Shasta County

Guest Commentary written by Tracy Nguyen Tracy Nguyen is a student at Stanford University studying political science and public policy. She specializes in state and local governance with a broader focus in health policy. Imagine driving 75 miles one way every day because your life depended on it. That used to be the case for […]

The penalty is the maximum the ranchers — who pumped Shasta River water for eight days — could face under state law. It amounts to about $50 per rancher, which is no deterrent, ranchers and officials agree.

Once considered an infection nearly eradicated, congenital syphilis rates have risen dramatically in California. Community health workers fan out across communities to find and treat patients who are often homeless or battling addiction.

Legal advocates are trying to roll back California’s hefty traffic ticket fines and fees, which are among the highest in the nation. One attorney called them a “blunt instrument” punishing people “when in reality, for many Californians, traffic tickets are simply too expensive to take care of.”

Despite continuing national concerns about election integrity, it’s clear that California's county registrars of voters — the heroes of the 2020 election — made sure every vote was counted.

CalMatters talked to volunteer poll workers and full-time staff members in the aftermath of November’s contentious election to see how their work differed from past elections. Poll worker Jeannette Logue of Shasta County described the mood as “very serious.”

 Lea este artículo en español. As if permanent markers didn’t already make enough of a mess, enter #sharpiegate. With votes for Biden mounting, a group of Trump supporters showed up to a ballot counting facility in Arizona’s Maricopa County last Wednesday and cried foul. Their claim: Poll workers were encouraging voters to mark their ballots with […]

California still must count 4.5 million ballots, a bigger job than what it faced two days after the election in 2016.

Despite limited testing requirements, California schools that have reopened for in-person instruction have largely avoided COVID-19 outbreaks. Still, some teachers and legislators say large scale surveillance testing is necessary to the rest of the state’s schools and that lack of data is a problem.

California's election officials don't expect intimidation or interference at the polls Tuesday but they're asking law enforcement to step in pronto if it happens.