A guard tower near the perimeter of a California prison. (Photo: Joseph Sohm, via Shutterstock)Under a 2022-23 state budget, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is launching a process to close prisons and deactivate facilities within others. One on the chopping block is Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Blythe, a city of 18,000, in eastern Riverside County, that is closing in March 2025.
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person loitering late at night on a deserted street. (Image: M-Production, via Shutterstock)Roxanne is used to being harassed by the police. A trans woman, Roxanne – who uses only her first name – is an attorney. She owns two homes in San Jose about a mile apart and regularly walks from one to the other. Years ago, while exercising, she was arrested across the street from one of her homes, she said.
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: With the results of the November election now finalized, 30% of California legislators are newcomers to their offices. Assemblyman Josh Hoover, (R) turned AD7 red, flipping a Sacramento area seat that had voted for Democrat Ken Cooley for four terms. We sat down with Hoover to talk about his legislative priorities (one of which is to scale back the renovation of the Capitol Annex, a project spearheaded by his AD 7 predecessor) including his interest in education, and ideas for addressing the homeless crisis.
A pair of all-electric big-rig trucks, built by Tesla, are ready for the road. (Photo: Steve Jurvetson, via Wikipedia)Never mind there are few on the market, or that keeping them moving requires a nonexistent network of chargers, California wants truckers to hurry up and replace diesel big rigs with versions that run on batteries or hydrogen. Regulations to achieve the transitions are not yet complete. The California Air Resources Board is gathering public opinion on the latest iteration and a subsequent draft is anticipated in the spring.
Gov. Gavin Newsom at the State of the State Address in January. (Photo: Sheila Fitzgerald)Gov. Gavin Newsom has rebuked California’s stem cell agency about its conduct of the election of a new chairperson for the $12 billion enterprise, a process that has been disrupted with the withdrawal of one candidate and the addition of a new one.
A harvester in a drought-stricken field of northern California. (Photo: TFoxFoto, via Shutterstock)Planted in spring, farmers drain their fields in August, and they drive big, loud harvesters into them in September, gently separating the rice stalks from the grain, and blowing the harvest into bankout wagons that they tow beside them. On average, each acre produces 8,000 pounds of rice, which is a greater yield than most of the world’s rice growing regions. But this September, 300,000 of California’s 550,000 acres of rice lay barren—over half the state’s rice crop.
Equity and safety are top priorities for Lee Ann Eager, the chair of the California Transportation Commission. The low-profile Eager — few have even heard her name — holds a critical position in state government. As CTC chair, the Fresno native heads the agency that figures out how best to spend money on the state’s mammoth highway and transit systems.
in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/=0eb60eName=)Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: From killers to governors, longtime Associated Press Photographer Rich Pedroncelli has photographed just about every other prominent person to make an appearance in California’s capitol city. Now, after over three decades behind the lens, he is hanging up his press pass.
Andrea Fernandez and her son Jakob, who suffers from 'bubble boy' disease. (Photo: Courtesy of Fernandez family)Nearly three years after a British firm abandoned a successful therapy for the life-threatening “bubble baby” disease, children will again be treated in a clinical trial backed with millions of dollars from the state of California. “It’s the best Christmas gift ever,” said the mother of an afflicted child, Andrea Fernandez.
Directions to the local polling site in San Francisco. (Photo: Kevin McGovern, via Shutterstock)Much of the coverage of the recent midterm election has been about the surprise outcome – one in which the Republicans have taken a small majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, and Democrats retained control of the U.S. Senate. However, this was the story that polling was telling us — if we were willing to listen.