California Archives

Social Justice

California Immigrant Rights Advocates Just Scored a Major Win in Their Battle Against ICE-Police Partnerships

The San Gabriel Police Department's collaboration with federal immigration authorities marks the latest flashpoint in the national debate over how local authorities should react to the Trump administration's focus on undocumented immigrants.

Massoud Hayoun

Environment

Jerry Brown’s Science-Based Approach to the Proposed California State Budget

After a difficult year, the governor has allocated a large portion of his 2018–19 budget to addressing environmental concerns.

Alastair Bland

First responders tend to exercise victims, playing the role of earthquake casualties, during the 2017 Great California Shakeout earthquake drill at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, California, on October 19th, 2017.

Environment

California’s Ominous Earthquake Drought

A major seismic event in the state is an inevitability, but is the government doing enough to prepare for the disaster?

Richard Aster

People carry flags as they arrive to receive U.S. citizenship at a naturalization ceremony in Los Angeles, California, on February 15th, 2017.

Social Justice

Why California’s Protections for Undocumented Workers May Backfire

Did the state undermine its own argument to block employers' cooperation with ICE back in 2012?

Massoud Hayoun

Thousand of cottontail rabbits were killed in the Thomas Fire, victims of both their inability to move large distances quickly and their susceptibility to heat. This cottontail rabbit was in the Ventura Botanical Garden, above Ventura's city hall.

Environment

Drought and Climate Change Could Hamper the Return of Plants and Animals Displaced by California’s Biggest Wildfire

One local ecologist set out to catalog the destruction.

Francie Diep

A man waters his home as firefighters battle the Thomas fire along a hillside near homes in Santa Paula, California, on December 5th, 2017.

Environment

Following Wildfires, California to Reconsider Alert Systems

The proposed system would increase emergency alert outreach by communicating through cell phones and landlines, as well as by radio, television, and state-controlled billboards on highways.

Candace Butera

Environment

Finding California’s Climate Past and Future Inside of Its Trees

In order to better understand just how extreme the state's weather has gotten, scientists looked to the ring patterns of 500-year-old oaks.

Daniel Ackerman

Rescue workers walk amid the debris of damaged property from mudflows carrying boulders, rocks, and uprooted trees in Montecito, California, on January 12th, 2018.

Environment

After Montecito, We Need to Get Serious About Landslide Zoning

To avoid repeating California's recent devastation, susceptible regions must prepare for future disasters.

David R. Montgomery

Environment

California’s Sea Lion Population Is Rebounding

The California sea lion population in the United States has steadily increased since the early 1970s.

Candace Butera

Social Justice

The Billionaire Funding Victims’ Rights Campaigns Across the Country

Marsy's Law advocates for the rights of the families of murder victims, and the billionaire behind the measure wants it to spread nationwide. But many say the law is unfairly broad.

Emmanuel Felton