Sacramento County Explainer Articles

From overcrowded courthouses to trials of famous murderers, the Sacramento County Superior Court has seen it all. Here’s what you need to know about the system.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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

Two controversial bills finally pass, opening up at least the possibility that single-family lots could be used to provide more housing options.

Sacramento County residents get their water from 27 different districts that fall into five separate categories. Here’s how it all works.

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.

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

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.

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.

What’s a LAFCO? That’s the odd-sounding acronym for the independent boards that get a grip on suburban sprawl and government inefficiency.

Under California law, local governments may work together in a "Joint Powers Authority." But these little-known agencies can wield broad powers—even to levy taxes—with little public accountability.

The state of California, as well as some local governments, will soon require all public employees to be vaccinated against COVID. Here’s why they’re taking that step.

AB 1185, authorizing civilian sheriff's oversight bodies, was one of the few law enforcement reform bills to pass in the wake of the George Floyd protests. What does the law accomplish, and will it make a difference?

Climate scientists say that global warming is making wildfire season much worse. Here's how climate change causes fires to be more destructive.

California's recall system for public officials was originally intended to root out corruption, but it quickly took on a different use.