State Watch

CAL MATTERS - Californians in November will vote on the fewest statewide ballot measures in more than a century — heightening already intense attention on a pair of dueling initiatives to legalize sports betting. 

STATE POLITICS - To encourage us to think about the unthinkable, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists sets a Doomsday Clock, showing how close humanity is (in metaphorical minutes and seconds) to the “midnight” of the apocalypse (nuclear or otherwise) and human extinction.

TENANTS IN CRISIS - Eviction protections for thousands of California households still waiting in line for payments from the state’s multi-billion dollar rent relief program expired Thursday.

YOUR TAX BILL - Let’s start with the premise that taxation is largely arbitrary.

UNHOUSED - In California, homelessness is a long-running crisis. And it is a human tragedy for an estimated 160,000 unhoused people.

CA BUDGET - The 2022-23 fiscal year will begin in less than a week and Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders are still negotiating — or arguing — over how to divvy up a nearly $100 billion projected budget surplus.

GUEST COMMENTARY - The constitutional right to abortion in the United States is no more.

RAIL TRANSPO - Can Californians find their way to San Jose?

CAL MATTERS - California is the land of dreams and extremes and nowhere is that more evident than in the state’s very low rate of homeownership.

LEANING RIGHT - The California State Legislature has just released the “Floor Report of the 2022-2023 Budget,” and it’s a doozy.

CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS - Our schools play a crucial role in influencing our children’s health and learning.

San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin

THE DOCTOR IS IN - It works all too well in the once-Golden State, and much of Blue State America, that if someone disagrees with you then they're "right wing" and obviously a Nazi, Confederate, racist, bigoted, intolerant, and otherwise horrible human being.

HOUSING POLITICS - With election season upon us, journalists and voters should take another look at our special report about how the California Apartment Association and Big Real Estate deliver campaign contributions to politicians in every level of government in California. Without question, it’s a must-read.

HEALTH AND PATIENT SAFETY - Some devoted patient safety activists worked alongside Consumer Watchdog and Consumer Attorneys of California for decades to get the antiquated Medical Injury Compensation Act (MICRA) cap increased.

GUEST COMMENTARY - Even the New York Times has to admit unpleasant realities, like the departure of people from California and other deep blue states.

WOMEN’S RIGHTS - By this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court will issue a decision on the most consequential challenge to Roe v. Wade since the landmark ruling in 1973 guaranteed the constitutional right to obtain an abortion. 

WATER CRISIS - For 35 days between March and April of this year, Dante Woolfolk went without any running water in his house in Brooktrails, a small town nestled amid the leafy canopies of Mendocino County in Northern California.

STATE ECONOMY - Nowhere is better suited for flights of fancy than California, a place of miraculous growth and remarkable innovation.

REGIONAL HOUSING NEEDS ASSESSMENT - Data shows that California’s RHNA rules are just impossible without complete urban transformation.  

GUN VIOLENCE – “California leads this national conversation. When California moves, other states move in the same direction.” -- Gov. Newsom

DOWNSIZING SF TO LA - “Stop where you are,” declared the short, mustachioed, dandily dressed detective, in a European accent, as he entered the Assembly chamber.