California Divide

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?

California is asking some 1.4 million unemployment recipients to prove their eligibility months after receiving aid as part of a fraud recovery campaign. But some people say they’re caught in the Employment Development Department’s dragnet because they don’t have the documents to be cleared. Now, some risk having to pay back more than $30,000 — or face collection.

As union representation has bottomed out in some of the country’s lowest-paid industries, a group of California lawmakers and labor leaders are pushing to test a version of sectoral bargaining, a labor strategy common in other high-income countries. Progressives are pushing for a state-appointed council for the fast food industry to set wages and work conditions, which have historically been negotiated privately between employers and worker unions.

A new report found stark racial inequality across California. Advocates hope that the 2022 state budget will offer some solutions.

California is requiring unemployment recipients to retroactively prove their work history – but experts say low-income recipients could be forced to repay money they don’t have. Some even say ineligible recipients should get a pass.

A Los Angeles artist who once sold flowers with his immigrant parents on street corners breaks into the world of NFTs. In doing so, he’s also found a nontraditional way to generate wealth in crypto currency.

Guest farmworkers will see pay increases in 2022 thanks to a lawsuit to stop a Trump-era wage freeze. President Trump proposed the freeze in an attempt to help farmers who lost profit and fallowed land during the pandemic shutdown in 2020. But farmworker advocates sued the Department of Agriculture to stop the freeze from taking effect.

Lea este artículo en español. South San Francisco this month sent out the first $500 monthly checks to around 150 low-income families to spend however they see fit. South San Francisco is the latest Bay Area city to launch a guaranteed income pilot program – in which participants receive monthly cash payments with no strings attached – […]

California will ban most new gas-powered lawn equipment starting in 2024, but landscapers and gardeners warn the transition will cost them money and jobs. Industry officials say the technology isn’t ready for commercial use and called a $30 million incentive program for small operators inadequate. One state lawmaker who co-authored the bill says he’s open to more funding.

Resident and activists are urging Fresno County change the name of Squaw Valley community. They say it's derogatory to Native American women.