Cayla Mihalovich
Cayla Mihalovich is a justice reporter for CalMatters. She is a California Local News fellow and a graduate of the UC Berkeley School of Journalism, where she studied investigative reporting and audio storytelling. She has covered reparations, aging and incarceration for outlets including KQED, The Oaklandside, Oakland North, and others.
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Signing up for opioid addiction treatment in California prisons involves taking more frequent drug tests. The results, even if misinterpreted, can set back a prisoner’s chance for freedom. -
California law enforcement agencies seize about 11,000 ghost guns every year. The state now is suing websites that help people manufacture untraceable firearms. -
The California Senate passed a bill that would make it easier to sue federal officers over civil rights violations. Recent shootings of civilians by immigration agents in Minnesota lent urgency to the measure, one of several targeting ICE. -
San Mateo, California adopted a new approach to mental health 911 calls by pairing police with mental health clinicians. Researchers found that it reduced the number of future mental health emergency calls and involuntary psychiatric holds by roughly 17%. -
California’s minimum wage is adjusted every year for inflation. Some cities have a higher wage floor and unions are advocating increases for specific industries. -
California’s $17.5 billion prison system is over budget, contributing to a projected state deficit. Some groups want him to close more prisons. -
Hundreds of California’s incarcerated firefighters will see an increase in pay, a new death benefit and a faster path to expungement of their criminal records under laws Gov. Gavin Newsom signed. -
Social Security and Medicare benefits will keep flowing in a government shutdown, but federal employees will be working without pay and delays likely will occur across many services. -
Gov. Newsom signed laws meant to protect immigrants during President Trump’s extensive deportation program. Some of the measures raise constitutional questions and likely will be challenged. -
A set of laws Gov. Gavin Newsom signed today extends California clean-energy programs while taking steps to shore up oil and gas production. It also opens the door to a Western energy grid. -
Small NPR and PBS stations in California are teetering after Congress pulled funding from public broadcasting. Even big stations are bracing for cuts. -
California sent incarcerated firefighters to battle blazes in Los Angeles this year. It’s moving toward paying them minimum wage for their work in emergencies.
