California

WASHINGTON  — Attorney General Pam Bondi has sent letters to officials in three states warning them they must prevent transgender students from participating in women’s and girls’ sports or risk legal action. “This Department of Justice will defend women and... Read More

WASHINGTON — Danish wind energy giant Vestas Wind Systems announced Wednesday that it is supplying 86 MW in new turbines for the Mulqueeney Ranch wind repowering project in northern California. The project, which was first proposed in 2019, entails replacing as... Read More

LOS ANGELES — Social media company X is suing in federal court to block a new California law intended to prevent deepfakes from interfering with elections. The law that takes effect Jan. 1 requires online platforms to remove deepfakes or... Read More

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program, will now cover traditional Native American health care practices for the treatment of substance abuse disorders. Native Americans continue to be disproportionately impacted by the opioid epidemic, with higher overdose death rates than... Read More

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed first-in-the-nation legislation requiring oil refineries to maintain minimum amounts of fuel to ease price spikes during maintenance outages.  The law, the result of a special legislative session that came to... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Department of Energy has announced that California is launching its first federal Home Energy Rebates program. Supported by the Inflation Reduction Act, the California launch is part of a nationwide initiative to provide $8.8 billion in federal... Read More

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — The Bureau of Land Management is seeking public comment on its draft environmental assessment for a proposed solar energy project on public and private lands in eastern Riverside County, California. If approved, the Sapphire solar project... Read More

SACRAMENTO — The California Senate appears poised to vote within the next few days on a bill that would bar public schools from offering foods containing six synthetic dyes to their students. The bill, which has already passed the state... Read More

SAN FRANCISCO — The state of California has launched a $53 million project aimed at deploying 30 heavy-duty hydrogen-powered trucks to haul shipping containers between terminals at the ports of Oakland and Richmond on San Francisco Bay. In announcing the... Read More

WASHINGTON — In a matter of hours Thursday night, Maine joined Colorado in barring former President Donald Trump from its primary election ballot, while California announced Trump would remain on its list of ballot-certified candidates. The contrasting decisions by the... Read More

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law last week directing the California Energy Commission to evaluate the feasibility, costs and benefits of using wave energy and tidal energy in the state. Introduced by Democratic state Sen.... Read More

OAKLAND, Calif. — California is suing five of the largest oil and gas companies in the world for allegedly engaging in a decadeslong campaign of deception related to climate change and doing nothing as the state endured the growing problems... Read More

WASHINGTON — Congress won’t return to Washington until Sept. 12, but already the battle lines are being drawn over proposed additions to the upcoming farm bill. As a result, those drafting the massive agriculture and nutrition spending package have already... Read More

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — With his state already broiling after days of intense heat, and with more in the forecast, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday launched what he called the nation’s first statewide multi-ethnic awareness and education campaign to keep Californians... Read More

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday threw his support behind two bills currently in the state Legislature that would increase the number of treatment beds available to homeless people with mental illness and substance abuse issues and... Read More

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — Federal regulators gave the green light last week to construction of a large-scale battery storage project intended to boost renewable energy capacity in California and increase the reliability of the state power grid. The Sunlight Storage... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a California ballot initiative that barred the sale of pork produced in other states unless the sow was housed in humane conditions allowing for free movement. The decision of the court was... Read More

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Large commercial trucking firms and bus operators must start transitioning to an electric fleet next year and be fully fossil-fuel free by 2036 if they want to keep operating in California, the state’s Air Resources Board said... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Tuesday proposed cutting water allotments from the Colorado River in a potentially precedent-setting bid to save the waterway by dramatically reducing the water Arizona, California and Nevada draw from it. Along with the Rio... Read More

SAN FRANCISCO — Uber, Lyft and other companies with ride-sharing apps can continue to treat their drivers as independent contractors, a California appeals court ruled Monday, overturning a lower court decision. At issue was California’s Proposition 22, which state voters... Read More

WASHINGTON — Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., confirmed one of California politics’ most poorly kept secrets, announcing Thursday that he is running in 2024 for Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s Senate seat. Schiff is the second candidate to formally enter what is... Read More

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is traveling to Northern California today to view the damage left by a series of “atmospheric rivers” that have battered the state’s coast for the past nine weeks. Biden left the White House aboard Marine... Read More

WASHINGTON — California’s first auction of offshore wind development rights received more than $757 million in winning bids, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced. In all, roughly 373,268 acres were earmarked for wind farm development, with the sites... Read More

WASHINGTON — In most recent years, a slew of climate, energy and environmental initiatives have appeared on state ballots across the nation. This year, perhaps as a result of the Biden administration’s all-out push to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to... Read More

MONTREAL — Rio Tinto is partnering with the Canadian government to invest up to $537 million over the next eight years to decarbonize its operations in Sorel-Tracy, Québec, and to position the business as a center of excellence for critical... Read More

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom last week signed into a law a new program intended to help low-income communities reap the benefits of solar power. It has been estimated that nearly half of Californians who rent or have... Read More

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The state of California is suing Amazon alleging antitrust violations of how the “dominant online retail store in the United States” takes vengeance on small businesses who attempt to put their products on other websites for cheaper... Read More

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Air Resources Board approved a sweeping measure on Thursday that prohibits the sale of new internal combustion vehicles in the state by 2035, a vote that some believe could dramatically accelerate the nation’s transition toward... Read More

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Carbon released during an epic series of wildfire seasons in California has effectively wiped out most of the 100-year buffer that had been built into the state’s carbon trading system, a new study has found. According to... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is making more than $1 billion available to states to address flooding and extreme heat exacerbated by climate change. Vice President Kamala Harris is set to announce the grant programs Monday at an event in... Read More