Inequality Insights

Good morning, Inequality Insights readers. I’m Wendy Fry.  California has expanded its health insurance marketplace, Covered California, to allow Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients to purchase subsidized health plans, CalMatters’ health reporter Ana B. Ibarra reports. This is a result of a federal rule that aims to provide health coverage to thousands of “Dreamers,” […]

Good morning, Inequality Insights readers. I’m CalMatters housing affordability reporter Felicia Mello.  One in five California children comes from a mixed-status family, in which at least one member is undocumented, according to the California Immigrant Data Portal. Concern is growing among housing advocates that those families risk losing access to federal housing assistance once President-elect […]

Good morning, Inequality Insights readers. I’m Wendy Fry.  President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on implementing a sweeping border crackdown and undertaking the largest-scale deportation effort in history. If carried out, his proposed initiatives will have profound consequences in California, which shares a 140-mile border with Mexico.  On day one, he has pledged to begin a massive […]

Good morning, Inequality Insights readers. I’m Wendy Fry.  Local elected officials in San Francisco and Los Angeles have already shown interest in expanding rent control if Prop 33 passes, opening the door to such moves. CalMatters housing reporter Felicia Mello took a look this week at where the state ballot measure might have the most […]

Good morning, Inequality Insights readers. I’m Wendy Fry.  Proposition 36, appearing on California’s 2024 ballot, would reclassify some retail theft and drug crimes as felonies after multiple convictions. It aims to reverse parts of Proposition 47, a 2014 law that reduced such offenses to misdemeanors in an effort to decrease prison overcrowding. Proponents have raised […]

Good morning, Inequality Insights readers. I’m Wendy Fry.  Californians are set to vote next month on Proposition 36, which aims to reduce drug-related crimes by steering repeat offenders toward treatment rather than prison. The ballot initiative would also increase punishments for certain drug and theft offenses. It appears likely to pass, with polls showing voters […]

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 […]

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 […]

Good morning, Inequality Insights readers. I’m Wendy Fry. A Sonoma County wine grape and vegetable grower will have to pay $31,102 in back wages and $18,154 in civil penalties for violating several requirements of the federal H-2A visa program, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The H-2A program allows U.S. employers to hire temporary […]

Good morning, Inequality Insights readers. I’m Wendy Fry. On the heels of a crushing loss for California’s reparations advocates, I got to speak last week with author and professor Joel Edward Goza about his latest book “Rebirth of a Nation: Reparations and Remaking America,” which is out on Sept. 24.  During our conversation, Goza and […]