California is gaining in the world’s economy.Photographer: Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesByMatthew A. Winkler Gavin Newsom is as familiar as anyone with the media narrative of earthquakes, persistent wildfires, droughts, homelessness and companies fleeing California to Texas for a tax- and regulation-free lifestyle. This is nothing new. California’s governor recalls a 1994 Time Magazine cover story citing […]

Mark Ghilarducci, the state’s emergency services director, right, with Gov. Gavin Newsom as he signed wildfire legislation in 2019. Ghilarducci has worked in emergency services for four decades. John G Mabanglo/EPA, via Shutterstock Three times in the last four years, Mark Ghilarducci has tried to retire from his decade-long job as the head of emergency services […]

 A historically severe September heat wave is baking the West, breaking hundreds of records, posing a danger to public health and pushing California’s power grid to the limit. Some records have been shattered by wide margins as the scorching air mass exacerbates the fire danger in the drought-stricken region. After San Jose and Sacramento soared […]

By 2035, California shoppers looking for new vehicles will have to buy electric. California made history late last week when its regulators approved an ambitious plan to phase out the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles in the state. While governments around the world have tried to incentivize consumers to purchase electric vehicles and encourage automakers […]

The California Coastal Commission tonight rejected the proposed construction of a desalination plant in Huntington Beach, sealing the controversial project’s fate after more than 20 years of debate. The unanimous decision about the $1.4-billion plant in Huntington Beach is pivotal because it sets a high bar for the future of turning seawater into drinking water […]

If adopted, the new measures would make a dent in the state’s greenhouse gas emissions and set the bar for the broader auto industry. WASHINGTON — California on Wednesday made public an aggressive plan to mandate a steady increase in the sale of electric and zero-emissions vehicles, the first step in enacting a first-in-the-nation goal of […]

Winter precipitation amounts were not enough to significantly improve conditions in much of the country, government scientists said. Drought conditions are likely to continue across more than half of the continental United States through at least June, straining water supplies and increasing the risk of wildfires, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Thursday. […]

Despite some wet weather last fall, warm and dry conditions have settled in and are expected to continue through spring and beyond, according to a new assessment. By Henry Fountain Feb. 17, 2022 Dry conditions across the West that have dashed hopes for a respite from relentless drought are expected to continue across the region […]

The Biden administration is restoring the stateʼs power to set its own limits on tailpipe pollution and is largely adopting the stateʼs rules regarding heavy trucks. WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is preparing strict new limits on pollution from buses, delivery vans, tractor-trailers and other heavy trucks, the first time tailpipe standards have been tightened […]