Portside

It’s easy to forget that California is a state with the death penalty on its books, and it’s not hard to see why. The state has not executed anyone in 12 years as January 2018. Nevertheless, California has sentenced nearly 1,000 people to death since the current system was adopted in 1978. There have been 13 executions in that time, and we currently house more people under sentences of death than any other jurisdiction in the Western Hemisphere.

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History professor Benjamin Madley has written the first comprehensive investigation of the catastrophe that befell California's Indigenous population from 1846 to 1873: a catastrophe that was entirely man-made. An American Genocide catalogs the killing of tens of thousands of Native people during those years, and proves just how complicit the Californian and United States government were in the slaughter. Order this important book by donating to Truthout today!

Our challenge and opportunity is to harness the energy and passion that has been sparked by the federal assault into increased turnout of the people most impacted by these policies – low income voters, communities of color, immigrants and young people – to assert a vision of justice, equality and inclusion.

Unless California’s homecare crisis is addressed and workers’ wages are increased, the elderly and people with disabilities will not get the care they require, homecare workers will continue to live in poverty, and the public cost of long-term care will increase.

Immigrant communities throughout California led the fight for legislation that does away with deportation practices, such as local police arrests for "civil immigrant warrants", and helps ensure that spaces like schools, health facilities, courthouses and other spaces are safe and accessible to all.

If you were to parachute into Kern County about 40 miles west of Bakersfield, you might doubt California’s status as a national leader on climate.

As California stands at the height of the worst housing crisis the state has ever seen, hundreds of tenants across multiple cities are taking matters into their own hands by confronting corporate landlords to demand a freeze on rent increases. The tenants and organizations leading this are part of a new, broad-based coalition, Housing Now!, to fight for the repeal of the statewide restrictions on rent control - established by the Costa Hawkins Rental Housing Act.

Is Healthy California economically viable? According to research I conducted with three colleagues at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, the answer is yes.

A legislative analysis had estimated the cost of the proposed system to be $400 billion annually, but a study released by the nurses Wednesday estimates the yearly cost would be $331 billion as of 2017. The estimate was made by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, in a study partly financed by the nurses association.