KQED's The California Report

In the crowded field of mostly Democratic candidates vying to be California’s next governor, one MAGA Republican has had surprising staying power. That’s Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. He’s recently been in national headlines for seizing hundreds of thousands of ballots, among other controversies. Bianco has built his profile on bashing the state’s Democrats and Governor Gavin Newsom. Reporter: Madison Aument, KVCR The World Cup is officially one month away. And some LA advocates aren’t happy about how organizers plan to address human rights. Reporter: Libby Rainey, LAist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Driven by concerns that Democrats could be locked out of this year's governor's race, a new ballot initiative seeks to repeal California’s top-two primary system. Reporter: Izzy Bloom, KQED State lawmakers are considering a bill that would require California’s DMV to notify vehicle owners when their towed cars are sold for profit. Reporter: Byrhonda Lyons, CalMatters An investigation from KQED and ProPublica's Local Reporting Network found dozens of cases where California has not revoked educators’ teaching credentials, despite schools determining they committed sexual harassment or misconduct of a sexual nature. Reporter: Holly J. McDede, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Several state bills pending in Sacramento this week seek more guardrails on Artificial Intelligence in the workplace. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED A proposed state budget change could stall the program that sends behavioral health workers — instead of police — to respond to mental health emergencies. Reporter: Ana Ibarra, CalMatters California’s newest grade — transitional kindergarten — has been lauded as a success, with enrollment doubling over the past few years. But that growth has come at a cost, pulling 4-year-olds out of community-based preschools. Reporter: Daisy Nguyen, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ron Eby spent 20 years in the Navy before he retired from his role as a commander. But after a while, he got bored - so he signed up for a new covert mission. Looking for otters. Not enemy warships, but threatened sea otters, as a volunteer with the Elkhorn Slough Reserve in Moss Landing. Reporter: Elena Neale-Sacks, KAZU U.S. Senator Adam Schiff and Central Coast Congressman Salud Carbajal joined Chumash Coastal Band leaders and environmental groups on the Central Coast Thursday. They criticized the Trump administration’s support for restarting an oil pipeline linked to the 2015 Refugio spill. Reporter: Gabriela Fernandez, KCBX A number of California residents, who’ve since returned home, are confirmed to have been among the passengers on a cruise ship at the center of a hantavirus outbreak. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As wildfires become more destructive in California, the need for forensic investigations is increasing. Specifically: the need for finding and identifying bodies after a wildfire. A recent intensive academy at Fresno City College addressed this need by training working professionals. Reporter: Rachel Livinal, KVPR Advocates are criticizing the state's tracking of evictions, saying California has failed to accurately count them for decades, and drumming up support for a bill that would more closely monitor it. Reporter: Alex Hall, KQED Humboldt County Supervisors are looking at creating a civilian oversight committee for the sheriff’s office. They’re trying to get ahead of a possible citizen initiative. Reporter: Roman Battaglia, Jefferson Public Radio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Immigration enforcement is affecting recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. Since 2012, the program has allowed people brought to the United States as children to stay in the US and work, go to school, and buy property. But one Sacramento woman's life unraveled within days of learning that her immigration case was being reopened. Reporter: Gerardo Zavala, CapRadio The U.S. Department of Education is investigating how the Los Angeles Unified School District handles allegations of sexual misconduct involving teachers and students. Governor Gavin Newsom is asking California election officials to speed up their vote count in the June primary. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A major change to a federal farmworker visa program known as H-2A is sparking a heated debate across California. The program allows farms to bring in temporary workers from other countries, but a change from the Trump administration has altered how they are paid, sparking a lawsuit from the United Farmworkers Union. Supporters say it’s a lifeline for farmers facing rising labor costs. Critics call it a wage cut that could push local workers out of the fields. Reporter: Madi Bolanos, The California Report A man who was shot multiple times by immigration agents last month in the Central California community of Patterson pleaded not guilty Monday to federal charges. San Francisco Assemblymember Matt Haney is trying again to expand drug-free housing for people leaving homelessness, after Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a similar bill last year. A bill moving through the California legislature would require independent evaluations of new education programs, like transitional kindergarten. Reporter: Elly Yu, LAist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shasta County voters will consider a ballot measure that's faced legal challenges before the primary election. It could change the way elections are conducted in the county. Reporter: Roman Battaglia, Jefferson Public Radio The World Cup is about a month away. And FIFA luxury suites can cost over $200,000 for a single match in Los Angeles. Union workers at SoFi Stadium say they want their pay to reflect that wealth. Reporter: Libby Rainey, LAist SAG-AFTRA, the union representing Hollywood actors, has reached a tentative four-year deal with major studios. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Environmentalists say the Trump Administration is being short sighted in its decision to offer to buy out the leases of some offshore wind energy projects along California’s Central Coast. Reporter: Lance Orozco, KCLU Peach growers in the Yuba-Sutter region and Central Valley are being thrown a lifeline from Washington, D.C. The move follows the closure of a major cannery that’s left farmers without a buyer for their fruit. Reporter: Claudia Brancart, North State Public Radio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California lawmakers are considering new rules for electric bikes as safety concerns grow on roads and trails. But experts say much of the data behind those concerns is misleading. Reporter: Gerardo Zavala, CapRadio New research from UC Santa Cruz shows climate change is a bigger threat to California’s native trees than previously thought. Reporter: Erin Malsbury, KAZU To the north of the Imperial Valley, another battleground is emerging in the debate over AI data centers. Residents are pushing back against a large data center campus in the city of Coachella. Reporter: Kori Suzuki, KPBS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re less than a week away from the start of voting in California’s June primary and the race for governor remains up for grabs. On Tuesday night, the leading candidates made their pitch to voters in a CBS debate at Pomona College - east of Los Angeles, and things got messy. Guest: Guy Marzorati, KQED In a move immigration and privacy advocates call a “betrayal,” California is preparing to share detailed information about its driver’s license holders with a national database that connects DMVs. Opponents say the move could put more than a million undocumented people who have California driver’s licenses at risk. Reporter: Khari Johnson, CalMatters The city of Marina in Monterey County is reactivating a 30-year-old desalination plant to help boost water supply. Reporter: Ngozi Cole, KAZU Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A health care labor union in California submitted more than 1.5 million signatures this week to place a billionaire tax on the November ballot. Reporter: Izzy Bloom, KQED It’s been two months since the war in Iran began, and the resulting energy crisis has made the cost of driving a major concern here for millions of Californians. In a state where people rely heavily on cars, the rising costs are forcing some drivers to make financial sacrifices, with some giving up the car altogether. Reporter: Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today in Oakland, two of the most powerful men in tech are set to face off in a federal courtroom. Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, is suing Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI. Reporter: Rachael Myrow, KQED State courts will start tracking and reporting on immigration arrests at their facilities, starting in June. That’s after the policymaking body for California courts approved a new rule Friday. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED It’s spring cleaning season, and that can involve wiping off something most of us may not otherwise notice: dust. But for researchers at UC Merced and throughout California, dust is much more top of mind. These particles, they say, affect many parts of life and not just our health. Reporter: Rachel Livinal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Courthouse arrests by ICE have been ramping up across California, particularly in the Inland Empire where court raids have become almost a daily occurrence. In response, two state senators have introduced bills in the California Legislature that aim to curb raids at courthouses. Reporter: Anthony Victoria, KVCR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For many Californians, mobile home parks are one of the last real affordable paths to homeownership. Residents typically own their homes, but rent the land beneath them. In recent years corporate investors have sought to buy this land and in some cases seek to maximize profit. But this arrangement can leave homeowners vulnerable. The California Report’s Madi Bolaños has spent the last two years looking into one of these companies, Harmony Communities. Many of its residents say they’ve been dealing with unfair rent increases and fear eviction. These tensions are unfolding in a quiet mobile home park in the Bay Area city of San Pablo. Reporter: Madi Bolanos, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The policy-making body that oversees California's court system plans to vote on a proposal this Friday that would require courts to collect data on civil arrests inside the state's courthouses. It comes amid a rise in arrests by federal immigration agents of undocumented people inside and near courthouse across the state and throughout the U.S. California counties will be able to continue dedicating the bulk of their federal homelessness funds towards permanent housing. That’s because a move by the Trump administration to shift funding priorities towards temporary and sober housing is now on hold following a legal victory this week. Reporter: Marisa Kendall, CalMatters A program incentivizing large ships to slow along the state’s coastline when whales are present goes into effect statewide today Reporter: Danielle Venton, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Normally, county clerk races don’t get that much attention. But in Shasta County, two candidates are fighting for the future of elections in a place that’s garnered national attention for years now. Reporter: Roman Battaglia, Jefferson Public Radio Former State Controller Betty Yee is ending her campaign for California governor, citing flagging poll numbers and a shrinking donor base. Reporter: Izzy Bloom, KQED A man shot by Immigration Agents in Patterson, California earlier this month will remain in custody over concerns that he could be a flight risk. Reporter: Billy Cruz, The California Report Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Along the banks of the San Joaquin River in Fresno County, an unusual soil has sparked heated, public conversations. That’s because, it’s not your typical soil. And the process that creates it is only legal in a handful of states. Reporter: Samantha Rangel, KVPR A man, who is part of a class action lawsuit challenging immigration raids in Los Angeles, has been detained again by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Reporter: Keith Mizuguchi, The California Report Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Along the banks of the San Joaquin River in Fresno County, an unusual soil has sparked heated, public conversations. That’s because, it’s not your typical soil. And the process that creates it is only legal in a handful of states. Reporter: Samantha Rangel, KVPR A man, who is part of a class action lawsuit challenging immigration raids in Los Angeles, has been detained again by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Reporter: Keith Mizuguchi, The California Report Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California is the first state in the country to require folic acid in corn masa flour—the key ingredient in foods like tortillas. The move could help prevent serious birth defects, which occur at higher rates among Latino families. Alabama is set to follow this summer, and other states are considering similar laws. Reporter: Lesley McClurg, KQED A new, proposed train service could connect San Luis Obispo to the Bay Area - in time for the 2028 LA Olympics. Reporter: Kendra Hanna, KCBX Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices