WhatMatters

The nation is in the midst of a mental health crisis with more people wanting help than can get it. That tension is reflected in a dispute playing out in the rural Sierra foothills between an addiction treatment center and California’s second largest health insurer.  As CalMatters’ Jocelyn Wiener and Byrhonda Lyons explain, in June […]

Let’s dive into some news about immigration and the raids conducted under President Donald Trump’s administration:  Today is your last chance to have your gift matched dollar-for-dollar by our board of directors in our 10-year anniversary drive. We’ve been informing the public and holding the powerful in check, but need your support now to safeguard […]

From CalMatters Digital Democracy reporter Ryan Sabalow: California’s court reporter shortage has gotten so bad that thousands of people, including alleged domestic violence victims, no longer have a written record of their civil cases, making it harder for them to exercise their constitutional right to appeal. But it appears controversial legislation that court reporters were […]

President Donald Trump pulled half of the troops he sent to Los Angeles out of the city this week, and Gov. Gavin Newsom is urging him to hurry up and send home the other half.  The governor spoke about the withdrawal during a Wednesday news conference at Downey Memorial Christian Church, where masked and armed […]

Tucked inside the sweeping budget bill that President Donald Trump signed earlier this month is a provision to slash the amount of money medical school students can borrow in federal loans. While the new rule will directly affect medical students, it could also have substantial impacts on Californians across the state seeking medical care. As […]

When thimble-sized mussels were first detected last year in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, biologists quickly rang the alarm over how severely this invasive species could threaten the state’s water supply systems.  Now, nine months after the mollusks’ appearance near Stockton, officials are in a race to rein in golden mussels as their larvae spread through […]

The surprise win of a progressive candidate in the New York City mayoral Democratic primary is serving as an indication for some California progressives that they could have a shot at winning key offices in upcoming elections. As CalMatters’ Yue Stella Yu explains, earlier this month New York Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani defeated eight other candidates […]

To spur more housing in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature carved out notable exceptions to California’s 54-year-old environmental review law as part of the state budget deal they hammered out last week. But rolling back parts of the landmark statute might have not happened had it not been for one particular construction union. […]

Days after President Donald Trump signed his sweeping budget bill into law last week, a federal judge on Monday issued a temporary injunction to block one of the bill’s provisions to ban Planned Parenthood clinics from receiving federal Medicaid payments. With 115 clinics across the state and a million Californians using Planned Parenthood each year, […]

By 2029, eyeshadows, nail polishes and other cosmetics that shimmer and shine from plastic glitter could be banned in California. In the latest push to curb the prevalence of microplastics in the environment, the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved a first-in-the-nation bill that would ban the sale of personal care products that contain […]