California

• • • • California is a California can be divided into nine geographical regions. These include: • Greater Los Angeles, which includes the greater • The Central Valley, which is known for its extensive agricultural production. • Northern California, which includes the • The Inland Empire, which is located east of Los Angeles and includes Riverside and San Bernardino counties. • The High Desert, which is home to desert landscapes such as Death Valley National Park. • The Pacific Coast Region, which encompasses the coastline from Mendocino County to San Diego County. • San Diego County/Imperial County in Southern California's border region with Mexico. • Shasta Cascade Region, located in northern California near the Oregon state line, has several national parks, such as Lassen Volcanic and Shasta Lake National Parks. • Gold Country, located north of The climate in California ranges from Mediterranean along its coasts to alpine in its mountains and deserts in its eastern regions. Its weather patterns are mainly driven by two large ocean currents: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). The ENSO affects temperatures along California's coast, while PDO tends to influence precipitation amounts throughout much of Northern California and higher elevation areas. California also has a diverse biodiversity with many different species found across its regions, such as wolves and grizzly bears in its forests; bobcats, coyotes, and foxes living near ri...

Most of the time, California’s waves are safe for swimmers and surfers to enjoy, but water quality experts warn there are certain times — and certain spots — that beachgoers may want to avoid. Still, of California’s more than 400 beaches, 95% received top marks for water quality from April to October 2022, covering the state’s most popular window for beach recreation, according to the report from the Los Angeles environmental nonprofit whose focus is clean waterways. “The report is kind of reassuring; it affirms that most of the beaches in California are clean and safe most of the time,” said Luke Ginger, a water quality scientist with However, 23 California beaches — 5% of those analyzed — earned a grade of C or lower for water quality during the warmer months, meaning water samples showed concerning levels of fecal pollution, the report found. Of the worst beaches for water quality, five were in San Mateo County and two were in Los Angeles County, according to (Jessica Christian / San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images) The beach rankings are based on routine water-quality testing conducted by local officials, then analyzed for concentrations of fecal-indicator bacteria, including from human and animal waste. “We are fortunate to have beaches that are beautiful and clean most days of the year, but unfortunately, there are times and conditions when the water at the beach can make folks sick,” the report said. “Our coastal waters are regularly contaminated with pollutant...

The standoff in California is the latest scuffle between the tech giants and the news industry. Facebook and Google also resisted efforts in Australia and Canada that aimed to force the companies to cut deals with news publishers. LEON NEAL/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption LEON NEAL/AFP via Getty Images The standoff in California is the latest scuffle between the tech giants and the news industry. Facebook and Google also resisted efforts in Australia and Canada that aimed to force the companies to cut deals with news publishers. LEON NEAL/AFP via Getty Images Facebook and Instagram will block all news articles in California if state lawmakers pass a bill meant to funnel money from the tech platforms to media organizations, a Meta spokesman threatened on Wednesday. The The bill's sponsor, Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, a Democrat who represents Oakland, argues the measure could provide a "lifeline" to local news organizations that have seen advertising revenue plunge. "As news consumption has moved online, community news outlets have been downsized and closing at an alarming rate," Wicks said at a hearing on the bill earlier this month, pointing out that more than 100 California news organizations have gone under in the past decade. But now, Meta warns the legislation would make the company block the sharing of news articles in California on Facebook and Instagram. The bill, the company argued, would mostly assist out-of-state sites "under the guise" of helping...

The first Spanish missionaries arrived in California in the 1700s, but California didn’t become part of the United States until 1847, as part of the treaty ending the With millions of acres of farmland, California leads the United States in agricultural production. The state is also home to famous cultural institutions and national parks including WATCH: California’s Native American History The first people migrated to California nearly 20,000 years ago from Asia across the Bering Straits. California’s mountain ranges and deserts isolated Native American tribes from each other, and they lived in peaceful family clans with little political structure. More than 500 tribes, each with their unique culture, developed across the state, such as the Pomo, Tolowa, Miwok, Maidu, Cahto, Wintun, Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, Chumash, Karok, Mojave, Yokuts, Paiute and Modoc. When Spanish missionaries first came to California in the mid-1700s, the native population was estimated to be about 30,000—or 13 percent of the total Indigenous population in North America at the time. The population was gradually decimated, first in the 18th century by disease and forced labor in Spanish missions, and then in the late 19th century California Missions Concerned about Russian and English encroachment on western New Spain territory, Spain ordered an expedition north from Baja Mexico in 1769. The first Spanish soldiers and priests traveled and established a presidio (military fort) and mission church in San ...