unemployment

WhatMatters

Newsom orders seven counties to close bars as coronavirus surges

Good morning, California. It’s Monday, June 29. Some parts of California are going back under lockdown. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday ordered bars to close in seven counties and recommended they close in eight others following a week in which each day heralded a new all-time high of coronavirus-related hospitalizations. Newsom: “COVID-19 is still circulating […]

By

Emily Hoeven

• June 29, 2020

California Divide

Where to get financial help during coronavirus in California — and is it enough?

California's pandemic safety net programs are straining under overwhelming demand. So did Gov. Gavin Newsom overpromise or underdeliver?

By

Jackie Botts

• June 29, 2020

State and federal planners are relying on conflicting coronavirus pandemic models — but an infectious disease model is no oracle. Image via iStock

WhatMatters

Newsom: Help us improve COVID-19 models

Good morning, California. It’s Friday, June 26. Hospitalizations rise in southern, central CA Amid a continued surge in hospitalizations and ICU admissions, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday made public the coronavirus models California is using to inform its public health orders, calling on “citizen scientists,” “experts in artificial intelligence,” “Nobel laureates” and everyday people to […]

By

Emily Hoeven

• June 26, 2020

Economy

Pandemic steals most from immigrant working women

Researchers at the UC Merced Community and Labor Center say non-citizen women have experienced the most devastating job losses. The study is an early signal of how the coronavirus recession is widening California’s economic inequities.

By

Jackie Botts

• May 21, 2020

Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration is calling for budget cuts based on an economic model more dire than those of others. Illustration via iStock

Economy

Valid assumptions or “tacky bluffs” — the econ forecast shaping Newsom’s budget

Are the Newsom administration’s dismal recession prognostications a reasonable outlier — or “preposterously negative” and a “poker bluff” aimed at ratcheting up pressure for a financial assist from the feds?

By

Ben Christopher

• May 20, 2020

WhatMatters

How bad are things? We’ll know more today

Newsom set to unveil revised budget. Feds deny approval for N95 masks from Chinese firm. How much state unemployment fund lost from Uber, Lyft.

By

Emily Hoeven

• May 14, 2020

CalMatters is tracking lawsuits against California's shelter-in-place order and other pandemic responses. Photography by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters; elements via iStock

Coronavirus

Outraged parishoners, irked gun stores, an angry bride: Courts flooded with anti-Newsom shutdown suits

Though the state is taking flak from an array of aggrieved Californians — gondoliers, conservative politicians, barbers and manicurists are among the plaintiffs — there is a common denominator for most of these lawsuits: Her name is Harmeet Dhillon.

By

Ben Christopher

• May 11, 2020

A sign hangs from the door at Cholita Linda, an Oakland counter-service restaurant, informing customers to go next door for take out following an order for Alameda and surrounding counties to shelter in place until April 7 in an effort to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus

WhatMatters

With $54.3 billion deficit, cuts ahead

Huge budget deficit, unemployment numbers expected as California takes tentative steps toward trying to reopen its economy.

By

Emily Hoeven

• May 8, 2020

Gov. Gavin Newsom presents the 2020-21 state budget at a press conference at the California Capitol on January 10, 2020. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters

Economy

Here’s how a $54 billion deficit will hurt Californians

California faces an unprecedented $54.3 billion deficit. Finance officials announce the unemployment rate could reach 18%, worse than the Great Recession. Schools, health care and safety-net programs face devastating cuts as state and local officials seek additional federal stimulus.

By

Judy Lin

• May 7, 2020

WhatMatters

Newsom jumps gun on some COVID-19 plans

Some of Newsom's ambitious coronavirus-response plans fail to materialize. Push to reopen grows in some localities even as testing lags.

By

Emily Hoeven

• May 4, 2020

Unemployment