2021

Health

From maggots to sex abuse, nursing homes sue California to overturn citations, fines

California nursing homes have filed more than 400 lawsuits since 2016 to appeal state citations and fines alleging poor patient care. Regulators downgraded nearly a third of sanctions involving a death. Advocates say the appeals system favors nursing homes.

By Barbara Feder Ostrov • December 6, 2021

Commentary

Another way to reform the recall: Ranked Choice Voting

A more accurate reflection of California voters’ preferences in a recall would come from a Ranked Choice Voting general election.

By Guest Commentary • December 6, 2021

Commentary

Good riddance to state Capitol’s ugly annex

The state Capitol's annex will soon disappear and a replacement will be built costing more than a billion dollars. No one will be sorry to see the ugly, dysfunctional building go.

By Dan Walters • December 6, 2021

CalMatters en Español

Opinión: La economía de California sigue rezagada mientras que la de Nebraska mejora

EN RESUMEN La economía de California estuvo empatada con la tasa de desempleo más alta del país en octubre, mientras que Nebraska tuvo la más baja.  Read this article in English.  Es hora de volver a divertirse con los números. Cuando la Oficina Federal del Trabajo publicó las cifras de empleo y desempleo de octubre, estas […]

By Dan Walters • December 5, 2021

Commentary

California economy lags, but not Nebraska

California's economy was tied for the nation's highest unemployment rate in October while Nebraska had the lowest.

By Dan Walters • December 5, 2021

Housing

Is ‘right to housing’ a solution to California homelessness?

In the new episode of "Gimme Shelter: The California Housing Crisis Podcast." CalMatters' Manuela Tobias and the Los Angeles Times' Liam Dillon interview Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg on his "right to housing" proposal to reduce homelessness.

By Manuela Tobias • December 3, 2021

WhatMatters

Overdose epidemic plagues California: Fentanyl is driving uptick in deaths

As concern over the omicron variant mounts in California — with the state’s second case confirmed Thursday in Los Angeles County — another public health crisis is lurking in plain sight: the drug epidemic. A jaw-dropping report released Wednesday by the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy found that nearly 1,500 people, the vast […]

By Emily Hoeven • December 3, 2021

California Divide

Thousands of farmworkers will get pay raises thanks to a lawsuit

Guest farmworkers will see pay increases in 2022 thanks to a lawsuit to stop a Trump-era wage freeze. President Trump proposed the freeze in an attempt to help farmers who lost profit and fallowed land during the pandemic shutdown in 2020. But farmworker advocates sued the Department of Agriculture to stop the freeze from taking effect.

By Melissa Montalvo • December 2, 2021

CalMatters en Español

Miles de trabajadores agrícolas obtendrán aumentos salariales gracias a una demanda

EN RESUMEN Los trabajadores agrícolas invitados tendrán aumentos salariales en 2022 gracias a una demanda para detener la congelación salarial de la era Trump. El presidente Trump propuso la congelación en un intento de ayudar a los agricultores que experimentaron perdidas en sus  ganancias y dejaron tierras en barbecho durante el cierre de la pandemia en […]

By Melissa Montalvo • December 2, 2021

CalMatters en Español

Newsom: Es improbable que se cierren por Omicron COVID

Read this article in English.  ¡Qué diferencia hace un año! El miércoles, poco después de que se confirmara en San Francisco el primer caso de la variante omicron en el país, el gobernador Gavin Newsom realizó una conferencia de prensa para promover las vacunas y las inyecciones de refuerzo, y para tranquilizar a los californianos cansados […]

By Emily Hoeven • December 2, 2021