KQED's The California Report

In Marin County, rents are among the highest in the nation.  There, a group of mobile home park residents are in a years-long fight to keep hold of one of the county’s few affordable options. They’re residents of the RV Park of San Rafael, where a property management company has been raising the rent, setting new rules and threatening residents with eviction. Reporter: Madi Bolaños, The California Report The Trump administration has expanded its investigation of alleged antisemitism on college campuses to the California State University system. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week a SpaceX Falcon9 rocket launched from Florida – the mission?  To study the outermost parts of the earth’s atmosphere. The mission is being steered by remote control from UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory. Reporter: Danielle Venton, KQED A report out this week details major failures in LA County’s response to the January firestorms. Reporter: Jacob Margolis, LAist Immigration agents arrested three day laborers outside of a well-known worker center in Pomona Thursday morning. Immigration advocates say they’re worried about the health and safety of the people now being detained. Reporter: Anthony Victoria, KVCR A Southern California attorney is facing a historic fine for filing a state court appeal full of fake quotations generated by the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT. Reporter: Khari Johnson, CalMatters Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Healthcare workers across Southern California are struggling to provide medical care to undocumented patients, without clear guidance on how to handle encounters with immigration agents. Medical workers want hospitals to improve guidelines and provide better training so they can protect patients and themselves. Reporter: Anthony Victoria, KVCR A federal court hearing on whether or not roving immigration patrols can continue in the Los Angeles area has been postponed. Reporter: Wendy Fry, CalMatters A nearly seven mile stretch of Highway 1 near Big Sur will remain closed this winter, three years after back to back landslides wrecked the roadway. But things could improve in the spring. Reporter: Robert Garrova, LAist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As concerns continue to grow over ICE detention and enforcement in California, the agency is also ramping up its hiring efforts, as it aims to bring on 10,000 new agents by the end of the year. But some experts say the agency’s recruitment strategy is filled with white nationalist messages and imagery. Reporter: Gustavo Solis, KPBS After months of delays and refinement, supervisors in Shasta County, which has for years been at the center of election integrity debates, have approved funding for new changes to the county’s voting system. Reporter: Roman Battaglia, Jefferson Public Radio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did you know, if your car gets towed in California and sold because you didn’t claim it, you’re entitled to the profit? And if you don’t claim your money, the DMV gets to keep it. Reporter: Byrhonda Lyons, CalMatters A federal judge in San Francisco has ordered the Trump administration to restore 500 National Institutes of Health grants that it suspended at UCLA over the summer. Reporter: Mikhail Zinshteyn, CalMatters The Tulare County Public Defender’s Office has agreed to overhaul an alleged culture of sexual harassment among employees, under the terms of a deal announced Monday. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a new law lowering state cannabis taxes from 19% to 15%. Pot companies say it will bring much needed relief to an overtaxed, overregulated industry. But youth groups who are funded by this tax say kids are being betrayed. Reporter: April Dembosky, KQED Governor Gavin Newsom signed a series of bills into law on Saturday, aimed at reigning in aggressive immigration enforcement in the state. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tequila is produced exclusively in Mexico and has become a star in California's cocktail culture. More than 50 million cases of tequila were sold in the U.S. in 2023, with most of that consumed in the Golden State. And demand for tequila is growing faster than vodka, whiskey, and all other spirits combined. But this summer, several legal battles have begun which could shake up the entire industry. Guest: Carlos Cabrera Lomeli, KQED Bay Area immigrant advocates are suing the Trump administration to end its controversial immigration courthouse arrests, and stop detaining people for days in San Francisco holding rooms meant for only a few hours. Reporter: Tyche Hendricks, KQED When immigrants are detained by the feds, families often struggle to pay rent. LA County officials are now trying to help these families. Reporter: David Wagner, LAist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Almost every night for nearly three decades in Santa Cruz, Bob and Patti Vasconcellos have gotten a little gussied up. They throw their walkers in the trunk and head to their local karaoke bar. Their performances have made them local celebrities. Reporter: Elena Neale-Sacks, KAZU California’s oil industry regulator is expecting gasoline prices to rise through the end of the year– and is calling on refineries to help. Reporter: Julie Small, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Santa Barbara Senator Monique Limón is set to become the leader of the California Senate this November, and a recent housing bill she authored is raising some eyebrows because it would keep CEQA requirements in place on one tiny plot of land in her district. Reporter: Ben Christopher, CalMatters As California experiences a record number of cases of Valley Fever cases, the Salinas Valley is seeing one of the largest spikes. Clouds of dust rise up behind trucks and tractors in the fields and sweep across Highway 101 in the wind, creating the perfect conditions to spread spores of the fungus that causes Valley Fever. People who work outside, like farm and construction workers, are especially at risk. Reporter: Jerimiah Oetting in Paso Robles Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the wake of George Floyd’s death and the protests that followed, California passed a law limiting the use of force against people exercising their First Amendment rights. An LAist investigation found that even when police departments appear to be breaking that law, the state doesn’t have a mechanism to actually enforce it. Reporter: Yusra Farzan, LAist Two companies with thousands of permits to drill oil wells in California merged on Monday, just two days after state lawmakers loosened environmental reviews for permits in Kern County. Reporter: Julie Small, KQED UC Merced students are speaking out after several campus leaders in charge of diversity, equity and inclusion programs were laid off. Reporter: Rachel Livinal, KVPR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices