Bay Area

Wealthy companies whose chief executive is paid 100 times more than their median worker will pay a higher gross receipts tax.

It’s a hot Monday afternoon and Alma Jimenez’s AC is running full speed in the room where her 7-year-old son, Abraham, “goes” to virtual school in their Concord apartment. Jimenez sets up the video call and sits a few feet away, ready to intervene if Abraham loses focus, as she knows he will. She will […]

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, California established Project Roomkey, an ambitious initiative to house homeless people in hotels and motels to keep them safe from infections. The project leveraged federal dollars to pay for lodging. Knowing that the program only offered temporary housing, state and local officials have created what they say is a permanent […]

Good morning, California. It’s Thursday, September 10. Orange skies, raging fires Just when it seemed like 2020 couldn’t get any more apocalyptic, millions of Northern California residents will likely spend their Thursday under a dark orange sky clouded with ash — just as they did yesterday. Catherine Geeslin, a San Francisco resident: “It feels like […]

Tracy Tran’s years of savings are gone. Most went into the nearly $13,500 monthly rent she says she’s been paying for her shuttered business since March, when coronavirus public health orders forced her to close. La Orquidea Salon and Spa has been sitting empty ever since on busy North Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos. So […]

Two of the three largest fires in California history are raging across the state alongside about 600 others, burning more than 1.3 million acres — an area about the size of Delaware — and forcing more than 100,000 people to evacuate. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Dry lightning storms and gusty winds […]

Despite a statewide order to wear masks, there’s no statewide penalty for not doing so. Local governments have instituted their own fines for violations, but critics worry that enforcement will disproportionately affect people of color.

High speed rail requires a dedicated track and electrification, and almost a decade ago legislators prohibited a dedicated track in the Bay Area and non-electrified track in other areas.

Good morning, California. It’s Wednesday, July 22. A metropolitan exodus? Many tech employees may never return to their offices in San Francisco or Silicon Valley as jobs go and stay remote, presaging a massive political and cultural shift as workers flee from crowded, expensive cities to quieter, cheaper parts of California.  Two-thirds of Bay Area […]

Without internet access, getting health care is harder than ever.