Image by Maliutina AnnaOPINION – Families across California experienced a decline in violence and poverty in the wake of COVID-19, but according to the Public Policy Institute of California, the rate of poverty has since grown from 11.7% in 2021 to 13.2% in 2023.
Monika Lee, photo by Scott Duncan PhotographyMonika Lee’s story showcases many of the possible avenues for creating meaningful change in Sacramento. In her five years in the community, Lee has moved up the ranks in three different organizations and worked with a variety of issue areas, letting her passion for equity guide her along the way.
Solar farm in Napa, CA. Image by Noah SauveOPINION – California’s utility regulator has an opportunity to tackle housing costs and energy affordability challenges all while enhancing the state’s leading efforts at addressing climate change. California must take all necessary steps to expedite that access by adopting strong community solar plus storage program design.
Seeking a home, image by Ralf GeitheThe Newsom administration has put a lot of faith in its own Housing First strategies, which prioritizes permanent housing solutions, to address the problem. But not everyone is as enamored of the program as is the governor.
Homes in a middle-class neighborhood across the street from an oil refinery in Southern California. (Photo: trekandshoot, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Communities living next to gas plants constantly worry about the next disaster, like the 2021 Russell City Energy Center explosion, that could upend their lives. Beyond safety risks and intense air pollution impacts, gas plants have also repeatedly been unreliable in moments of high electricity demand.
Masked students outside their closed school, which shut down because of COVID-19. (Photo: Falon Koontz, via Shutterstock)The first standardized school testing since the pandemic has confirmed what parents knew all along – Covid shutdowns and remote learning hurt student performance and wiped out years of improvement. Repairing the damage won’t be easy. “Pandemic learning loss” presents a unique set of problems for which educators have no playbook.
An El Segundo Blue butterfly. (Photo: esbcoalition.)The 2028 Summer Olympics will take place in Los Angeles between July 21 and Aug. 6, 2028. The event will cost an estimated $6.9 billion, will host 15,000 athletes, and could potentially attract at least one million visitors, both foreign and domestic. Most of them will pass through Los Angeles International Airport near one
An old gas station along Route 66 with a 1957 Corvette parked in front. (Photo: Andrey Bayda, via Shutterstock)In March 2021, Petaluma became the first community in America to permanently ban the construction of new gas stations. For a nation that has been ruled by automobiles for the last century, banning gas stations seems a bold, if self-destructive, move on the surface.
An elderly woman uses a walker to help her navigate a California street. (Photo: frantic00, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Look around. California’s population is aging and growing more diverse. Aging independently in one’s own home with economic security has become particularly challenging for too many older adults who for years have endured discrimination, inequities and health disparities. These challenges have only intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic and amid surging costs of living.
The Diablo Canyon nuclear power station in San Luis Obispo County near Avila Beach. (Photo: WikipediaOPINION: Gov. Newsom’s announcement that his Administration would ask the California Legislature to authorize continued operation of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant was welcomed by many energy experts. Keeping the plant open would improve the resilience of the state’s grid and decrease the likelihood of blackouts.