California Wildfires
California sets aside $170 million to thin vegetation, forests to help prevent wildfires
Six conservancies throughout the state will oversee work largely in Southern California and the Sierra Nevada.
April 14, 2025
Commentary
California’s lithium future must include better recognition of overlooked Salton Sea communities
An effort to formally recognize the Salton Sea as an economic region was vetoed last year, but that has not stopped underinvested and underrepresented communities there from fighting for key infrastructure as lithium mining expands.
Investigation
License to Kill
The California DMV routinely allows dangerous drivers with horrifying histories to continue to operate on our roadways. Too often they go on to kill. Many keep driving even after they kill. Some go on to kill again.
Higher Education
Trump administration restores dementia research it gutted as part of its DEI purge
The National Institutes of Health restored a leading University of California researcher’s $36 million grant studying dementia on Friday after terminating it three weeks ago as part of the Trump administration’s DEI purge. The UC says others were restored, too.
Politics
California lawmakers quietly sideline bills in secretive suspense process
More than 100 California bills moved to the “suspense file” last week, the start of a process where consequential decisions are made out of public view.
Show Your Work
How we reported on California’s deadly drivers
A CalMatters investigation finds that the California DMV routinely allows dangerous drivers with horrifying histories to continue to operate on our roadways.
Investigation
7 takeaways: How the DMV allows dangerous drivers to stay on the road
Officials may call driving a privilege, but they treat it as a right — often failing to take drivers’ licenses even after they kill someone on the road.