WhatMatters

From CalMatters investigative reporter Lauren Hepler: Money vanishing from EDD debit cards. Big-dollar bets on the technology that powers California’s job safety net. Billions in unemployment debt with no clear path forward. No, this isn’t a pandemic flashback.  It’s today’s unsettled reality for the California Employment Development Department and the workers and businesses who still […]

I am grateful to be here for you every weekday, walking you through California’s vital news. The stories by my CalMatters colleagues are crucial to keeping you and your fellow community members informed and engaged. Our work helps you understand complex issues that impact your quality of life and keep tabs on your elected officials. […]

I hope everyone had a restful Thanksgiving break because the state Legislature is already raring to go. Today, the Assembly and Senate are swearing in lawmakers and kicking off a special session called by Gov. Gavin Newsom to prepare for the incoming Trump administration. For the new two-year legislative cycle, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas of […]

Scheduling note: WhatMatters is giving thanks for our readers and other blessings, and will return to your inboxes on Monday, Dec. 2. I’m CalMatters Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff, subbing for Lynn. As a new legislative session gets underway in Sacramento next week, officials are sending mixed signals about the state of the state budget and […]

I’m CalMatters politics reporter Yue Stella Yu, subbing for Lynn. Why do California voters keep electing progressive prosecutors and keep voting them out of office? That’s the question some criminal justice advocates are asking themselves after the defeats of two progressive district attorneys — Pamela Price in Alameda County and George Gascón in Los Angeles […]

In one week the Legislature will kick off a special session called by Gov. Gavin Newsom to prepare the state for President-elect Donald Trump. CalMatters reporters drill into two particular issues where California’s policies could clash with the Trump administration: public health and immigration. RFK Jr. and vaccination: California Democratic officials are already bracing for […]

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Racial Justice Act into law in September 2020, following the police murder of George Floyd. For the first time, defendants can put bias from any brush with the criminal legal system — from arrest to sentencing — on the stand. However, a Garrison Project and CalMatters analysis of the Racial […]

As California public universities try to balance campus safety with students’ right to protest, community colleges are squaring off in court with students and staff who argue that the schools are violating their freedom of speech, explains CalMatters community college reporter Adam Echelman. Since 2020, there have been at least seven lawsuits filed by professors […]

The complaints and questions surface after every election: It takes California way too long to count all the votes. It’s unfair to candidates and their supporters in close races to make them wait. Is there something nefarious going on? It’s all happening again, further eroding public confidence in elections: In California’s 45th Congressional District, Republican […]

Two weeks after Election Day, the results on two of the 10 statewide propositions remain undecided. But opponents and supporters aren’t waiting around. Prop. 32 opponents declare victory: Despite no official call by the Associated Press, opponents said voters delivered a “historic” rejection of the statewide ballot measure to raise the hourly minimum wage from […]