CalMatters

California’s clean-air regulators on Tuesday unveiled a far-reaching proposal requiring a ramp-up in sales of zero-emission cars, culminating in a ban on new gasoline-powered cars by 2035. 

The sharp increase in coronavirus cases is again challenging California’s courts, with judges releasing plans this week to scale back some courtroom procedures as the state experiences the largest spike in COVID-19 since January 2021. 

Toddlers and preschoolers who have mostly known a school life with tiny masks may be in for a big lifestyle change after Friday, when the state mask mandate for kids ends at midnight. 

After a years-long battle reignited in recent months by controversies over misunderstandings of critical race theory, California students will soon be required to take ethnic studies to graduate high school. 

Federal health officials who reported that nearly half of Californians live in “high-risk” counties for COVID-19 were relying on old data, and only a small number of counties now fall into that category, according to local officials.

California is flush with cash — the state has an estimated budget surplus of $21 billion — and, separately, gas prices are way up. 

Despite pressure from experts urging a strong mandate, the order leaves the exact conservation measures up to the urban water providers and major water wholesalers that supply the vast majority of Californians. It does not affect agricultural water providers, or the small water systems that are especially vulnerable to drought. 

At 66, Edward El has a new lease on life — literally. In two weeks, he’ll move into his own apartment in Berkeley after spending the better part of the past 16 years homeless.

Recessions in California tend to widen the gap between rich and poor. The sharp pandemic downturn of 2020 followed this pattern with low-income workers suffering the most. But unprecedented government relief kept millions from falling into poverty, and demand for labor boosted wages when businesses reopened.