorizing the state legislature to make daylight saving time year-round, Californians are still changing their clocks twice per year. How did we get here?

Image caption: Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled affirmative action policies unconstitutional, some students are recosidering their college choices.
Affirmative Action: How SCOTUS Decision Changes College Admissions

After the Supreme Court ended affirmative action in college admissions, some students are rethinking their school selections. Some colleges are also boosting their student outreach as they seek diversity.

Image caption: House Reps (L-R) Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), Katie Porter (D-Irvine) and Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) lead the race for California's open U.S. Senate seat.
Where California Senate Candidates Get Their Campaign Cash

It’s the highest-profile race next year in California. This is where the leading candidates—Democrats Barbara Lee, Katie Porter and Adam Schiff—are raising the most money.


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