California Divide

A bill would establish a unit within Cal/OSHA to prosecute perpetrators who force or coerce vulnerable people into jobs with little or no pay.

The new ordinance in Fresno says that anyone who enters a restricted abatement area could be charged with a misdemeanor or fined up to $250.

A special election will be held to replace Devin Nunes, who announced that he is leaving Congress to run Donald Trump’s new social media site.

Michael Tubbs, who now serves as an economic advisor to Gov. Gavin Newsom, announces a new nonprofit called End Poverty In California (EPIC) to advocate for statewide policies to reduce the wealth gap.

Nonprofit clinics, tribal organizations and other community groups return to Sacramento for a second year to press for a $100 million health equity and racial justice fund. Gov. Gavin Newsom had left it out of last year’s budget.

As policy experts grapple with how best to address racial inequalities that have worsened in California during the pandemic, a new, more involved policy approach offers promise even as it remains untested.

Fresno added hundreds of shelter beds as well as transitional housing to unhoused residents. But leaders acknowledge there's more work to do.

Essential workers say they are bearing the brunt of the pandemic again but this time, there is less government support. Economists say jobs in California’s low-wage sectors could take longer to recover.

United Farm Workers membership has been down for years, so low that UC Merced researchers declared farmworker union membership statistically zero for 2020. Supporters say it’s too early to write the union’s obituary but UFW struggles to push its political agenda and grow its ranks.

The pandemic gave a chronically homeless veteran in Los Angeles a chance at permanent supportive housing, but his experience differed from what state leaders envision. Can California offer the right support as it adds tens of thousands of new units?