KQED's The California Report

California’s Employment Development Department was too slow delivering unemployment insurance payments to roughly 5 million workers during the pandemic. That’s from a new report by the Legislative Analyst's Office. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQEDMore than 22,000 Ukrainians have crossed the border from Mexico into California since the Russian invasion in February. Many have come to the Sacramento area, which already has a large and tight-knit Slavic community. Reporter: Pauline Bartolone, CapRadioA State Senate committee focused on California’s response to monkeypox will hold its first hearing on Tuesday afternoon. The committee is chaired by State Senator Scott Wiener, who’s been a vocal critic of the government's failure to act quickly when the monkeypox outbreak first occurred.Reporter: Scott Shafer, KQEDHate crimes are up for the fourth straight year in a row across the U.S. That’s according to new data from Cal State San Bernardino, which found that in California, hate crimes jumped more than 32% last year.Reporter: Alex Hall, KQED Gun rights groups are suing the state of California over a bill signed into law in June, that bans the marketing of guns to minors. Firearm advocates say the law is a direct assault on the Second Amendment.Reporter: Ezra David Romero, KQEDCalifornia’s fast food and franchising industries could change drastically under a bill moving through the state Legislature. The bill would give fast food workers the power to collectively bargain through a state-run council.Reporter: Nicole Nixon, CapRadio  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Los Angeles voters will decide whether they want to require hotels across the city to provide vacant rooms to unhoused people. The City Council voted Friday to put the contentious hotel voucher program on the 2024 ballot.Reporter: Megan Jamerson, KCRW Farmworkers from across the state have joined the “March for the Governor’s Signature,” a 335 mile trek from Kern County to Sacramento, to show support for a voting rights bill. Although farmworkers say the bill is critical for unionization, some argue that it will not accomplish what it’s intended to do.Reporter: Esther Quintanilla, KVPR California women are more likely than men to be rent burdened, meaning they spend a third or more of their income on rent and other housing costs. That’s according to a new study from the Gender Equity Policy Institute.Reporter: Adhiti Bandlamudi, KQEDThe California Air Resources Board held a series of public listening sessions across the state last week. Its part of the board's latest plan to help the state achieve carbon neutrality by 2045.Reporter: Soreath Hok, KVPRA federal lawsuit has been filed against the sheriff in Siskiyou County and other county officials, alleging that Asian American residents have been unfairly discriminated against. The lawsuit claims that Asian Americans have been harrassed and discriminated against.Reporter: Keith Mizuguchi, The California Report Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Federal health officials are considering breaking single doses of monkeypox vaccine into smaller doses to stretch the current supply. The Food and Drug Administration may allow healthcare providers to split a one-dose vial of the monkeypox vaccine into five doses.Reporter: Jackie Fortier, KPCCThroughout history, struggling Americans have looked for greener pastures, with many striking out for California. But some powerful people in the state have actively tried to keep the migrants out by setting up border checkpoints. Guest: Bill Lascher, Author of the book "The Golden Fortress: California's Border War on Dust Bowl Refugees"California is offering $20,000 stipends to recruit and train more mental health clinicians to work in public schools. The program is a response to the student mental health crisis. Reporter: Julia McEvoy, KQEDA bill that provides some protection for immigrants in court is heading to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk. The measure said if an attorney wants to ask a witness about their immigration status in court, the judge must first decide if it’s relevant to the case.Reporter: Tyche Hendricks, KQEDVoters in San Bernardino County will have the chance to vote in November on whether the county could potentially secede from California.Reporter: Keith Mizuguchi, The California Report A Fresno high school has issued an apology for painting over a student mural completed for the campus. Artists questioned the decision and the message it sends to the arts community.Reporter: Soreath Hok, KVPR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Long waitlists. Parents lining up overnight in hopes of landing an open spot in daycare or preschool. These are some of the stories that have emerged since the pandemic, highlighting the nation’s childcare crisis.Reporter: Daisy Nguyen, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

He was the voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers for decades. On Tuesday, Vin Scully died at the age of 94.Guest: Bill Shaikin, Reporter, L.A. TimesCalifornia faces increased wildfire danger across much of the state into the fall months. This comes as crews continue to battle the biggest fire of the year in Siskiyou County.Reporter: Kevin Stark, KQED  Farmworkers from across California are beginning a march up the Central Valley on Wednesday morning. It’s all to support a voting rights bill. Reporter: Esther Quintanilla, KVPRSome state courts appear to be dragging their feet following a new law, that’s intended to give relief to people piling up late fees for infractions like traffic tickets. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED  It’s an election year, with control of Congress in play. In one of Orange County’s most competitive congressional districts, the sitting Republican Congresswoman and her Democratic challenger don’t agree on much. But they do see eye-to-eye on one thing -- U.S. policy toward Taiwan.Reporter: Marisa Lagos, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency as part of California's ongoing response to the monkeypox outbreak. Meanwhile in San Francisco, the city’s main public hospital plans to distribute more monkeypox vaccine on Tuesday.Reporter: Sara Hossaini, KQEDState lawmakers have reconvened in Sacramento after a month-long summer recess for the final, frenzied month of the legislative session. There are a number of bills that will be voted on, from abortion to gun rights.Guest: Emily Hoeven, Author of the WhatMatters newsletter for CalMattersCrews saw much calmer weather on Monday as they continue to battle the McKinney Fire in Siskiyou County. But there's still no containment on the fire, which has burned more than 55,000 acres.Guest Erik Neumann, Interim News Director, Jefferson Public RadioA bill to allow so-called “safe injection sites” where addicts can use drugs with supervision is on its way to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk.Reporter: Scott Shafer, KQED Visitors to Redwood National Forest on the North Coast could be fined and even face jail time if they’re caught trying to get too close to the world’s tallest tree.Reporter: Anaïs-Ophelia Lino, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Authorities say two bodies have been found inside a burned vehicle in the path of a raging California wildfire that is one of several major blazes burning across Northern California.Hundreds of millions of dollars are headed to the Golden State for Climate Change and infrastructure. The mix of fires, drought, and even record rainfall in some parts of California are taking a toll on the state's infrastructure. But, a new federal program unveiled last week, could funnel hundreds of millions of dollars to the Golden State to help safeguard its roads and bridges.Reporter Caleigh Wells, KCRWCalifornia Health officials are not ready to declare a statewide emergency for Monkeypox. The State of California has reported nearly eight hundred cases of Monkeypox - the majority in San Francisco and Los Angeles.  Eleven people in California have been hospitalized - but, no one has died. So, health officials in California say they don't see the need - at least not yet - to declare a statewide emergency over the Monkeypox virus....similar to the local one declared by the city of San Francisco last week.A new Kaiser study says adults with young kids could provide some protection against severe COVID illnesses. Researchers compared more than half million adults - and found that those without children were 49 percent more likely to be hospitalized-and 76 percent more likely to be admitted to an ICU - than those with young kids at home.A School in the Inland Empire plans to move because of influx of new warehouses. Another large warehouse complex is slated for Southern California’s Inland Empire… which is east of Los Angeles.  The region is home to over a billion square feet of warehouses.  One of the latest proposed warehouses would be next door to an elementary school in the small community of Bloomington in San Bernardino County.Reporter Jonathan Linden, KVCRA new public housing project in Southern California is unlike many others. It's called Jordan Downs and it's located in L.A.'s Watts community. Even in a state where millions struggle to find…and keep… an affordable place to live, building more public housing hasn’t been a popular solution. That’s because over the decades public housing has become synonymous with segregation of Blacks and Latinos, warehousing of the poor, and terrible living conditions. But in L.A.’s Watts neighborhood, one big public housing project called Jordan Downs is in the midst of a decades-long, one billion dollar transformation. When done, it will more than double the number of people living there. Its also supposed to show the potential of public housing….if done right..Reporter Saul Gonzalez, The California Report Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

L.A. County health officials have pushed the pause button on reinstituting an indoor public mask mandate. The data show that LA is right on the cusp of dropping into the CDC’s medium COVID risk level. That’s due to hospitalizations dipping slightly. Reporter: Jackie Fortier, KPCCFarming in California has not been a friendly place to Black people, let alone Black women. Only one percent of farmland in the state is Black owned.Reporter: Ariana Proehl, KQEDIn San Jose, a program that sent 1500 kids to day camp for free is wrapping up on Friday. It’s paid for with COVID-19 relief money. Reporter: Daisy Nguyen, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

L.A. County health officials closed the online waiting list for the monkeypox vaccine Thursday, just one day after it went live. Some qualified people are being turned away at vaccine sites and given conflicting advice. Reporter: Jackie Fortier, KPCC Truckers at the Port of Oakland continue to protest for the second straight week over AB5, the state law that reclassifies many independent contractors as employees. But truckers have agreed not to block access to terminals and plan instead to rally in designated "free speech" zones set up by the port.  Reporter: Holly J. McDede, KQED The Oakland City Council is expected to vote Tuesday to urge state lawmakers to put a measure on the ballot that would officially repeal Prop 8.Reporter: Rachael Myrow, KQED Customs and Border Protection say a record number of migrants have been injured while trying to cross the border illegally into San Diego County. Reporter: Gustavo Solis, KPBSNevada’s Lake Mead, which is fed by the Colorado River, has long played a critical role in supplying much of California’s water. While it’s no secret all of the West is gripped by drought, new images of Lake Mead released by NASA are providing the clearest picture yet of the dire situation. Reporter: Matt Guilhem, KCRW Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As firefighters make gains on the Oak Fire burning near Yosemite National Park, families are beginning to reckon with the devastation. California’s largest fire of the year so far, has consumed nearly 19, 000 acres and forced thousands to flee.Reporter: Joshua Yeager, KVPR The chief justice of California's Supreme Court says she will not seek a second term in November. Tani Cantil-Sakauye says she will retire at the end of her term on January 1.Reporter: Scott Shafer, KQEDOrganizers rallied outside the Glendale offices of State Senator Anthony Portantino on Wednesday to call for support of a bill that would put restrictions on the use of solitary confinement.Reporter: Robert Garrova, KPCC Seven of the ten most expensive areas for housing in the nation are in California, with San Francisco being the most expensive and out of reach metropolitan area in the country. That’s according to a newly released report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.Reporter: Adhiti Bandlamudi, KQEDA new statewide survey from the Public Policy Institute of California reveals where Californians stand on a host of issues from gas prices to climate policy.Reporter: Janaya Williams, KCRW More and more Californians are following water restrictions as the state’s drought drags on. Or at least, they’re supposed to be. There’s actually a satellite orbiting the Earth that can reveal the rule breakers. And one Californian knows who you are.Reporter: Caleigh Wells, KCRW Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices