WhatMatters

From CalMatters Capitol reporter Jeanne Kuang: After a 2022 CalMatters series documenting long waits and low payouts for workers who claim their employers have shorted them on wages, California lawmakers have now proposed bills to try to ease the backlogs.  One measure, Senate Bill 310 by San Francisco Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener, would allow workers […]

The Palisades Fire that ignited in January and killed 12 people engulfed several luxury homes, beachfront properties and celebrity mansions. But it also razed the homes of those living in more affordable communities, including two mobile home parks.  For those residents, the long road to recovery includes even more uncertainties and barriers, writes CalMatters’ Felicia […]

Following President Donald Trump’s directive in January to temporarily freeze certain federal aid to states and agencies (an effort that has since been halted by a federal judge), the administration moved to cut another source of key funding, reports CalMatters’ Mikhail Zinshteyn. On Monday the National Institutes of Health planned to enact its new policy […]

For years, former Democratic Assemblymember Evan Low of Cupertino raised money for a tech nonprofit foundation run by people closely tied to him, including his former chief of staff. Now, the state’s campaign finance regulators say there’s probable cause to believe that the same nonprofit made more than $113,000 in non-monetary donations to Low’s re-election […]

While some are characterizing Donald Trump’s second presidency as one with “a lack of dissidence” so far, residents across California rallied together this week to protest the administration’s pledges to conduct mass deportations. Demonstrators also gathered Wednesday at the state Capitol to oppose Trump and tech mogul Elon Musk. Thousands across California protested against Trump’s […]

Some California Republicans have capitalized on the country’s new GOP administration by introducing (or reintroducing) legislation that they say align with President Donald Trump’s policies. State Sen. Shannon Grove, for example, is reintroducing a bill to establish a state fund that parents could access so their kids can attend private or religious schools. In a […]

Roughly a month after deadly wildfires erupted in Los Angeles County, killing at least 29 people, lawmakers in the state Senate have introduced a proposal to bolster Cal Fire staffing, and Gov. Gavin Newsom is meeting with President Donald Trump over disaster aid. Joined by several other senators and firefighters in Sacramento, Senate President Pro […]

For the past three years, more than 200,000 western monarch butterflies spent their winters along the California coast — huddling together in tall tree groves, finding respite from the wind from November to February.  But this winter, volunteers from the Xerces Society, a nonprofit environmental group, tallied just 9,119 western monarchs — a dramatic 95% […]

From CalMatters environment reporter Alastair Bland: As downpours soak Northern California, Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered state officials to capture and store more stormwater in San Joaquin Valley reservoirs for farmers and towns, and to “remove or minimize” any obstacles that stand in the way.  If that sounds familiar, it is: The governor issued similar […]

From CalMatters economy reporter Levi Sumagaysay: Insurance companies have paid out $4.2 billion in claims so far to survivors of the Los Angeles County fires, the state Insurance Department said Thursday. That figure includes home, business, living expenses and other disaster-related claims related to the Eaton and Palisades fires, the department said, citing data from […]