The State of California

In the Palisades fire, we saw just how critical home fire insurance has become, and how it is the insurer of last resort for a growing number of Californians, as the big insurance companies stop writing new policies and refuse to renew existing ones. The problem is, some of those insured, when they suffer a loss, find out that FAIR does not necessarily cover what they thought it does, and that’s l...

California’s Republican Party made significant strides in last November’s elections, flipping some seats in the state legislature and helping Donald Trump do much better here than he did in 2016 and 2020, turning some districts red. But the party did lose several swing Congressional races. Now the California GOP has a new face at the top: longtime party activist and Trump supporter Corrin Rankin o...

President Trump is trying to shut down the U.S. Department of Education—or at least gut it as much as possible—cut off funding and shift some required programs to other departments. There are already multiple lawsuits filed to block the move, which critics say would have a devastating and disproportionate impact on lower-income families and the students who need the most support in school. For mor...

Today is Red Cross Giving Day, when thousands of people come together to help those affected by disasters. The agency has been hard at work this spring across California, including assisting with recovery from the wildfires in Southern California. For more on Giving Day and how the Red Cross helps with disaster response and recovery, KCBS Radio anchors Patti Reising and Bret Burkhart and KCBS Poli...

Governor Newsom has been tacking to the middle, hosting rightwing conservatives on his new podcast, and rather than challenging them, as he said he would, he is instead often agreeing with them, to the point of rewriting his own ideological history. That’s got many Democrats angry and many pundits scratching their heads, wondering if what he’s trying to do is moderate his own image so that he can...

As artificial intelligence continues to proliferate, California is still not sure how to regulate it. A new study commissioned by Governor Newsom calls for more transparency and guardrails, but stops short of endorsing specific regulatory legislation. The governor convened a special working group of leaders in the AI field, after he vetoed new regulations last year, and that group’s report could h...

This is the second part of our exclusive sit down with Californian U.S senator Adam Schiff, in his first visit to the Bay Area since he took office In January. Today, we spoke to Senator Schiff about Medicaid, affordable housing, and the Republican budget plan, which narrowly passed the Senate after Minority leader Schumer supported a continuing resolution — much to the dismay of top Democrats lik...

President Trump continues to call for the impeachment of a federal judge who says his deportation of immigrants to El Salvador was illegal. The Trump administration is clashing on a daily basis with federal courts, who continue to rule against many of his early moves, declaring them either unconstitutional or illegal and outside either his or Elon Musk’s authority. For more, KCBS Radio news anchor...

Top California Democrats gathered in the Bay Area today to denounce President Trump’s budget plan and what it could mean for Medi-Cal. They are warning of dire consequences to the millions of Californians, including many seniors, who are on that government-subsidized medical insurance. For more, KCBS Radio news anchor Patti Reising and KCBS political reporter Doug Sovern spoke to Senator Adam Schi...

The battle lines are being drawn for next year’s statewide elections, with Katie Porter jumping into the race for governor this week, and more candidates declaring for or strongly considering running for some of the other down-ballot positions. The field is already quite crowded with Democrats seeking the state’s constitutional offices. Among the newcomers to the race for Lieutenant Governor is Jo...

Senate Democrats say they will not support a Republican spending bill, which could mean a shutdown of the federal government Friday night. The Democrats have been struggling to find their footing on how to best oppose President Trump’s agenda, with some in the party opting for loud resistance, others relying on legal action to stop him, and others trying to work out compromises and slow Trump whil...

Popular former Congresswoman Katie Porter tossed her hat into the ring for governor of California, instantly becoming the frontrunner. But there’s another even bigger name out there that could knock her from that spot within a few months. For more, KCBS Radio news anchor Patti Reising spoke with KCBS political reporter Doug Sovern.

The fallout continues from President Trump’s economic policies, with the stock market plunging today in reaction to the trade war he started. Meanwhile, unemployment is rising and there are many disgruntled Trump supporters among the tens of thousands of federal workers he has fired. Is this mass reduction in the federal workforce really going to make government work better and save money in the l...

Doug Sovern is away today. All this week on KCBS, we've been sharing the special reports of our very own Holly Quan and Matt Bigler, who covered the firestorms earlier this year in Los Angeles. The five-part series called "Race Against the Flames," looks at how a tragedy like the Palisades and Eaton fires would impact the Bay Area, and also finds out how homeowners are preparing. To talk more abou...

President Donald Trump has postponed 25% tariffs on many imports from Mexico and some imports from Canada for a month amid widespread fears of the economic fallout from a broader trade war. The threat of tariff's caused the stock market to crash, with the Nasdaq entering correction territory, closing 10 percent lower than its high in December. This comes as economists warned that the tariffs and t...

A Bay Area member of Congress was among those who walked out of President Trump’s speech last night in protest. She also delivered a blistering response to Trump’s address, on behalf of the most progressive wing of the Democratic Party. For more, KCBS political reporter Doug Sovern spoke to that congressperson, Representative Lateefah Simon, who represents California's 12th district.

President Trump addresses a joint session of Congress tonight, after igniting a trade war with Canada, Mexico and China and cutting off military aid to Ukraine. Some Democrats in Congress say they will boycott the speech, to protest what they call President Trump’s "destruction of the state of the union.” One local progressive Democrat, Oakland Congresswoman Lateefah Simon, has been tabbed to deli...

House Republicans are being met by angry protesters opposed to Trump's budget plan, which envisions deep cuts to Medicaid to help pay for tax cuts. Democrats are warning that the president’s plan, if approved by Congress, will gut key social programs, including health care and food assistance. For more, KCBS Radio news anchors Patti Reising and Bret Burkhart and KCBS political reporter Doug Sovern...

President Trump and his unelected billionaire sidekick Elon Musk continue to remake the federal government and advance programs designed to implement the president’s agenda. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is slashing federal jobs and getting rid of people and programs they don’t like, whether that saves money or not. But there is growing Democratic resistance to this, and this week a h...

In five years, California high school students will have to pass an ethnic studies class in order to graduate. But what will those classes teach? There’s been fierce debate over that, and now Jewish lawmakers want to make sure that the curriculum is not anti-Semitic. For more, KCBS Radio news anchors Patti Reising and Bret Burkhart spoke to KCBS political reporter Doug Sovern.

San Francisco’s Congresswoman, Nancy Pelosi, is leading the fight against President Trump’s budget plan. House Republicans are trying to push through that spending blueprint, which could slash Medicaid and SNAP to pay for trillions of dollars in tax cuts. It’s an early test of President Trump’s political clout, and the Democrats’ ability to thwart the Trump agenda, with Speaker Mike Johnson trying...

The Trump administration says it will hire more seasonal workers than usual to staff the national parks, after laying off hundreds of park employees. But park rangers and other workers at Yosemite, and across the country, are up in arms over their sudden firings, which in many cases will leave them homeless too. This is all part of the Trump-Elon Musk DOGE “government efficiency plan” which has se...

Even though the Bay Area just got out of a wet weather spell, compared to the last couple of winters, the one we're experiencing now has been relatively dry across the state. A light winter here means a dismal snow-pack up in the mountains, and an agency in the Tahoe Basin is working to create a more resilient community in the face of climate change. To talk more about it, KCBS Radio anchors Bret...

The future of the high-speed rail project that hopes to send bullet trains from Los Angeles to San Francisco looks murky as the Trump administration announced an audit of the project. This comes after the president said he would personally investigate the high-speed rail earlier this month to ensure the project is still worth the investment. For more, KCBS Radio news anchors Patti Reising and Bret...

From the NBA All Star game to the Super Bowl, World Cup and Summer Olympics, over the next several years the golden state will be home to the biggest sporting events in the World. Recently as part of Audacy Conversations "Big Games, Big Money", KCBS Political Reporter Doug Sovern spoke with Andrew Brandt, a sports business analyst and executive director of the Moorad Center for the Study of Sports...