Statewide Region Local News: History


All Local History News articles contributed by our local media allies and other local newsrooms.

Image caption: The California mental health crisis is tied to both homelessness and rising crime.
UPDATE: California’s Mental Health Crisis: How We Got Here

How the California mental health crisis emerged out of the state’s history of deinstitutionalization and laws designed to protect the mentally ill, as well as the communities around them.

Image caption: The 1965 law known as the Williamson Act has been responsible for keeping about half of California's farmland out of the hands of developers.
The Williamson Act: How the Law That Protects California’s Farmland Works

The Williamson Act, passed in 1965, now keeps more than 16 million acres of farmland out of the hands of developers. Here's how the law puts the brakes on the development of California agricultural properties.

Image caption: The Baldwin Hills area in South Los Angeles is one region where a state conservancy would keep open land accessible to the public.
California’s 10 State Conservancies: How They Protect Parks and Open Land

How California’s 10 state conservancies buy up open land and shield it from developers to preserve the natural environment for public use.

Image caption: Translated from the Greek, “Democracy” means “people power.” How much power do the people have in California?
People Power! What Is Democracy, and How Does It Work in California?

Democracy is a 2,500-year-old system of government still looked on today as the best system, because under a democratic system, the people govern themselves. But is that all there is to it? What is democracy? And how does it work …

Image caption: Since the Gold Rush era, land reclamation has cost California 90 percent of its wetlands.
How Land Reclamation Hurts California’s Environment

Since the Gold Rush era, land reclamation projects have helped to build California, but they are also damaging the state’s environment for people, plants and animals by eliminating essential wetlands.

Image caption: How California reclamation districts turned millions of acres of wetlands into fertile agricultural land, starting in the earliest days of the Gold Rush.
Reclamation Districts: Turning ‘Swamps’ Into Farmland

California has used reclamation districts to turn millions of acres of unusable swamps into fertile agricultural land, starting in the earliest days of the Gold Rush. Here’s how it happened.

Image caption: The California Supreme Court has defined the state’s legal and political agenda for more than 170 years.
How the California Supreme Court Blazes Legal Trails

The California Supreme Court has kept the state at the forefront of legal issues surrounding abortion, the death penalty and same-sex marriage, starting in its earliest days in the Gold Rush era.

Image caption: From nitrates to arsenic to “forever chemicals,” California’s water supply faces a serious pollution threat.
Dirty Water: California Faces a Water Contamination Crisis

Almost one million California residents are forced to drink from contaminated water supplies, or pay for bottled water. Economic inequality makes the crisis worse. What is the state doing to fix it?

Image caption: Moss Landing in Monterey Bay is the world’s largest battery storage facility for solar and other renewable energy.
Solar Power and California’s Clean Energy Goals

Solar power, and a network of giant battery storage facilities, are playing an essential role in moving California toward its goal of exclusive reliance on renewable energy sources.

Image caption: California transportation history runs from railroads to today’s car culture.
California’s History of Transportation: From Railroads to Highways

The history of transportation in California has shaped the state, from the railroads to today’s highways, making the need for planning increasingly urgent. Here’s how it all happened, and where we stand today.

Image caption: Over two weekends last October, residents of Santa Cruz and Watsonville  participated in demonstration rides aboard an electric streetcar on rails.
The ‘Rail Trail’ Movement, Explained

Thousands of miles of railroad track, including some in Santa Cruz County, now sit idle. The fate of those largely abandoned tracks has become a burning controversy.

Image caption: California continues to work on legislation that would make voting easier.
Voting Rites

California keeps on taking legislative steps that will keep it ranked in the top 10 of voter-friendly states.

Image caption: Access to abortion in California is limited in many areas, though state laws protect a woman’s right to choose.
Abortion Rights in California, Explained

California has historically been ahead of the rest of the country in expanding the legal right to abortion services. Here’s what state laws say today, and how we got here.

Image caption: Old Sacramento Historic District Sacramento is an open-air museum of historic buildings.
Capital Collections

Sacramento’s rich past can be explored by visiting its many and varied historical museums.

California Local Pin Marker From California Local...

05/25/2024
Image for display with article titled How California Works: an Editors' Note

True stories about how, at its best, California has resisted and pushed back against anti-democratic forces. The histories and policies, deeply human characters, and controversies that have led us to where we are today.

California Local Pin Marker From Los Angeles Times...

02/16/2024
Members of the board gathered to put forward a resolution that takes responsibility for the history of discrimination against Black San Franciscans.

California Local Pin Marker From Los Angeles Times...

02/05/2024
She toured the world wowing audiences, and she captured the public’s imagination for decades. No, not Taylor Swift; Ellen Beach Yaw, also known as Lark Ellen.

California Local Pin Marker From Los Angeles Times...

02/01/2024
James Dean’s last stop before he died in a car crash was at Blackwell’s Corner, a gas station in rural Kern County. His memory isn’t the draw it once was.

California Local Pin Marker From SF Gate...

02/01/2024
An extinct species of walrus was unearthed in Santa Cruz County, evoking a time when California was teeming with odd creatures that feel closer to fantasy than reality, researchers said.

California Local Pin Marker From Los Angeles Times...

01/31/2024
The California Legislative Black Caucus released a list of 14 bills as a first set of reparations for the descendants of African Americans who were enslaved.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

01/31/2024
Lawmakers introduced a package of bills designed to tackle some forms of reparations. The measures may face budget constraints and opposition.

California Local Pin Marker From SFGate...

01/10/2024
Pea Soup Andersen’s, a Buellton, Calif., restaurant just shy of its 100th birthday, closed suddenly. The restaurant's other location, near Interstate 5 in Santa Nella, remains open.

California Local Pin Marker From California Local...

01/05/2024
Image for display with article titled Free Mickey! After 95 Years, the Mouse Is in the Public Domain. What It Means for Disney, and California

Can anyone make a Mickey Mouse cartoon now? Yes, but it’s not that simple.

California Local Pin Marker From California Local...

12/29/2023
Image for display with article titled Vince Fong, Kevin McCarthy's Hand-Picked Successor, No Longer Barred From Running by Double-Filing Law, Judge Rules

Ruling by Judge Shelleyanne Chang could open the door to electoral chaos, state AG says.

California Local Pin Marker From Los Angeles Times...

12/28/2023
Under him, the newspaper expanded from focusing largely on foreign news to covering local issues important to Latinos that the English-language media ignored or misinterpreted.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

12/27/2023
Under new state laws, five cities will test cameras to catch speeding drivers and cruising bans will be lifted statewide. The first is supposed to improve road safety, but critics of the second say it will endanger the public.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

12/25/2023
State audits of the University of California and the California State University found both systems have failed to comply with decades-old state and federal laws mandating the return of Native ancestral remains and cultural artifacts. Only UCLA and Cal State Long Beach have returned a majority of their collections.

California Local Pin Marker From SFGate...

12/21/2023
The Hoopa Valley Tribe announced it is acquiring about 10,000 acres of land in Northern California for $14.1 million. As part of this, the tribe will remove dams along the Klamath River and restore salmon runs.

California Local Pin Marker From California Local...

12/17/2023
Image for display with article titled Kevin McCarthy: Looking Back on the Career of California’s Once Powerful Congressional Republican

The Bakersfield Republican’s rapid rise to power began with a winning lottery ticket.

California Local Pin Marker From The New York Times...

12/14/2023
Water fights have shaped California since its infancy as a state, when its abundance seemed limitless. Now, Californians are being forced to confront limitations, and the state that prides itself on creating the future is now reckoning with its past.

California Local Pin Marker From California Local...

12/11/2023
Image for display with article titled California’s Homelessness Crisis Updated: Here’s Where It Stands Now

Updated data for 2022 and 2023 shows that California’s homeless population is only getting larger.

California Local Pin Marker From California Local...

12/10/2023
Image for display with article titled Why Gov. Newsom Can’t Appoint Kevin McCarthy’s Replacement

U.S. Constitution spells out different procedures for naming new members of House and Senate

California Local Pin Marker From SFGate...

12/06/2023
The Fort Independence Indian Community is getting the Mount Whitney Fish Hatchery from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife at no cost in 2024. Native Americans had lived on this land for centuries before the hatchery’s construction.
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