After a year of California political coverage, California State of Mind is coming to an end. We have really enjoyed this experiment with a weekly California-focused show, and we hope you have too!

In this final episode, we reflect on how Covid upended our lives, and politics in a lot of ways. Now that things are cooling down from the Delta surge and the recall is over, what will the political landscape look like for 2022? Nicole peeks inside a crystal ball with Politico’s Carla Marinucci and CalMattter’s Dan Walters.

Also, Nigel and Nicole walk us through the highlights, the headlines and the scandals of the past year.

As tensions over racial and economic inequality continue to play out across the country, many people are wondering about the balance of power within their cities and institutions, and how those places spend their money. Some argue that citizens should play a greater role in deciding how to spend their tax dollars instead of relying on city leaders. 

The city of Vallejo launched an experiment with citizen budgeting about a decade ago. How is that working out? CapRadio’s News and Features Editor Pauline Bartolone became obsessed with participatory budgeting while covering this story and she joins Nicole and Nigel to explain why. 

As most people know by now, Gavin Newsom gets to keep his job. He’ll stay on as California’s governor, surviving the special recall election with an almost 2-to-1 margin. Will it change how he governs the Golden State in any way? Do Republicans have a future in leadership here? And what did we miss while we were all paying attention to this off-year election?

Nicole talks with CalMatters Reporters Ben Christopher and Laurel Rosenhall about lessons learned from the recall and how it may have played a role in this year’s drama-free legislative session.

The recall election for California Governor Gavin Newsom is on Tuesday, Sept. 14 and things are ramping up on the campaign trail. The White House is showing support for the governor, but some Californians are not fans. They’re critical of his handling of wildfires and haven’t forgotten the huge mistakes at the unemployment department. 

On this episode of California State of Mind, Nicole talks with CalMatters’ Emily Hoeven and CapRadio’s Scott Rodd about some of these issues as we head into the final stretch before the election.

California’s ag industry uses 80 percent of the state’s water. As the drought continues, can the Golden State continue to operate its fields as usual? On this episode of California State of Mind, Nigel talks with the person charged with promoting California ag to the rest of the world. 

Karen Ross has served as Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture since 2011. She grew up on a small farm southwest of Scottsbluff, Nebraska, so she’s no stranger to the demands of a working farm. We’ll hear about the drought, almonds and the fate of her football team, the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

There are many sexual assault survivors who never report their experiences to law enforcement for a variety of reasons. And then there are times when they do decide to go to the police. Sometimes, they find the case is cleared, but they weren’t notified or given a reason why. 

On this episode of California State of Mind, Nicole talks with CapRadio reporters Sammy Caiola and Emily Zentner. They spent time reporting this story as part of their After the Assault podcast investigation. Hear how one department in the Sacramento area is using a special designation to “clear” rape cases without sending a perpetrator to court. It’s a trend that reporters and researchers have found in several California police departments.

The Delta variant has thrown a wrench into California’s plans to resume life as normal, as Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to increase across the state. Amid this summer surge, school districts, teachers, parents and kids have been getting ready to return to classrooms without a statewide mandate requiring vaccinations for teachers. That changed this week when Gov. Newsom announced all teachers must be vaccinated or tested weekly for Covid-19. Nigel talks with CalMatters’ education reporter Joe Hong about what changed.

We’ll also hear from CapRadio healthcare reporter Sammy Caiola about how health care workers, who must be fully vaccinated to work in congregant settings, have reacted to the new requirements.

California’s Governor is facing a recall election Sept. 14 and some of the Republican candidates challenging Gavin Newsom recently met for their first debate. Did voters notice? Nicole talks about the state of the recall with two campaign veterans, Garry South and Rob Stutzman. South worked for Democratic governor Gray Davis, who was recalled in 2003, and Rob Stutzman was a spokesman for Republican Arnold Schwarnzegger, who replaced Davis in that election.

We’ll also hear more about a growing push to change how recalls are conducted in California and what it would take to change those rules with Kim Nalder, a political science professor at Sacramento State University.