Nation Topics - Sacramento | The Nation

The veteran LGBT activist is fighting for an Assembly seat in California, but she faces tough opposition from a current representative who moved into her district and who is backed by Speaker John Perez.

 Through participatory budgeting, can Occupy bring the movement for direct democracy into the heart of government power?

In California's Central Valley, the collapse of the housing bubble is causing acute misery.

California's problems are well beyond the curative powers of any one governor. If Jerry Brown wins in November, there's no need to nourish foolish hopes.

Holding the budget hostage while state unemployment tops 12 percent, California growers and their political allies have slashed funding for schools and social services. The March for California's Future is challenging the stranglehold that big agriculture exerts over the state.

Savage budget cuts and political dysfunction are tearing California's social infrastructure apart.

Letter from a state in crisis.

Economic necessity and shifting mores are changing the nation's approach to incarceration.

In boom and in bust, homeless encampments are a product of inequality and neglect.

The collapse of journalism threatens democracy itself--that's why we need a government rescue.