Capitol Weekly

One of the controversial occurrences during the annual California Legislative Session is so-called “gut-and-amend bills.” But just how does this process work? In this week’s Micheli Files our intrepid @ChrisMicheli tells us all about it. capitolweekly.net/gut-and-amend-…

Today we launched L.A. Material — a new, independent L.A. news site — and I hope you'll check it out! Much more to come. lamaterial.com

"The irony is that if we were using a ranked choice voting system at the state level for this election, the Democrats wouldn’t have this problem" capitolweekly.net/experts-expoun…

A gift link for those without an NYT subscription nytimes.com/2026/03/18/us/…

The possibility of two Republicans making the November gubernatorial runoff is giving Democrats serious heartburn. Will it lead to an effort to get rid of the state’s top-two primary system? Could this be the end for the "Jungle Primary" capitolweekly.net/experts-expoun…

MUST READ: A bombshell NYT investigation shows that Cesar Chavez sexually abused young girls. Dolores Huerta also discloses for first time that that Chavez raped her. So much more from Manny Fernandez and Sarah Hurtes —> nytimes.com/2026/03/18/us/…

“My eyes are now open to abuse that women experience….There is a Hermina prior to being sexually assaulted and after is a completely different person now” - Hermina Nedelescu capitolweekly.net/meet-the-drivi…

The United Farmer Workers union said it will halt celebrations of its founder Cesar Chavez amid what the union described as “troubling allegations” against the iconic Chicano figure. latimes.com/california/sto…

.@CAREALTORS' Sanjay Wagle joined the @Capitol_Weekly podcast to discuss the state of California’s housing market and what it will take to restore attainable homeownership. Expanding real, attainable pathways to homeownership must remain central to California’s housing conversation. #HomeownershipMatters #CALeg Read more: capitolweekly.net/conversation-w…

PODCAST: Local journalism in the US is in crisis. Almost 40% of all local newspapers have vanished since 2005, leaving news deserts. What can be done to stop the collapse of local news? @ASUNEWSWELL might be one solution. capitolweekly.net/newswell-nicol…

This is still all just experimental, but we've captured the broadcast TV buys by candidate, and sorted by month of the spend. You can see the enormous @TomSteyer buys, and also, notably, second largest expenditure is @AVillaraigosa with $1.6m spent and 1.1m scheduled.

Podcast: Can @NewswellOrg help solve the crisis in local journalism? @Nicole_Carroll of @ASU joins us to share the vision behind NEWSWELL, explains the ASU connection and looks at what indie news needs to survive. capitolweekly.net/newswell-nicol…

.@seiucalifornia finally chooses a governor candidate -- a big get for @ericswalwell

Bills, bills, bills. Lawmakers have introduced bills to raise the minimum age of eligibility for elderly parole to 60 and above, and to permanently exclude individuals convicted of the most serious sexual offenses from eligibility. capitolweekly.net/capitol-briefs…

A majority of Californians support tax hikes on the state’s wealthiest residents according to a poll by @PPICNotes. Some see the embrace of these taxes as a continuation of progressives’ national success, most recently with the election of @NYCMayor capitolweekly.net/eat-the-rich-t…

Another fun tool I’ve been playing around with… for those who are trying to track ads in races this cycle.

DYK that on average, a family needs an annual income of $213K to afford a home in CA? One of the many nuggets shared by Sanjay Wagle of @CAREALTORS in this episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast capitolweekly.net/conversation-w…

I spoke with @capitol_weekly about why I’m running for California Insurance Commissioner. California’s insurance crisis won’t be solved by politicians. We need someone who understands how insurance companies and financial markets actually work. capitolweekly.net/meet-the-insur…

We asked the Ins. Comm. candidates how they would approach the job. Patrick Wolff said "We need to stop electing politicians to this role and instead elect someone with deep insurance and financial knowledge who is totally focused on making insurance work" capitolweekly.net/meet-the-insur…

Punk icon Jello Biafra, co-founder of The Dead Kennedys, suffered a stroke Saturday and remains hospitalized. He ran for mayor of San Francisco in 1979, and for president of the US in 2000 alternativetentacles.com/blogs/news/jel…