CalMatters: There are three policy issues particularly important to California’s farmers that Trump wants to change. If he does what he has promised, one might benefit the industry and two might damage it.

The drivers of divisiveness were decades in the making. From the 1950s to 1980s, the “Big Three” networks of ABC, NBC and CBS created a sort of monoculture — a shared set of TV shows, water cooler talk and facts that society could agree on. Today, the news media is fractured, and we can’t even agree on the facts.

The project has been caught in spiraling delays, and launch dates have been pushed back to 2030. The San Jose Regional Rail Commission broke ground on just one of the half dozen proposed new stations as of late summer 2024.

For years, Joe Genshlea has been known as one of the best trial lawyers in California. Regularly lionized as such by his peers — including his being voted into the state’s Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame in a ceremony presided over by California Supreme Court Associate Justice Ming W. Chin — Genshlea’s reputation could give you the impression he’s a fiery, hellfire-and-brimstone orator.

Under Director Harjinder K. Shergill-Chima’s watch, the lottery (which is self-funded) has an “unheard of” administrative budget that’s just 4 percent of revenue.

As she was simultaneously running Sutter Street Taqueria (which she founded), serving as mayor on the Folsom City Council and running for the 4th district supervisor seat she won outright in the March 2024 primary, Rosario Rodriguez was being treated for Stage 1 breast cancer, which had been diagnosed in November 2023. 

CalMatters: California’s top air quality regulator urged the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency to “immediately” approve the state’s regulation phasing out diesel trucks.

California is one of only 10 states that has a full-time professional legislature, and last year, companies and industries spent a record high $480 million on lobbying efforts in the state.