It’s Monday. The Golden State’s unemployment rate remains stubbornly high. Plus, the Yimby movement isn’t just for liberals anymore. Tech layoffs. Hollywood strikes. Rural joblessness. For much of the past year, key parts of the California economy have looked a lot like our winter weather: dreary. While the state’s economy has long outpaced the economies…
California has about 12 percent of the nation’s population but more than a quarter of America’s homeless people — 181,000-plus at last count. There are many reasons for this outsize problem, including generations-old state laws that deinstitutionalized mentally ill people as well as high housing costs that have since priced tens of thousands out of…
Behind the Lawsuit Diversity statements — also known as diversity, equity and inclusion, or D.E.I., statements — ask candidates seeking a faculty job or promotion to describe how they would contribute to campus diversity. In his lawsuit, John Haltigan, who has a Ph.D. in developmental psychology, said he would have applied to a position at…
Legal Back and Forth The case centers on Senate Bill 2, a state law that sets several restrictions on gun ownership, most notably a ban on firearms in a long list of public places. Since the ban was introduced, there has been a lot of back and forth over whether the law, which took effect…
Wages just went up for thousands of Californians. As of yesterday, the state’s overall minimum wage is now $16 an hour, up from $15.50. That is the second-highest statewide minimum in the nation, trailing only Washington at $16.28 (the District of Columbia’s is higher still, at $17 an hour). The latest increase in California is…
For decades, nonnative animals have ravaged the rare habitat on Catalina. The proposed solution has infuriated local residents and animal lovers. WHY WE’RE HERE We’re exploring how America defines itself one place at a time. On a California island, residents and preservationists are feuding over how to protect the habitat for future generations. By Soumya…
As most Californians know all too well, the rain that drenched the state this week was extreme and often record-breaking. As Tropical Storm Hilary passed through California, more rain fell in San Diego and Los Angeles on Sunday than on any other August day on record. The same was true in the desert city of…
The mother lode of winter storms has sent water blasting through rock crevices and rivers in the Sierra Nevada, leading to more glittering discoveries by prospectors. WHY WE’RE HERE We’re exploring how America defines itself one place at a time. In Northern California, prospectors are looking to strike gold after the winter storms, recalling a…
Larry Elder, a conservative talk radio host who was a breakout star on the right after running unsuccessfully in California’s recall election in 2021, said on Thursday evening that he was running for president. He made the announcement on Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox News, joining a growing Republican field that is led by former…
“My California childhood included artichokes, steamed to perfection, the leaves dipped in melted butter, scraped clean and then discarded in a communal bowl. Years later while living in New York, at a neighborhood green grocer, I saw someone pick up an artichoke, turning it this way and that. I told him about trimming, steaming, dipping,…