WhatMatters

Filthy bathrooms. It’s among the things retired law enforcement park ranger John Lauretig remembers about the last government shutdown. National Parks staff were furloughed, but the parks remained open from December 2018 through January 2019, leading to a human waste problem: There was a half-ton of human waste alone at Death Valley outside the restrooms […]

At the state Capitol this year, lawmakers, policy experts, housing advocates and others said the term “housing shortage” at least 30 times in committee hearings and floor speeches — underscoring how California’s housing crisis remains one of the state’s top issues. But what exactly is a housing shortage, and how bad is it in California? […]

As President Donald Trump’s administration continues its crackdown on immigration, one California school district stands out to ensure all its students — regardless of legal status — can feel safe and access vital resources, reports CalMatters’ Carolyn Jones. Serving more than 500,000 students, Los Angeles Unified School District is the country’s second largest school district. […]

From CalMatters economy reporter Levi Sumagaysay: California homeowners who fireproof their homes would get guaranteed insurance coverage under a ballot measure filed this week by Consumer Watchdog. The consumer advocacy group filed the initiative in response to a competing measure that seeks to repeal Proposition 103, which Watchdog’s founder wrote in the late 1980s and […]

Immigration arrests at federal courthouses have taken up most of the national attention since Donald Trump became president, but across California, U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents are showing up at state courts and arresting undocumented immigrants, CalMatters Nigel Duara reports.  It happened this summer in Fresno: A judge reportedly congratulated a man for completing […]

Do you like your representative in Congress and don’t want to lose them? Did you vote yes on creating an independent redistricting commission to mitigate the role of partisan politics in drawing congressional maps more than a decade ago? All of that can change on Nov. 4. That’s when Californians will be asked to vote […]

Rural hospitals across the state — and country — are in trouble, urgently. Labor and supplies are getting more expensive. Federal Medicaid cuts are projected to cut into their revenues.  And places like Inyo County, on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada, face the prospect of having to close key medical facilities. Southern Inyo […]

Modoc County, meet Marin County. It might be your new political boss.  A ranching region along the Oregon border with just 8,500 residents, Modoc flies flags advocating secession from California. Now, if Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new redistricting plan goes through, Modoc would instead get pulled into the heart of liberal California.  CalMatters political reporter Jeanne […]

Gov. Gavin Newsom has a lot of decisions to make over the next month.  His desk is stacked high with hundreds of bills recently passed by the state Legislature in the session that just ended this weekend. With the stroke of his pen, those bills would become law.  Our reporting team has created this tracker […]

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has vocally pushed a fight against chronic health issues like obesity and heart disease. Yet, because of federal cuts, most county health departments will shut down nutrition programs focused on teaching low-income families how to stretch their food stamp dollars and cook healthier food. As Kristen Hwang reports, Kern County eliminated […]