As word of damning accusations against Cesar Chavez spread this week, farmworkers and advocates in California have struggled to reconcile the disturbing details with their image of a man they considered a hero.

Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED

A coalition of leaders in East San José say the sexual assault allegations against labor leader Cesar Chavez should be a turning point for the community and the country. 

Reporter: Joseph Geha, KQED

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A major investigation by the New York Times is raising serious allegations about Cesar Chavez, one of the most admired figures in Latino civil rights history. The reporting includes accounts from multiple women, including co-organizer and civil rights leader, Dolores Huerta. They say Chavez sexually abused them, in some cases, when they were children.

Guest: Gustavo Arellano, LA Times

Following the harrowing accounts from these women, the United Farm Workers union is now distancing itself from Chavez, its co-founder.

In Sacramento, Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation to rename Cesar Chavez Day to Farmworkers Day, in light of the allegations against the civil rights leader. There are also growing calls to rename streets and other property bearing his name at the local level.

Reporter: Kendra Hanna, KCBX

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The nationwide increase in gas prices since the beginning of the war in Iran is hitting especially hard in California, already home to the nation’s highest prices at the pump. It's also started a new round of political blame game between President Trump, Governor Newsom, and even some Democrats.

Reporter: Guy Marzorati, KQED

Veterans and native tribes are calling for the protection of public lands in the Mojave Desert. They say President Trump’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management could open the area to fossil fuel extraction.

Reporter: Anthony Victoria, KVCR

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California's housing crisis is spreading to other states. Congress is finalizing a package of bills some national housing experts say are among the most significant reforms to come out of the federal government in decades. Some of the bills are inspired by laws California has already passed. So what does this package do for us?

Guest: Adhiti Bandlamudi, KQED

California regulators are pushing back after the Trump Administration ordered a Texas-based oil company to restart pipeline operations along the Central Coast.

Reporter: Gabriela Fernandez, KCBX

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This school year is the first in which transitional kindergarten is free and available for all 4-year-olds across California. The state has spent more than $15 billion since 2021 to offer this new grade. But in order for that investment to pay off, the skills kids gain in TK need to last throughout elementary school. One district is trying to set their students up for success by focusing on one particular subject.

Reporter: Daisy Nguyen, KQED

Protesters put on a concert at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in the Mojave Desert on Saturday, to call attention to the plight of undocumented detainees.

Reporter: Anthony Victoria, KVCR

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It’s the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims around the world dedicate 30 days to prayer and reflection by fasting from sunrise to sunset. That includes in the Monterey County community of Seaside.

Reporter: Ngozi Cole, KAZU

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond says he’s imploring the Trump administration to return a 6-year-old deaf boy and his family who were deported to Colombia, so the boy can return to the California School for the Deaf in Fremont.

Reporter: Tyche Hendricks, KQED

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In 2024, California voters approved Proposition 1. That ballot measure set aside billions of dollars to add more mental health and addiction treatment beds across the state. But new reporting from our California newsroom partner, CalMatters, has found the initiative hasn't delivered a fraction of the support it promised.

Guest: Marisa Kendall, CalMatters

It’s not just gas prices rising. The attacks on Iran are also causing fertilizer prices to surge by about 30%, just as the spring planting season gets underway in California. But some farmers here have been adopting techniques that aren't just resilient to climate change, but also to the supply chain disruption of war. Reporter: Elena Neale-Sacks, KAZU

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About one in ten K-12 students in the US attend a California public school. And those schools are seeing a lot of turmoil this year. San Francisco educators went on strike in February. Teachers in Oakland and San Diego narrowly avoided a strike themselves. And now, their colleagues in Dublin -- in the Bay Area -- have also been on strike this week.

Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED

San Diego County has followed through on its ultimatum to the Department of Homeland Security, by suing the agency over access to the Otay Mesa Detention Center.

Reporter: Alexander Nguyen, KPBS

A Sacramento woman with DACA status is suing the federal government after she says she was unlawfully deported.

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School boards across California are giving their members raises, which might sound strange at a time when teachers here are striking for better pay. It's thanks to a new law that gives board members their first opportunity for a major pay increase in 40 years.

Reporter: Katie Anastas, KPBS

A man who was recently released from custody at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center has died. Immigrant rights advocates say this is the second death connected to the facility in two weeks.

Reporter: Anthony Victoria, KVCR

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Over the past year, we’ve watched the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown unfold violently in places like Minneapolis and Chicago. But even in Northern California, immigration arrests have more than doubled. And one of them, early last year, left a Silicon Valley carpenter gravely disabled. His family – like thousands of others – is now coping with trauma, upheaval and financial strain. Reporter: Tyche Hendricks, KQED

California's state superintendent of schools is joining calls for the return of a 6-year-old deaf student from the Bay Area, who was deported to Colombia last week without his hearing aids.

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Proposition 50 is now in effect in California. The law redrew political boundaries for congressional districts. And one of the communities soon to have new congressional representation in Washington DC is Coalinga. This small, agricultural town on Fresno County’s west side is now going to be part of a district that stretches more than 100 miles to the north.

Reporter: Samantha Rangel, KVPR

Former state assemblymember Ian Calderon is dropping out of the governor’s race and throwing his support behind Democratic Congressmember Eric Swalwell.

Reporter: Marisa Lagos, KQED

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