KQED's The California Report

A Bay Area member of Congress says federal immigration authorities plan to end their contract with a Northern California county jail, the last public facility in the state to hold immigrants fighting deportation. It comes after years of outcry over substandard conditions.Reporter: Tyche Hendricks, KQEDA tiny local election in the Central Valley could have big ripple effects for farming, and water. The Westlands Water District produces crops like tomatoes, garlic, and almonds – and it’s historically fought with environmentalists, who accuse the wealthy farmers there of hogging water. Westlands has just elected a slate of board members promising a new strategy - a recognition that large-scale farming will have to shrink.Reporter: Dan Charles in collaboration with the Food and Environment Reporting Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new bill introduced this week would make it illegal for unhoused residents in California to sit or sleep in certain public spaces. The proposal is already drawing ire from advocates, who say it does little to solve homelessness. Reporter: Erin Baldassari, KQED  California is home to the largest population of Cambodians in the U.S.. Most Cambodians who first arrived in the country came as refugees in the 1980s. They were fleeing the communist Khmer Rouge regime where an estimated two million Cambodians were killed through starvation, torture, executions and much more. 40 years later, Cambodians in California are still grappling with mental health issues caused by this genocide. Guest: Soreath Hok, Reporter, KVPR The Interior Department finalized the sale of offshore wind leases along California’s coast on Wednesday. Combined bids totaled more than $750 million. Reporter: Kevin Stark, KQED  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you've ever thought twice about jaywalking because of fear getting a ticket that will soon change. Starting on January 1, California's "Freedom to Walk Act" becomes law. It will prohibit police from writing jaywalking tickets, unless people are caught trying to cross the street in clearly dangerous traffic conditions.Guest: John Yi, Executive Director of Los Angeles WalksState Senator Scott Wiener is yet again introducing a bill to make it easier to build affordable housing on land owned by religious groups and nonprofit colleges. This is his third attempt in getting similar legislation passed.Reporter: Adhiti Bandlamudi, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sky-high gas prices this year prompted Governor Gavin Newsom to propose a new law limiting how much oil companies can charge at the pump. Newsom’s proposal would put a cap on how much companies can charge for a gallon of gas and penalize those that charge more. But it doesn’t include specific profit ceilings yet. Reporter: Nicole Nixon, CapRadio Popular countertops made from synthetic stone are making the people who cut and process them sick. Some of these workers – most of whom are immigrants – are dying. The problem is particularly bad in Los Angeles.Reporter: Leslie Berestein Rojas, KPCC in collaboration with Public Health Watch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oil companies spent big in California’s election this year and for good reason: Governor Gavin Newsom is calling on lawmakers to take action to drive down gas prices in a state where drivers pay far more than anywhere else. Reporter: Marisa Lagos, KQED California is seeing a surge in new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. But there is some good news. California’s top health official says more people are picking up the pace when it comes to getting the updated COVID booster. Reporter: Kate Wolffe, CapRadio Moderate weather and well-timed rainstorms helped ensure a mild 2022 fire season in California. But officials remain cautious, even into December.Reporter: Julie Cart, CalMatters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new report out this week says a data breach at the California Department of Justice last summer was the result of poor training and a lack of professional rigor at the agency. The leak included the personal information of hundreds of thousands of concealed carry firearm license applicants. Reporter: Ben Christopher, CalMattersAward-winning poet Deborah Miranda, an enrolled member of the Ohlone-Costanoan Esselen Nation, is the author of "Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir." The book explores the history of Central Coast tribes through the records of her ancestors, including wax-cylinder recordings dating back more than a century. Reporter: Sasha Khokha, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The University of California has reached a tentative agreement with postdoctoral scholars and academic researchers to increase their pay and other benefits. Those UC workers are staying on the picket lines in solidarity with their United Auto Worker union members who still have not reached a deal. Reporter: Laura Fitzgerald, KQEDTani Cantil-Sakauye, the chief justice of the California Supreme Court, held her annual year-end media briefing yesterday. Cantil-Sakauye used her final media conversation before she leaves the court at the end of December to urge California to address the so-called “justice gap,” the lack of financial resources to help lower-income people address their legal needs. Reporter: Scott Shafer, KQEDNearly two-thirds of California voters upheld a ban on flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, in November. Tobacco companies are now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stop California from enforcing the ban. Reporter: Tara Siler, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Postdoctoral scholars and academic researchers in the University of California system have reached a tentative five-year deal. But the strike continues, as two groups — graduate student researchers and academic student employees — still have not come to an agreement.New reporting from CalMatters finds that Cal Poly San Luis Obispo enrolls the smallest percentage of Black undergraduates at any CSU or UC school. Just 146 Black students enrolled this fall out of 21,000 undergraduates. Students describe experiencing overt racism. Reporter: Mikhail Zinshteyn, CalMatters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In late September, passenger rail service from San Diego to places north of San Clemente halted. An unstable slope above the track in San Clemente posed the threat of a landslide. Bluff stabilization is ongoing, but rail service is expected to resume next month. Reporter: Thomas Fudge, KPBSAfter wildfire season ends in the Western U.S., those who lost their homes begin sifting through what’s left to recover as much as they can. After the McKinney Fire this past summer, a team of trained dogs and archeologists helped recover cremated remains left in urns that were lost in the fire. Reporter: Roman Battaglia, Jefferson Public Radio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During labor disputes, employers sometimes freeze health insurance benefits for workers. But a law to take effect next summer will provide striking private-sector workers with fully subsidized coverage. Reporter: Stephanie O’Neill, Kaiser Health NewsNew reporting shows that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation moves prisoners with serious mental illnesses three times more often than other prisoners. Reporter: Byrhonda Lyons, CalMattersThe California Fish and Game Commission has struggled to decide whether to list the western Joshua tree as an endangered species. If it is listed, it would be the first species to earn protection in the state because of climate change. Reporter: Caleigh Wells, KCRW Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices