Who Cares for Caregivers’ Families While They’re Caring for Us?

A Mass Exodus Looms if the Profession Can’t Offer Workers the Childcare, Wages, and Leave Programs They Need to Stay

In March 2020, when Congress enacted the country’s first-ever federal paid sick time and child care leave policy, it carved millions of people out of the law’s guarantees, including one group that the nation was simultaneously hailing as heroes: health care workers.

The law, which was in place from April to December 2020, provided eligible workers up to 80 hours of paid sick leave to address COVID, and 10 additional weeks of child care leave for COVID-related interruptions. The law excluded large companies and their employees, and …

Where Bad Air Carries Peril and Promise | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Where Bad Air Carries Peril and Promise

Can the Science and Resources That Polluted the San Joaquin Valley Be Poured Into Building a More Just, Livable Region?

California’s San Joaquin Valley is a place of contradictions: It is the most agriculturally productive region in the world, growing over 250 crops and grossing approximately $35 billion in annual …

The Marshall Project’s Keri Blakinger | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

The Marshall Project’s Keri Blakinger

The Title of My Book Sounds Like a Tattoo Memoir

Keri Blakinger is a staff writer at The Marshall Project, where she focuses on prisons and jails, and writes the “Inside Out” column. Before moderating a Zócalo/California Wellness Foundation panel …

The Rural Price Tag of California’s Clean Energy Transition

The State Is Scrambling to Find Places to Store Energy—But Even Renewable Sources Make an Environmental Impact

In the spring of 2019, residents of eastern California’s Owens Valley were on the fight. As is usual in that part of the world—where a century of aggressive water extraction …

Why Conflict Should Look Like Streaming TV

To End Polarizing Community Battles, Embrace Complexity

The La Brea Tar Pits may only run a few inches deep, but if you get trapped in the natural asphalt, you can’t get out. In fact, the more you …

After the Prisons Close, Where Does That Leave Rural Communities?

Incarceration Is Big Business In Towns Like Susanville, Which Now Must Find a New Economic and Civic Path Forward

Efforts to close prisons need to come with assistance to rural communities that depend on these institutions, said panelists at a Zócalo/California Wellness Foundation event in the northeast California town …