Corn chips, tortillas, tamales and pupusas — while all delicious may be missing a key vitamin for women of reproductive age. Folic acid has long been used to prevent serious birth defects and help babies develop. Medical and public health experts advise daily consumption during pregnancy, but also in the months before becoming pregnant. This B vitamin is so important the federal government requires folic acid in certain foods such as enriched breads and cereals. Now a California lawmaker is carrying a bill that would require manufacturers of corn masa flour — used to make many classic Latino f ..read more

By Rachel Becker | CalMatter For the first time in California history, state officials are poised to crack down on overpumping of groundwater in the agricultural heartland. The State Water Resources Control Board on Tuesday will weigh whether to put Kings County groundwater agencies on probation for failing to rein in growers’ overdrafting of the underground water supply. Probation — which would levy state fees that could total millions of dollars — is the first step that could allow California regulators to eventually take over management of the region’s groundwater. State officials have issu ..read more

It’s been 8 years since California voters approved recreational cannabis, and sales began 6 years ago. Many buyers and sellers have played by the rules, but the illegal growth and sale of the plant continue to undermine those obeying the laws. Since its establishment in 1983, California’s Campaign Against Marijuana Planting has involved more than 110 law enforcement agencies, making it one of the largest such task forces in the U.S. But things changed in the past couple years. Another new effort was organized by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2022 and is called the Unified Cannabis Enforcement Task Forc ..read more

Four years after the start of the COVID pandemic, the age and race of its victims in California have dramatically shifted: Now, a Bay Area News Group analysis finds, those who are dying from the virus are much older, and more often White than Latino, a notable switch. While COVID deaths in California have plunged across all race and age groups, a comparison of deaths from the first six months of the pandemic to the most recent six months of data compiled by the California Department of Public Health shows 70% of those dying nowadays are 75 or older — up from just over half in early 2020. And w ..read more

It’ll be just one short answer on one government form, a few jots that figure to have only a limited impact on any individual’s day-to-day life. But for Neda Sasani, 44, merely having the chance to respond to one of the new race options on the 2030 census is life-altering. “I’m a lot of things,” Sasani said before rapidly clicking off several personal traits – a mother of two, an operating room nurse, an Iranian-American, a resident of Pasadena, a new and “very enthusiastic” pickleball player. “But I’m not White.” Nope. And the next census won’t force her to say she is. The Office of Managemen ..read more

Used meth pipes in the trash can, drug stashes beneath the stairs, prone bodies in the middle of the street. “My kids are growing up with people overdosing and doing drugs right in front of their eyes,” said a South Laguna dad with a state-licensed detox center across the street. Related Articles California Politics | California's COVID deaths: How who is dying has changed California Politics | San Jose event benefits medically fragile children California Politics | ACA plans are being switched without enrollees’ OK California Politics | For-profit companies open psychiatric hospitals in ..read more

For over a decade, developer Forrest Linebarger has tried to build new multifamily housing on two half-acre parcels in Los Altos Hills. The city has done all it can to stop him. Related Articles Housing | This map reveals where supersized ‘builder’s remedy’ projects could be coming Housing | State green lights Cupertino’s housing plan for more than 4,500 new homes Housing | Developers of two new East Bay housing developments hear that affordability is key Housing | Affordable San Jose homes may rise at Willow Glen restaurant site Housing | Letters: A bad start | Developers’ benefit | Sup ..read more

Two separate crashes where cars rammed into fire trucks happened on 680 on Saturday morning, the first in Fremont at around 7 a.m., and then in Walnut Creek around 10 a.m. Fremont firefighters were hit by two cars after responding to a vehicle accident on northbound I-680, south of the Andrade exit, on Saturday morning. While providing first aid to a patient at the scene, a fire engine parked to protect the accident scene, then was struck by two separate vehicles at different times. Just after 7AM, Fremont firefighters responded to a vehicle accident on northbound I-680, south of the Andrade ..read more

By Vimal Patel | New York Times The dean of Berkeley’s law school is known as a staunch supporter of free speech, but things became personal for him when pro-Palestinian students disrupted a celebratory dinner party for some 60 students at his home. Erwin Chemerinsky, the law school dean, hosted the dinner Tuesday night in the backyard of his Oakland home. The party was supposed to be a community-building event, open to all third-year law students, with no speeches or formal activities. But a third-year law student and a Palestinian activist, Malak Afaneh, stood up at the event, holding a micr ..read more

Growing and selling marijuana on the black market remains a lucrative business in California — long after voters approved recreational pot sales and use in 2016. But state enforcement officials have kept busy trying to dismantle illicit production to better support legal ventures. Roughly $53.6 million in illegal cannabis was seized within the first three months of 2024, according to an April 11 report from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. Between January 1 and March 31, the Governor’s Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce seized 31,866 pounds of unlicensed cannabis and eradicated 5 ..read more