In summary

Highlighting all of CALmatters’ work over the past week

Recent Articles

A blizzard of pledges, a planet-scanning satellite: Brown wraps up his climate summit

By  Julie Cart

The conference featured promises to reduce greenhouse gases, vows to banish carbon, multilateral pacts and sincere handshakes.

CALmatters Explains: California’s War on Climate Change

By Byrhonda Lyons and Julie Cart

What happens when California—a state that is responsible for about 1 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases—goes all-in on climate change? This video covers the basics and more.

In California, saving teeth and state money—one mouth at a time

By David Gorn

State officials hope to improve dental care for low-income residents by signing up more dentists, paying them better and emphasizing prevention.

The road to California’s coveted electric highway is congested; will a new pact help clear the way?

By Julie Cart

The state wants 5 million clean vehicles on the road by 2030. There’s a long way to go.

The Gimme Shelter one year anniversary spectacular

By Matt Levin

It’s been one year of Matt and Liam talking about California’s housing crisis. They reflect on the biggest stories of the past twelve months, and what they expect to be on the podcast in the year ahead.

Santa Monica offers cash to seniors to help with rent

By Amita Sharma, KPBS

As senior homelessness spikes in some parts of the state, Santa Monica is trying out rental subsidies to help keep its seniors off the streets.

Experts: California’s a climate policy leader, but with missteps

By Julie Cart

California has been a leader in developing climate policy, yes, but there have been missteps, and there’s more work to do.

How a transportation safety net could keep more people off the streets

By Meghan McCarty Carino, KPCC

Discounted transit fares and subsidies for new shared mobility tech, like scooters and ride-share, could help low-income people stay on their feet.

Heavy hitters on climate change converge on San Francisco, with Gov. Jerry Brown as host

By Julie Cart

The governor holds a summit of regional leaders from around the world who’ve pledged to reduce greenhouse gases. Businesses are coming, too.

CALQuiz: Steyer flexes his vocab, California UCs rank high, and a campaign consultant gets mad

By Trevor Eischen

Commentary

My turn: Protect small businesses from predatory lending

Guest Commentary

The governor should sign a bill that could end predatory lending for small business by giving the California Department of Business Oversight the flexibility to set disclosure standards.

Two education bills do the right things

By Dan Walters

Overcoming powerful opposition, the Legislature passed two bills that would, if signed, make it easier for adolescent students to learn and easier for older students to obtain college degrees.

Proposition 10: Should California expand rent control?

Guest Commentary

A pro-vs-con assessment of the measure that would give localities across California the option to enact or expand rent control—would doing so ease the state’s housing crisis or stifle development and thus make it worse?

Feinstein, Harris pursue agendas in Kavanaugh hearings

By Dan Walters

California’s U.S. senators, Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, both played big roles in last week’s confirmation hearings on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. While Feinstein was critical of the circus-like atmosphere of the hearings, Harris contributed to it. But both were pursuing personal political goals.

My turn: Regulations and taxes stifle family businesses

Guest Commentary

Family business owners complain that state policies are burdensome, prompting them to cut back on hiring or look for business opportunities outside California.

My turn: Students need the right tests, not more tests

Guest Commentary

California students need more than a test score. They need a test that opens the door to college.

My turn: How to fix broken immigration system: Vote

Guest Commentary

Marches in support of immigration do matter. But voting is our pathway to fundamentally change immigration policies and so much more.

Once again, most ‘job killer’ bills rejected

By Dan Walters

Despite the overall left-of-center tone to the Legislature’s just-concluded session, the California Chamber of Commerce sidetracked all but one of the 29 liberal bills it labeled as “job killers.”

My turn: What the next governor should do for UC

Guest Commentary

California’s next governor must safeguard the University of California and help it remain the world’s greatest public research and teaching university.

Would more money close our education gap?

By Dan Walters

California’s school children rank near the bottom on nationwide tests of academic achievement and educators and their political allies argue that more money is needed to close an “achievement gap.” But how much, where would it be found and would it actually do the job?

Resistance State

Judge sides with California, faults DeVos for delaying student borrower protection

By Felicia Mello

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Education’s delay of rules meant to protect student loan borrowers from predatory practices was “arbitrary and capricious,” granting a legal victory to the state of California and borrowers who say their colleges defrauded them.

CALmatters Blogs

Majority Report: Our weekly recap of California’s hottest congressional races

By Ben Christopher

A knife fight, a Newsom campaign tour and a wince-worthy observation about eating dogs—all in this weekly roundup of the most significant (or most funny or interesting or just plain weird) campaign developments across California’s 53 congressional districts.

California political insiders say “meh” to top two primary

By Ben Christopher

The California top two primary system was supposed to bring bipartisan comity to state politics. But among political insiders, ambivalence abounds.

Surf the crest or batten down the hatches? California insiders predict Dem wave

By Ben Christopher

California’s political cognoscenti we surveyed unanimously predict Democrats here will gain at least one congressional seat—and more than a quarter say they’ll gain five or more.

Cole Harris’ campaign may be over, but his consultants aren’t finished with him

By Dan Morain

Republican Cole Harris lost his bid for lieutenant governor in June, but a message on his web site says he owes $1.1 million to his campaign consultants. The Glendale investor responded to queries with referrals to Instagram.

The one idea that has the state teachers’ union allied with Tuck over Thurmond

By Ricardo Cano

In a role reversal, the candidates vying to become California’s next schools’ superintendent disagree about a bill that would require later instruction start times for middle and high school students.

Third party threat? In survey, California political establishment doesn’t see it coming

By Ben Christopher

In a new Target Book Insider Track Survey, California’s political establishment says the political establishment is here to stay.

The one thing the California DMV does make it easy to do

By Laurel Rosenhall

Republicans running statewide in California don’t have numbers on their side, but they do have the DMV.

We want to hear from you

Want to submit a guest commentary or reaction to an article we wrote? You can find our submission guidelines here. Please contact CalMatters with any commentary questions: commentary@calmatters.org