Banning the Box

A new state law aiming to help those with a criminal record rejoin society is changing how companies hire

Giving ex-offenders a better chance at reintegration is behind the California Fair Chance Act, which took effect in January. With exceptions for a few types of jobs, the new law forbids businesses with five or more employees from asking applicants about criminal history until late in the hiring process — which could mean big changes in how many employers hire.

May 29, 2018 Steven Yoder

Taxing California: Highest in the Nation And Unstable too

California’s major revenue sources have shifted over time. Until 1995, the biggest was property taxes. Today, it’s personal income taxes.

And California ranks fairly high in overall taxation: 10th highest both per capita and as a percentage of personal income, based on the latest available data from the U.S. Census.

May 17, 2018 Judy Lin

Lead Paint Makers Balk At Huge Bill For Toxic Cleanup

Three companies found to have sold toxic lead paint for decades—despite knowing it posed health hazards for children—are waging a major battle to avoid paying the several hundred millions of dollars in liability that California courts have slapped on them.

And they’re asking you, the California voter, to help them get their way.

May 15, 2018 Laurel Rosenhall

Roseville Plans to Turn Historic Homestead into Events Center

For the past year, the Fiddyment House, a former pioneer homestead dating to the mid-19th century, has sat vacant in West Roseville. All around it, land is being developed into residential neighborhoods, as the owner of that historic house — the City of Roseville — considers the future of the property.

May 4, 2018 Graham Womack

Leading The Force

Q&A with Sacramento Police Chief Daniel Hahn

Raised in Oak Park and a Sacramento State graduate, Sacramento Police Chief Daniel Hahn brings a lifetime of local experience to the job. Rich Ehisen sat down with Hahn last January — exactly two months prior to the officer shooting of Stephon Clark — to discuss Hahn’s priorities for our April issue, which went to press just days after details of the shooting began to surface. We have updated the Q&A with a follow-up interview that took place in early April.

Apr 16, 2018 Rich Ehisen