Julie Johnson

Substances like nickel, selenium and more are flowing into Bay Area waterways from local...

An 11th-hour bid to ensure more property owners can obtain home insurance in wildfire-prone California fell apart when lawmakers and insurance companies failed to strike a deal, according to a key lawmaker involved in negotiations. State Sen. Bill Dodd, whose North Bay district is on the front lines of the state’s wildfire crisis, said talks fell apart Thursday after weeks of work by a small contingent of politicians and other stakeholders. Their mission, he said, was to prevent more companies…

UPDATE: PG&E bills to soar nearly $400 a year in 2024 for millions of California households Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is poised to hit customers with a major hike to monthly bills in January, an increase that comes amid an unprecedented rise in utility rates for Californians over the last decade. In the last eight years, average monthly residential bills for electricity and gas combined jumped by $86.51 — from $154.52 in January 2016 to $241.03 in January 2023, according to data from PG&E ob…

Raging wildfires in 2020 transformed Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz County from a towering forested cathedral into a standing boneyard with some of the oldest trees on the planet seemingly burned beyond survival. But soon after the flames were gone, California’s coast redwoods began calling upon a remarkable energy storage system helping these trees survive even after fires burned away every life-sustaining green needle. Scientists now have an idea about just how far back these res…

Before the doors opened at the Fairfield library, Mychal Threets hit the record button on his phone and leaned forward. His bountiful Afro, literary tattoos and big smile filled the frame, and he began talking. In the video watched nearly 740,000 times on Instagram, Threets described his conversation with a child who walked up to the desk holding out two $20 bills. The child’s grandparent was outside in the car, too worried about overdue books to come inside. Assured by Threets no fines were du…

Tucked under an electric blanket in a cozy recliner, 90-year-old Dorothy Lovell still struggled to keep her tiny frame warm in her Santa Rosa living room. So her family turned up the heat. They’re paying dearly for it. Winter is a season of hefty utility bills, especially during the holidays, when families gathered and the temperature dropped. But January began a new era of utility bill sticker shock when Pacific Gas and Electric Co. began charging customers with historically high electricity…

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. defended the company’s electricity rate hikes, despite widespread outrage from Californians shocked by soaring monthly utility bill charges. In a call with investors Thursday, PG&E announced that its earnings rose to $732 million in the first quarter of 2024, up from $569 million a year earlier — translating to earnings per share of $0.34, compared with $0.27 a year earlier. ‘Everyone is getting squeezed’: California electricity prices now second-highest in U.S. Opin…

An industry promising next-day shipping seemed to be taking over California’s Inland Empire, replacing residential blocks with warehouses and drowning neighborhoods in diesel fumes. San Bernardino County activist Andrea Vidaurre knew working-class communities were suffering most from poor air quality, and she launched a multiyear campaign that in 2023 led California to pass groundbreaking emissions limits for the trucking and rail industries. “No amount of diesel air pollution is OK to breathe…

Millions of Californians will see changes in their utility bills in the coming years after state regulators voted Thursday to lower energy costs for some households and increase bills for others at a time of soaring utility costs. The California Public Utilities Commission approved a two-part strategy to restructure utility bills by adding a $24.15 fixed charge to residential bills while lowering per-unit rates for electricity. Low-income households will pay lower fixed charges of either $12 or…

California fire officials are writing new rules that could bar most plants, mulch and other combustible materials within 5 feet of homes in fire-prone areas of California. The far-reaching initiative, mandated by the state Legislature, was supposed to take effect last year. But the California State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, the agency charged with developing the rules, has yet to finalize them. The board expects to discuss draft standards before the end of the year, according to Lis…