PG&E

School reopenings will likely take center stage in 2021 as one of California’s biggest political battles. It’s a battle all the more noteworthy because it pits two groups that are often allies — unions and Democratic lawmakers — against each other. This week, the state’s two largest teachers unions — the California Teachers Association and […]

In an attempt to prevent wildfires, the utility is removing vegetation from around power lines. But it’s leaving downed trees on people’s property that are “little fire bombs waiting to ignite,” one expert says.

En un intento por prevenir incendios forestales, la empresa de servicios públicos está eliminando la vegetación alrededor de las líneas eléctricas. Pero está dejando árboles caídos en la propiedad de las personas que son "pequeñas bombas incendiarias esperando para encenderse", dice un experto.

Let the political jockeying begin — again. With the surprise announcement Sunday that President-elect Joe Biden chose California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as his secretary of health and human services, Gov. Gavin Newsom could be staring down at least two — and quite possibly three — high-stakes political appointments. If Becerra is confirmed by the […]

In a stark scene of what the electoral process in California can look like in 2020, masked voters last Monday cast early ballots in an El Dorado County elections office powered by a generator after dry winds and fear of wildfires triggered an electricity shutoff. This year, thanks to back-up generators and the promise of […]

State law caps the amount donors can give to a legislator’s campaign — but these special interests can spend as much as they like mounting their own campaigns to praise or trash candidates. And the money interest groups are pouring into these  “independent expenditure committees” has reached dizzying heights. So far more than $31 million of […]

All things considered, California is faring better than expected amid the worst fire conditions of the season. Though desiccated winds topping 70 miles per hour ignited more than two dozen small fires in the northern part of the state, firefighters had fully contained all but two of them by Monday afternoon, and ongoing fires didn’t […]

Brace yourself for the most dangerous fire weather of the season — and prepare to light a lot of candles. Nearly 1 million Californians will spend the day without power after PG&E initiated its largest shutoffs of the year Sunday to mitigate fire risk as bone-dry winds reaching 70 miles per hour pummel Northern California. […]

California ran up against a slate of important deadlines Thursday that could affect the state’s fiscal, political and environmental landscape for decades to come. Here’s a breakdown of what’s at stake: —Federal stimulus. Thursday came and went, and the federal government did not pass another coronavirus relief package — dashing California’s hope of reversing $11 […]

The political stakes of the ongoing face-off between the California Republican Party and some of the state’s top Democratic elected officials over “ballot harvesting” practices just got a lot higher. The California GOP said it would not stop collecting voter ballots in unofficial drop boxes in a Wednesday letter to Secretary of State Alex Padilla […]