Dan Walters

California has long experienced economic and population booms and busts. After several years of population decline, the state is beginning to grow again. Is that a good trend or a negative one?

With the June 15 deadline for the state budget approaching, the amount of tax revenues and the size of the budget deficit loom large for California Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislators.

California's perpetual political war over housing, pitting the state against local communities, has two new battlegrounds: one on the San Francisco Peninsula, the other in Southern California.

California water regulators are cracking down on the overuse of groundwater by farmers. Enforcement could prompt them to idle thousands of acres of farmland and poses larger questions about what will happen to the affected fields.

California, once a leader in government transparency, has descended into secrecy and opacity, making it difficult for the public to know what's happening.

California public school financing has been clobbered in recent years, and intensified a long-running battle over charter schools.

California has a multibillion-dollar budget deficit, but we still don't know how much and what should be done to close it with key deadlines quickly approaching.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom complains that local government officials have not been effective in dealing with homelessness. But he appears to be shifting the political onus from his own administration.

Californians once supported criminal justice reforms to lighten penalties for crime but attitudes have changed. A November ballot measure could be a test for just how much.

A handful of Democratic politicians are already running for governor of California in 2026. Attorney General Rob Bonta is acting as if he might jump in. But so far there are no Latinos or Republicans in the mix.