California Insider

Voters thought Los Angeles’ mansion tax would target luxury home sales to help fund solutions for homelessness. In practice, it’s affecting a much wider range of properties, including apartment build…

For decades, California’s environmental law, CEQA, has made it harder to build housing, even in places where it makes the most sense. A new reform changes that. In this episode, land use attorney Dav…

California’s Phillips 66 refinery will close this October, and Valero’s Northern California facility is expected to follow in 2026, reducing in-state refining capacity by 20 percent. USC professor Mi…

American universities are known for their openness to global collaboration. But some partnerships may carry more than academic goals. In this episode, investigative journalist Joshua Philipp looks at…

California has long been a testing ground for clean energy solutions like rooftop solar. State and local leaders promoted adoption to cut emissions and lower long-term costs. But recent policy shifts…

As California pushes health care innovation, working through a system not built for individual care can be limiting. That challenge led pharmacist Nayan Patel to develop tailored treatments now helpi…

As California continues investing in clean energy, the gradual decline of in-state refineries is drawing attention. In this episode, a panel explores how this shift could influence long-term energy r…

A significant lithium resource, among the largest identified in the U.S., is gaining national attention as California works to secure more of its own battery material supply. In this episode, we expl…

In California, the cost of building affordable housing keeps climbing, with some units nearing $1 million to construct. At the same time, older developments are at risk of falling out of affordabilit…

California has more than 39,000 idle oil wells, many of which pose environmental and financial risks if left unaddressed. While often treated as a burden, former state energy regulator Bill Bartling …

California is expanding a policy that lets homeowners build multiple ADUs on single-family lots, in some cases adding dozens of units where one home once stood. Officials say it’s a step toward easin…

Tom Miller started his business in California with $700 and a clear view of what car dealerships needed but weren’t getting. He built a model that streamlined fragmented services and scaled it to 850…

Riots broke out in Los Angeles after federal immigration agents carried out enforcement actions in the city’s garment district. But what actually sparked the unrest, and why didn’t local law enforcem…

In California, some property owners return to find strangers living in their homes, and police often can’t remove them. The law doesn’t always distinguish between a squatter and a tenant. Jonathan Ma…

A century-old sugar plant in California’s Imperial Valley is shutting down—marking a shift in the state’s farming economy. Gil Rebollar, Mayor of Brawley, shares how the closure is affecting his comm…

California recently became the world’s fourth-largest economy. In this conversation, State Treasurer Fiona Ma discusses the industries that are driving the momentum, the role of human capital, and ho…

Ron Williams protected six U.S. presidents and some of the most high-profile figures in the world. But what did decades inside the Secret Service really teach him? In this conversation, he opens up a…

California’s move to electric vehicles has a lot of momentum, but most of the talk sticks to the tech. In this episode, Larry Elder shares what he learned while making a documentary on how EVs are bu…