"For nearly 80 years, recruits reporting to central California’s Fort Ord considered themselves the lucky ones, privileged to live and work amid sparkling seas, sandy dunes and sage-covered hills."

"The federal government said Wednesday it won’t deliver any water to California farmers because of a severe drought, a decision that will force many to plant fewer crops in a region that supplies a quarter of the nation’s food."

"For a few frenzied weeks, beekeepers from around the United States truck billions of honeybees to California to rent them to almond growers who need the insects to pollinate the state's most valuable crop."

"Edison International’s Southern California Edison said it plans to spend about $1.7 billion this year on work to reduce the risk of its electrical equipment sparking wildfires during dry and windy conditions."

"Already diminished by drought and extreme heat, California’s water supply will face yet another peril as wildfires continue to incinerate ever larger areas of forested land, according to new research."

"The reign of terror in my Northridge neighborhood began with manic dog barking, eerie coyote howls and the high-pitched screams of an animal fighting for its life in the middle of the night."

"Oil refineries, utilities and other companies that must pay to emit greenhouse gases in California have saved up so many credits allowing them to pollute that it may jeopardize the state’s ability to reach its ambitious climate goals, according to a report by a panel that advises state officials."

"A water and electric utility in central California will install a first-of-its-kind network of solar panels on water canals. Turlock Irrigation District (TID) has secured a $20 million grant from the state to pursue the first-in-the-nation project, which could serve a beneficial double whammy: create renewable energy and save some water in the process."

"Over 70 member organizations in the coalition received charitable contributions in 2020 worth $1.67 million from big California utilities that see solar as the competition."

"Studies in Kern County, performed by oil industry consultants, cannot answer fundamental safety questions about irrigating crops with “produced water,” the board’s own panel of experts concedes."