Newsletters

After the Watergate scandal, California voters approved a ballot measure that created the Fair Political Practices Commission — an independent, nonpartisan agency to police election campaigns and investigate political ethics violations.  Fifty years later, there are serious questions about how well it’s doing its job. CalMatters politics reporter Yue Stella Yu and data reporter Jeremia […]

Good morning, Inequality Insights readers. I’m Wendy Fry.  This week’s dispatch comes from CalMatters’ water reporter Rachel Becker. Becker reported this week on how the San Francisco Bay-Delta, California’s largest estuary, is facing severe environmental challenges, including low water flows, algal blooms, and urban and agricultural runoff. These issues are particularly affecting low-income immigrants from […]

A bill pushed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to curb gas price spikes is likely to get one step closer to his desk today. After clearing two state Senate committees this week, the measure to require oil refineries to keep a minimum supply of fuel is up for a floor vote. Senate President Pro Tem Mike […]

From CalMatters economy reporter Levi Sumagaysay: Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered a mostly upbeat message at an economic summit in Sacramento on Wednesday, especially when he was talking about California’s “resilient” economy. Despite what many headlines say about California’s supposed decline, “the good news is we’re still the fifth-largest economy in the world,” he told several […]

California’s three U.S. Senate debates before the March primary were mostly staid affairs. Not Tuesday’s often spicy face-off between Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of Burbank and Republican Steve Garvey — their first and only one-on-one debate scheduled before the Nov. 5 election. As CalMatters politics reporter Yue Stella Yu explains, they clashed over abortion, guns, […]

On Aug. 31, when Gov. Gavin Newsom called a special session on gas prices, California motorists were paying $4.61 per gallon on average, $1.27 more than the national average. On Monday, when the state Senate finally convened, prices were $4.68 in California, or $1.51 above the national average.  In between, there has been plenty of […]

From CalMatters community college reporter Adam Echelman: If colleges worked the way they should, Joe Villa would have thousands of dollars of federal financial aid by now. But he’s never received a penny.  I’ve been talking to Villa for over a year now, trying to figure out why.  He’s one of roughly four million Californians […]

Dear California Reader, Good morning, Inequality Insights readers. I’m environmental equity reporter Alejandra Reyes-Velarde. California is facing another fall heat wave this week, and schoolchildren across the state are sweltering in hot classrooms as districts struggle to keep up with air conditioning system repairs.  In coastal areas like Long Beach and Oakland, some classrooms don’t […]

Ever since Laphonza Butler took herself out of the running for U.S. Senate a year ago — just two weeks after Gov. Gavin Newsom picked her to replace the late Dianne Feinstein — she has faded into the background quite a bit.  Thursday, to mark one year since the Democrat took the oath of office, […]

Though California leaders like to tout the state as the world’s fifth largest economy, it can appear that California has two economies: One where some workers still aren’t paid what they’re owed, and another where some California corporations are raking in big bucks. In one major case, the state’s Labor Commissioner’s Office is having a […]