Statewide Region Signal Booster Articles


Image caption: California's Employment Development Division was at the center of a widespread systematic breakdown.
How Did California’s COVID Unemployment Disaster Happen?

As congressional factions volley responsibility for pandemic breakdowns, Silicon Valley’s home state leads off a new book about “why government is failing in the digital age.”

Image caption: Food banks, meant as emergency aid, are now permanent food sources as many Californians face hunger.
California Food Banks Flooded by Families Needing Help

As extra pandemic benefits end, food banks say that they're becoming long-term supermarkets for Californians facing food insecurity. Several bills to boost CalFresh are before the Legislature, but the state budget deficit may get in the way.

Image caption: Sen. Aisha Wahab (D-Hayward) who introduced the caste discrimination ban bill.
Caste Discrimination: California Bill Ignites Controversy

A bill to ban caste discrimination in California brings a global conflict to the Legislature. While many South Asian groups support the measure, some say it could backfire.

Image caption: Gavin Newsom (l) has lashed out at Florida Gov. and GOP Presidential candidate Ron DeSantis (r).
Newsom Wants DeSantis Charged With Kidnapping Migrants

‘You small, pathetic man,’ Gavin Newsom wrote in a Twitter post suggesting he’d pursue criminal charges against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over recent migrant flights to Sacramento.

Image caption: In what appears to be a power play that worked, a developer proposed building 14 residential highrises with a combined 4,260 units in Santa Monica.
How California Developers Twist Affordable Housing Laws

A new interpretation of an old law gives homebuilders leverage over California cities and their zoning codes. They’re using it to push through thousands of new apartments around the state.

Image caption: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield voted to toughen welfare work requirements, while state lawmakers back home chose another tack.
CA May Loosen Welfare Work Rules as US Tightens Them

State lawmakers want to loosen CalWORKs job requirements so people keep cash benefits. Congress’ debt limit deal could curb that.

Image caption: Senate Bill 584 would hit short-term rentals with a new, 15 percent tax.
New Tax on Airbnb Could Fund CA Affordable Housing

A bill to tax Airbnb and other short-term rentals to fund affordable housing projects could be voted on by the Senate as soon as today. The proposal has revived the debate over Airbnb and its role in the housing crisis.

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What Happens to a Town When its Prison Closes?

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.

Image caption: Gary Gragg examines buds on one of the mango plants he's growing in the Sacramento Valley.
Mangoes and Agave in the Central Valley?

The future of farming in California is changing as the planet warms, altering the rain and heat patterns that guide which crops are grown where. “We’re adjusting for survival,” one grower said.

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How Free Trips Lead to Bills

Members of the California Legislature took nearly $1 million worth of trips sponsored by interest groups in 2022. The California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy accounted for 40% of the travel spending. Over the years, some of its …

Image caption: Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) delivers the keynote address at the  Brookings Institute's Future of the Middle Class Initiative in May, 2019.
Why Democrats Should Pay Attention to California

Ezra Klein talks to state Sen. Scott Wiener about why progressive policies have failed in a state with no Republicans in power.

Image caption: Reparations task force members listen during the public comment portion of a December 14, 2022 meeting in Oakland.
Reparations Task Force to Recommend ‘Down Payments’

The reparations task force meets Saturday in Oakland. It may vote to recommend a state apology and payments to African Americans based on years living in state.

Image caption: New housing construction in the Crocker Village neighborhood in Sacramento on Feb. 10, 2022.
CEQA Must be Changed

By almost any measure, the balance between advancing projects critical to California's future and environmental protection under the California Environmental Quality Act has been lost. The failure to reform CEQA is not for a lack of knowing what the solutions …

Image caption: In a photo posted on social media, Gov. Gavin Newsom poses with members of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus after signing a series of bills.
Both Sides Now

The Problem Solvers Caucus wants to put policy before partisan politics. Can such bipartisan caucuses change the California Legislature?

Image caption: Farmworker Inocencio Cortez joins the rally in downtown Fresno on Cesar Chavez Day to help urge Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign the Ag Labor Voting Choice Act, providing more choices in how farm workers can vote in their union elections.
Farmworkers Ask Newsom To Sign Voting Bill

AB 616, authored by Santa Cruz Asm. Mark Stone, would allow farmworkers to vote for a union by mail instead of in elections conducted on a grower’s property.

Image caption: Pastor Casey Tinnin has come under attack following a hit-piece by a notorious spreader of disinformation.
Editor Brings Truth to Placer County

Last week Carol Feineman, managing editor of four Gold Country Media papers, provided her readers with an important piece of information that should reverse a hasty and ill-informed decision.

Image caption: Historic downtown Salinas, California, capital of Monterey County, and the hub of  "America's Salad Bowl."
The Ghost of a California Newspaper

James Rainey reports that the Salinas Californian, the daily newspaper serving the capital of Monterey County, has completely emptied its newsroom.

Image caption: Withholding a mere 1% of LA's water would protect Mono Lake and millions of birds.
Save Mono Lake Again

A sizeable coalition has called for California's water regulator to take emergency measures to protect Mono Lake and suspend diversions to Los Angeles.

Image caption: DWR’s report on groundwater sustainability plans was illustrated with this photograph of a wheat field irrigated by groundwater in the southern San Joaquin Valley.
DWR Flushes Six Groundwater Plans

The San Joaquin Valley plans, serving low-income Latino communities, were deemed inadequate for preventing dry wells and sinking land.

Image caption: The snow-lined South Fork of the American River on March 3, 2023.
Too Much, Too Early

When warm storms melt snowpack early, reservoir managers must release water to prevent flooding—which sends this precious resource into the ocean.

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