![An Urban Alchemy ambassador patrols an encampment in front of San Francisco’s City Hall.](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/OamekMontgomery-Golden_homelessness-getty.jpg)
How Urban Alchemy Turns Homelessness Into Gold How Urban Alchemy Turns Homelessness Into Gold
Cities are pouring money into the nonprofit to manage encampments and patrol the streets where unhoused residents congregate. Not everyone is happy about it.
Jul 19, 2023 / Feature / Paige Oamek and Rohan Montgomery
![US-LABOR-HOTEL-STRIKE](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/GettyImages-1525389455.jpg)
LA’s Hotel Workers Are on Strike LA’s Hotel Workers Are on Strike
They are overworked and underpaid. But so far, only one hotel has offered them a fair contract.
Jul 14, 2023 / Left Coast / Sasha Abramsky
![](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/westward-the-course.jpg)
Eugenics, Environmental Ruin, and Surveillance: The Story of Silicon Valley Eugenics, Environmental Ruin, and Surveillance: The Story of Silicon Valley
California’s tech industry cannot escape its original sins.
Jun 23, 2023 / Edward Ongweso Jr.
![Dwindling Water Supply Forces Cities Like Phoenix To Make Hard Choices](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/GettyImages-1496851943.jpg)
Climate Change Could Devastate Life in the West Climate Change Could Devastate Life in the West
In a region with an expanding population, environmental calamity poses even greater challenges to housing and quality of life.
Jun 9, 2023 / Left Coast / Sasha Abramsky
![Dianne Feinstein](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/AP23142833319682.jpg)
Dianne Feinstein’s Final Act Dianne Feinstein’s Final Act
The California senator’s return to Congress amounts to a sad end to an illustrious career.
Jun 2, 2023 / Left Coast / Sasha Abramsky
![Unionizing strippers cheering at rally](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/strippers-union-win-getty.jpg)
Let’s Hear It for the Strippers’ Union Let’s Hear It for the Strippers’ Union
The newly unionized Star Gardens strippers are a triumph for the labor movement, proving that regardless of their profession, when workers unite, they can win.
May 31, 2023 / Antonia Crane
![The Takeover of Shasta County](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/GEORGOPULOS-Abramsky-Blueprint_Jones_ftr.jpg)
The Takeover of Shasta County The Takeover of Shasta County
In the quiet California region, extremists have infiltrated local government. Is it a new blueprint for the right?
May 30, 2023 / Feature / Sasha Abramsky
![Striking teachers hold a rally outside City Hall in Oakland, Calif.](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/AP23124784960698.jpg)
The California Teachers’ Strikes Have a Vital Lesson for the Labor Movement The California Teachers’ Strikes Have a Vital Lesson for the Labor Movement
These educators won big—and showed how to use a strike to better society as a whole.
May 19, 2023 / Cecily Myart-Cruz
![Hoover Dam In Boulder City, Nevada](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1482606801.jpg)
The American West Is Running Out of Water The American West Is Running Out of Water
A new federal proposal mandates strict cuts on water usage in states reliant on the Colorado River.
Apr 21, 2023 / Left Coast / Sasha Abramsky
![Representative Barbara Lee](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1246575044.jpg)
Don’t Count Barbara Lee Out of the California Senate Race Don’t Count Barbara Lee Out of the California Senate Race
The conventional wisdom says that Lee is the long-shot candidate in the blockbuster race. Here’s why that’s wrong.
Apr 17, 2023 / Steve Phillips