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Millions of dollars for basketball and football players from private donors. Thousand-dollar deals with the Biden Campaign, the former crypto-currency company FTX and clothing brands like Crocs and Aeropostale.  In a first-ever look, CalMatters’ Adam Echelman and Erica Yee obtained and analyzed California universities’ records of college athletes’ brand deals. Some records mention popular athletes, […]

In 2022 California declared itself a refuge for transgender health care after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law ensuring gender-affirming care for California minors and those living outside the state. Now more than a month into his second term, President Donald Trump is testing California’s sanctuary status — and some young transgender Californians say they […]

After a Lamborghini Murciélago Roadster got towed in 2023, no one claimed it. The iconic sports car sat at a Torrance tow yard for five months, long enough that the towing company had the right to sell it. The sale allowed the company to recoup its costs for the tow, storage and lien sale, about […]

California officials and lawmakers, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, often make bold proclamations that promise to make residents’ lives easier. But for two recent state initiatives, CalMatters reporters found that so far, affected Californians are still waiting for results: Fast food council: Gov. Newsom signed a law in 2023 that raised the minimum wage for fast […]

In the past few months, some Democratic state legislators have joined the reported exodus of users on the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter. These include Assemblymembers Tina McKinnor of Inglewood, Marc Berman of Palo Alto and Akilah Weber Pierson of San Diego. The most recent is Sen. Scott Wiener, who on Wednesday […]

Eight months ago the U.S. Supreme Court granted cities more authority to clear homeless encampments and arrest unhoused people for sleeping in public spaces. Since then, several cities across California have been ramping up efforts to sweep encampments, or pass more punitive anti-camping rules. But for those who have little say in high-profile court cases […]

From CalMatters local news fellow Cayla Mihalovich: California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 36, a new law that stiffened penalties for certain drug and theft charges, and pledged to provide “mass treatment” for those facing drug charges.  But since the law took effect, some counties have been scrambling to implement the measure without new funding or, […]

All across California, temporary homeless shelters have become the foundation of taxpayer-funded efforts to get people off the street and back into housing. Our new investigation found that shelters have instead turned into housing purgatory. They’re a mess — dangerous, chaotic and ultimately ineffective at finding people housing. Shelters are usually off limits to anyone […]

Has California’s spate of recent laws to build more housing worked? A report published today holds some answers. Its conclusion? Outlook not so good. As CalMatters’ Ben Christopher explains, YIMBY Law, a pro-housing development nonprofit, looked at five California laws. Those include one from 2021 allowing people to split their single-family homes into duplexes; and […]

In a dispute over whether he can convert his three-story condominium’s garage into its own ground-floor apartment, one Carlsbad resident is waging a battle against his homeowners association. As CalMatters’ Ben Christopher explains, Adam Hardesty is an unemployed project manager and HOA board vice president. After months of research and planning, he decided to turn […]