NBC News • 3rd March 2024

Map: 29 million Americans live under new voter ID laws put in place since 2020

As an intern for NBC News Digital, I collected data on which states have new voter ID requirements since 2020 and spoke with experts about the impact of these laws ahead of the 2024 Super Tuesday primary elections.

NBC News • 4th January 2024

The housing market’s deep slump, in five charts

Home sales have dropped this year, as high prices, high borrowing costs and a low supply of available homes have combined to send potential buyers to the sidelines.

NBC News • 4th November 2023

Map: The states in favor of daylight saving time all year long

In the past six years, 19 states have made efforts to move to year-round daylight saving time. So what’s in the way?

NBC News • 13th October 2023

How long has the House been without a speaker?

The House of Representatives has been without a speaker for more than a week, leaving one of America’s branches of government effectively paralyzed as crises and a government shutdown loom.

Local News Matters • 30th August 2023

Bay Area’s young voters are registering at lower rates. Organizers are combating this ahead of 2024 election

The 2020 Presidential Election produced some of the highest turnout of young voters and voters of color. But since the 2020 election, voter registration rates for people 18 to 25 have begun to decline in the Bay Area, and there remains a significant gap in voter turnout for people of color compared to white voters.

Local News Matters • 3rd August 2023

Price reduced: Here's where Bay Area housing values decreased the most over the past year

Bay Area cities have experienced some of the biggest drops in home prices across the country, according to a new study evaluating typical home values from May 2022 to May 2023.

According to the report by investment advising company SmartAsset, San Francisco was the largest city in the top 10 list for price reductions, with home values falling by 13 percent from 2022 to 2023. Palo Alto and Dublin saw similar declines. The company used Zillow Home Value Index data from May 2022 and May 2023 for s

Local News Matters • 20th July 2023

Amid slew of complaints, SFMTA asks state to tap brakes on autonomous vehicle expansion

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is urging the state to collect more data before allowing companies to expand their autonomous vehicle fleets in the city.

VOSD • 15th September 2022

Native Students In Valley Center Demand Action on Long-Standing Disparities

Native students within the Valley Center-Pauma School District are falling behind their peers.

Voice of San Diego • 18th August 2022

New Homeowners Pay Considerably More in Taxes Than Longtime Homeowners

Decades after a homeowner revolt in California ushered Proposition 13 into law, a new study reveals disparities in property taxes that help fund public services. As home prices rise, the burden falls increasingly on San Diegans who’ve recently purchased homes.

Voice of San Diego • 10th August 2022

Real Estate Fee Was Supposed to Provide Housing Relief Soon. Five Years Later, Impact Is Sparse

Since 2017, California has collected more than $1.6 billion in real estate fees to fund affordable housing after Sen. Toni Atkins ushered SB 2 through the Legislature. Less than a quarter has been disbursed and San Diego’s cost of living has soared.

Voice of San Diego • 29th July 2022

City Secures Big Bucks for Community Projects

The city of San Diego announced Thursday that $20 million of the state budget will fund the construction of an entirely new Oak Park Public Library, following years of community advocacy.

The state budget includes $68.5 million for the city to support libraries, parks, cultural projects, green jobs and public safety. The Oak Park Library is getting the largest single portion of the funding.

“This is what government is supposed to do — listen closely to the community, put their request to work

Voice of San Diego • 28th June 2022

What You Should Know About the New County Budget

The County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously passed its $7.35 billion budget, which goes into effect July 1. From the climate to housing, here’s what the new budget will do.

Mustang News • 10th January 2022

Cal Poly community petitions for safety protocols after week one COVID blunders

Mustang News heard from over a dozen Cal Poly community members who shared concerns about Cal Poly returning to in-person classes, the university’s isolation protocols and disruptions to the learning experience.

“There’s really been a lot of decision making that should be happening on the top administration level that’s now fallen to individual faculty members to try to figure out on their own and that’s a huge burden,” Academic Senate member and history professor Sarah Bridger said.

Among the

Mustang News • 4th January 2022

Record-high number of Cal Poly students test positive for COVID-19

Three days into the new year, more students have tested positive for the coronavirus through Cal Poly’s COVID-19 testing program than ever before, according to the university’s COVID-19 Dashboard.

Mustang News • 15th October 2021

Cal Poly plans to switch to semesters

First to report: Cal Poly is set to be the final California State University campus to switch to semesters, despite years of pushback from the campus community.

Mustang News • 4th October 2021

Cal Fire: 10-acre Cuesta Grade fire is 60% contained

A brush fire that broke out Sunday evening near the Cuesta Grade is 60% contained, Cal Fire San Luis Obispo reported Monday morning.

The fire has burned 10 acres of grass and brush since about 5:30 p.m. Sunday. At the time, the Cuesta Air Attack crew said the fire had a potential to spread across 100 acres.

Mustang News • 12th August 2021

“When things started getting surreal:” Witnesses describe early investigation at Kristin Smart hearing

One article in consistent coverage of the preliminary hearing for Paul and Ruben Flores: After seven days of witness testimonies and pieces of evidence revealed, here’s what to know about the early stages of the investigation into Kristin Smart’s 1996 disappearance.

Mustang News • 3rd August 2021

Kristin Smart’s parents, witnesses testify first day of preliminary hearing for Flores murder charges

A preliminary hearing for Paul and Ruben Flores in the 1996 disappearance and death of Kristin Smart began yesterday — providing insight into the Cal Poly freshman’s life before she went missing 25 years ago.

The preliminary hearing is expected to last about 12 days and will determine whether there is enough evidence to take the case to trial. The hearing is not being broadcasted, and will only be conducted in-person in San Luis Obispo County Superior Court.

Paul Flores is facing first-degree

Mustang News • 21st July 2021

A judge ruled to end new DACA applications. Here’s what that means for Cal Poly students.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program can no longer accept new applications after a federal judge ruled on Friday that the policy was unlawful, according to a July 21 university email sent to students.

Mustang News • 4th June 2021

“Nowhere to go”: Morro Bay homeless encampment on Vistra-owned land destroyed

Associated Collegiate Press Best of Show award-winning article | On and off for four years, 70-year-old Kevin Miller would stay with 20 to 30 others at an encampment near Morro Creek, living off small amounts of social security, services and some work on the side. Last week, an excavator cleared through that encampment.

Mustang News • 30th May 2021

Some students billed for required COVID-19 tests

Some students are receiving bills as much as $3,500 for Cal Poly’s mandatory COVID-19 testing through former contractor Avellino Labs despite the assurance of free testing.

Mustang News • 19th May 2021

Cal Poly is the only predominantly white CSU. Here’s why

A 2017 report from the California Faculty Association (CFA) union called “Equity, Interrupted: How California is Cheating Its Future” demonstrated how state funding for the CSU system decreased while diversity in the CSU student body increased simultaneously. As a result, increasingly expensive student fees disproportionately burden marginalized students — especially at Cal Poly.

“These problems exist throughout the CSU, but they are especially acute at Cal Poly,” CFA San Luis Obispo Chapter Pr

Mustang News • 3rd May 2021

A Central Coast May Day: activists demand justice for workers, BIPOC communities

On May Day, Princess Nokia’s song “Brown Girl Blues” echoed throughout Mission Plaza, her spoken-word-like lyrics filling the plaza with graphic imagery of the adversary and abuse people of color experience in the United States.

“You think it’s been a long time since Civil Rights?” the lyrics read. “No, still our people have to go out and fight.”

About 50 people gathered in front of the steps of Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa on Saturday, May 1, where speakers acknowledged the genocide of Indigenous people in that very spot centuries before.

San Luis Obispo Tribune • 30th April 2021

Kristin Smart case reveals a darker side of Cal Poly campus — one that still exists today

Content warning: This article discusses gender-based and sexual violence. Rape, murder and the mishandling of Kristin Smart’s case deserve more than a convicted perpetrator. They deserve tangible improvements in Cal Poly’s campus environment.