Guest Commentary

Reader Reactions

California is drowning in hazardous forest waste with nowhere to put it

Biomass energy is not about cutting healthy forests or replacing solar and wind. California faces a dangerous accumulation of forest fuels with limited safe disposal options.

By Matt Dias • December 22, 2025

Commentary

California’s solution for senior health care hides in plain sight

PACE lets seniors stay out of nursing homes and still receive a variety of health and home services. Too few people know about it.

By Janice Grandi • December 19, 2025

Commentary

CalPERS’ $60 billion investment in ‘climate solutions’ lacks environmental standards, transparency

CalPERS won't say what climate companies it invests in. The pension also holds positions in fossil fuel, airlines, plastics manufacturing and technology.

By Allie Lindstrom and Jakob Evans • December 18, 2025

Commentary

As oil and gas companies pivot to plastic, California neighborhoods become sacrifice zones again

As oil and gas companies pivot to plastic, certain California neighborhoods become unhealthy sacrifice zones again.

By Veronica Herrera and Daniel Coffee • December 17, 2025

Commentary

Biomass is a money pit that won’t solve California’s energy or wildfire problems

Utilities customers help pay for biomass because electric utilities buy its products to produce electricity, paying four times more. Is it worth it?

By Shaye Wolf • December 16, 2025

Commentary

California’s freeways are fueling its housing crisis

Caltrans construction forces families from homes and neighborhoods, though its efforts to widen freeways don’t seem to reduce traffic jams.

By Yesenia Perez and Hana Creger • December 16, 2025

Commentary

New federal law harms families who rely on CalFresh to put food on the table

Guest Commentary written by Hannah Mudgett Hannah Mudgett is a student at University of California, Berkeley, pursuing a master’s in public health Every day more than 5 million Californians rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), known here as CalFresh, to keep food on the table. It is our state’s largest anti-hunger program.  Yet […]

By Hannah Mudgett • December 15, 2025

Commentary

How an accessory dwelling could turn into a 20-story tower in Berkeley

Berkeley’s experience shows change is possible when local and state reforms align, and when communities let go of their fears about growth.

By Rigel Robinson • December 12, 2025

Commentary

When deportation was called repatriation: The US once expelled 1.8 million people to Mexico

Like today, Americans in the 1930s were reeling from economic hard times. Leaders made Latinos scapegoats and deported immigrants and some US citizens.

By Sylvia Zamora • December 11, 2025

Commentary

California’s schools can’t afford to cut counselors. They keep kids alive in dangerous times

With suicide and violence stalking students, counselors are often the first to notice kids in trouble. They're also among the first to lose their jobs to budget cuts.

By Ayo Banjo • December 9, 2025