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CalMatters
@calmatters.org
15K followers 170 following 1.4K posts
CalMatters is a nonpartisan and nonprofit news organization. We write stories about California, for Californians.
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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
calmatters.org
Ten months after the Palisades Fire ripped through L.A. County and killed 12 people, Will Rogers State Historic Park finally reopened Saturday, albeit partially, after remaining off-limits since the devastating wildfire broke out. bit.ly/49c57r7

📸 Brian Baer
California National Guard soldiers stand outside the Federal Detention Center in Los Angeles, on June 8, 2025. Photo by Ted Soqui for CalMatters A state park employee opens an entrance gate at Will Rogers State Historic Park in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles on Nov. 8, 2025. Photo by Brian Baer, California State Parks
November 10, 2025 at 9:57 PM
calmatters.org
An Oregon district court judge sided with California on Friday, issuing a permanent injunction blocking President Donald Trump’s deployment of state National Guard troops to Portland, Ore., including California’s. bit.ly/4qSFQsk

📸 Ted Soqui
California National Guard soldiers stand outside the Federal Detention Center in Los Angeles, on June 8, 2025. Photo by Ted Soqui for CalMatters
November 10, 2025 at 8:39 PM
calmatters.org
Commentary: As advocates for health consumers and marginalized communities, we believe limiting growth in health care costs is both fair and essential. Increases in health care costs have vastly outpaced inflation. bit.ly/3WOvDzp

📝 Amanda McAllister-Wallner & Kiran Savage-Sangwan
📸 Randy Vasquez
Registered nurse Kristie Scheidt walks past rooms in the intensive care unit of El Camino Health Mountain View Hospital in Mountain View on Dec. 22, 2020. Photo by Randy Vazquez, Bay Area News Group
November 10, 2025 at 7:39 PM
calmatters.org
Commentary: California likes to think of itself as a laboratory for progress. But when it comes to racial equity in higher education, the experiment has failed. bit.ly/3JVbqFh

📝 Marcus Anthony Hunter
📸 Harika Maddala
November 10, 2025 at 6:27 PM
calmatters.org
Keeping up with students’ methods of cheating has always been a cat-and-mouse game for teachers. But some now say that AI tools, particularly Google Lens, have made it impossible to enforce academic integrity in the classroom. bit.ly/3Lww7rK

📝 @carolynjones100.bsky.social
📸 Lauren Justice
An ethnic studies class at Santa Monica High School in Los Angeles on March 28, 2023. Photo by Lauren Justice for CalMatters. “We want teenagers to think independently, voice their opinions, learn to think critically... But if we give them a tool that allows them to not develop those skills, I’m not sure we’re actually helping them.” William Heuisler, a high school ethnic studies teacher in Los Angeles. He decided to ditch technology altogether in his classroom and return to the basics: pencil and paper. 
November 10, 2025 at 5:14 PM
calmatters.org
“We feel alone, we feel forgotten,” one L.A. fire survivor said as she called for Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara to step down. The elected Democrat counters that his reforms need time to work. bit.ly/43jCJzG

📝 @levisu.bsky.social
📸 Fred Greaves
Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara speaks during an event at CalMatters' studio in Sacramento on Sept. 19, 2024. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters. Hed: ‘We feel alone’: L.A. fire survivors call for California’s insurance commissioner to resign
November 8, 2025 at 12:21 AM
calmatters.org
Commentary: New housing starts were around 100,000 a year when Newsom took office in 2019, and they are about that number today, with the net increase even lower. bit.ly/4hLW3vv

📝 Dan Walters
📸 Larry Valenzuela
November 7, 2025 at 10:56 PM
calmatters.org
Commentary: This doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. We can chart a path that addresses port pollution, improves quality of life and recognizes the role ports play in our global supply chains. bit.ly/49GnAME

📝 Theral Golden and Paola Vargas
📸 Joel Angel Juarez
November 7, 2025 at 9:53 PM
calmatters.org
Millions went to pet projects even as lawmakers made deep budget cuts. Here’s how they sent money back home to help get re-elected. bit.ly/43hK8PU

📸 Fred Greaves
Assemblymembers gather during a floor session the state Capitol in Sacramento on Sept. 12, 2025. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters. Hed: California lawmakers found money for these pet projects even as they slashed the budget
November 7, 2025 at 8:51 PM
calmatters.org
Legal experts, including a former federal official and UCLA professor, say California could go it alone if the federal government stops regulating greenhouse gases. One reason to try is to protect the state’s clean-car economy. bit.ly/4otM9kx

📝 @gauchoesque.bsky.social
📸 Shelby Knowles
An electric vehicle at a charging station in Los Altos on March 2, 2022. Photo by Shelby Knowles for CalMatters Text: If Trump’s EPA abandons climate policy, could California take over on greenhouse gases?
November 7, 2025 at 7:44 PM
calmatters.org
California is under pressure to embrace more temporary homeless shelters that require sobriety, at the potential expense of long-term housing. bit.ly/4qP9tuu

📝 @marisakendall.bsky.social
📸 Martin do Nascimento
The Close to Home St. Mary's Center transitional housing in West Oakland on Jan. 12, 2023. Photo by Martin do Nascimento, CalMatters. Hed: What veto drama and a Texas trip tell us about a potential shift in California’s homelessness strategy
November 7, 2025 at 6:38 PM
calmatters.org
In recent years, California Republicans wielded far more influence in Congress than in the state Legislature, thanks to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. But since his ouster, and now under Prop. 50 maps, the GOP is increasingly isolated.
bit.ly/3WGCzPd

📝 @mayacmiller.bsky.social
📸 Jules Hotz
Political signs at the California Republican Party Fall 2025 Convention and Leadership Summit in Garden Grove, on Sept. 6, 2025. Photo by Jules Hotz for CalMatters. Quote: “Doug LaMalfa and Kevin Kiley and Ken Calvert go to bed at night knowing that Donald Trump just doesn’t care about them and is more than happy to trade them in for a Texan.” Rob Stutzman, a California Republican political strategist, on why the promised $100 million for No on Prop. 50 never materialized.
November 7, 2025 at 5:06 PM
calmatters.org
The CA Supreme Court rejected a First Amendment challenge to a state law that protects the rights of gay and transgender people in nursing homes. bit.ly/3Lkm3lz

📝 @nigelduara.bsky.social
📸 Damian Dovarganes, AP
The California Supreme Court during a court session at the Ronald Reagan State Office Building in Los Angeles on April 3, 2024. Photo by Damian Dovarganes, AP Photo. Hed: California Supreme Court rejects free speech challenge to LGBT protections in nursing homes
November 7, 2025 at 12:16 AM
calmatters.org
Commentary: Sen. Alex Padilla joins other prominent people who elected to not seek California's highest office. Now there's no clear frontrunner — so far. bit.ly/3JouKut

📝 Dan Walters
📸 Adriana Heldiz
November 6, 2025 at 9:57 PM
calmatters.org
A Supreme Court’s decision on the case it heard Wednesday could have a huge effect on California's businesses. bit.ly/47r4clo

📝 @levisu.bsky.social
📸 Mark Schiefelbein, AP
A demonstrator protests outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington D.C. on Nov. 5, 2025. Photo by Mark Schiefelbein, AP Photo. Hed: Supreme Court hears arguments against Trump’s tariffs
November 6, 2025 at 8:54 PM
calmatters.org
With Prop. 50’s overwhelming passage, the governor has vaulted — for the moment — into the role of Democratic favorite in the 2028 presidential campaign. bit.ly/4oPRSRs

📝 @jeannereporter.bsky.social
📸 Jungho Kim
Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks to the press, alongside First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, after Proposition 50 was passed by California voters, at the California Democratic Party headquarters in Sacramento on Nov. 4, 2025. Photo by Jungho Kim for CalMatters. Quote: “We can de facto end Donald Trump’s presidency as we know it, the minute Speaker Jeffries gets sworn in as speaker of the House of Representatives. It is all on the line.” Gov. Gavin Newsom has a message for Democrats around the country: Follow my lead.
November 6, 2025 at 7:48 PM
calmatters.org
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday that she will retire at the end of 2026 and not seek a 21st term in Congress.
bit.ly/47ZPGRQ

📝 @mayacmiller.bsky.social
📸 Chris Kleponis, Reuters
U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi makes remarks at a political event held by pro-choice groups in Washington D.C. on June 23, 2023. Photo by Chris Kleponis, CNP via Reuters, Pool. Quote: “I’ve always honored the song of St. Francis — ‘Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace,’ — the anthem of our city. That is why I want you, my fellow San Franciscans, to be the first to know: I will not be seeking re-election to Congress.” Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, the trailblazing lawmaker who made history as the first woman to lead the U.S. House of Representatives.
November 6, 2025 at 6:26 PM
calmatters.org
Commentary: I was brought to the United States from Sri Lanka when I was 19. I was told I couldn’t leave — because I had already been bought.

AB 1362, while a step in the right direction, isn’t enough. It covers many foreign workers but not all. bit.ly/47wL5oE

📝 Kanti Salgadu
Alameda County residents march to raise awareness of human trafficking in Oakland, on Jan. 24, 2023. Photo by Jane Tyska, East Bay Times via Getty Images
November 5, 2025 at 8:51 PM
calmatters.org
The privacy changes web browsers will be required to make under a new California law could set the de facto standard for the entire country, changing how Americans control their data when using the internet, according to experts.

📸 Lauren Justice
California is requiring browsers to offer a signal that the user does not want their personal data sold or shared. Experts say this has national implications. A person uses their phone in Escondido on April 20, 2023. Photo by Lauren Justice for CalMatters. HED: Why a new California law could change the way all Americans browse the internet
November 5, 2025 at 7:39 PM
calmatters.org
Commentary: Potential challenges in the courts and in Washington may affect whether Prop 50 influences the 2026 political races. bit.ly/3JG2jYP

📝 Dan Walters
📸 Jungho Kim
A voter marks their ballot at a vote center in the California Museum in Sacramento on Nov. 4, 2025. Photo by Jungho Kim for CalMatters
November 5, 2025 at 6:04 PM
calmatters.org
Tuesday capped off a whirlwind, hyper-partisan two-and-a-half-month campaign for one of the most expensive ballot measures in state history. Here are four things to know about how Prop. 50 will affect California, Newsom and Trump. bit.ly/4oRV8M2

📸 Jungho Kim
People walk by the vote center at Valley Ni-North Laguna Library in Sacramento on Nov. 4, 2025. Photo by Jungho Kim for CalMatters HED: Proposition 50 passed in California. Here’s what you missed
November 5, 2025 at 5:10 PM