Newsletters

From CalMatters investigative reporter Lauren Hepler: You think you know the story: As pandemic shutdowns rocked California, the state’s unemployment system came unglued, delaying millions of payments and allowing massive fraud. But now, as the California Employment Development Department begins an unprecedented five-year, $1.2 billion overhaul, a year-long CalMatters investigation uses internal documents to tell […]

I’m CalMatters politics reporter Yue Stella Yu subbing for Lynn. A key part of CalMatters’ mission of explaining California policy and politics is to be a forum for reasoned and diverse voices on the biggest issues facing the state.  Today, we elevate that priority with the launch of California Voices, an expanded and reimagined commentary […]

I’m CalMatters Capitol reporter Sameea Kamal subbing for Lynn. Remember when California’s transit agencies were barreling towards a “fiscal cliff’?  In June, the Legislature and governor agreed to a $5 billion lifeline in the budget as transit agencies’ ridership slowly recovered from the COVID shutdowns. You might also recall that the deal took some convincing […]

Yes, the headline race in California’s 2024 election is the first open U.S. Senate seat in 30 years.  But voters should also pay attention to the U.S. House: California helped flip control to Republicans in 2022 (and the speakership went from Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco to Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, until he was deposed […]

From CalMatters Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff:  As he toured a wind turbine factory in China’s Jiangsu province last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the owner showed him a video of the famous wind farm in Livermore’s Altamont Pass. It was what had inspired the man to get into the turbine business, according to the governor […]

From CalMatters higher education reporter Mikhail Zinshteyn:  The faculty union of California State University overwhelmingly approved a strike authorization, giving its leadership the green light to pull as many as 29,000 instructors from educating the more than 400,000 students in the nation’s largest public four-year university system.  The California Faculty Association said Monday that 95% […]

From CalMatters Capitol reporter Sameea Kamal:   Normally an election to set up a fire district and fill one school board seat in a county with just 112,000 registered voters wouldn’t get statewide attention.  But the Nov. 7 election in Shasta County is far from normal and will be closely watched — including by the Secretary […]

From CalMatters state Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff: Coming soon to California: a diversity reporting mandate for venture capital firms. Not coming soon to California: a diversity reporting mandate for Gov. Gavin Newsom. As the bill signing period wrapped up earlier this month, Newsom approved a measure that will force venture capital firms operating in California […]

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s trip overseas this week has had its share of twists: First a surprise visit to Israel, followed by a surprise meeting a few days later with Chinese President Xi Jinping Wednesday in Beijing to discuss trade relations, climate change and even fentanyl. Newsom isn’t the first California governor to visit China — […]

The question of whether the state can make college debt-free for all Californians — or just some — is a particularly fraught one.  Take for instance, California’s Middle Class Scholarship program, which launched in 2022. In the last academic year, about 300,000 students received an average of $1,970 more toward their college education through the […]