CalMatters
LightNews LightNews
banner
calmatters.org
CalMatters
@calmatters.org
16K followers 170 following 1.4K posts
CalMatters is a nonpartisan and nonprofit news organization. We write stories about California, for Californians.
Posts Replies Media Videos
calmatters.org
Commentary: A study Gov. Gavin Newsom commissioned describes higher margins oil refiners receive for their products, which become gasoline. bit.ly/4hZ51pj

📝 Dan Walters
📸 Justin Sullivan
Gas prices at an Arco station in Mill Valley on Aug. 28, 2025. California's prices are some of the highest in the nation. Photo by Justin Sullivan via Getty Images
November 15, 2025 at 2:45 AM
calmatters.org
A federal judge ruled Donald Trump cannot demand that UCLA pay a $1.2 billion settlement that would have restricted academic freedoms. bit.ly/3JV8Cbg

📝 @mzinshteyn.bsky.social
📸 Jules Hotz
Participants of the "Kill the Cuts" rally against the Trump administration’s cuts to research funding gather outside the Wilshire Federal Building after walking from the UCLA campus in Los Angeles on April 8, 2025. Photo by Jules Hotz for CalMatters. Hed: ‘Unlawful coercion’: Trump can’t withhold funds or demand payment from UC, federal judge rules
November 15, 2025 at 1:26 AM
calmatters.org
What will California’s next governor do about health care? Four Democrats in the race say answering the Trump Administration’s cuts and making care affordable is important. But they disagree about how to pay for that. bit.ly/43xQzhY

📸 Leroy Hamilton
November 15, 2025 at 12:38 AM
calmatters.org
An unusually strong storm system has reached Southern California, raising fears that the rain could unleash a threat that has been lingering in the burn scars of wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles communities in recent years. bit.ly/4oEVIgu

📸 Joel Angel Juarez
People clear mud from a driveway along Pasadena Glen Road near the Eaton Wash after heavy rainfall triggered multiple mudslides in the Eaton Fire burn scar area in Pasadena on Feb. 14, 2025. Photo by Joel Angel Juarez for CalMatters. Hed: ‘A flood on steroids’: What to know as storm, debris flows threaten LA
November 14, 2025 at 11:57 PM
calmatters.org
California’s data centers have doubled their use of electricity and demand for water , and are polluting more, even as lawmakers stall on oversight. bit.ly/3X0x266

📸 Brittany Hosea-Small, Reuters
An employee works in a Broadcom data center built in San Jose on Sept. 5, 2025. Photo by Brittany Hosea-Small, Reuters
November 14, 2025 at 11:25 PM
calmatters.org
Hundreds of people are on a waitlist for opioid addiction treatment in Los Angeles County jails as the state presses the system to reduce overdoses and in-custody deaths. bit.ly/4p64iVu

📸 Chris Carlson, AP
A Sheriff's officer stands guard over inmates at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles on April 27, 2017. Photo by Chris Carlson, AP Photo. Hed: L.A. jails scale back opioid addiction treatment as fatal overdoses continue
November 14, 2025 at 10:20 PM
calmatters.org
Gov. Gavin Newsom, a critic of the powerful Coastal Commission, and other top Democrats have appointed three pro-development local officials this year to help get more housing and other developments approved along the Pacific coast. bit.ly/3XszqTh

📸 Adriana Heldiz
An aerial view of houses along a coastal bluff at Boneyard Beach in Encinitas on Sept. 3, 2024. Photo by Adriana Heldiz, CalMatters. Hed: More housing on the California coast? Changes at this agency signal a pro-building shift
November 14, 2025 at 9:02 PM
calmatters.org
California’s K-12 students showed moderate progress academically last year, with some bright spots but otherwise plateauing after years of post-pandemic improvements, according to the new California School Dashboard released today. bit.ly/4qSf0k5

📝 @carolynjones100.bsky.social
📸 Shelby Knowles
Test scores improved for California K-12 students, but other performance indicators were stagnant. Photo by Shelby Knowles for CalMatters. Hed: Has student improvement plateaued in California? New dashboard shows modest gains
November 13, 2025 at 10:29 PM
calmatters.org
Commentary: California is a blue state with relatively high taxes now. Do voters want to add more or make it difficult to add more? bit.ly/3WUAtex

📝 Dan Walters
📸 Miguel Gutierrez Jr.
Gov. Gavin Newsom delivers a pre-recorded State of the State address via YouTube on June 25, 2024. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters
November 13, 2025 at 9:17 PM
calmatters.org
AT&T’s failed effort this year to retire copper landlines in parts of California seemed to have support from a diverse grassroots coalition. But many of the members had ties with the telecom giant, CalMatters found. bit.ly/49nQDVn

📸 Chad Surmick
Hacienda resident Cynthia Halliday checks for a dial tone on her landline phone at her home above the Russian River in Sonoma County, Oct. 23, 2025. Halliday lost her husband to a heart attack and could not stay connected to 911 on her cell phone. She ended up yelling to her neighbor to call on his landline for help. AT&T is seeking to shed a requirement to provide landlines in areas like Hacienda. Photo by Chad Surmick for CalMatters. Hed: They rely on landlines for emergencies. AT&T’s political moves in California could take those away
November 13, 2025 at 8:12 PM
calmatters.org
Commentary: People outside Los Angeles undoubtedly imagine that a liberal, Black woman mayor would be vulnerable only to a conservative, someone who could hold the center while she drew support from the left. Those people would be wrong. bit.ly/3WUhjWc

📝 Jim Newton
📸 Ted Soqui, AP
November 13, 2025 at 7:02 PM
calmatters.org
California Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire has officially launched his challenge to longtime Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa in a congressional district drastically redrawn by Proposition 50. bit.ly/4806lnj

📝 @mayacmiller.bsky.social
📸 Miguel Gutierrez Jr.
Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire speaks during a press conference before Gov. Gavin Newsom signs the Election Rigging Response Act at the Capitol Annex Swing Space in Sacramento on Aug. 21, 2025. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters. Hed: Democrat Mike McGuire challenges GOP Rep. Doug LaMalfa for new Prop. 50 seat
November 13, 2025 at 6:44 PM
calmatters.org
Youth homelessness has declined by nearly a quarter since 2019 in California, according to a new report that offers a bright spot amid the state’s ongoing struggle to bring people off the streets. bit.ly/3LE8D3M

📝 @marisakendall.bsky.social
📸 Anda Chu
Tigs Smith, her son Vance, 9, and daughter Emily, 16, in San Jose on Aug. 5, 2021. Smith and her two children live in an encampment on vacant lot. Photo by Anda Chu, Bay Area News Group. Hed: Youth homelessness down in CA, for now
November 13, 2025 at 5:42 PM
calmatters.org
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, and three co-conspirators were indicted Wednesday on 23 counts of bank and wire fraud, allegedly committed from 2022 to 2024, during her time working for the governor. bit.ly/3XoJD31

📸 Lea Suzuki, Getty
Dana Williamson, then-cabinet secretary in Gov. Jerry Brown's administration. Williamson would eventually become Gov. Newsom's chief of staff, before departing in December of 2024. Photo By Lea Suzuki, The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images. Hed: Gavin Newsom’s former chief of staff arrested on allegations of bank and wire fraud
November 12, 2025 at 10:57 PM
calmatters.org
Commentary: For so long, I’ve carried the weight of knowing that my sister’s story was used to build systems that don’t work — that harm communities, that don’t make us safer and that don’t reflect what victims actually need.
bit.ly/47Ak4lG

📝 Jess Nichol
📸 Nic Coury, AP
November 12, 2025 at 7:05 PM
calmatters.org
Three years after closing its maternity ward, a new state law will help a rural Northern California hospital bring birth services back to the community. bit.ly/4hRFHkM

📸 Courtesy of Plumas Hospital District
An ambulance truck outside the Plumas Hospital District. Photo courtesy of Plumas Hospital District
November 12, 2025 at 5:57 PM
calmatters.org
A few hundred feet apart, yet worlds away politically, furious students at UC Berkeley protested the final stop of the conservative organization Turning Point USA’s “American Comeback Tour,” hosted Monday night on what is known as the nation’s most liberal campus.
bit.ly/3WQMnWU

📸 Chrissa Olson
November 12, 2025 at 4:40 AM
calmatters.org
After two fraught years of negotiations amid dire projections for the Colorado River’s reservoirs, California and six other states that rely on the river’s water have yet again failed to reach a deal — despite a federal deadline. bit.ly/4r03eo0

📸 Gregory Bull, AP
Water flows along the All-American Canal near Winterhaven on Aug. 13, 2022. Hed: No deal on the Colorado River despite Trump administration deadline
November 12, 2025 at 4:31 AM
calmatters.org
The @uofcalifornia.bsky.social serves 300,000 students, yet only one of the two students on the 26-member Board of Regents is allowed to vote. Now, student leaders are campaigning for a second vote bit.ly/4qZaTmw

📸 Florence Middleton
Student Regent-designate Miguel Craven, left, and Student Regent Sonya Brooks at the Regents of the University of California meeting at the UC San Francisco Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco on Sept. 17, 2025. Photo by Florence Middleton for CalMatters. Hed: As tuition keeps increasing, UC students want a bigger say on the Board of Regents
November 11, 2025 at 7:46 PM
calmatters.org
Commentary: Gov. Newsom attracted national news coverage thanks to Proposition 50 before jetting to Brazil for a climate conference President Donald Trump avoided. bit.ly/3LVVbs0

📝 Dan Walters
📸 Jason Fochtman, Getty
November 11, 2025 at 6:27 PM
calmatters.org
California likes to think of itself as a nation — and this week, it’s acting like one. Gov. Gavin Newsom, top state officials and legislators are leading a delegation to the United Nations’ 30th Conference of Parties this week in Belém. bit.ly/3LVPo5N

📸 Wagner Meier
The COP30 logo at the central building is visible ahead of the COP30 Brazil Amazonia 2025 in Belém, Brazil, on Nov. 3, 2025. Photo by Wagner Meier, Getty Images. Quote: “The reason I’m here is the absence of leadership coming from the United States — this vacuum, it’s rather jaw dropping.” Gov. Gavin Newsom, in São Paulo, speaking at the Milken Institute Global Investors’ Symposium. He is leading a California delegation to the United Nations’ 30th Conference of Parties this week in Belém. Quote: “The reason I’m here is the absence of leadership coming from the United States — this vacuum, it’s rather jaw dropping.” Gov. Gavin Newsom, in São Paulo, speaking at the Milken Institute Global Investors’ Symposium. He is leading a California delegation to the United Nations’ 30th Conference of Parties this week in Belém.
November 11, 2025 at 5:25 PM
calmatters.org
California adopted criminal penalties for filing false claims against police officers 30 years ago. The state Supreme Court held that the LAPD went too far in advising people about those penalties when they file citizen complaints. bit.ly/4oyl3sD

📸 J.W. Hendricks
Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department respond to a strike by the National Union of Healthcare Workers in front of Kaiser Permanente's Sunset Boulevard location in Los Angeles on Feb. 7, 2025. Photo by J.W. Hendricks for CalMatters
November 11, 2025 at 1:52 AM
calmatters.org
Western states in the Colorado River basin are racing a federal deadline to hash out how to share the overtapped river. As the clock ticks down, two questions looms large: Just how real is this deadline, and what does it mean for California? bit.ly/3WORG9b

📸 Caitlin Ochs, Reuters
The All American Canal flows past the Imperial Sand Dunes near Felicity on Dec. 5, 2022. Photo by Caitlin Ochs, Reuters
November 11, 2025 at 12:42 AM
calmatters.org
The University of California dodged what could have been one of the biggest labor strikes in its history, after reaching a tentative agreement on Saturday with the University Professional and Technical Employees labor group. bit.ly/4qRAjSN

📸 Penny Collins, Reuters
UC Davis healthcare, research and technical workers participate in a UC system-wide strike at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento on Feb. 27, 2025. Photo by Penny Collins, NurPhoto via Reuters
November 10, 2025 at 11:49 PM
calmatters.org
As the United Nations Climate Change Conference begins, California officials are the highest profile American delegation this week in Bélem, Brazil. The Trump administration has abandoned the Paris climate agreement and won’t send officials to the talks. bit.ly/43VqsBD

📸 Wagner Meier, Getty
The COP30 logo at the central building is visible ahead of the COP30 Brazil Amazonia 2025 in Belém, Brazil on Nov. 3, 2025. Photo by Wagner Meier, Getty Images
November 10, 2025 at 10:08 PM