Federal Job Cuts Hit Black Women Hard — A Year Later, Unemployment Is Up Losses in government positions are undermining a critical engine of economic mobility for the Black middle class.

As of 2024, Black Americans made up about 19% of federal sector employment despite comprising about 14% of the general population. But it’s Black women who have taken the biggest hit: They lost 95,371 federal government jobs in 2025.
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As Prices Climb, California Imports More Gasoline Made From Russian Oil The state’s failure to reduce driving and to stockpile fuel led to dependence on sanctioned oil refined elsewhere.

California is importing refined products from abroad just as the Iran war tightens global crude oil supplies. Fuel made from Russian oil is surging into the state, even though such sales are used to finance that nation’s ongoing war with Ukraine.
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What Could a Republican Governor Get Done in Deep-Blue California? Experts say he would likely face a recall, but could still wield power through appointments, vetoes and regulatory boards.

With the presumptive Democratic favorite, U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, exiting the race, the possibility of a Republican being elected governor of deep-blue California has once again swung into view.
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Hot Union Spring at LAUSD Coordinated bargaining — echoing Hollywood labor fights — helped thousands of workers settle contracts.

The narrowly averted strike on the Los Angeles Unified School District this week had its echoes in an L.A. scene from three summers ago.
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Is There Still Hope for Racial Justice When Authoritarians Rule by Conspiracy Theory? Author Ibram X. Kendi on the Great Replacement Theory’s threat to generations of racial progress, and how he stays hopeful in perilous times.

Of the many Black figures targeted by the MAGA right, few have attracted its fury like Ibram X. Kendi, a scholar, historian and author of multiple books, including the bestselling "How to Be an Antiracist."
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Teaching LGBTQ+ History in Trump's America YouTube video by Capital & Main

California’s teachers are mandated to teach LGBTQ+ history. But the political climate of the second Trump administration is making that increasingly difficult. One high school teacher says teaching a queer curriculum has given her some of her “greatest moments” in the classroom. youtu.be/tOCKoc13J3Q

‘My Lungs Had Nothing Left.’ Inside The Epidemic Killing Countertop Stonecutters. A new California law aims to protect workers from silicosis, an incurable lung disease that has killed 29 people in the state and sickened hundreds. Experts say it isn’t enough.

Previous reporting on The Silicosis Epidemic: At the age of 45, Oscar began to have difficulty breathing. He felt extremely tired and weak, unable to lift the stone slabs he once carried with ease. “My lungs couldn’t take it anymore.” capitalandmain.com/my-lungs-had...

The legislation, introduced last fall by U.S. Reps. Tom McClintock (R-CA) and Andy Biggs (R-AZ), would grant the industry the kind of legal immunity previously extended only to vaccine makers and weapons manufacturers.

Quartz manufacturers have lobbied for federal legislation to shield them from liability while preventing workers from seeking compensation for irreversible health damage.

In California alone, engineered stone-related silicosis has killed at least 29 people and sickened more than 500.

As Worker Silicosis Deaths Mount, GOP Moves to Shield Companies From Liability Republicans in Congress want to ban lawsuits against quartz manufacturers, including a company whose CEO is a major Trump donor.

This incurable lung disease develops when workers breathe in crystalline silica dust, which scars and constricts their lungs. capitalandmain.com/as-worker-si...

Silicosis cases are rapidly rising among workers who cut, grind and polish engineered stone for kitchen and bathroom countertops.

ICE Has Arrested Dozens of Delivery Drivers at the Gates of a San Diego Military Base Advocates warn immigrants to avoid military bases when working for apps like Uber, Lyft and DoorDash.

A pilot program launched last year at Camp Pendleton is detaining people with temporary permission to be in the U.S. Many of those detained were working for rideshare or delivery apps, including Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, GrubHub and Roadie.
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They also align with a previous study on the California law conducted jointly by Harvard University’s Kennedy Center and UC San Francisco, as well as with long-established research showing that minimum wage increases generally don’t affect employment numbers or prices much.

Those results have held steady across three years of work by UC Berkeley’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment.

It significantly improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of California workers in many of the industry’s largest fast-food chains, with an average wage increase of more than 10%.

California’s $20 an hour fast food minimum wage, instituted in 2024, did not reduce employment. It led to only the most modest of price increases — barely noticeable to a consumer.

Despite Apocalyptic Warnings, California Fast Food Wage Hike Didn’t Kill Jobs UC Berkeley study finds employment held steady — and only pennies were added to menu prices.

The wage law has been the subject of overheated rhetoric since it was first discussed, when opponents suggested that raising the floor for fast-food workers from $16 to $20 an hour would prompt employers to shed jobs, dramatically raise prices or both.
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As Worker Silicosis Deaths Mount, GOP Moves to Shield Companies From Liability Republicans in Congress want to ban lawsuits against quartz manufacturers, including a company whose CEO is a major Trump donor.

While lawmakers debate, medical professionals are calling for swift action to address the growing silicosis epidemic, saying time is running out to protect thousands of vulnerable stone fabrication workers.
capitalandmain.com/as-worker-si...

“America is demanding mining concessions — and they have said categorically that if we don’t agree on mines, they will stop HIV funding. That’s colonialism,” said Owen Mulenga, a 42-year-old campaigner for literacy and data protection in Zambia.

The wage law has been the subject of overheated rhetoric since it was first discussed, when opponents suggested that raising the floor for fast-food workers from $16 to $20 an hour would prompt employers to shed jobs, dramatically raise prices or both.
capitalandmain.com/despite-apoc...

Instead of relying on state or federal laws governing oil and gas industry operations, the case latches onto accounting violations, switching the argument from oilfield rules to bookkeeping standards.

The plaintiffs claim the lawsuit is the first of its kind and represents a possible precedent for how states or even individuals could prosecute suspect oil and gas well transfers in the future.

Beyond the potential cost to taxpayers, unplugged orphan wells can put people living nearby and the environment at risk by leaking natural gas, crude oil or other toxic chemicals onto the ground, into the air or into waterways.

Oil Companies Accused of Massive Accounting Fraud in New Mexico Suit claims ExxonMobil and others underreported debts by $194 million, calling it “a playbook” for how companies dump old wells and expenses on states.

If successful, plaintiffs say the case could change how old oil and gas assets are sold, leading to fewer orphan wells in the future. “Orphan” wells have no known or solvent owner. capitalandmain.com/oil-companie...

Oil companies ExxonMobil, Empire Petroleum and their subsidiaries engaged in accounting fraud that could cost the state nearly $200 million, a lawsuit filed in New Mexico District Court alleges.

Will Americans Keep Paying a ‘Tariff Tax’? Companies are seeking refunds from the federal government following the Supreme Court ruling — but consumers may still be stuck with higher prices.

Tariffs accounted for an estimated 86% of the rise in prices for imported household goods through January, with the passthrough even more pronounced for long-lasting durable goods like cars, appliances and furniture.
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Data centers & lithium extraction projects look set to increase their water use in Imperial County as the Colorado River, the region’s only water source, is drying up. Meanwhile, farmers – the area’s largest water users – are anxious about a drier future.

As States Spend Millions to Woo Data Centers, Colorado Is Having a Reckoning Legislators debate a possible moratorium while residents take their demands and health fears directly to a data center developer.

“I have asthma, my little brother has asthma,” said the community organizer, who also sits on the board at the Tepeyac Community Health Center. “We want to do everything we can to protect the health of our neighborhood.”
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Oil Companies Accused of Massive Accounting Fraud in New Mexico Suit claims ExxonMobil and others underreported debts by $194 million, calling it “a playbook” for how companies dump old wells and expenses on states.

Oil companies ExxonMobil, Empire Petroleum and their subsidiaries engaged in accounting fraud that could cost the state nearly $200 million, a lawsuit filed in New Mexico District Court alleges.
capitalandmain.com/oil-companie...