Analysis: A spate of new studies gives the lowdown on California’s sky-high living costs
By Dan Walters for CalMatters We Californians know, or should know, that while living in this state has many positive aspects, we are paying through…
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Project Censored dispatch: What happens when algorithms break the news?
Will chatbots replace us as a watchdog for underreported news? By Andy Lee Roth and Shealeigh Voiti Hospitals denying maternal mental health care, employers using…
Essay: Same doctor, same office, 800% higher bill – how America could save billions on health care costs
By David Eagle Imagine ordering your favorite entree at the neighborhood restaurant you’ve gone to for years. It’s the same dish, off the same menu,…
Essay: A.I. shouldn’t replace our ability to reason with numbers
By Alexis Fitzpatrick I recently overheard a parent discussing how AI makes evenings so peaceful by reducing the toil of her child’s evening math homework by providing…
Analysis: Robin Williams’ daughter beautifully summed up the lack of self-awareness and intellectual bankruptcy of those who think they’re ‘creating’ with A.I. slop
Last week, the daughter of the late, great comedic actor Robin Williams felt compelled to tell bored, tone-deaf idiots to stop sending her A.I.-generated images…
Essay: I’m a Sacramento pharmacist and PBMs are driving up drug costs, not lowering them
By Sonya Frausto, PharmD I wish I could say that my perspective is unique, but unfortunately, it is not. I spent years working at Rite…
Analysis: If hate-fueled algorithms cause real-world harm, California tech companies should pay
By Jim Berk for CalMatters Whether by design or by quiet submission to a rapidly-evolving digital landscape, the world’s largest social media companies have allowed…
Win one for the writers
For Sacramento creatives — or anyone who thinks that artists have a right to make a living off of their work — there was just reason to cheer a landmark court…
When History rhymes in startling ways: Return of a journalistic darkness?
In the last four months, the U.S. veterans’ community has been going through the same shock to the system that the American journalism community experienced…
What ancient healing sanctuaries can teach us about the benefits of art
By Angie Eng In ancient Greece, if an Athenian statesman fell ill, he might enter an Asclepieia sanctuary where patients were treated with art, music,…
Essay: My eviction story and the new bill that imperils housing for those most at risk of losing it
By Sarah Grace Kubasek When my family was evicted in 2023, I believed we had failed. We were living out of our car, relying on…
How big corporations murdered the true crime podcast
In early August, news broke that Wondery, a major production company for true crime podcasts, laid off 110 employees, with its parent company Amazon moving…
Jerry Garcia wasn’t political. But the Grateful Dead symbolized defiance in a deeply political moment
By Jim Newton for CalMatters Excerpted from “Here Beside the Rising Tide: Jerry Garcia, the Grateful Dead, and an American Awakening” by Jim Newton. Copyright © 2025. Available from Penguin Random…
Project Censored dispatch: The militarization and weaponization of media literacy
By Nolan Higdon and Sydney Sullivan This Dispatch is informed by our forthcoming 2025 article, “Media Literacy in the Crosshairs: NATO’s Strategic Goals and the Revival of…
Analysis: Why California’s attorney general must continue the investigation into OpenAI
By Orson Aguilar and Catherine Bracy for CalMatters Just days after abandoning its planned conversion to a for-profit entity and proclaiming it would remain a nonprofit, OpenAI…
Looking back: Buried in sex, murder and monsters here in Sacramento
Even a curator for the Crocker Art Museum wrote for the pulps By Kimberly A. Edwards On any given day, you’ll find my phone clicking…
The dilemma of covering darkness
What does it mean in 2025 to have reverence for those who met a violent end? Believe it or not, some journalists may not want…