California Divide - CalMatters A media collaboration about inequality.

A kitchen staffer works behind the counter of a restaurant in Los Angeles on June 8, 2021. Photo by Pablo Unzueta fro CalMatters

California Divide

California workers can’t get timely hearings on wage theft claims. State orders audit.

by Alejandro Lazo and Jeanne Kuang March 22, 2023March 22, 2023

It takes the state nearly 800 days — four times longer than is legal — to handle wage claims. Lawmakers ordered an audit to start Sept. 1, if agency issues aren’t addressed by then.

A real estate sign in front of a home in the Tower District in central Fresno on June 28, 2022. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

California Divide

State may scale down its new home loan program designed to assist first-time homebuyers

by Alejandro Lazo March 22, 2023March 21, 2023

Irma Cervantes at Atlantic Avenue Park in East Los Angeles on March 2, 2023. “It’s difficult to move because I do not have a job at the moment,” Cervantes said, who used to do janitorial work at the convention centers in Los Angeles and Orange Counties. “I just want to find a way to pay the rent without getting harassed.” Pablo Unzueta for CalMatters

California Divide

Evictions rise, tenants scramble for help as LA County protections expire

by Alejandra Reyes-Velarde March 21, 2023March 23, 2023

Jocelyn Gonzalez Fierros, a Chico State University student, at her residence in Chico on March 15, 2023. Photo by Rahul Lal, CalMatters

California Divide

California colleges rush to get more students on food assistance before pandemic rule ends

by Jeanne Kuang and Mikhail Zinshteyn March 16, 2023March 15, 2023

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents transfer an immigrant after an early morning raid in Duarte on June 6, 2022. Photo by Damian Dovarganes, AP Photo

California Divide

California bill would fund deportation defense for all immigrants, including those with felonies

by Wendy Fry March 16, 2023March 16, 2023

Michelle Hackett at the entrance to Riverview Farms in Salinas that flooded in the mid-March storms. Photo by Martin do Nascimento, CalMatters

As emergency aid flows to flooded-out Californians, will thousands be left out?

by Lauren Hepler, Nicole Foy and Wendy Fry March 15, 2023March 16, 2023

Anneisha Williams in El Segundo on Feb. 20, 2023. Williams decided to stop using traditional banking systems after a bank declined to refund her for money stolen out of her account by a hacker. Photo by Lauren Justice for CalMatters

California Divide

Helping the ‘unbanked’: California mulls entering banking business to serve disadvantaged consumers

by Wendy Fry March 9, 2023March 9, 2023

Community activist Morris Griffin speaks during a meeting with the state Reparations Task Force at the California Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Sacramento on March 3, 2023. Photo by Rahul Lal for CalMatters

California Divide

‘Coming for our check’: State task force wants strong new agency to handle reparations

by Wendy Fry March 6, 2023March 6, 2023

Supporters of United Farmworkers of America march to the state Capitol in Sacramento on Aug. 26, 2022, urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign AB 2183. Photo by Rahul Lal, CalMatters

California Divide

California farmworkers just gained the right to vote for unions by mail, but for how long?

by Nicole Foy March 6, 2023March 5, 2023

Martha Herrera, a nanny, house cleaner and member of a state advisory committee that issued a set of first-in-the-nation workplace safety guidelines for domestic workers this year, in San Francisco on Feb. 28, 2023. Photo by Martin do Nascimento, CalMatters

California Divide

Worker safety laws don’t protect these California workers. A new bill would change that

by Jeanne Kuang March 2, 2023March 1, 2023