South L.A. churches craft dementia-friendly services aimed at providing solace to a community disproportionately affected by the disease.
Despite transparency concerns, the state auditor’s report says two programs focusing on housing and preventing homelessness are cost-effective.
Civilian oversight board is excluded from reviewing report on civil rights violations.
Josh Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell believe their film Common Ground could drive a global movement.
California will pilot a program to reduce climate emissions from buildings without displacing tenants. Facing a deficit, Gov. Newsom proposes slashing its budget by a third.
Dissatisfaction with the president’s climate agenda and cynicism over politics in general may erode millennial and Gen-Z support.
As resort owners rake in record profits, organizers are trying to unionize ski patrollers across the West — and they’re winning.
Contrary to common beliefs, many Californians in low-wage jobs are in the later stages of their work lives. They also play a crucial role in taking care of the state’s aging population.
As legal efforts fall short, residents are pursuing a novel strategy to halt the building of export terminals on unspoiled wetlands: Lobby Europeans to reject gas from the U.S.
Advocates say outreach is needed to ensure deportation fears do not stop immigrants from applying.
Though factory farming is a small part of bank financing, it leaves an outsized carbon footprint.
A tight labor market and local minimum wages that are already close to the new $20 minimum are among the reasons.
Studies have repeatedly shown wage increases bring few job cuts and boost local economies.
Convicted for two killings he didn’t commit, Vasquez hopes legal reforms will lead to his freedom after 18 years behind bars.
While Biden’s billionaire tax fails to gain traction, states are taking the lead on wealth taxes.
The energy future of fossil fuel dependent Phoenix could be reshaped by a slate of clean energy advocates looking to upend a stubborn utility.
Proposal to drill oil and gas near Denver superfund site raises concerns.
New contracts will expire six months before the Games, giving workers an opening to pit public attention against employers.
Shepard Fairey calls the tagging of empty luxury towers a “poetic reuse of a failed space.”
Not far from a birthplace of the Black Lives Matter movement, a school district convulses after Black history and literature classes are canceled.
Rushed care and poor working conditions have led to demands for representation as revenues grow in the wake of the Dobbs ruling.
Participants who received an average of $850 per month used it for paying bills, reducing debt and improving credit.
The California Department of Public Health says the agency is enforcing state requirements, despite deep budget cuts.
Fearing they may not survive the ravages of extreme weather caused by the climate crisis, island nations look to Hawaii’s ambitious policies as a model.
Would-be voters in this coal and oil state signal they’re increasingly alarmed by climate change.
More than 74,000 people eat healthier through the CalFresh pilot program.
A ballot measure to raise pay to $23 an hour could help workers in labor negotiations and boost the local economy.
Since Joanne Erickson lost her apartment, volunteers, housing groups and government representatives have tried — and failed — to find her a home. Her story shows how seniors are falling through our social safety net.
Health care exchange workers say the Biden administration should force their employer to provide good jobs.
Jessica Goodheart, Steve Marble and Cerise Castle bring broad and deep experience to our coverage of inequality and the climate crisis.
Unable to walk or use her arms, Karen Mickett can work and live on her own. A mass eviction at her Los Angeles apartment complex threatens her fragile independence.
Using money, mass mobilizations and culture wars, church leaders get their members — and sometimes themselves — elected to office.
They will still directly fund coal plants that are taking steps to abate their emissions using the untested technology.
Tim Thompson engineered a school board takeover by recruiting and financing candidates who run against race, religion and gender identity policies.
In the Arab American enclave of Dearborn, anxiety, depression and substance abuse strain the “9/11 generation.”
It is one of the state’s greatest health needs, companies fail to live up to their policies, and the state does not invest what is needed for enforcement.
A new book argues that the disappearance of private sector unions is part of the answer.
Etowah could emerge as a major player in energy sustainability and U.S. energy security.
An upstart performer group is joining the fight to get the famous Austin festival to pay its fair share.
After the hottest summer on record, officials vow again to make the city’s tree cover more equitable.
Winner of the Frieze L.A. art fair’s Impact Prize uses quilting to reveal the reality of life in prison.
Rejecting years of unequal treatment, 20,000 low-paid California State University student assistants and workers vote to organize.
Oil and gas firm plans new wells near Aurora Reservoir and the Lowry Landfill Superfund site.
From Biden vs. Trump to an oil well referendum in California, climate change debate is all over the ballot in federal, state and local contests.
But a tax break for low-producing stripper wells gets slipped into a package with green energy breaks.
Opponents say a program that gives valuable credits for making fuels from crops and dairy waste props up fossil fuels companies and pollutes nearby communities.
Supporters say harvesting trees would thin out the state’s overgrown forests; critics say the wood pellets for heating produce more carbon than coal.
Weak laws embolden combative employers, so even with big wins and all-time high support, union membership is not keeping up with workforce growth.
Unplugged oil and gas wells accelerate climate change, threaten public health and risk hitting taxpayers’ pocketbooks. ProPublica and Capital & Main found that the money set aside to fix the problem falls woefully short of the impending cost.
The state has matched fruit and vegetable purchases at farmers markets for low-income residents for seven years. That may soon end.
Douglas Emmett Inc.’s surge in donations began after a city councilman opposed evictions.
Mike Balog has resisted eviction from his rent-controlled apartment for nearly ten years. The strain is wearing him down, but he has nowhere to go.
Pennsylvania governor, who promised 30% renewable electricity by 2030, is suddenly silent.
Organized labor fears a rising nonunion workforce could pull restaurant jobs down from the middle class.
Thousands of low-income patients cannot survive without MLK Hospital. The South L.A. hospital cannot survive on what it is paid by public insurance.
Contributions rise for Democrats as Legislature debates industry regulation.
El Sereno residents used grants and their own money to open a store selling healthy foods at affordable prices.
“Polluting behemoth” Homer City Generating Station was the state’s largest coal-fired power plant.
Years behind bars for drug dealing led the influential proto-punk rocker to work for criminal justice reform.
Concerns over working conditions and patient care amidst hospital consolidation drove Louisiana’s largest union victory since 1993.
For many, premiums and deductibles now take three times more out of one’s budget than 20 years ago, UC Berkeley study shows.
Joanne Marie Erickson, battling post-polio syndrome, grapples with the looming threat of homelessness.
New and updated regulations, a royalties increase and enforcement funding await major debate.
From food to finding flights, volunteer groups send support to the airport nightly to help asylum seekers.
A pay system that does not guarantee raise agreements is a key reason.
The closer the state gets to reaching its groundbreaking clean energy goals, the harder it will be to achieve them.
Facing eviction after 30 years, Mike Balog says moving out would mean losing his community, part of his identity and having nowhere else to go.
Ten years of meetings and plans abruptly dumped; future plans uncertain.
Author Nick Romeo lays out a plan for an economy that puts workers and the planet above profits.
Running Mamis creates a safe space to run — away from road hazards, harassment and the strains of postpartum depression.
The Office of the City Attorney says state law allows the evictions.
Despite a 10% raise, professors, lecturers, coaches, counselors and others will return to contract negotiations within months.
Migrants released by ICE after dark often must rely on the kindness of strangers and sheer luck or risk spending long nights on the street.
Campaign leaders say gender identity is not a factor. They say they want two newer councilmembers out for reasons including being anti-business, soft on crime and holding meetings in Spanish.
A bill in the Legislature would advance Pennsylvania’s meager renewable energy development. Trade groups are already putting their foot down.
Nine Lynwood St. Francis Medical Center staffers say they were fired as retaliation for leading union protests against staff cuts.
New bills could curb industry excesses; enforcement agencies offered small increases.
Why U.S. banks still lag their European counterparts in green financing.
Where mental health information and access to care is scarce, coaches may be a trusted resource for children and teens.
In coverage for key areas including immunizations, mental health and well-child visits, insurers fail to deliver for those 26 and younger.
Environmentalists question the sustainability commitments made by Denver-based Civitas Resources.
A $33 a month average rate hike took effect Jan. 1. Now PG&E wants up to $20 a month more. Reformers say it is time to cap annual increases.
Powerful lobbyists represent both oil and gas interests and environmental groups.
Erica Tremblay and Lily Gladstone’s film Fancy Dance still lacks a distributor almost a year after its buzzy Sundance debut.
In the face of weak labor laws, hospitality workers brought their fight for better wages and working conditions to the court of public opinion.
A therapist is “guardedly optimistic” the health care giant is taking the shortage seriously, and the union says Kaiser may now realize it must invest billions to comply with the law.
After decades of shaping the nation’s narrative, corporate America has now weaponized its playbook in a more aggressive way, the authors of Corporate Bullsh*t warn.
General Electric’s giant wind turbine facility is on track, aided by New York state and federal support.
Photojournalist Ted Soqui’s visual recap of the year in Los Angeles.
California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick on how poetry became a weapon against hate and erasure in the face of COVID-era attacks on Asian Americans.
In low-income areas of Los Angeles without supermarkets, small stores are learning to profitably sell healthy foods their customers can afford.
Science graduate student assistants and researchers are at the forefront of recent unionization efforts in academia.
Meanwhile, post-COP28, banks pull back from fossil fuels and investors seek opportunities in transition steps like carbon capture storage.
Two Christmas rushes ago, workers at this Amazon air cargo hub started to win improvements at work by relying on each other.
The company at the center of the settlement is called a “poster child” for state Oil and Gas Act reforms.
Twenty-one hotels have been cited so far. If the citations are enforced and upheld in court, hundreds of rooms could be turned back into low-cost permanent housing for the city’s poorest residents.
Minimum wages to rise statewide, with larger gains for fast food and health workers. More paid sick leave, workplace violence prevention rules and other worker protections are also to begin Jan. 1.
Both friends and foes of the newly elected populist president say their future under him is uncertain, but the certain misery of the present led to his win.
The $215 million deal made headlines, but the industry pay gap persists, along with new cases of sexual harassment.
Danny Gonzalez, one of three members elected in 2022 who voted to report transgender students to their parents and ban critical race theory, has left the board.
A rare mix of big strike wins, broad public support and a labor-friendly economy could drive union membership growth.
Without developing other good pathways besides the bachelor’s degree, a majority will continue to struggle for decent jobs and social standing.
Culture wars rage as school board puts $93,000 in new library books in storage and bans titles by Judy Blume and Dr. Seuss.
Kern County wants to use billions in federal tax credits to collect and bury carbon. To do so, it would build new facilities to produce more of the most abundant greenhouse gas.
“Climate Crisis” only identifies the symptoms of oil and gas dependence. As time runs out, we need a term that focuses on what — and who — is to blame.
Care for children, the elderly and disabled is among the lowest-paying industries. Poo thinks federal investment could become reality.
California Faculty Association members seeking a pay raise walked out at four of the 23 campuses this week.
California Air Resources Board ordered staff not to engage with ex-colleague after he questioned gas industry claims.
The 1935 Oil and Gas Act outlines oversight of fossil fuel production in the state. It hasn’t been updated in decades.
The Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California still lacks reliable electricity. Modernizing the grid could also lead to better-paying jobs.
Amid revelations over host country UAE using climate conference to strike oil and gas deals, the lack of financing for clean energy looms over the globe.
Students and teachers say Temecula’s far-right school board endangers free speech as well as their safety.
With no cap on price increases for California’s utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric will hike rates 13%, which it says is needed for upgrades.
In Temecula, three school board members have enacted discriminatory policies backed by conservative strategists and traveling agitators. Students, parents and residents are coming together to attempt to have them removed from office.
Residents with different agendas united this year to remove members who attacked teaching on race and LGBTQ+ topics. Some Black recall supporters say the community has failed for decades to fight racism.
Ramona Gardens residents decided years ago that their health was not a luxury, and they are pushing for what they deserve.
The Blue Hollywood Street sanctuary run by Quincy Brown (“Pastor Blue”) demonstrates the paradox brought about by the nation’s now 52-year war on drugs. Safe sites for monitored drug use are seen as beneficial by public health experts but remain largely illegal.
Health experts say overdose prevention centers can save lives, but are illegal in most of the U.S. On Los Angeles’ Skid Row, those in need have built their own.
The city’s patchwork of pre-apprenticeship programs — a lifeline for underrepresented workers — stands to gain big amid an influx of federal infrastructure dollars.
The laws that helped pull unionization down to near 10% remain on the books — but six out of 10 U.S. adults now say declining unionization is bad for the country.
With housing costs out of reach, workers from Brooklyn to Minneapolis to Los Angeles are demanding solutions.
Texas sees “bonanza” in carbon storage market, motivated more by money than emissions reductions.
Barrington Plaza owner says city-mandated fire safety upgrade is behind more than 500 evictions. City officials say there is no such requirement.
In an era of rising authoritarianism, political theorist Michael Walzer says “liberal” must mean rejecting overreaches of both the left and right.
More than 7 out of 10 think children will be worse off than their parents and favor spending on tax credits, child care and job training.
From different centuries, the poems of Bertolt Brecht and Angel Dominguez convey the lonely yearning of Los Angeles exiles.
A city law sought to prevent low-cost housing from turning into hotels, but some landlords rented to tourists anyway. That didn’t stop them from receiving city funds for a new temporary shelter program.
California cities have the least urban tree canopy in the U.S. A Los Angeles housing project shows how residents can transform their environment — if they can get support.
It may take state supreme courts and new legislation to find a cease-fire in the K-12 battles over parental rights and student privacy.
Despite the long delay to raise resort workers’ wages close to $20 an hour, their 2018 victory inspired labor collaboration driving current strikes.
Voluntary agreement on health and safety reforms hailed as progress but critics say it lacks teeth.
In many poor, largely Black Southern towns, residents say polluting wood pellet mills foul their air and forests.
Critics say Railroad Commission and politicians focus on business, not environmental protection.
The Hospice East Bay vote shows growing unionization at end-of-life care.
California closes loopholes on polluting wells, but still lets companies avoid capping idled wells.
A 2008 city law intended hotels used as primary residences to be preserved as safety-net housing. But with little enforcement, some landlords had turned their buildings into tourist hotels.
The lowest income Californians are more likely to have lingering symptoms, and more likely to lose jobs.
State hydrogen projects promoted, killed; governor goes to Australian hydrogen conference with oil and gas reps.
They say “metrics for productivity” are driving care for the dying. Nov. 3 union vote marks growing labor organizing as end-of-life care becomes a for-profit industry.
A battery startup in West Virginia and the mineworkers union may have a blueprint for those left behind in the energy transition.
Historian Nelson Lichtenstein’s new book details the price we have paid for free trade, deregulation and failed health care reform.
All sides must bargain in “good faith,” but U.S. labor laws do not say what that means, and penalties are weak.
New documentary Silver Dollar Road tells the story of massive Black wealth taken through faulty laws and loopholes.
Doctors, family and community all have a role in ensuring critical early treatment.
Workers cite low wages and disrespect at work; union alleges illegal union-busting.
Coal is back, despite banks’ pledge to stop financing such projects.
The end of pandemic relief programs is returning millions of children to poverty.
An idle well fee program is masking vast cleanup costs while harming residents and the climate.
Tension over energy industry oversight has sparked a rare agreement between climate activists and the oil and gas industry.
Growing up in his family’s iconic Chinese restaurant taught Curtis Chin how to survive in 1980s Detroit — and how to embrace his identity as a gay Asian American.
A California settlement compels the state’s largest health care provider to spend $150 million on behavioral health services.
JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank and Wells Fargo are among those putting big money into companies that operate coal plants.
Cuts and turnover, even more than pay, make their jobs impossible, they say.
Opposition builds as parents’ group stokes nation’s culture wars.
Stop pretending planting trees can justify fossil fuels emissions.
Poets tackle the climate crisis, inequality and police violence in powerful essays.
Meanwhile, banks help fossil fuel giants raise more than $1 trillion via “hidden” financial support.
From Waffle House to Dollar General to Burger King, record heat is spurring workers to organize.
The bill, which awaits a decision by Gov. Gavin Newsom, follows ProPublica’s reporting on the multibillion-dollar cost to clean up California’s oil and gas industry and the exodus of major companies shifting ownership of thousands of aging wells.
Once known for strong employee-management relations, its workers now say staffing and pay need to rise to attract and retain the staff Kaiser needs.
The bill passed by the California Legislature would have limited benefits to keep state payments manageable.
Amid the city’s homelessness crisis, some landlords have turned buildings meant for low-cost housing into tourist hotels.
New Mexico is one of 10 states that have created or expanded child tax credits after Congress let a federal program expire.
The friendly grocer’s staff are increasingly going union — and say the company is hostile to their efforts.
The use of separate corporate entities is under scrutiny, shedding light on labor abuses in the fast-food industry.
California requires a minimum of three sick days, the least among 15 states. A bill to raise it to five days is opposed by the business lobby as it awaits Gov. Newsom’s signature.
Meanwhile, report after report shows greenhouse gas emissions are on the rise in New Mexico.
Southern California writers have long used distant blazes to create atmosphere. Worsening fires have changed all that.
“My patience ran out,” said Christiana Figueres, who for years had advocated oil companies should be involved in policymaking talks.
The legislation would set a precedent by requiring large companies to disclose total greenhouse gas emissions.
Governor could leap past politics and sign unemployment bill just to keep striking workers in an uneven game.
The city of Calexico has few resources for the homeless, leaving individuals to survive by scavenging shade and relying on the goodwill of nonprofits.
Food, toiletries and over-the-counter medicines have been marked up so high that many prisoners are simply priced out.
Black and Latino children are more likely to be hurt by harmful experiences that can lead to lifelong suffering.
If signed by Gov. Newsom, the legislation would set a precedent by requiring large companies to disclose total greenhouse gas emissions.
Likely all Los Angeles workers, says a new study of pay and expenses. But the political will is not yet there.
As wind energy and other cleantech projects create jobs, they meet labor shortages and community opposition.
As insurers reject coverage amid soaring anxiety and depression, a bill to help children and teens is quietly killed.
In Texas, a new tax break program full of loopholes has led critics to warn that it will be exploited by major fossil fuel producers.
State could soon launch a statewide internet subsidy program if funding for affordable internet dries up.
Industry lobbyists targeting legislators with “myth after myth” to stop emissions disclosure bill, says key environmental group.
As the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative stalls in the courts, front-line communities ask the administration to prioritize their input.
Overburdened labor enforcement agency says violations are difficult to prove.
The legacy of fossil fuel development endures in leaks, spills and neglect.
People of color hired in the streaming-era diversity push say they now bear the brunt of inequities.
When one conference declined to cancel, a union walkout helped drive other concessions.
Student poets respond to a hotter and diminished planet.
If you earn less than $55,000 a year and work more than 40 hours a week, you could be eligible for time and a half.
Sempra is pitching lawmakers on industry-friendly climate solutions paid by ratepayers.
Community coalition targets major developers whose subcontractors stiff workers and allow dangerous conditions, signaling possible national strategy.
A novel partnership among three labor unions to organize tens of thousands of airline workers could set a national example.
A new Capital & Main series explores rising labor unrest in a nation of extreme disparities.
Weak labor laws allow the coffee giant to avoid contract talks.
Following watchdog’s advice, senators shrink tax giveaway program for oil and gas.
The state’s largest fossil fuel companies won a new loophole big enough for a liquified natural gas plant.
Amid huge profits for oil majors, pressure builds on banks to cut ties.
Despite the success of Blue Beetle, Latinos remain the most underrepresented group in films.
Residents and scientists had called for research on health risks for years, while industry campaign denied links.
Legislation aims to rein in an unregulated industry with ballooning environmental effects.
Emissions disclosure bill is testing the state’s climate resolve in the face of industry misinformation.
