All California Local Articles

Welcome to 2023 — a year that may prove decisive in California’s attempts to address some major challenges, from housing and homelessness to climate change.

A note from our publisher: California Local invites you to listen—and contribute.

Here’s a look back, through the work of CalMatters photojournalists and freelance photographers.

Wherever you live in California, you are likely to have strong feelings about Lake Tahoe. I want you to know that the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation’s annual Give Back Tahoe campaign is at the tail end of another record-breaking year.

2022 was a year that needed a lot of explaining. And California Local was there. Here are 5 "honorable mentions" in the list of our most important explanatory journalism stories from the year gone by, from animal welfare to the …

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.

The Supreme Court is keeping in place, for now, Title 42 — the pandemic policy that OK’d migrant expulsions. California has yet to figure out how to meet the needs of an influx of migrants when it does go away.

Nearly 100 committees are sitting on $35 million in leftover campaign funds. Candidates could give the cash to charity or return it to their donors, but many hold on to the money to retain political influence or to possibly run …

CalMatters' expert journalists around the state created this guide to the state's efforts to meet the challenges of 2022 and prepare for 2023.

From its early days of hard-charging, Jewish immigrant moguls to today's domination by megacorporations, here's how Hollywood continues to hold its place as one of California's most important industries.

Charles Drew University, the only historically Black university in California, will launch a new MD program next year. The goal is to train more doctors of color to help underserved communities in a state where only 3% of physicians are …

Despite December storms, water supplies remain low in many areas. Some managers expect to impose severe restrictions on their customers.

California is the most American of all states, both setting the direction for the rest of the country, and acting as a mirror of what the U.S. is today. Here’s why, and how it got that way.

Amoxicillin, the most widely prescribed antibiotic, is suddenly in short supply just as a wave of respiratory illnesses is sweeping California. What is causing the sudden shortage?

Hanging over the heads of California's newly sworn-in state lawmakers — and likely to be top of mind when they return to Sacramento next month — are the state's intertwined housing and homelessness crises. That was made clear Tuesday, when …

A review of our web metrics reveals a lot of growth in site visitors. But we’re happiest to see that we are helping connect people with their communities.

Proposition 13, the popular tax reform law passed in 1978, has driven increases in economic inequality and racial wealth disparities in California. Here’s how.

The Democratic Party could regret its failure to better coordinate campaigns in California and spend more money on congressional races that helped determine control of the House of Representatives.

The governor threw communities into disarray two weeks ago by withholding $1 billion in homelessness funding for plans he saw as unambitious. But local officials said the assignment itself discouraged ambition. Now Newsom is yielding.

David Schmaltz outlines a pivotal point in California history in his Monterey County Weekly cover story on the Battle of Natividad.