Adriana Cargill

There are a lot of ideas in Sacramento for addressing California's housing crisis, but state lawmakers may lack the necessary experience to make informed decisions.

California’s relentless clean-air enforcer, Mary Nichols, has divided the automobile industry. After weeks of secret negotiations, the Chair of the State’s Air Resources Board has announced that Ford, Honda VW and BMW of America won’t go along with President Trump’s rollback of Barack Obama’s fuel-economy standards. Nichols claims it’s an “olive branch,” giving car makers the “flexibility” to clean up the air at the same time they continue to market vehicles that make the most money. Brady Dennis of the Washington Post calls it a “big deal,” even if Toyota, GM and 11 other companies revert to Trump’s new federal standards--at least for the moment. Alan Baum is a consultant for both the industry and environmental organizations. He says the four who made the deal with California have a slight lead on their competitors in developing the technology of the future, with China currently far ahead of them all. He says the western car makers are doing a poor job of educating consumers about the benefits of hybrids and electrics. Nichols’s history with the Air Resources Board goes back to the 1970’s. She was named Chair by Republican Governor Arnold Schwartenegger and reappointed by Democrats Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom. She made an international name for herself for years ago when she blew the whistle on Volkswagen for faking emissions tests on the diesel cars it sold for decades all over the world.

High winds and heat in Northern California recently caused PG&E to shut off power to communities in the Sierra Foothills.

This may be the year that California finally gets to pick who’ll be the next president.

Reports of San Francisco’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is running for the Democratic nomination for president.

It may sound counter-intuitive, but earthquakes are one of the natural phenomena that have made California great.

On this July 4, Greater LA replays some of our favorite stories from spring. We visit a 20,000 square foot estate in Beverly Hills -- a giga-mansion that's been tough to sell.

During the LA Times’ Festival of Books, KCRW & 826LA joined together to find out what festival attendees appreciate about their neighborhoods, and what they’d like to improve.