San Benito County Local News


Curated Local News articles published by local newsrooms.

H5N1 Bird Flu Infects California Dairy Cows

09/11/2024

H5N1 bird flu has been reported in three California dairy herds.

California Schools Face Twin Perils: Chronic Absenteeism and Declining Enrollment

09/11/2024

California’s public schools have a numbers problem —and it’s not just that their students don’t score very highly in national tests of mathematics ability.

No Sleeping Bags, Keep Moving: California Cities Increase Crackdown on Homeless Encampments

09/11/2024

More than two-dozen California cities passed, strengthened or are considering ordinances that penalize people for sleeping outside, after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed cities to crack down.

CA Homeless Count Is Up 8% From 2022

09/10/2024

An exclusive CalMatters analysis of the latest California homeless count reveals some good news and bad news: Though the growth rate of homelessness appears to be slowing, the overall number of unhoused Californians increased from two years ago.

California "30x30" Conservation Efforts Make Progress

09/08/2024

The California state goal to conserve 30% of its land and coastal waters has advanced, with conserved lands reaching 25% and coastal waters 16%.

CA Rent Control Battle Goes to the Ballot

09/06/2024

Amid a Southern California heat wave, about 300 advocates for rent control — with two 10-foot “greedy landlord” puppets — rallied Thursday in downtown Los Angeles, chanting: “The rent is too damn high!”

Reparations Supporters Plot Comeback After Bitter Defeat in California Legislature

09/06/2024

The controversial idea of cash reparations divided even Black advocates in the legislature this year. Here’s what’s next.

Should California Community Colleges Offer Bachelor’s Degrees in Nursing? Universities Say No

09/05/2024

Lawmakers approved two bills to allow some community colleges to provide bachelor’s degrees in nursing. That’s setting up another conflict with the California State University, which already offers these bachelor’s degrees.

California Has Spent Billions on Homelessness but Lacks Hard Data on Outcomes

09/04/2024

California has allocated more than $20 billion to alleviate the state’s homelessness crisis since Gavin Newsom became governor in 2019, but there’s precious little data on how the money was spent and what effect it’s had, other than the number of unhoused people has continued to climb.

California School Dashboard Lacks Pandemic Focus, Earns a D Grade in Report

09/04/2024

The California School Dashboard makes it hard for the public to see how schools and districts are performing over multiple years, concludes the report's lead author.

California Schools Release a Blizzard of Data, and That’s Why Parents Can’t Make Sense of It

09/04/2024

Information about how the state’s K-12 students are performing is located on several sites and is difficult to understand, a new report finds.

More Extreme Heat + More People = Danger in These California Cities. ‘Will It Get as Hot as Death Valley?’

09/04/2024

Inland communities with big population booms will experience the most extreme heat days under climate change projections. The combination puts more people at risk — and many cities are unprepared.

Are CA Gig Workers Getting Promised Pay and Benefits?

09/04/2024

California voters passed Proposition 22 four years ago. The ballot initiative, backed by Uber, Lyft and other gig companies, promised the state’s more than 1 million gig workers new benefits, such as guaranteed minimum earnings, health care stipends, occupational accident insurance and accidental death insurance.

Health Care in California: How the State Made Almost Everyone Eligible for Coverage

09/03/2024

Almost everyone in California has health insurance. That trend reflects about a decade and a half of policymaking designed to expand access to health care. The state’s average uninsured rate has dropped from nearly one in four Californians in 2009 to less than one in ten today.

California’s Economy Lags Behind Other States, Here’s Why It’s So Sluggish

09/02/2024

California’s unemployment rate, 5.2% of its labor force in July, is no longer the nation’s highest after months of having that dubious distinction.

CalFire Deploys New Air Tanker

09/02/2024

CalFire received the first of five planes promised by the federal government, a former Coast Guard C-130 Hercules air tanker.

Gavin Newsom Calls Special Session on Gas Prices

08/31/2024

Unable to jam through bills he says will lower California gas prices, Gov. Newsom calls the Legislature back into session.

California’s Inequality Hotspots

08/30/2024

A large apartment complex in San Rafael’s majority-Latino Canal neighborhood. Latino families in Marin County are far more likely than white families to have trouble making ends meet, a new report finds.

More Affordable Housing Funds Could Come With New Labor Requirements

08/30/2024

The Legislature is willing to guarantee $500 million annually to affordable housing developers, but with a caveat.

California Emergency Alerts Warn You About Fires and Extreme Weather. How to Sign Up in Your County

08/29/2024

Early warning systems save lives during disasters, but a recent FEMA survey found that only a third of people are signed up. Use this resource to find your county’s emergency alert sign-up page.