WhatMatters

Scheduling note: WhatMatters is taking Indigenous Peoples’ Day off and will return to your inboxes Tuesday. When the town council of Los Altos Hills approved construction of new apartment buildings two years ago, it was a big deal for the affluent Santa Clara County community, writes CalMatters’ Ben Christopher. For decades the mansion-studded town permitted […]

Over the past decade, there have been at least a dozen major refinery explosions and fires in California — with the two most recent explosions erupting at PBF Energy’s Martinez refinery earlier this year and Chevron’s El Segundo refinery last week.  But as President Donald Trump’s administration works to weaken regulatory oversight and California lawmakers […]

With less than a month until Nov. 4’s special election, billboards, mailers and advertisements in support and opposition of Proposition 50 are reaching a fever pitch. But in California’s 22nd Congressional District — one of the handful of districts that would be most affected if Prop. 50 were to pass — some residents remain unfamiliar […]

A reported abrupt change in the federal government’s approach to funding homelessness has the potential to send thousands of Californians back on the streets — leaving homeless service providers scrambling to find a solution, writes CalMatters’ Marisa Kendall. Compared to the short-term benefits of temporary housing or shelter, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban […]

In a setback to President Donald Trump’s administration, federal judge Karin Immergut temporarily blocked the administration’s deployment of 300 California National Guard troops to Portland, Ore. during a hearing Sunday evening, writes CalMatters’ Mikhail Zinshteyn. The administration planned to deploy the troops a day after Immergut — a Trump-appointee — on Saturday blocked it from […]

For the record: A story in this issue of WhatMatters contained a number of erroneous characterizations and conclusions based on an incorrect interpretation of campaign finance data. Read the full correction. Almost no one in the California Legislature actually votes “no” on bills.  They choose an easy way out, electing to not cast a vote […]

In some ways, Silicon Valley’s courting of President Donald Trump upon his return to the White House has worked out for Big Tech: Corporate tax rates are expected to remain low, and the cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence industries likely won’t have to worry about strict regulation.  But in other ways, Trump’s haphazard policy approach has […]

From CalMatters’ Capitol reporter Jeanne Kuang:  Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday signed a new law attempting to have California take over the role of the National Labor Relations Board if it is hobbled under President Donald Trump. Under Assembly Bill 288, workers with pending cases before the board, including pending union elections, could ask the […]

Amid the third year in a row that officials have shut down California’s commercial salmon fishing season, a vital fish hatchery for the Chinook salmon will have to reduce its salmon production due to insufficient federal funds — further threatening jobs and the declining fish species, officials and advocates say. Operated by the state but […]

Filthy bathrooms. It’s among the things retired law enforcement park ranger John Lauretig remembers about the last government shutdown. National Parks staff were furloughed, but the parks remained open from December 2018 through January 2019, leading to a human waste problem: There was a half-ton of human waste alone at Death Valley outside the restrooms […]