KQED's The California Report

California regulators are poised to shake-up the solar market for apartments, schools and farms. An administrative law judge is proposing changes that make the economics of investing in solar projects unappealing. Reporter: Erik Anderson, KPBSOfficials with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation are proposing significant changes to the use of solitary confinement in the state’s prisons. But advocates say the process is rushed, and the changes don’t go far enough.Reporter: Kate Wolffe, CapRadioPacific Gas & Electric pledged to bury ten thousand miles of power lines in California to reduce the risk of them sparking wildfires. But now, state regulators are considering two proposals that would limit that plan, in favor of cheaper and faster alternatives.Reporter: Izzy Bloom, The California Report Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Large-scale traffickers of fentanyl could soon face stiffer criminal penalties in California; that's the result of a law signed by Governor Newsom over the weekend.Reporter: Guy Marzorati, KQEDGovernor Newsom has signed a bill that delegitimizes a controversial medical diagnostic theory called "excited delirium," which has been used to defend law enforcement in cases where a person has died while in custody.Reporter: Stephanie O'Neill Patison, KFF Health NewsEnvironmentalists cheered when a ghost lake in California’s Central Valley refilled earlier this year, because it created new wetlands for birds; but now, avian botulism is brewing in Tulare Lake.It’s deadly to birds, and rescuers are in a mad dash to prevent a massive die-off.Reporter: Joshua Yeager, KVPR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As workers across industries walked off the job during this remarkable year of strikes, one union in California won big in its fight for child care providers. The organizers behind this movement were largely immigrants and women of color.Reporter: Daisy Nguyen, KQED A pair of bills signed over the weekend by Governor Gavin Newsom will require large companies in California to be more transparent about their contributions to climate change, and the risks they face as a result.Reporter: Dana Cronin, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California political legend, was laid to rest in a private ceremony in San Francisco Thursday. Hours earlier, 1500 invited guests attended a memorial service on the steps of San Francisco’s City Hall. Those who gathered there reflected on the long arc of Feinstein's life in San Francisco, where she served as a supervisor and then mayor before being elected to the Senate.Reporter: Tyche Hendricks, KQEDAt the US-Mexico border, immigrant rights activists say thousands of asylum seekers have been dropped off in San Diego by Customs and Border Protection over the last few weeks.  In response, the nonprofit Casa Familiar set up a makeshift aid center at San Ysidro Community Park. But it's now at risk of shutting down, over a lack of funding.Reporter: Gustavo Solis, KPBSThe Golden State Warriors have announced a new WNBA will be created and they’ll start playing in 2025. The team will practice at the Warriors facility in Oakland, and play its home games at Chase Center in san Francisco.Reporter: Madi Bolanos, The California Report  100 years ago, women mariachi bands didn’t exist. Even 50 years ago, women playing mariachi music was rare. Today though, women like Sacramento’s Dinorah Klingler are rewriting the story of male dominated mariachi culture.Reporter: Bianca Taylor, The California Report Magazine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A memorial service for Dianne Feinstein is scheduled for Thursday at San Francisco’s City Hall, where she’s been lying in state. President Joe Biden will deliver remarks by video. Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to attend, as well as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. Laphonza Butler, who was sworn in this week to replace Dianne Feinstein, is a longtime labor leader, political strategist and, most recently, the president of EMILY’s List, which fights to elect women to office who support abortion rights. One issue that's not on her resume: climate change.Reporter: Dana Cronin, KQEDSand dunes and native plants on beaches can help protect the California coast from the impacts of sea level rise – if and when they’re allowed to thrive. That's according to new research out of UC Santa Barbara.Reporter: Beth Thornton, KCBX Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In an unprecedented move in American politics – Bakersfield Republican Kevin McCarthy was ousted as House speaker on Tuesday. Despite this, many of McCarthy's constituents still support the embattled Congressman. Reporter: Joshua Yeager, KVPRThousands of Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers in California have walked off the job, starting a three day strike. A coalition of unions representing the workers are demanding wage increases, protections against the outsourcing of jobs, and increased staffing.Laphonza Butler was sworn in Tuesday, filling the seat of Dianne Feinstein, who died last week. It's still unclear if Butler will enter the race to fill the U.S. Senate seat.Guest: Marisa Lagos, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When we think of cleaner and greener alternatives to gas-powered cars and trucks in California, electric vehicles come immediately to mind. But there is an alternative --hydrogen-powered cars.Reporter: Saul Gonzalez, The California ReportGovernor Gavin Newsom is defending his decision to appoint Emily’s List president Laphonza Butler to Dianne Feinstein’s open Senate seat –which potentially upends the on-going campaigns for that position in next year’s election. Butler is expected to be sworn-in on Tuesday. Reporter: Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, KQEDCalifornia water regulators have released support plans for the Bay-Delta watershed, which experts say is in an ecological crisis.  But this doesn’t mean final solutions are in sight.Reporter: Rachel Becker, CalMatters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Longtime labor leader and Democratic strategist Laphonza Butler will be California's new U.S. Senator. News of Butler's appointment -- confirmed by Governor Gavin Newsom's office Sunday night -- comes days after the death of Dianne Feinstein, which left the Senate seat vacant.Reporter: Guy Marzorati, KQEDThis week, seven California counties launch CARE Courts. They’re the new mental health courts required by the state that have the authority to mandate people with severe mental illness to receive treatment.  The implementation of CARE Court will be under particular scrutiny in San Francisco, as the city wrestles with both mental health and homelessness crises.Guest: Rafael Mandelman, San Francisco SupervisorWhen presidential candidates travel to places like Iowa and New Hampshire, they usually spend time praising the state they’re in. But that is not what Republicans making the pilgrimage to California are saying about the Golden State.Reporter: Marisa Lagos, KQED  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, who spent more than three decades in the Senate, has passed away at the age of 90. Senator Feinstein had a long career in politics even before her time in Washington, as a supervisor and mayor in San Francisco.Reporter: Scott Shafer, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As of this summer, most incarcerated people across the country can apply for a Pell Grant to pay for a higher education. Criminal justice advocates say this is a key step in keeping people from returning to prison. But in California, the demand is already exceeding the supply.Reporter: Madi Bolaños, The California ReportSouthern California communities are paying the cost of a rise in online shopping. More online stores, means more warehouses to store their products. And that's adding to the pollution and economic inequality in these areas. Reporter: Anthony Victoria, KVCR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices