All California Local Newsletters

Holiday recipes from Sacramento Digs Gardening, a tour of agricultural tourist attractions—including Modesto’s imperiled Rodin Farms Fruit Stand—and a preview of the scenery-chewing Newsom-DeSantis debate.

From now until the end of the year, ’tis the season of giving. Here are some suggestions for where to make a deposit.

Veterans Day weekend reminds us to appreciate our fundamental democratic values, to thank those who fought to defend them, and to work together to preserve democracy here in California.

For this week’s newsletter, Jonathan Vankin looks at the lawsuit that California Attorney General Rob Bonta and AGs across the country have filed against Facebook’s and Instagram’s parent company, Meta.

To celebrate Halloween, we bring you a guide to California’s most fascinating ghost towns. Plus a riveting explainer about the state’s second-biggest industry—logistics—which contains some downright scary facts.

The California Coastal Commission has made the state a leader in two big ways. First, by protecting 800-plus miles of vulnerable coastline, and next by ensuring that it’s accessible to the public.

This week we celebrate the value of land trusts, which preserve natural resources, agricultural land, and beloved community open spaces.

On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we’re making an announcement, and offering suggestions about commemorating some California heroes.

When you’re getting your go kit together, don’t forget to make sure your phone is smart enough to handle any disaster.

In this issue of The Newsletter, we ponder incremental progress as reflected in the journey of two newsrooms.

Big Social Media is abandoning the field of reliable information-distribution in some big ways. CALocal is helping to fill that hole—with maps.

Take a break from the weighty worries of the modern world. Go on a run, absorb some culture, and yuk it up with California-born comedians.

Planned communities—the past. the present and the future.

California Local focuses on reclamation districts, the oldest type of special district in California, created to turn wetlands into arable—and monetizable—land.

As Lahaina recovers from the deadliest wildfire in modern US history, we revisit the second-deadliest—the Camp Fire, which destroyed Paradise, CA almost five years ago. Also: Is California ready for a Lahaina-type disaster? And: A climate-crisis lexicon.

The nonprofit sector plays a huge role in what we like to call “community betterment” throughout California. Here are some organizations and individuals who are doing some very cool work that you’ll want to know about.

Twitter, the "digital town square" that never really was, is no more. And Meta/Facebook is (almost) revealed as a spreader of hate and division. Plus: Some real good news.

Even as new studies further strengthen scientific consensus on global warming, climate deniers persist—and so do California’s efforts to fend off disaster.

Two films celebrate historic events: the dawn of the atomic age and the birth of the modern woman.

There is evidence that the tightly related scourges of housing affordability and homelessness could be alleviated with one bold move: Abolish restrictive zoning.