San Francisco

Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks to the press during a visit to Ruby Bridges Elementary School in Alameda on March 16, 2021. Photo by Anne Wernikoff, CalMatters

WhatMatters

Will Newsom OK supervised drug injection sites?

Gov. Gavin Newsom has a big decision to make — one that could have equally big implications for his national profile. Heading to Newsom’s desk is a controversial bill that would allow Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles to launch trial supervised drug injection sites through Jan. 1, 2028. The sites — which are currently […]

By

Emily Hoeven

• August 11, 2022

People line up at a monkeypox vaccination site in Encino on Thursday July 28, 2022. Photo by Marcio Jose Sanchez, AP Photo

WhatMatters

Will California declare monkeypox state of emergency?

As one of California’s public health emergencies appears to be subsiding, another is emerging. Los Angeles County public health officers, who had been poised to take the controversial step of reinstating a universal indoor mask mandate as soon as today, announced Thursday they would not proceed with that plan due to improving coronavirus infection numbers […]

By

Emily Hoeven

• July 29, 2022

Attorney General Rob Bonta during a confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court of California in San Francisco on March 22, 2022. AP Photo/Eric Risberg

WhatMatters

Could DA Boudin recall spell trouble for Attorney General Bonta?

Get ready for a lot more ads attempting to link Attorney General Rob Bonta to Chesa Boudin, the progressive district attorney whom San Francisco voters ousted Tuesday night in one of the most closely watched races in California’s primary election. But it’s unclear if such an approach will prove effective, given the two men’s sharply […]

By

Emily Hoeven

• June 8, 2022

Election worker Donna Young inspects a mail-in ballot for damage at the Sacramento County Registrar of Voters in Sacramento on Friday, June 3, 2022. Photo by Rich Pedroncelli, AP Photo

WhatMatters

Confusion, contradictions swirl in lead-up to California primary

California’s primary election is here at last — and with it a jumble of contradictions and confusing communication. First up: Erratic emails. Californians searching for information on how to cast their ballots (which you can find in CalMatters’ Voter Guide) may have been baffled by a series of Monday emails from the secretary of state’s […]

By

Emily Hoeven

• June 7, 2022

Voters register and receive their ballots at the San Francisco voting center at City Hall on Nov. 3, 2002. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters

WhatMatters

California’s primary is 1 day away. Do voters care?

I’m back from a vacation made all the more sweet by CalMatters’ showing at the California Journalism Awards! Many thanks to Ben Christopher for his incredible job guest-hosting the newsletter. ‘Twas the night before California’s primary election, when all through the state / Barely a creature was stirring, even with the high stakes. My adaptation […]

By

Emily Hoeven

• June 6, 2022

A Twitter sign outside of the company's headquarters in San Francisco on Oct. 26, 2016. Photo by Jeff Chiu, AP Photo

WhatMatters

Elon Musk’s Twitter buy puts California on edge

CalMatters is dedicated to explaining how state government impacts our lives. Your support helps us produce journalism that makes a difference. Donate now. In California, it all comes back to housing — even Monday’s blockbuster news that Twitter accepted Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $44 billion offer to take the company private. Musk, in a since-deleted April 9 […]

By

Emily Hoeven

• April 26, 2022

Kristin Bailey, center, a demonstration organizer, carries a sign in favor of giving parents the option of in-person instruction for their children during a rally in favor of reopening Brentwood schools on Sept. 15, 2020. “We as a community are smart enough to take proper precautions,” Bailey said. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters

WhatMatters

Is this the ‘Year of the Parent’ in California politics?

"Anger parents at your own peril" may be the California election takeaway from the San Francisco's recall of three school board members.

By

Emily Hoeven

• February 17, 2022

WhatMatters

Are California schools failing students of color?

Proposed Oakland school closures have reinvigorated debates over learning loss and educational inequities widened by the pandemic.

By

Emily Hoeven

• February 7, 2022

$The San Francisco Unified School District Building in San Francisco on Dec. 2, 2021. Nina Riggio for CalMatters$

WhatMatters

Vaccines, grades, tests, math: Equity becomes flashpoint in California schools

Equity. That’s one of the buzzwords that will likely dominate conversation in California’s capitol next month, when state lawmakers return to Sacramento to consider, among other things, possible legislation to remove the personal belief exemption from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s student COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Stressed school leaders have mixed feelings about that, with some warning it […]

By

Emily Hoeven

• December 6, 2021

A man living on the streets displays what he claims to be the synthetic drug fentanyl in the Tenderloin section of San Francisco on Feb. 27, 2020. Photo by Shannon Stapleton, Reuters

WhatMatters

Overdose epidemic plagues California: Fentanyl is driving uptick in deaths

As concern over the omicron variant mounts in California — with the state’s second case confirmed Thursday in Los Angeles County — another public health crisis is lurking in plain sight: the drug epidemic. A jaw-dropping report released Wednesday by the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy found that nearly 1,500 people, the vast […]

By

Emily Hoeven

• December 3, 2021