Tag: california

The health care crisis behind bars affects two distinct but deeply connected groups: incarcerated individuals and correctional officers. While incarcerated people are constitutionally entitled to care, access remains inconsistent, and most enter custody with significant medical and mental health needs. They face higher rates of chronic illness, infectious disease, and psychiatric conditions than the general public.

What began as peaceful immigration policy protests on June 6 has escalated into a national political crisis, with violent clashes, arrests, looted businesses, burning Waymo cars, a smashed government building, nighttime curfews, and an epic legal showdown between California officials and President Donald Trump fueled by partisan flames of political division.

In a stunning show of bipartisan agreement, the California Assembly voted 74-0 on June 2 to approve legislation that would pause a significant tax increase on the state’s legal cannabis industry. 

Given the state’s role as home to many leading AI companies, a bipartisan coalition of California legislators is urging Congress to strike a little-noticed provision from the sweeping federal tax package that would block states and local governments from regulating artificial intelligence (AI) for the next decade.

Last week, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) officials announced the sudden passing of Annie Covarrubias, a correctional officer at the Correctional Training Facility (CTF) in Soledad. She was 35 years old. In the words of her colleagues, Annie was a “dependable, professional, and kind” officer, known for her dedication to both her peers and the incarcerated individuals she worked with every day.

In its largest coordinated crackdown to date, California’s Unified Cannabis Enforcement Task Force seized more than $123 million worth of illegal cannabis during a sweeping, multi-agency operation across the Central Valley.

IVN recently examined AB 955, by Assemblymember David Alvarez. The bill seeks to expand a healthcare service program I created in 1998 as the author of SB1658.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is reviving efforts to regulate the powerful and often opaque intermediaries at the center of the prescription drug supply chain. In a proposal unveiled as part of his revised May budget, Newsom calls for stringent oversight of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), companies he says are driving up patient costs.

Over the past 30 years, California voters have repeatedly turned to the ballot box to shape criminal justice policy, responding to concerns about public safety, justice, punishment, and rehabilitation. 

As President Donald Trump calls for the reopening and expansion of Alcatraz Island to house the nation’s “most ruthless and violent offenders,” a new state audit raises alarms about California’s state prison system: most state-run facilities are not adequately prepared to evacuate during natural disasters.