San Joaquin County Public Safety Articles

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.

How to effectively communicate actionable information for preparation before extreme events, and to disseminate vital information during and after disasters.

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.

Elon Musk says he plans to make Twitter a haven for 'free speech,' but a look at his list of investors suggests that the world's richest person may have other reasons for purchasing the highly influential social media platform.

California’s goal of zero traffic fatalities remains distant. Here are some common causes of deaths on the road that can be fixed, but haven’t been.

The Vision Zero program sets a goal for California cities to eliminate traffic fatalities, but almost a decade into the effort, the goal remains distant, and horrific tragedies on the road continue to stack up.

A wave of public government meeting disruptions by right-wing groups often inspired by Donald Trump has inspired a new law designed to help officials restore order to the process of running local government.

Fires, floods, earthquakes—California’s got it all. And CERT volunteers are ready to step in.

The chances of a 'biblical' megastorm devastating California have doubled over the past century, thanks to climate change, a new study warns. And as the globe continues to warm, the possibility of disaster only gets worse.

Was the deadly McKinney Fire made worse by the decline of commercial logging, or were factors such as poor forest management and climate change more important in causing the fire to explode in Siskiyou County?

Steven Carrillo, an active-duty Air Force servicemember, fell down a rabbit hole of Facebook extremism and became convinced he could start a new civil war. Then he turned his online obsession into real-life murder.

Extreme climate conditions that can be traced directly back to global warming are fueling the Oak Fire, the biggest California fire of 2022. Here’s how climate change is causing the disaster.

County sheriffs have tended to be predominantly white, male and politically conservative. But in California, those trends may be moving in the other direction, as recent elections and legislation appear to show.

California's assault weapons ban, in place since 1989, may not stand up to a new Supreme Court decision that makes it much harder for states to impose gun control. A federal court brief filed June 30 aims to strike down …

As California insurance companies have revoked the fire policies of thousands of homeowners, the state has taken steps to get them covered again.

The 2022 California wildfire season looks like another dangerous one, with the state's historic drought showing no signs of letting up. Here's what to expect, and some measures the state is taking to slow down the flames.

California is creating wildlife crossings that can help animals get across dangerous highways without risk of death from vehicle strikes. Here are five of them.

Following the K-Street shooting, a freelance journalist's thoughts about reporting on the deadliest single episode of gun violence in Sacramento history.

The modern gun control movement started in California. Surprisingly, it was the work of Ronald Regan and the Black Panther Party. Here’s what happened.