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Emily Hoeven

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Emily Hoeven wrote the daily WhatMatters newsletter for three years at CalMatters . Her reporting, essays, and opinion columns have been published in San Francisco Weekly, the Deseret News, the San Francisco Business Times, the Flathead Beacon, the Daily Pennsylvanian, and the Mercury News. Emily graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in English and French and studied English at the University of Cambridge, England as a Thouron Summer Prize fellow. She speaks French fluently and spent a year teaching English in Châteauroux, France.

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Sunset in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. Getty Images/iStockphoto
WhatMatters
Wintry weather is coming to California
Good morning, California. It’s Friday, October 8. At last: rain and snow California is about to get a breath of fresh air — literally. Cooler weather is set to sweep across much of the state over the weekend, bringing light rain to Southern California, the first significant snowfall of the season to the Sierra Nevada, […]
By • October 8, 2021
Governor Newsom signed legislation at CSU Northridge to improve college affordability and increase access to higher education.
WhatMatters
Newsom is running out of time
Good morning, California. It’s Thursday, October 7. Big decisions await T-minus three days. That’s how much time Gov. Gavin Newsom has left to decide the fate of the remaining bills on his desk — and as the deadline draws nearer, the buildup for big-ticket and contentious proposals is getting more intense.  The direct impact of […]
By • October 7, 2021
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill addressing serious problems with nursing home licensing in California, although some elder care advocates contend the new law will not adequately protect residents and consumers. Photo via iStock
WhatMatters
Newsom admin ripped for nursing home policies
Good morning, California. It’s Wednesday, October 6. ‘We have to wait for people to die’ California’s reputation as a national leader in the COVID response was turned on its head Tuesday, when state lawmakers launched a blistering attack on the Newsom administration’s handling of nursing homes amid the pandemic. The rebuke of the California Department […]
By • October 6, 2021
Oil washes up on a beach in Newport Beach, on Oct. 4, 2021. A major oil spill off the coast of Southern California fouled popular beaches and killed wildlife while crews scrambled Sunday, to contain the crude before it spread further into protected wetlands. Photo by Ringo H.W. Chiu, AP Photo
WhatMatters
California’s new state of emergency
Good morning, California. It’s Tuesday, October 5. Calls mount to end offshore drilling At nearly 10 pm on Monday night, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Orange County due to the region’s largest oil spill in three decades. The announcement came more than two days after authorities began sounding the alarm on […]
By • October 5, 2021
Cleanup contractors deploy skimmers and floating barriers to try to stop further oil crude incursion into the Wetlands Talbert Marsh in Huntington Beach on Oct. 3, 2021. One of the largest oil spills in recent Southern California history fouled popular beaches and killed wildlife while crews scrambled Sunday to contain the crude before it spread further into protected wetlands. Photo by Ringo H.W. Chiu, AP Photo
WhatMatters
Massive oil spill batters California’s Orange County coast
California’s taking an environmental beating. Orange County was hit with its largest oil spill in three decades when at least 126,000 gallons of crude oil spewed from a leaking pipeline connected to an offshore platform. The oil slick — which was first reported Saturday and grew large enough to cover the city of Santa Monica […]
By • October 4, 2021
WhatMatters
‘What real reparations can look like’
Good morning, California. It’s Friday, October 1. Police reform + racial justice Better late than never. That was the message undergirding a stack of criminal and racial justice bills Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law on Thursday, a year after many of them failed to make it out of the Democratic-controlled state Legislature. California now […]
By • October 1, 2021
WhatMatters
California enters a new phase of the pandemic
Today marks a massive inflection point in California’s pandemic response. The state is shifting from a phase of protection — marked by the implicit recognition that people had very little control over COVID-19 — to one of action, underscoring that vaccines are free, widely available to most of the population and key to bringing the […]
By • September 30, 2021
WhatMatters
Top PG&E regulator resigns
Good morning, California. It’s Wednesday, September 29. Another big appointment for Newsom California’s top utility regulator is resigning from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration as the state struggles to rein in massive wildfires and ensure its electrical grid keeps power flowing to residents’ homes. Marybel Batjer, president of the California Public Utilities Commission, announced Tuesday that […]
By • September 29, 2021
A drive-through vaccination clinic at the Larkspur Ferry Terminal in Larkspur on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2021. Marin County is tied for highest vaccination rate with Alpine County. Photo by Sherry LaVars, Marin Independent Journal
WhatMatters
Booster shots pose new hurdle for California
Good morning, California. It’s Monday, September 27. Law enforcement resists mandates California is preparing to roll out COVID-19 booster shots even as millions of residents have yet to receive their first vaccine dose and a dearth of rapid coronavirus tests threatens to fuel outbreaks across the state. On Friday, public health experts from California, Nevada, […]
By • September 27, 2021

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Emily Hoeven wrote the daily WhatMatters newsletter for three years at CalMatters . Her reporting, essays, and opinion columns have been published in San Francisco Weekly, the Deseret News, the San Francisco Business Times, the Flathead Beacon, the Daily Pennsylvanian, and the Mercury News. Emily graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in English and French and studied English at the University of Cambridge, England as a Thouron Summer Prize fellow. She speaks French fluently and spent a year teaching English in Châteauroux, France.
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Emily Hoeven