KQED's The California Report

The popular social media app Instagram and its parent company, Meta, use artificial intelligence to moderate content. But there are growing concerns that the “training data” for AI is biased against women and people of color. A Los Angeles photographer thinks this “algorithmic bias” is part of the reason Instagram disabled his account. Reporter: Beth Tribolet, KQED The California legislature has passed a bill that would ban the hand-counting of ballots in most elections. The legislation was targeted specifically at Northern California’s Shasta County, where supervisors did away with Dominion voting machines earlier this year. Reporter: Roman Battaglia, Jefferson Public Radio Much of the world’s highest quality cotton is grown in the San Joaquin Valley. But the return of Tulare Lake could have a devastating impact on the Central Valley's cotton industry. Reporter: Kerry Klein, KVPR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in America. And according to some neighbors, it’s also one of the loudest. Homeowners in the San Diego region, and across the state, are increasingly taking legal action to resolve pickleball noise disputes. Reporter: Scott Rodd, KPBS California is set to scale back its electric car rebate program to focus more on low-income car buyers. Reporter: Alejandro Lazo, CalMatters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A judge has ruled that a San Bernardino County school district must hold off on enforcing a policy that requires school staff to notify parents if a student identifies as transgender. Chino Valley Unified is being sued by the state attorney general. Reporter: Madison Aument, KVCR In San Diego, the Black Panther Party is recruiting new members. Decades ago, the U.S. government spread misinformation that caused the party to become mostly inactive. Now, the San Diego chapter is one of many reviving across the country. Reporter: Katie Hyson, KPBS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Central Coast Congressman Salud Carbajal is unveiling new legislation on Wednesday to help communities near regional airports that have long been facing toxic chemical contamination in their groundwater. The “Clean Airport Agenda” will make sure federal agencies phase out the use of these toxic chemicals in such communities. Reporter: Benjamin Purper, KCBX State lawmakers are voting on a resolution declaring August trans history month across California. Reporter: Lesley McClurg , KQED California is on its way to becoming the first state to explicitly ban discrimination based on caste. State lawmakers approved a bill to make it a protected class and sent it to the governor on Tuesday. Reporter: Nicole Nixon, CapRadio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People who live behind a vast number of aging levees in the United States are more likely to be people of color and have less education compared to those who don’t. And that leaves them more vulnerable to flooding and the impacts of climate change. Reporter: Emily Zentner, California Newsroom A state bill that would require many employers in all kinds of industries to take steps to protect workers from violence at their jobs, has cleared a key hurdle and is headed for a full vote of the State Assembly. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Joe Sanchez was 8 years old, his grandmother asked him to make a promise to never forget his California Indian heritage. She was determined to see the culture live on, after watching her brothers deny their Coast Miwok ancestry, a matter of economic survival in early 20th century California. Today, at 75, Sanchez is making good on that promise in a more ambitious way than he ever imagined: He’s bought back a piece of his ancestral homeland. Reporter: Vanessa Rancaño Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By all accounts, this year's West Nile virus season has been particularly bad. The state has reported five fatalities so far this summer. In Sacramento and Yolo Counties, the Mosquito & Vector Control District has been spraying a diluted insecticide throughout the region to kill the mosquitoes that carry the disease. Reporter: Kate Wolffe, CapRadio Kern County’s maternal mortality rate is one of the highest in the state. Family members of people who died there during childbirth have now gotten the attention of the state medical board. Reporter: Kerry Klein, KVPR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The governor’s office is awarding nearly $760 million in grants for affordable housing projects statewide. The money is expected to help create 2,500 new affordable homes, but will pay for more than just new apartments. Reporter: Chris Nichols, CapRadio Workers rights advocates are calling on Los Angeles to combat wage theft as one way to tackle the homelessness crisis in the city. New analysis by the Los Angeles Worker Center Network finds wage theft is so prevalent among the lowest-earning Angelenos, it’s contributing to the crisis. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED California is seeing a surge in COVID-19 infections. And although hospitalizations have also seen a big jump, it's a far cry from previous COVID waves. So what's behind the jump in cases? Guest: Monica Gandhi, Infectious Diseases Doctor, Professor, UC San Francisco Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

COVID cases are on the rise in California. According to the state public health department, hospitalizations have jumped more than 80% over the last month. Reporter: Jackie Fortier, LAist California produces millions of tons of toxic waste each year, but the state’s relying on a shrinking network of aging sites to process it. Many of the older sites have a troubling history of safety violations and polluted soil and groundwater. Reporter: Robert Lewis, CalMatters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

State Attorney General Rob Bonta is suing Chino Valley Unified School District in San Bernardino County, over their policy of mandatory outing of trans students to family members. The policy requires teachers and staff to notify parents within three days if a student asks to use a different name or pronoun. A new political campaign to roll back several protections for transgender youth is happening across California. However transgender advocates say they’re dangerous. Reporter: Lesley McClurg, KQED Hundreds of house cleaners, nannies and home care aides are expected to descend on Sacramento on Tuesday, calling on the governor and lawmakers to pass a bill that would give domestic workers the right to health and safety protections other workers enjoy. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED The recent death of an orca held in captivity in Florida for more than five decades has invigorated calls to release other marine mammals – including Corky – an orca at San Diego’s SeaWorld. At the same time, some California lawmakers are pushing federal regulators to demand better care for marine mammals in captivity. Reporter: Greta Mart, KRCB Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A growing number of California winemakers have seen their crop ruined in recent years by wildfire smoke. The impact is huge: After fires in 2020, the California Association of Wine Grape Growers estimated that up to 325,000 tons of grapes weren’t usable, leading to over $3 billion in losses. Reporter: Manola Secaira, CapRadio The three people who died in last week's shooting at an Orange County bar have been identified. Cook's Corner is often described as a biker bar in Trabuco Canyon. But the community ties run far deeper, stretching back to at least 1926. Reporter: Caitlin Hernandez, LAist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a 17-month labor battle, a North Hollywood strip club has reopened as the only union strip club in the U.S. But it's not the end of the road. The dancers may have union representation, but they still don't have a contract. Reporter: Robin Estrin, KCRW The world’s largest known octopus garden is in California coastal waters, just 80 miles south of Monterey. A new study confirms these deep-sea octopuses migrate to the area to reproduce. Reporter: Alexander Gonzalez, KQED Through her restaurant, Crystal Wahpepah reclaims and celebrates the traditions of indigenous people, while also nourishing and educating non-native people on the history of the land they occupy. Reporter: Bianca Taylor, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A gunman killed three people and wounded six in a mass shooting in Orange County last night. It happened around 7:00 p.m. at Cook’s Corner, a bar popular with motorcyclists located in Trabuco Canyon in east Orange County. The shooter also died at the scene, likely killed, law enforcement says, by responding deputies. West Coast cities, from Seattle to San Diego, have housing shortages that are driving up rents and pushing some people into homelessness. According to new data on apartment construction, that problem is getting even worse. Reporter: Anna Scott, KCRW In 2020, the Mineral Fire burned nearly 30,000 acres over two weeks. It also caused hundreds of rural western Fresno County residents to seek shelter from the blaze’s smoke indoors. But even inside their homes, many couldn't avoid the health effects of all that smoke. Now three years later, a team of researchers is testing a new way to improve indoor air quality. Reporter: Esther Quintanilla, KVPR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A state legislator wants to create a new state agency that might one day administer reparations to the descendants of slaves. Reporter: Guy Marzorati, KQED Southeast Asian refugees could get protection from deportation under a bill reintroduced in Congress this week by a Los Angeles area Democrat. Reporter: Tyche Hendricks, KQED When you visit the Los Angeles La Brea Tar Pits you see an enormous variety of fossils from mega-fauna that roamed the Southern California landscape thousands of years ago. But where did all those creatures go? And why did most go extinct so fast? A landmark new study aims to answer those questions. Reporter: Saul Gonzalez, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tropical storm Hilary brought lots of rain to parts of Southern California. In San Diego County that will help ease the risk of wildfires in the short term. Reporter: Erik Anderson, KPBS In the Northern California town of Paradise, many survivors of the devastating 2018 Camp Fire have been watching news of wildfires in Maui with a sense of disbelief. The blaze that destroyed Lahaina has now surpassed the Camp Fire for fatalities, with more than a hundred dead and hundreds more still missing. Reporter: Jamie Jiang, North State Public Radio On Sunday, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake rattled much of Southern California. It didn’t cause much damage or injury, but the quake was a reminder that a far more costly temblor can hit at any time. That got us thinking about earthquake insurance and we found out that the California Earthquake Authority, which administers quake coverage in the state, is making some big changes to earthquake policies. Reporter: Saul Gonzalez, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department advised Catalina Island residents and visitors — especially the medically vulnerable — to leave the island as soon as they could as a precaution. A big and unusual tropical storm isn’t the only worry nature is throwing at Californians. On Sunday afternoon, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck near the Ventura County community of Ojai and was felt in Los Angeles. That temblor was followed by a series of smaller quakes. San Diego got soaked on Sunday as tropical storm Hilary raced through the county. The storm had wind speeds of over 100 miles per hour at its peak, but the system was significantly weaker when it arrived in San Diego. Reporter: Erik Anderson, KPBS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hurricane Hilary, which is growing down around Baja right now, strengthened to a Category 4 storm this morning. The system had maximum sustained winds of 145 miles per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center. In the coming days, the hurricane could head toward Southern California, bringing threats of major flooding. Reporter: Jacob Margolis, LAist San Francisco is calling on state regulators to temporarily suspend their approval of Cruise's and Waymo's unrestricted commercial expansion in the city. City Attorney David Chiu wants state regulators to first address the city's pending request for a hearing. Reporter: Rachael Myrow, KQED Wildfires have destroyed close to one-fifth of the Earth's giant sequoia trees, found only in California. The National Park Service wants to replant them, but others say that goes against the very definition of wilderness. What is natural? And how much should humans intervene? Reporter: Marissa Ortega-Welch, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The largest is the Head Fire, which is estimated to have burned about 3,500 acres so far. Evacuation shelters have been set up for both people and animals who have been displaced by the fire. Reporter: Jane Vaughan, JPR Southern California’s Hawaiian community is leading local fundraising efforts for Maui after its deadly wildfires. Reporter: Josie Huang, LAist Kids across California are returning to school, but not all students are equally prepared. A study found that in Sonoma County, only 22% of children are ready for kindergarten when they start. Children of Latino, Black and Native American descent were less prepared than other racial groups. Reporter: Amanda Stupi, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Newsom administration says crews made up of more than one hundred people from California will be in Maui to aid in the search and recovery efforts. That includes forensic anthropologists, specialists in urban search and rescue, wildfire debris removal and hazardous waste experts and K9 teams. Reporter: Angela Corral, KQED In San Francisco, immigrants' rights lawyers are gearing up for a courtroom challenge to President Biden’s border policies, which they say are too restrictive and harm asylum seekers. In Los Angeles, migrants keep arriving on buses sent by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who says Biden’s policies are not restrictive enough. Guest: Tyche Hendricks, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Department of Energy has announced $100 million in funding for 19 carbon capture projects nationwide. One of those projects is destined for the Kern County foothills, near Taft. Reporter: Joshua Yeager, KVPR It’s been one year since a Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed local farmworker, David Pelaez-Chavez. His family and community members are calling on the District Attorney to bring charges against the deputy involved. Reporter: Tash Kimmell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the Aloha Festival in San Mateo over the weekend, members of the Bay Area's Asian American and Pacific Islander community came together to celebrate Polynesian culture and find ways to help people in Maui. Reporter: Billy Cruz, KQED Thousands of low-income California workers shorted on their paychecks may never recover that money, even when they’ve won claims with state regulators. That's why one Bay Area county is giving some employers an ultimatum: pay what you owe or don’t do business here. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At least 55 people are confirmed dead from the wildfires that devastated the historic Maui town of Lahaina. One resident from the Central Valley moved to the popular tourist town ten years ago to open a bar that's now completely demolished. Reporter: Izzy Bloom, KQED Drive-In theaters are a staple in American history. But over the years the number of these outdoor movie theaters has diminished. Despite the shift to indoor movies and a hit from the pandemic, the Madera Drive-In where Madi spent most of her summer nights as a child is up and running. Reporter: Madi Bolaños, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Murrieta Valley School Board will discuss a policy this evening to notify parents if their child identifies as transgender. This comes after the Chino Valley school board passed a similar policy last month. Reporter: Madison Aument, KVCR More than 100 unionized healthcare workers disrupted a Fresno County Board of Supervisors meeting yesterday. The union is demanding higher wages and healthcare benefits. Reporter: Esthern Quintanilla, KVPR Homeowners in California have been reeling from the news that large insurance carriers will no longer offer new policies in the state. Nonprofits that provide affordable housing are also feeling the squeeze, and that's threatening to make the state's housing shortage even worse. Reporter: Erin Baldassari, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Standing water in Kings and Tulare Counties in the San Joaquin Valley has led to a proliferation of mosquitoes. As a result, big bucks are being spent on abatement. Reporter: Kerry Klein, KVPR For a lot of parents, having no one to care for their children means they often just don’t go to work, which can be bad for their employers. One study found that businesses lose $23 billion every year due to child care challenges faced by their workers. So some companies are taking matters into their own hands through employer-sponsored care. Reporter: Amanda Stupi, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Los Angeles city workers including sanitation workers, LAX employees, lifeguards at city pools and traffic officers are participating in a 24-hour strike today over unfair labor practices and bad-faith bargaining. California is one of the few states with heat standards aimed at protecting outdoor workers. But heat protections for indoor workers are limited, despite documented risks. Reporter: Nicole Foy, CalMatters In Tijuana, a team of very young baseball players is getting ready to represent Mexico in the Little League World Series held in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Reporter: Gustavo Solis, KPBS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Sacramento, a budget deficit limited what California state lawmakers could fund in this year’s budget. Now, lawmakers are looking to bonds as a different strategy to pay for things like climate infrastructure, mental health beds and affordable housing. Reporter: Nicole Nixon, CapRadio A controversial Farmer John slaughterhouse in the L.A. County community of Vernon closed earlier this year after nearly a century of operations. More than 2,000 people, mostly immigrants, worked there. Months later, laid-off workers are still struggling to adjust. Reporter: Leslie Berestein Rojas, LAist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Biden Administration program to monitor asylum-seeking families and subject them to a curfew is set to expand to several California cities next week. It’s part of an effort by the Biden Administration to signal a tough but humane approach to border enforcement. Reporter: Tyche Hendricks, KQED Following the state’s record-breaking rainfall in the winter, and now its dry heat, public health officials are worried about an uptick in Valley fever infections. Reporter: Izzy Bloom, The California Report In the early 1900s, many young Americans of Japanese descent left the United States to escape discrimination and seek opportunity back in Japan. When war broke out, they experienced the violence of the U.S. offensive while trying to navigate complex, often contradictory feelings about identity and belonging. Reporter Kori Suzuki explores this period through a very personal story — that of his grandmother. Reporter: Kori Suzuki, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After days of triple-digit heat, areas of the San Joaquin Valley, flooded from winter storms, are drying up, little by little. That includes Tulare Lake, which is receding after peaking at more than 170 square miles in size. But for many, the return to dry land doesn’t mean a return to normalcy. Reporter: Kerry Klein, KVPR A coalition of environmentalists and social justice groups have launched a statewide campaign to try to ban new oil and gas wells near schools, parks and other residential places. The group is gathering signatures to get the initiative on the 2024 ballot. Reporter: Kevin Stark, KQED Survivors of the 2021 Caldor Fire in the Sierra Foothills are pursuing legal action against the U.S. Forest Service. Many residents are still living in trailers, and few, if any have received direct federal assistance. Reporter: Scott Rodd, KPBS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The York Fire, California’s largest wildfire this year, is currently burning in the Mojave National Preserve along the border of California and Nevada. The fire is also the largest on record for the Mojave Desert, where wildfires are rare. Guest: Jacob Margolis, Reporter, LAist Former President Donald Trump will campaign in California next month, speaking at the state Republican Party’s fall convention in Anaheim. The announcement comes even as Trump faces new indictments, this time over his efforts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, and his role in the January 6th insurrection. Reporter: Nicole Nixon, CapRadio This summer marks the 59th year that Northern California’s Yurok Tribe is holding its Klamath Salmon Festival. But this year, there won’t actually be any salmon served, because of historically low salmon stocks. Reporter: Izzy Bloom, The California Report Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In recent months we've seen an explosion of strikes and worker protests in California -- by hotel employees, Hollywood writers and actors, port workers, UC grad students in teaching positions, and health care professionals. But when you take them all together, what do these actions say about the state of organized labor in California? Guest: Lorena Gonzalez, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, California Labor Federation Tens of thousands of family child care workers overwhelmingly approved a new contract with the state of California on Monday. The deal includes significant changes for a workforce made of mostly women of color. Reporter: Daisy Nguyen, KQED A grassroots group of writers and filmmakers have created a mutual aid fund. The goal is to help their production crew colleagues keep their health insurance during the Hollywood strikes. Reporter: Jackie Fortier, LAist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Los Angeles, the strikes by film and television writers and actors continues, with no end in sight. That's brought production to a standstill. And with each passing day, the wider economic toll of the strikes continues to mount. Reporter: Saul Gonzalez, The California Report In San Diego, police will begin enforcing a controversial new municipal ordinance banning outdoor camping. Under the ordinance, encampments are prohibited within two blocks of schools, homeless shelters and mass transit stations, as well as in parks, along waterways, freeways, and in canyons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More than 250,000 Californians are still waiting on pandemic rental assistance they applied for through the state. As they wait, eviction protections are continuing to expire. Reporter: Ben Christopher, CalMatters With inflation cooling, renters in Los Angeles and Orange counties are about to get a slight reprieve from large rent hikes. The statewide Tenant Protection Act uses inflation to determine how much landlords can raise rent each year. Reporter: David Wagner, LAist San Diego is home to a world-class public art scene. Throughout the city you’ll find colorful murals stretching across entire buildings and soaring sculptures celebrating the city's heritage. You’ll also find public art sprinkled along the bowels of “America’s Finest City” — from public bathrooms to pump stations to sewage treatment plants. Reporter: Scott Rodd, KPBS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California bans state-funded travel to other states that discriminate against LGBTQ people. That list has ballooned as legislation targeting trans people sweeps the country. Now Democratic lawmakers want to change tactics. Reporter: Nicole Nixon, CapRadio Residents in Orange County’s Anaheim Hills are voting on a self-imposed tax that would fund a groundwater pump system. That pump system has protected homes from landslides for 30 years, but funding will run out at the end of this year. Reporter: Izzy Bloom, The California Report Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Legislative staff in California’s State Capitol have long been banned from unionizing. In recent years, efforts to grant them that right have been shot down. But another bill to allow staff to unionize is making its way through the state legislature. Reporter: Laura Fitzgerald, CapRadio Advocates rallied Tuesday in support of a bill California lawmakers are considering that would let workers take more paid sick days to care for themselves or family. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED Operations at Diablo Canyon, California’s last nuclear power plant, were going to stop in a couple years. But Pacific Gas and Electric is applying to keep it open through 2045 to help the state meet its ambitious green energy goals. A new study says those extra years could result in significantly higher bills for PG&E's ratepayers Reporter: Caleigh Wells, KCRW Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Hollywood strikes this time are different from those of the past, and not just because the technology has changed. Silicon Valley has taken over Hollywood, and Big Tech has an established anti-union bent. Reporter: Rachael Myrow, KQED New data shows California has taken 1 in 5 people off Medi-Cal in its first month of the renewal process. Medi-Cal is the state’s health insurance program for its poorest residents. Reporter: Kate Wolffe, CapRadio California representatives in Washington D.C. have joined more than 100 lawmakers calling for new heat illness protections for workers. Lawmakers want these protections implemented right away. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This year, there's no fresh, locally caught salmon. The season was closed. So few adult fish are now in the ocean off the California coast, fisheries managers decided they all were needed to return to their natal streams and spawn. Guest: Danielle Venton, KQED Science Reporter Much of California continues to buckle under a sweltering heat wave with no end in sight. But the state’s epic snowpack isn’t going anywhere just yet. Reporter: Joshua Yeager, KVPR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The best surf spots in Santa Cruz are infamous for territorial locals and some occasionally aggressive confrontations. But lately, not all of the offenders have been human. A five-year-old sea otter has become famous for stealing surfboards, and evading capture. Reporter: Erin Malsbury, KAZU California regulators are developing emergency rules to protect workers dying from inhaling silica dust, in shops making kitchen countertops. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED Wednesday's winning Powerball ticket was bought in downtown Los Angeles' Garment District. Reporter: Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, LAist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Grateful Dead’s offshoot band, Dead and Company, says this summer was their last tour. And their final stop on that tour was in San Francisco, where fans celebrated the end of an era. Reporter: Izzy Bloom, The California Report Doctors in California say a growing number of workers are getting really sick and dying from inhaling silica dust, while they sand and cut artificial stone to make kitchen countertops. State regulators are considering a petition Thursday for emergency rules. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After months of fighting, the Temecula school board once again failed to approve a new elementary social studies textbook on Tuesday night. That sets up a showdown with the governor’s office. Reporter: Madison Aument, KVCR California is dumping at least $100 million a year into its flagship rehabilitation program for former prisoners. Specialized Treatment for Optimized Programming, also known as STOP, provides housing and other support for parolees. But a new investigation from CalMatters has found the state has no idea if the program works. Reporter: Byrhonda Lyons, CalMatters The California State University system is failing to adequately protect its community from sexual harassment. That's according to a new report from the state auditor released this week. Reporter: Amy Mayer, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Starting this fall, judges in 8 counties will be put in charge of ordering treatment for people with serious psychotic illness. Some politicians say these new CARE Courts will clean up the streets, while health advocates argue a courtroom is no place for vulnerable patients. In Orange County, officials are balancing this tension as they start to implement the controversial new plan. Reporter: April Dembosky, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Central and Southern California are still not in the clear, with heat warnings in place for much of those regions. And for the state’s 115,000 unsheltered homeless residents, trying to keep cool is easier said than done. Reporter: Vanessa Rancano, KQED Construction crews are ahead of schedule on the demolition of the first of four dams on the Klamath River along the Oregon-California border. Reporter: Erik Neumann, Jefferson Public Radio Most small business owners in California support expanding benefits that help employees take care of their health and their family, like paid sick days. That’s according to the results of a new opinion poll. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED California’s latest effort to get college athletes paid is stalled in the legislature after pushback from universities. The bill would have allowed college athletes to get a share of the revenue that they create for their school. Reporter: Ryan Loyola, CalMatters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents film and TV actors, announced that its 160,000 members are striking, with actors expected to form picket lines outside of studios on Friday. SAG -AFTRA members will join already striking Hollywood writers. Such a labor stoppage by both unions at the same time hasn't happened since 1960 and it basically shuts down Hollywood production. The heat wave that’s expected to blanket large swaths of the state is forecast to push temperatures in Palm Springs to more than 120 degrees this weekend. The city is struggling to keep its growing homeless population safe in the heat. Reporter: Madison Aument, KVCR What about the state’s power grid, which is always a concern during extended heat waves? California’s electric grid operator says it has more tools to make sure the power stays on. Reporter: Izzy Bloom, The California Report With temperatures reaching triple digits in much of California, state regulators are once again fanning out to inspect high-risk worksites. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Temperatures are expected to climb well above 100, especially in the state’s valleys and away from the coast the rest of this week. Officials from half a dozen state and federal agencies are warning Californians to prepare for the heat wave. Reporter: Kevin Stark, KQED What’s it like to work and try to protect others in a place that’s sometimes the hottest spot on the planet, with temperatures upwards of 130 degrees? We're talking about California’s Death Valley National Park. Guest: Nichole Andler, Death Valley Park Ranger Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LGBTQ Pride events have been taking place across the country amid growing threats of violence towards the community. Along with being frightening, these threats are also impacting Pride organizations' financial bottom lines. One example? Skyrocketing insurance costs. Reporter: Scott Rodd, KPBS With a strike threat imminent, SAG-AFTRA, the union representing actors, has agreed to last minute federal mediation to try to reach a deal with film and television producers. If a deal isn’t struck, the impact will be widespread, including for big pop culture events like Comic Con, which is set to kick off on July 20th in San Diego. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In April, California passed a first of its kind policy to accelerate the transition to electric big rig trucks. But how does it actually feel to be behind the wheel of one? Reporter: Erin Stone, LAist After raising tuition only once in the last decade, California State University Trustees will meet on Tuesday to consider a possible tuition hike for students in the 23 campus system. The proposal is for CSU to raise annual tuition by 6% through at least spring of 2029. Reporter: Sara Hossaini, KQED Financed by Bay Area tech investors, a new professional cricket league debuts later this week. It’s part of the sport’s increased visibility in the Golden State and the rest of the country. Reporter: Holly J. McDede, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After not being seen for decades, a rare native plant was recently rediscovered on the Central Coast. Botanists say the tiny Santa Ynez groundstar grows in the city of Lompoc and nowhere else. Reporter: Beth Thornton Tent encampments on sidewalks are often the public face of the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles. But a new census of the homeless shows a big increase of the unhoused who live in parked vehicles. Reporter: David Wagner, LAist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After months of alarm, forecasters predict that Tulare Lake has peaked in size. That means the risk of flooding has likely subsided for the city of Corcoran. But questions still surround what could have happened if floodwaters had overtaken two state prisons on the outskirts of the city. Reporter: Kerry Klein, KVPR Ford, General Motors and several other truck manufacturers have agreed to abide by California’s ban on the sale of new diesel big rigs by 2036. The deal puts an industry stamp of approval on rules California solidified this year, to fight air pollution and climate change. Reporter: Kevin Stark , KQED From time to time this summer, we're talking to Californians about how they're spending their summer months. Today, we head to the Venice Beach Boardwalk. It's a place that's long been popular with street performers, and it's where we met musician Eric Gray, who's a fixture on the boardwalk. Reporter: Saul Gonzalez, The California Report Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Fresno Chaffee Zoo’s long-awaited ‘Kingdoms of Asia’ exhibit has opened. The exhibit's design was inspired by Cambodia's landmark Angkor Wat temple. Reporter: Soreath Hok, KVPR Hotel workers who had been on strike since Sunday in Los Angeles and Orange counties, have returned to work. But the union representing the workers says they could walk out at anytime, if their demands aren't met. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

About 15,000 workers employed at dozens of hotels across Los Angeles and Orange counties have walked off the job, demanding better pay and benefits. As summer temperatures start to hit triple digits, farmworkers in the Central Valley are especially vulnerable to the toll of excessive heat. And looking ahead it’s not going to get any easier because of climate change, Reporter: Tyche Hendricks, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The California Air Resources Board, or CARB, which regulates car and truck pollution in the state, will soon fully open its new, very expensive state-of-the-art laboratory and testing center in Riverside. The hope is that it can be a key tool in the decades-long fight against air pollution and, more recently, climate change. Reporter: Saul Gonzalez, The California Report Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices