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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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WhatMatters
Big money flows into key state races
Good morning, California. It’s Wednesday, October 28. Four main groups In less than a week, Election Day will be upon us — wrapping up one of the most expensive campaign cycles in California history. Beyond the nearly $740 million pumped into the campaigns for and against the 12 statewide propositions — a state record — […]
By • October 28, 2020
Due to high winds and dry conditions PG&E will turn off the power to over 361,000 customers in 36 counties to protect them from possible wildfires caused by downed power lines. Photo by Jose Carlos Fajardo, Bay Area News Group
WhatMatters
Orange County besieged with blazes; Northern California largely spared
All things considered, California is faring better than expected amid the worst fire conditions of the season. Though desiccated winds topping 70 miles per hour ignited more than two dozen small fires in the northern part of the state, firefighters had fully contained all but two of them by Monday afternoon, and ongoing fires didn’t […]
By • October 27, 2020
WhatMatters
Wind, wind, wind: The most dangerous fire conditions yet
Brace yourself for the most dangerous fire weather of the season — and prepare to light a lot of candles. Nearly 1 million Californians will spend the day without power after PG&E initiated its largest shutoffs of the year Sunday to mitigate fire risk as bone-dry winds reaching 70 miles per hour pummel Northern California. […]
By • October 26, 2020
A group of Uber drivers filed a class-action lawsuit against the gig-economy giant Thursday, alleging it pressured them to support Prop. 22 via continuous in-app messaging. Image via iStock
WhatMatters
Prop. 22 battle reaches fever pitch
Good morning, California. It’s Friday, October 23. Court rules against Uber, Lyft The stakes in the battle over Prop. 22 just got a lot higher. Uber and Lyft must reclassify their independent contractor drivers as full-fledged employees by late January, a California appeals court ruled Thursday — a decision voters could throw into question in […]
By • October 23, 2020
WhatMatters
A close race for Prop. 15
Good morning, California. It’s Thursday, October 22. Affirmative action unlikely to pass Will Californians decide to raise taxes on commercial properties — approving the biggest change to the state’s property tax structure in more than 40 years — or won’t they? With less than two weeks before the election, the Prop. 15 race is shaping […]
By • October 22, 2020
California Gov. Gavin Newsom stands in front of four electric cars to announce an executive order requiring all new passenger vehicles sold in the state to be zero-emission by 2035, a move the governor says would achieve a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, on Sept. 23, 2020, at Cal Expo in Sacramento. Photo by Daniel Kim, The Sacramento Bee via AP/Pool
WhatMatters
Gov. Newsom expected to be sued after issuing new fracking permits
A national environmental organization is preparing to sue Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration for issuing new fracking permits, including six approved on Friday, Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, told me Tuesday. The news comes a day after Newsom delivered the keynote speech at a major event devoted to California […]
By • October 21, 2020
WhatMatters
Ballot campaigns set state record as most expensive
Never has an election cycle seen so much money funneled into California’s ballot measure campaigns — and there are still two weeks to go until the November election. Already, the campaigns for and against the 12 propositions on the November ballot have raised a staggering $670 million, according to a CalMatters analysis. When added to […]
By • October 20, 2020
A voter drops off her ballot at Emeryville City Hall on Oct. 15, 2020. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters
WhatMatters
A closer look at controversial propositions
Good morning, California. It’s Monday, October 19. Beyond the top line Today is the last day to register online to vote — and if you aren’t one of the more than 3.5 million Californians who have already returned their ballots, it’s time for a closer look at some of the 12 statewide propositions. You’ve probably […]
By • October 19, 2020
WhatMatters
Time’s up: The consequences for California as key deadlines pass
California ran up against a slate of important deadlines Thursday that could affect the state’s fiscal, political and environmental landscape for decades to come. Here’s a breakdown of what’s at stake: —Federal stimulus. Thursday came and went, and the federal government did not pass another coronavirus relief package — dashing California’s hope of reversing $11 […]
By • October 16, 2020
City of Redlands work crews install a ballot drop box in front of a Police Department building at the city's corporate yard on Thursday morning in Riverside on Oct. 1, 2020. Secure boxes will be located across the county and are one way for voters to return their ballots. Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG
WhatMatters
‘Ballot harvesting’ battle ramps up — legal fight seems imminent
The political stakes of the ongoing face-off between the California Republican Party and some of the state’s top Democratic elected officials over “ballot harvesting” practices just got a lot higher. The California GOP said it would not stop collecting voter ballots in unofficial drop boxes in a Wednesday letter to Secretary of State Alex Padilla […]
By • October 15, 2020

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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