KQED's The California Report

Starting on Friday, masks will again be required inside L.A. County’s airports and on public transportation. The new health order comes after a Florida federal judge threw out a mask mandate on public transportation and airplanes nationwide. Reporter: Jackie Fortier, KPCC California could sanction places to do illegal drugs under the watchful gaze of a healthcare worker. The so-called “safe consum...

California’s red hot housing market is showing some early signs of cooling. The reason for that is both good and bad news for would-be homebuyers. Reporter: Erin Baldassari, KQED In Los Angeles County, in the city of Inglewood, an elementary school is facing permanent closure this summer. Locals have started a petition to stop the closure, but the school district says low enrollment makes it too e...

A bill to hold gun manufacturers responsible for death and destruction caused by their products cleared a key Assembly committee on Tuesday. It's part of a larger package of legislation addressing gun violence in the state. Reporter: Scott Shafer, KQED  While health officials are hopeful that the worst of the pandemic is over, hospitals are still reeling from financial losses. One hospital in the...

Landlords in Los Angeles have failed in their legal quest to overturn the city’s eviction moratorium. The U.S. Supreme Court has decided not to hear a case challenging the city’s protections.  Reporter: David Wagner, KPCC  A San Francisco judge has ordered the release of a man who's been incarcerated for over 30 years, for a murder he's maintained he didn't commit. Reporter: Alex Emslie, KQED  It’...

More than three million Californians could get a break on their tax bill with a proposal to boost benefits for renters. The proposal from state Senator Steve Glazer would increase the renter tax credit from $60 to $500 for single filers and from $120 to $1000 for couples and single parents. Reporter: Erin Baldassari, KQED A new survey of more than 700 crime survivors finds that California needs to...

Does California U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, who’s 88 and a giant of American politics, still have the mental fitness to do her job? According to reporting by San Francisco Chronicle Washington Correspondent Tal Kopan, there are many instances of the Senator’s memory failing. Guest: Tal Kopan, Washington Correspondent, San Francisco Chronicle A bill to tighten COVID-19 vaccination requirements f...

A draft of California’s first-in-the-nation roadmap for ending the sale of all new gas-powered cars in the state by 2035 has been released. The new plan requires an increase in the sales of electric vehicles starting in 2024. Reporter: Kevin Stark, KQED If you’re in the market for a new electric vehicle here in California right now, you’re definitely not alone. With gas prices soaring to record le...

A bill in the state legislature aims to cut some Californians' workweek down to 32 hours from the usual 40. The proposed legislation would apply to companies in the state with more than 500 employees. At the national level, similar legislation has been introduced by Riverside County Congressman Mark Takano.  Guest: Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, Writer and Head of Global Programs for 4 Day Week Global The...

California has millions of acres of overgrown forestland. It’s raw fuel for potentially catastrophic wildfires. In late 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom announced a new program to dramatically speed up the state’s wildfire prevention work. But an investigation from CapRadio and The California Newsroom found the program hasn’t resulted in a single completed project. Reporter: Scott Rodd, CapRadio Califo...

Even as the highly contagious BA.2 subvariant spreads across the globe, California has not yet seen a sharp uptick in new coronavirus cases or hospitalizations. But in Los Angeles, more people who do test positive for COVID will now have access to treatment.  Reporter: Jackie Fortier, KPCC For over two years now, the closure of the US-Mexico border to most asylum-seekers has left many migrants in...

Schools in the Los Angeles area are reporting more coronavirus outbreaks. Outbreaks have more than tripled in the past 10 days in Los Angeles schools. Reporter: Jackie Fortier, KPCC Thieves have been stealing catalytic converters from cars and trucks at a much greater rate here in California, in large part because the metals in those converters, like palladium and platinum, have become so valuable...

Sacramento police now believe at least five individuals fired guns in the downtown shooting that left six dead and 12 injured early Sunday morning. Investigators say they believe gangs played a role in the shooting. Guest: Sam Stanton, Sacramento Bee Since 1959, California’s Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, or POST, has set rules of conduct for law enforcement in the state. The...

The first suspect arrested in connection to Sunday's mass shooting in Sacramento, Dandrae Martin, made his first brief appearance in court on Tuesday. His brother has also been arrested and a third person was taken into custody, but police say as of now, he's not facing any charges related to the mass shooting. Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg is joining victim and criminal justice reform advoca...

Last night in downtown Sacramento people gathered for a candlelight vigil to honor the victims’ memories after a mass shooting there early Sunday morning. A variety of community leaders spoke, from Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg to community activist Barry Accius. Reporter: Saul Gonzalez, KQED 57-year-old Melinda Davis was one of the victims of the shooting. She was unhoused and had lived on t...

A mass shooting happened in Sacramento around two a.m. Sunday morning in a crowded downtown business district, not far from the state capitol building, a district filled with bars and restaurants which were closing for the night. Host Saul Gonzalez spoke with Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester, Mayor Darrell Steinberg, Councilmember Katie Valenzuela, State Assemblymember Kevin McCarty and Sacram...

The FTC is suing Intuit over its TurboTax software. The agency says the California-based company is misleading consumers by marketing the product as free. Guest: Justin Elliot, ProPublica A new push for mental health warnings on legal cannabis products. Reporter: April Dembosky  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California’s private homecare industry is in bad shape, with overwhelmed employers and underpaid workers. That’s from a new report out of UCLA’s Labor Center. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED California lawmakers are expected to vote today on a bill to extend eviction protections for tenants still waiting on rent relief. More than 500-thousand have applied for that assistance. Guest: Erin Ba...

After hours of debate on Tuesday, California’s Reparations Task Force cast a historic vote deciding who will be eligible to receive compensation. . Reporter: Cristina Kim, KPBS  COVID-19 numbers in California have improved drastically since the beginning of the omicron wave here in the state. But there are some concerns that a highly transmissable variant could bring more cases in the coming weeks...

Governor Gavin Newsom has ordered water districts to increase water restrictions. But are statewide mandatory water cutbacks coming? Reporter: Kevin Stark, KQED A new report out of UCLA shows that a year after a sweep of homeless camps around Echo Park Lake in Los Angeles, most of the unhoused who were uprooted have not found permanent housing. Even more concerning, many have fallen off the map of...

Despite bargaining this weekend, there’s no new deal as a teacher’s strike continues in the Sacramento City Unified School District. That means campuses will remain closed, and that's taking a toll on families. Reporter: Pauline Bartolone, CapRadio Student debt is a crushing financial burden for millions of people, including health professionals who’ve worked hard treating COVID-19 patients during...

State lawmakers have introduced a bill to extend protections for tenants waiting on rent relief from the state. But it won't extend the deadline to apply for rent relief, which expires at the end of March. Reporter: Molly Solomon, KQED The race to be Los Angeles' next mayor has kicked off, and the leading candidates are all promising to tackle one major issue if elected -- homelessness. But many a...

Governor Gavin Newsom is proposing to spend $9 billion on tax refunds, to help California motorists at the pump. Newsom wants to use the state's windfall of tax revenue to send drivers a $400 debit card -- one each for up to two vehicles.  Reporter: Guy Marzorati, KQED  Hundreds of Eastern European migrants are arriving in Tijuana, fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and increasingly repressive g...

As the US Senate considers the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be the first Black female justice on the US Supreme Court, a panel in San Francisco has voted to confirm Appeal Court Justice Patricia Guererro to become the first Latina member on the California Supreme Court. Reporter: Scott Shafer, KQED Two major California bail bond service providers are set to be hit with proposed cla...

A strike by workers at the Chevron refinery in the Bay Area city of Richmond could mean more bad news for already sky-high California gas prices. Chevron says it plans to continue normal operations at the plant despite the walkout, but any disruptions could lead to even higher prices. A California inmate originally from Cambodia is awaiting final approval for parole. But he fears that rather than...

Efforts are ramping up to recall Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon from office. A similar effort failed last year, but supporters of the recall say public safety could play a big role this time around. Reporter: Saul Gonzalez, The California Report  WNBA star Brittney Griner is currently jailed in Russia after being accused of smuggling hashish oil into the country, something that...