CalMatters is a nonpartisan, nonprofit (501(c)(3) news organization that provides insightful and thought-provoking journalism that explain the major issues facing all Californians in the areas of education, environment, health and human welfare, and economics.
Our team of veteran journalists is committed to meaningfully informing Californians about the players, politics, and interests that shape the issues that affect their lives.
A 2014 law appears to have contributed to an increase in people living on the street, a rise in overdoses and a drop in people getting help.
What would Xavier Becerra, a 35-year veteran of Democratic politics, do as California governor? He's still not saying.
Universities have refused to share information about the money they’re giving student athletes.
Facing budget shortfalls and new federal restrictions, state leaders have begun rolling back the coverage system they built.
The change could open some of California’s most remote backcountry to new roads and development.
The CHP lost an effort to fire one of the officers it caught billing the state for overtime hours they didn’t work at a Los Angeles station.
Brain sensors are advancing, and California companies, lawmakers and unions are jockeying to shape how the resulting data can be used.
Schools get grant money to obtain fresh, local food; send students on field trips to farms; and cafeteria workers to culinary academies.
California spends tens of millions every year paying prison employees to look for smoke and fire. Replacing fire alarms costs much more.
For the fourth year in a row, lawmakers are weighing whether to give violent criminals the legal right to cite abuse in their legal defense.
California’s wildfires are destroying forests faster than the state can replant them, and federal cuts are making the gap worse.
Attila Colar’s conviction fell apart this week.
A program that promised schools upgraded AC systems was cut short in 2024, leaving hundreds of districts with broken systems.
With proposals to tax the rich, Newsom is playing to a 2028 national audience anxious about artificial intelligence.
The Trump administration cancelled $2 billion of research grants to University of California professors.
A surf camp buses kids to other beaches, and junior lifeguards travel up the coast from this beach town plagued by cross-border sewage.
Immigrant detainees work for $1 a day inside a facility in San Joaquin Valley. The company settled a state complaint over conditions inside.
The attorney general’s office released 2025’s crime statistics and said California’s homicide rate is the lowest on record since 1966.
The new budget includes $55 million for the DMV to build a system to bring the state in compliance with the federal REAL ID law.
Prosecuting companies for failing to follow environmental laws is difficult, and how far cities may go to protect residents isn’t clear.
