After his crash killed a child, the DMV renewed his license — then it hid his records

I’m CalMatters reporter Mikhail Zinshteyn and I’m subbing in for Lynn today.

In late 2022, Kostas Linardos drove a three-ton pickup truck at high speed into the back of a sedan, killing a toddler.

Prosecutors in Placer County, who charged him with felony vehicular manslaughter, already knew he had at least 16 traffic violations — including speeding, reckless driving and street racing — and was in at least four previous collisions before the fatal crash, court records show.

But they also learned that the DMV renewed his license barely a year after the DA’s office filed charges.

The prosecutors asked the DMV for help. They thought something he said at a hearing to get his license could help their case.

In the latest installment of our License to Kill investigation, reporter Robert Lewis documents how the DMV refused to cooperate with prosecutors. 

The silence has raised a key question: did the DMV even do an investigation? 

Lewis’ reporting shows that the DMV spent close to a year fighting to keep the answer to that a secret. When the issue finally made it to court this year, the attorney representing the agency made a shocking admission: 

The DMV had no records of any investigation into a longtime reckless driver who killed a 23-month-old boy. The agency didn’t even appear to have held a hearing before deciding it was fine to let Linardos stay on the road.

• Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire: “There is either moral culpability or legal liability on them, and they are actively seeking to prevent that from being disclosed.”

The DMV’s lack of cooperation underscores how little action the state takes against deadly drivers.  

State law authorizes the DMV to investigate drivers involved in a crash that kills or badly injures someone, but agency records suggest the DMV rarely uses that power. 

Data provided to CalMatters show that, from 2022 through 2024, the agency opened just 3,300 investigations into drivers for their role in a fatal or serious-injury crash, a time in which California tallied nearly 56,000 such collisions.

Read Robert’s story here. And read the six-part License to Kill investigation here.

There are nearly 40,000 low-income housing units in California that cleared the gauntlet of regulatory hurdles but still cannot be built. Why? No money, reports CalMatters’ Ben Christopher.

Despite a constellation of public dollars and occasional philanthropy, these 461 projects across the housing-strapped state need a combined $4.1 billion to literally get off the ground. Waiting adds to the cost, because of payroll, interest on loans and the costs of construction goods rising.

One reason for the backlog is the increase in low-income housing projects that won local approval. A decade ago, few made the cut. Then lawmakers approved state laws meant to speed up housing development. Now more homes are finance-ready, but lack the financing.

The last statewide low-income housing funding source was a voter-approved bond in 2018. “That well has run dry,” Ben wrote, but another bond effort is underway.

Read his story here.

A 21-year-old skier, found dead on a black diamond at Northstar California. Another skier trailed blood down a Mammoth Mountain run. A fatal collision at Northstar followed yet another death within less than two weeks. 

That was just in February, reports CalMatters’ Rachel Becker.

Nearing the end of a deadly winter on California’s ski slopes, the state still has no idea how bad the toll really is. 

Becker contacted every ski area in the state and filed public records requests with the federal government — which owns the land beneath many of those resorts — to understand what injury and death reporting requirements exist, if any.

California does not monitor ski injuries or deaths at resorts. It lacks a threshold for injuries on the slopes that triggers investigations or intervention. 

One bereaved father — and the California Legislature — tried to change that, more than once. Read Rachel’s story to learn more.

Here’s two stories you may have missed about members of California’s GOP congressional delegation:

Republican Rep. Darrell Issa won’t seek reelection, the longtime San Diego-area congressman said Friday. His district was redrawn to favor Democrats after California voters approved Proposition 50, reports CalMatters’ Nadia Lathan.

But Prop. 50 isn’t pushing out current Rep. Kevin Kiley. His district was redrawn to favor Democrats, too. The long-time Republican is running to represent an area that includes his hometown but now leans liberal, reports Maya C. Miller. Kiley chose against running in a nearby more conservative district that would have meant a primary battle against another incumbent Republican House of Representatives member. And Friday Kiley decided to run without party affiliation in an attempt to appeal to moderates, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. 

Read the story by Lathan here and by Miller here.

And lastly: Orange County pink slime

A conservative Orange County group is funding a national network of right-leaning news operations that lack the traditional hallmarks of journalism standards. Learn from The Markup’s and CalMatters’ Colin Lecher how this organization, affiliated with one that helped to put Richard Nixon in the White House, is in the so-called “pink slime” game.

Read more here.