Merced County has the highest rate of homicide in the state. It’s also severely lacking deputies. Sheriff Vernon Warnke says the shortage is so bad, he's disassembling units, like for gang enforcement, just to cover everyday patrol.

Reporter: Elizabeth Arakelian, KVPR

The housing crisis in California can be felt in all parts of the state. That includes at colleges and universities, where more and more students are struggling to find on campus housing. At Cal Poly Humboldt, some students have turned to sleeping in their cars. And now they're being fined for doing so.

Guest: Jillian Wells, Reporter, The Lumberjack 

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Governor Gavin Newsom is not running for president, but for some reason, Thursday night in Georgia, he will face off in a debate with a man who is in the 2024 race: Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis. What do both have to gain from the debate?

Guest: Marisa Lagos, KQED

The California Public Utilities Commission will vote Thursday on whether to settle their enforcement against PG&E for the utility’s involvement in the 2021 Dixie Fire.

Reporter: Danielle Venton, KQED

More than 3,000 California pharmacies have stopped flavoring medication as of this month. That leaves just 50 statewide that will add flavors like bubble gum or strawberry to make it easier for some children to take medicine.

Reporter: Shreya Agrawal, CalMatters

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There is still hope that Madera Community Hospital will reopen. It shut down and filed for bankruptcy a year ago, leaving patients with virtually no other options.  Earlier this month, a deal to save the facility fell through. But two more suitors are eyeing the hospital.

Reporter: Kerry Klein, KVPR

In the Bay Area, a unique childbirth education program for and by Black people is improving birth outcomes and patient experiences. That’s why the agency that oversees Medi-Cal is looking into how it can bring this program to other public hospitals in California.

Reporter: Daisy Nguyen, KQED 

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Imperial Valley residents are hoping to get their cut of the profit from the future lithium industry. For them that means well paid and sustainable jobs.

Reporter: Philip Salata, inewsource

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In one of the many low income rural communities struck by flooding earlier this year, residents and local officials are still wrangling over how to spend recovery money. At issue is $20 million in state funds for the Central Valley town of Planada.

Reporter: Nicole Foy, CalMatters

A few hundred hospice nurses, chaplains and grief counselors met in Los Angeles this month at the End Well gathering. Think of it as the TEDx conference for end of life issues. But this year, the organizers invited actors writers and producers from Hollywood to attend, too.

Reporter: April Dembosky, KQED

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It's the start of holiday season, and for some that means getting together with family or loved ones and sharing a nice meal together. But for many, the holidays can amplify feelings of loneliness. The COVID 19 pandemic has changed how we interact with each other and experience events, making this time even more challenging and feelings of loneliness more common.

Guest: Kory Floyd, Professor of Interpersonal Communication, University of Arizona and the author of The Loneliness Cure

Growing numbers of asylum seekers are arriving in San Diego County. And government resources are not keeping up.

Reporter: Katie Hyson, KPBS

California K-12 students will soon be taught how to recognize fake news. That’s because of a new law that requires schools to teach media literacy skills starting in 2024. 

Reporter: Carolyn Jones, CalMatters

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The history of Native Americans fighting for their land is as old as attempts to take it. But efforts to reclaim ancestral lands have become more visible in recent years. In California more than a dozen efforts have already succeeded.

Reporter: Vanessa Rancaño, KQED

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While many Americans feel like the COVID pandemic is in the past, countless others are still feeling symptoms months or years after they were infected. They're suffering from Long COVID. One such person is Bay Area writer and author Mary Ladd, who recruited more than 40 people from across the country to share essays and poetry in The Long COVID Reader, released earlier this month. 

Guests: Mary Ladd and Lisa Carpentier, The Long COVID Reader

Construction on the Pajaro River levee that breached and flooded hundreds of homes in March will begin next summer. The upgrades will cost more than $500 million.

Reporter: Ezra David Romero, KQED 

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A highly anticipated — and controversial — new program, championed by Governor Gavin Newsom, will begin in LA County on December 1. CARE Court will allow family members to ask a judge to step in with a treatment plan for loved ones living with severe and untreated mental illness. 

Reporter: Robert Garrova, LAist

A surprise inspection by a federal watchdog agency has found more than half of immigrants in border facilities in the San Diego area were detained for longer than the standard three-day limit. When the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general made unannounced visits to five San Diego locations in May, investigators found hundreds of migrants had been locked up for far longer, including a few held over a month. 

Reporter: Tyche Hendricks, KQED 

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It’s the first morning since a stretch of the I-10 Freeway near downtown Los Angeles reopened. The freeway was damaged by a fire and had been completely shut down in both directions for just over a week. It was originally thought that repairs might take months.

Guest: Saul Gonzalez, The California Report

The state Democratic Party convention this weekend in Sacramento was derailed by protesters demanding a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas War in Gaza. The demonstrations reveal a rift in the party heading into 2024 races. 

Reporter: Guy Marzorati, KQED

Thousands of pediatric RSV shots are being shipped nationwide, including here in California. But some health experts say it's too little, too late.

Reporter: Jackie Fortier, LAist

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