California Divide

Only 11% of schools spend what voters earmarked for arts on those classes. Music education is rare at many low income neighborhood schools.

A loophole in state law allows trucking schools to operate with little state oversight, raising concerns about the quality of training for California’s truck drivers.

An estimated 1 in 5 Californians live with a conviction on their record. A 2022 law gives many of them a chance to expunge their record and make greater contributions to their communities.

The state's upper class espouses equality politics and social justice, while pushing policies that keep low wage workers living in poverty.

Doctors regularly need to pay more than $300,000 for medical school, including tuition and housing. New regulations signed by President Donald Trump cap their federal borrowing at $200,000 for medical degrees.

California went from being a state with high economic mobility and opportunity to a society starkly separated by wealth, income and race.

Catholic hospitals run 20% of California's maternity wards. Their policies generally prohibit abortion, even in miscarriage, as long as a heartbeat can be detected.

Many people in California prisons and jails work for less than $1 an hour. Lawmakers are advancing two bills that could lead to wage increases for some of them.

A declined Real ID application effectively rendered a California man "undocumented" because the names on his passport didn't match his driver's license, a paradoxical byproduct of American assimilation.

After reading a CalMatters article, two people were able to reconnect with their homeless relatives. Here’s what happened next.