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# Home

## One California city’s idea to tackle the housing crisis: Take the stairs

by Ben Christopher

NEWSLETTERS

Stay informed

Get fact-based, quality reporting for free from CalMatters’ reporters on issues that matter to you.

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## ‘Unlawful coercion’: Trump can’t withhold funds or demand payment from UC, federal judge rules

by Mikhail Zinshteyn

Environment

## ‘A flood on steroids’: What to know as storm, debris flows threaten LA

by Rachel Becker

Politics

## More housing on the California coast? Changes at this agency signal a pro-building shift

by Nadia Lathan

Justice

## LA jails scale back opioid addiction treatment as fatal overdoses continue

by Cayla Mihalovich

##### Story Spotlight
#### How the tiniest domestic violence survivors heal with the help of a San Diego preschool

A San Diego preschool focuses on the “little guys” who experience domestic violence and other trauma. Mi Escuelita now has a long record of helping families move forward. Read the story.

##### Series Spotlight
#### License to Kill

California’s DMV allows drivers with horrifying histories to keep driving. Too often they go on to kill. Many still continue driving. Some go on to kill again. Read the series.

CalMatters **Explains**

- Wildfires
- Reparations
- Housing Costs
- Homelessness
- Minimum Wage
- Abortion Access

See more explainers

###### CalMatters en Español

Las políticas públicas y las leyes de California, explicadas.

Aprende Más

### POLITICS

## California lawmakers found money for these pet projects even as they slashed the budget

by Ryan Sabalow

## They want to be California’s next governor. Here’s what they’d do about health care

by Ana B. Ibarra

## Democrat Mike McGuire challenges GOP Rep. Doug LaMalfa for new Prop. 50 seat

by Maya C. Miller

## They rely on landlines for emergencies. AT&T’s political moves in California could take those away

by Yue Stella Yu and Malena Carollo

## Gavin Newsom’s former chief of staff indicted on public corruption charges

by Maya C. Miller

## Increasingly irrelevant, California’s Republican Party is even more isolated after Prop. 50

by Maya C. Miller

## How Google organized opposition to a California privacy proposal

by Khari Johnson and Yue Stella Yu

##### Project Spotlight
#### Digital Democracy

Check out CalMatters’ custom-built AI tool that tracks every word spoken in public hearings, every dollar donated to politicians, every vote cast and more.

### INSIDE THE NEWSROOM

What goes into our reporting on California’s biggest issues – how investigative stories come together, what challenges journalists face, CalMatters’ latest plans and more.

## CalMatters’ Anat Rubin honored for journalistic integrity by the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice

## CalMatters journalists begin Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism

## **Nonpartisan, independent California news for all**

We’re CalMatters, your nonprofit and nonpartisan news guide.

Our journalists are here to empower you and our mission continues to be essential.

- **We are independent and nonpartisan.** Our trustworthy journalism is free from partisan politics, free from corporate influence and actually free for all Californians.
- **We are focused on California issues.** From the environment to homelessness, economy and more, we publish the unfettered truth to keep you informed.
- **We hold people in power accountable.** We probe and reveal the actions and inactions of powerful people and institutions, and the consequences that follow.

But we can’t keep doing this without support from readers like you.

****Please give what you can today. Every gift helps.****

GIVE NOW

### EDUCATION

## ‘Can I just be a kid?’ Students shaken by immigration raids seek help from school counselors

by Ana B. Ibarra

## Has student improvement plateaued in California? New Dashboard shows modest gains

by Carolyn Jones

## His students suddenly started getting A’s. Did a Google AI tool go too far?

by Carolyn Jones

## Head Start programs begin closing in California due to shutdown

by Carolyn Jones

## California’s next university has a plan and programs. All it needs is a campus

by Deborah Brennan

## California wants to overhaul high school learning. This school is leading the way

by Carolyn Jones

## K-12

### Considering TK for your child? Take a peek inside one ideal classroom scenario

by Carolyn Jones

###### About College Beat

College Beat is produced by the CalMatters College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. Read more.

### HEALTH

## Half a million young Californians aren’t in school or work. Most are men

by Adam Echelman

## She drove a hundred miles to give birth. New California laws are bringing maternity care closer to home

by Kristen Hwang

## California Supreme Court rejects free speech challenge to LGBT protections in nursing homes

by Nigel Duara

## Adam Schiff and Doug LaMalfa want to reopen this county’s only hospital. But it won’t be easy

by Ana B. Ibarra

## California gives Planned Parenthood $140 million boost to keep clinics open

by Kristen Hwang

## Should billionaires pay more? California unions want voters to decide

by Kristen Hwang

## Explainer

### How California created the nation’s easiest abortion access — and then went further

##### Series Spotlight
#### No Deliveries

Explore why hospitals are shutting down maternity wards, what this means for parents-to-be with limited options, and whether anything can be done to protect access.

### ENVIRONMENT

## A Bay Area startup sold a plastic recycling dream. Neighbors call it just another incinerator

by Alejandra Reyes-Velarde

## Data centers are putting new strain on California’s grid. A new report estimates the impacts

by Alejandro Lazo

## No deal on the Colorado River despite Trump administration deadline

by Rachel Becker

## Newsom brings California to the heart of the Amazon — and the U.N. climate conference

by Alejandra Reyes-Velarde and Alejandro Lazo

## Colorado River talks hit crunch time. What’s at stake for California water?

by Rachel Becker

## If Trump’s EPA abandons climate policy, could California take over on greenhouse gases?

by Alejandro Lazo

## water watch

### ‘Emerging threat’: An invasive species is upending life in the Delta, with no help on the way

##### Series Spotlight
#### Lake Tahoe: A tarnished jewel

Lake Tahoe is an innocent victim — but there isn’t just a single villain. This series reveals the problems plaguing this alpine treasure.

### HOUSING

## California is about to have a massive fight over taxes. Here’s why Los Angeles is the frontline

by Ben Christopher

## What veto drama and a Texas trip tell us about a potential shift in California’s homelessness strategy

by Marisa Kendall

## Why California’s historic housing law gave activists a new reason to battle the bus

by Ben Christopher

## Gavin Newsom signs law overhauling local zoning to build more housing

by Ben Christopher

## Why this wealthy Bay Area suburb is at the center of the next big fight over California housing

by Ben Christopher

## California braces for ‘devastating’ expected cuts to federal homeless housing funds

by Marisa Kendall

## Homelessness

### They were repeatedly ticketed because of their homelessness. What did it change?

by Marisa Kendall, Aaron Schrank and Lisa Halverstadt

## Explainer

### Californians: Here’s why your housing costs are so high

by Ben Christopher and Manuela Tobias

### JUSTICE

## Inside the Menendez parole hearings: How fame and notoriety collide with justice

by Joe Garcia

## ICE opened a detention center in a former California prison. Detainees are suing over conditions inside

by Nigel Duara and Cayla Mihalovich

## California Supreme Court strikes down warning on LAPD citizen complaint forms

by Nigel Duara

## Jury awards $16.8 million to California prison doctor who complained about inmate’s threat

by Adam Ashton

## California prisoners sleep with ‘one eye open’. Should they have their own cells?

by Joe Garcia

## Listen: The blueprint for the national immigration raids came from California

by Andrew Donohue

## Resistance state: Tracking California’s lawsuits against the new Trump administration

by Mikhail Zinshteyn

##### Investigation
#### They were convicted of killing with their cars. No one told the DMV

A CalMatters investigation found that courts didn’t report hundreds of vehicular manslaughter convictions, prompting officials to belatedly take many drivers’ licenses.

### ECONOMY AND TECHNOLOGY

## California issues historic fine over lawyer’s ChatGPT fabrications

by Khari Johnson

## ‘We feel alone’: L.A. fire survivors call for California’s insurance commissioner to resign

by Levi Sumagaysay

## Why a new California law could change the way all Americans browse the internet

by Colin Lecher

## ‘I don’t know what we’re going to do.’ Californians fear loss of food aid as shutdown drags on

by Ana B. Ibarra, Deborah Brennan, Phoebe Huss and Chrissa Olson

## OpenAI just cut a deal with California. Critics say it’s full of holes

by Khari Johnson and Levi Sumagaysay

## LA County moves to limit license plate tracking, citing CalMatters report

by Phoebe Huss and Khari Johnson

## series spotlight

### Internal documents reveal the story behind California’s unemployment crash

##### Tech Spotlight
#### Why California backed off again from ambitious AI regulation

For the third year, the state delayed AI regulations for disclosing and appealing many automated decisions.

### CALIFORNIA VOICES

## California’s early intervention for youngsters with special needs is a lifeline — hanging by a thread

## Guest Commentary

### California colleges must target financial aid to students who need it most, despite federal cuts

Federal cuts will produce new challenges for higher ed, but financial aid priority should go to those with little or no wealth and low incomes.

### California study is asking crime survivors what we need

Polly Klaas’ sister regrets that politicians used Polly’s death to justify “tough on crime” laws such as California’s Three Strikes law. A study will collect survivors’ thoughts.

### Flipping fairness: California’s ‘colorblind’ laws fail Black students

A scholarship meant to repair racial terror now must include descendants of those who were never targets of it. Critics now say such programs are discriminatory.

###### We want to hear from you!

Want to submit a guest commentary or reaction to an article we wrote? You can find our submission guidelines here. For questions, please email commentary@calmatters.org

Learn more

## DAN WALTERS

### Newsom’s gas price crusade morphs into bid to keep refiners open

A study Gov. Gavin Newsom commissioned describes higher margins oil refiners receive for their products, which become gasoline.

### CALIFORNIA DIVIDE

## California food banks brace for funding cuts, and not only from the Trump administration

by Jeanne Kuang

## Will California ban companies from charging vets to secure benefits? Some say it should

by Adam Ashton

## How immigration levels in the U.S. changed since President Trump’s second term

by Wendy Fry

## What it’s like to live through LA’s long deportation summer

by Nigel Duara

## Republicans cap student loan debt. Why that’s bad news for California medical students

by Mikhail Zinshteyn and Kristen Hwang

## California’s population shrank in Trump’s first immigration crackdown. It could happen again

by Mikhail Zinshteyn

## Explainer

### What to know about California reparations: Is the state’s apology the beginning or the end?

by Wendy Fry, Erica Yee and Rya Jetha

###### Inequality Insights

A statewide media collaboration to raise awareness about poverty and income inequality through in-depth journalism and community outreach. Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

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