Newsletters

The number of people dying in California jails continues to increase even as the state’s elected officials urge greater transparency around inmate deaths. In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom called for more scrutiny of California’s 57 county jail systems and signed a law last year to require jails to disclose more information about deaths behind bars. […]

California programs to support children and foster youth in new ways are on the state budget chopping block.

From CalMatters Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff: As campus tensions escalate over student encampments to protest the war in Gaza — with canceled classes, violent clashes and mass arrests in recent days — Republican leaders in the California Legislature are calling for the state to use its upcoming budget process to punish demonstrators who they say […]

The student encampments to protest the Gaza war started April 17 at Columbia University, where Tuesday night New York City police stormed an occupied building and arrested more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters. The movement quickly spread to California campuses. At the University of Southern California, Los Angeles police arrested nearly 100 protestors last week and […]

In 2022, California lawmakers tried to stop “pay to play” by local elected officials — taking campaign money from various groups and then approving licenses, building permits and other goodies for the same donors.  The law passed easily, but business groups sued to kill it in 2023. They failed, but now, there’s a move afoot […]

From CalMatters health reporter Ana B. Ibarra:California can buy more overdose-reversing medication at a lower price under a deal Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced Monday with a pharmaceutical company, potentially giving law enforcement, schools and others more resources to address the state’s fentanyl crisis. Under a government-run pharmaceutical program called CalRx, California will purchase naloxone […]

California’s Democratic leaders often tout the state as a safe haven for abortion rights. They’re now trying to help women in Arizona get around a potential ban. But as CalMatters Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff explains in his deeply reported story, there are hurdles to abortion access that remain in California, including in the Democratic stronghold […]

The federal government is spending billions to reduce border wait times, yet small business owners say long delays are threatening their livelihoods.

From CalMatters’ Ben Christopher:  A bill to rein in a proposed monthly fee on California electric bills has been quietly shelved in the Assembly without receiving a single vote. Assembly Bill 1999, written by Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, was a response to the California Public Utilities Commission’s proposal on fixed charges. The version to be voted […]

Gov. Gavin Newsom sought to make California a haven for abortion rights. Now he’s trying to bring women in neighboring Arizona under those protections. Wednesday, members of the Legislative Women’s Caucus and Newsom formally introduced a bill that would enable Arizona doctors to temporarily provide abortion services for their patients traveling to California through Nov. […]