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Political Playback: California Capitol News You Might Have Missed
News You Might Have Missed
Stefi Mar February 10, 2026
News You Might Have Missed
When Noah Hulsman, who owns a skate shop in Louisville, Kentucky, learned he no longer qualified for federal subsidies to help him pay for his “gold” Affordable Care Act health plan, the 37-year-old opted for skimpier coverage. But the deductible is about a quarter of his yearly income.
Survivors of the Los Angeles fires and consumer advocates joined Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) at the State Capitol on Feb. 5 to announce Senate Bill (SB) 982, the Affordable Insurance and Recovery Act (AIR Act)
Black filmmakers, actors and films were an integral part of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. Now that the event is leaving Park City, Utah after 40+ years, they were around to say farewell. In 2027 the fest is headed to Boulder, Colorado.
Local journalism is indispensable to the protection of civil rights and equality for all Americans, and in particular for Black American communities and other communities of color across the nation. Local-owned news media is crucial to community empowerment and civic participation.
Kern County is often described as more affordable than coastal California, and in some ways, that’s true. Home prices are lower than in Los Angeles or the Bay Area. But the affordability gap for Black households remains one of the largest in the state. This means that they are less likely to have the income needed to buy a home.
The regular celebration of MLK Day in the U.S. was not only marred a bit this year by youth-led violence in several cities, including a mass fight in L.A.’s Leimert Park after the annual parade, but it was also again disrespected by current POTUS Donald Trump, who regularly tries to show disrespect for any Black achievement.
Cyrus Chestnut is one of the brilliant pianists of his generation. He has a definitive tone that ponders the realm of an earlier era, with brushes of ancestral pearly players like Fats Waller and Eubie Blake. He plays in an older spirit, ignited with the stylings of now and tomorrow.
Survivors of violence, community activists, and lawmakers from across California joined forces at a press conference at the State Capitol on Jan. 13.
Technology is often sold to us as neutral, objective, and free of human flaws. We are told that computers remove emotion, bias, and error from decision-making. But for many Black families, lived experience tells a different story. When technology is trained on biased systems, it reflects those same biases and silently carries them forward.
Black-owned businesses across Minnesota participated in a general strike to protest ICE operations. Owners say closing their doors is an act of economic resistance and community solidarity.
JPMorganChase on Wednesday announced new philanthropic funding to grow workforce training programs in Alabama’s advanced manufacturing and energy sectors – an initiative designed to help more Alabamians gain the skills needed for in-demand jobs.
A documentary that puts Alabama prisons in the spotlight is now in the running for one of the most well-known, prestigious awards in Hollywood — an Oscar. Nominees for the 98th Academy Awards were announced Thursday. “The Alabama Solution” is one of five films nominated in the documentary feature film category.
Tiffany Duvernay-Smith went from knowing the harsh realities of homelessness to owning her first home – made possible by the California Housing Finance Agency’s (CalHFA) Dream For All program, which is reopening applications this month with up to $150,000 in down payment assistance for first-generation buyers.
Famed journalist Don Lemon may draw the headlines, but Emmy-winning independent reporter Georgia Fort and Trahem Jenn Crews and Jamael Lydell Lundy were also taken into custody as federal agents moved against four Black journalists whose only apparent offense was documenting protests critical of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
On Jan. 30, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass attended independent journalist Don Lemon’s federal court appearance at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Courthouse following his arrest in Los Angeles by federal authorities for conduct tied to his reporting on a protest nearly 2,000 miles away in St. Paul, Minnesota.
In step with its commitment to drive economic growth, equity, and wealth creation for African American businesses in the Golden State, the California African American Chamber of Commerce (CAACC) held its third annual California American Economy Summit at the Kimpton Sawyer Hotel in Sacramento on Jan. 28.
News You Might Have Missed
“I’m not going to judge what the secretary says, but if you look up the definition of terrorism, it certainly can fall within that.
America watched it happen in real time. Journalists were arrested for doing their jobs. Not in some distant dictatorship. Not under cover of night in a failed state. In the United States of America.