Mental Health
Commentary
My turn: Paramedics need this bill to help vulnerable people
Too many vulnerable people are trapped in crowded hospital emergency rooms who didn’t need to be there. The emergency room revolving door isn’t helping them, and it’s putting other critical patients at risk.
Newsletters
Work undone, deals unraveled
Calfornia shelved a big police reform bill, the bail bonds industry announced plans to launch a referendum, SB 100 went to the goverrnor, and a lead paint deal failed.
Health
Why is it so hard to get mentally ill Californians into treatment? Three bills tell the tale
The Legislature's struggle this year to pass even one partial solution to untreated mental illness illustrates the complex philosophical, legal and ethical questions that surround conservatorship in California.
Newsletters
Who’s going to pay for the fires
California legislators confront the question of how to pay for fire damage. Should PG&E be relieved of costs related to devastating 2017 wildfires, and should the law be changed for future fires?
Newsletters
Initiatives you won’t and will vote on this November
California legislators averted costly initiative wars on privacy, lead paint and soda taxes. But voters will decide daylight savings time and gas tax repeal in November. San Francisco Mayor-elect London Breed urged legislators to expand car for mentally ill homeless people.
Elections
Brace yourself, Californians: Here are the 12 ballot measures you get to decide in November
After months of signature gathering and legislative wrangling, here's the final list of propositions that made the cut for the November election.
Economy
A walk along Skid Row in Los Angeles—block by bleak block
Nowhere is California's homelessness crisis more evident than here, where some 2,000 people hunker down for the night on sleeping pads, cardboard, or nothing.
Justice
Emotional fight over conversion therapy: Should California limit services meant to turn gay people straight?
Scientists and LGBTQ groups want California to become the nation's first state to ban what they see as a harmful, prejudice-driven practice. But First Amendment purists and some religious conservatives argue that would curtail liberty.
Newsletters
Elon Musk plays with fire
California Assembly seeks to limit University of California from giving workers 401(k)-style retirement plans.