Electric Vehicles

With temperatures soaring and air conditioners working overtime, Californians’ electricity bills are peaking as well. Will a contentious new rate proposal help families, especially those living paycheck to paycheck? That’s the big question explored by Wendy Fry of CalMatters’ California Divide team. Last year, the Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom passed an energy bill requiring […]

From CalMatters politics reporter Alexei Koseff: It wasn’t Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins’ first turn standing in for the governor of California while he was out of the state. (That came in 2014, when she was Assembly speaker and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel tried to get her to invade Oregon during her 10 hours […]

Truck manufacturers won’t file legal challenges over California's controversial mandate, and in return, the state air board will relax some smog-fighting requirements.

A look inside the factory that assembles Ford’s F-150 electric pickup. As the industry invests $40 billion in new US electric car plants, the rapid transformation raises labor and supply chain issues. Automaker says “we're all-in.”

From Jeanne Kuang of CalMatters’ California Divide team: Low wages and unpredictable hours make fast food the industry with the highest percentage of homeless workers in the state, according to a new union-sponsored report that is sure to stoke debate this year amid the latest contentious legislation over the industry’s labor practices.  The report released […]

Now that California has opted to phase out diesel trucking, the state will find out in the years to come which was right: the aspirations of environmentalists or the warnings of the trucking industry.  On Friday the California Air Resources Board unanimously voted to ban the sale of new diesel big rigs, delivery and garbage […]

In a worldwide first, California’s air board unanimously moves to end diesel’s decades-long stranglehold on the economy. Truckers predict chaos, while communities near ports, freeways celebrate cleaner air.

During a dramatic hearing Thursday at the state Capitol, seven fentanyl measures finally received a verdict: Four bills passed, but the two most sweeping failed and a third was put on hold. Watching closely: Grieving families who lost loved ones to fentanyl poisoning, recovering addicts and advocates for criminal justice reform. To get inside the […]

A decision is expected Friday. Trucking companies say the deadlines for converting big rigs, delivery trucks and other heavy vehicles will cause “chaos and dysfunction” of California’s economy. Some residents urged the board to enact even stronger measures to clean up their polluted air and "put our lives over profit."

Good news: California has a near-record snowpack in the Sierra, which could ease the impact of our deep drought. Bad news: There’s a heat wave coming this week. Really bad news: If the snow melts too fast, it could help cause devastating floods in the Central Valley. Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom went to Tulare Lake […]