Wildfires

With one-quarter of Californians living in areas considered high-risk for wildfire, state leaders need to emphasize policies that generate more middle-income housing inside cities and create pathways to homeownership.

Facing a mental health crisis, Cal Fire crews sought less of a workload. But they have to wait two years under their new contract.

Moderate weather and well-timed rainstorms in much of California combined to curb the acreage and structures burned.

Many Californians will wake up this morning to a relatively rare phenomenon: Rain. Today, the freezing-cold temperatures and high-powered winds that have gripped much of the state this week are set to give way to a good old-fashioned winter storm: Both Northern and Southern California are expecting rain, strong winds and heavy mountain snow, with […]

Forest treatment projects produce biomass waste that could be converted into valuable commodities that help pay for wildfire prevention efforts across California.

Here are the tax rates, campaign finance figures, revenue estimates and other key numbers to understand Prop. 30, the most confounding of the California ballot measures.

Saying Californians disagree about the state’s approach to climate change might be a bit of an understatement. Today, for example, California’s air regulators are set to hold the first of two hearings on a controversial, far-reaching proposal that would ban the sale of new gas-powered big rigs and other trucks in the state by 2040 […]

Note: My amazing colleague Ben Christopher and other CalMatters reporters will guest host the newsletter while I’m on vacation. I’ll see you on Monday, Sept. 26! Another day, another state of emergency. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday proclaimed a state of emergency in Riverside County due to the Fairview Fire — which as of Friday […]

Today, California’s power grid is poised to face its biggest test of the summer so far as a record-setting heat wave continues to boil the drought-parched, fire-stricken state. As residents crank up their air conditioners to deal with yet another day of triple-digit temperatures, peak demand could shoot past 51,000 megawatts — surpassing the record […]

Note: Due to the holiday weekend, the newsletter will pause until Tuesday. Californians’ energy conservation efforts and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s emergency proclamation freeing up additional supplies helped the state avoid a Wednesday shortfall that could have resulted in rolling blackouts as an extreme heat wave strained the electric grid, California’s Independent System Operator said Thursday. […]