California Divide
California’s racial inequality: What can state do with $31 billion?
A new report found stark racial inequality across California. Advocates hope that the 2022 state budget will offer some solutions.
How hungry is California? Millions struggle to eat well in an abundant state
How bad is California hunger? A lot depends on your access to food aid, which expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic but is being reduced.
California Divide
Researchers worry that low-income Californians may have trouble repaying unemployment benefits
California is requiring unemployment recipients to retroactively prove their work history – but experts say low-income recipients could be forced to repay money they don’t have. Some even say ineligible recipients should get a pass.
California Divide
From street vendor to crypto artist: How digital assets offer minorities new opportunities
A Los Angeles artist who once sold flowers with his immigrant parents on street corners breaks into the world of NFTs. In doing so, he’s also found a nontraditional way to generate wealth in crypto currency.
California Divide
Thousands of farmworkers will get pay raises thanks to a lawsuit
Guest farmworkers will see pay increases in 2022 thanks to a lawsuit to stop a Trump-era wage freeze. President Trump proposed the freeze in an attempt to help farmers who lost profit and fallowed land during the pandemic shutdown in 2020. But farmworker advocates sued the Department of Agriculture to stop the freeze from taking effect.
California Divide
$500 a month without strings: Bay Area’s latest guaranteed income program
Lea este artículo en español. South San Francisco this month sent out the first $500 monthly checks to around 150 low-income families to spend however they see fit. South San Francisco is the latest Bay Area city to launch a guaranteed income pilot program – in which participants receive monthly cash payments with no strings attached – […]
California Divide
A 50% coupon for one tool? Gardeners call California’s subsidy inadequate
California will ban most new gas-powered lawn equipment starting in 2024, but landscapers and gardeners warn the transition will cost them money and jobs. Industry officials say the technology isn’t ready for commercial use and called a $30 million incentive program for small operators inadequate. One state lawmaker who co-authored the bill says he’s open to more funding.
California Divide
Should the community of Squaw Valley change its name?
Resident and activists are urging Fresno County change the name of Squaw Valley community. They say it's derogatory to Native American women.
California Divide
Most Californians say economic inequality is getting worse, new survey shows
Seven in 10 Californians say the gap between rich and poor is getting larger, according to a statewide survey.
California Divide
New study finds millions of workers are ‘functionally unemployed’
California’s official unemployment rate is 7.5%. But a newer method of measuring unemployment reveals a far larger portion of the state is struggling to find full-time employment that pays enough to cover the cost of living.
California Divide
‘I don’t recognize myself anymore’; How the pandemic drowned a working mom in debt
Commercial real estate agent Maybelle Manio is one of many middle-class Californians who found themselves financially stranded by the pandemic. The 42-year-old commercial real estate agent turned to public support for the first time in her life.