California, Google, and Funding Journalism | Postmortem of ‘California Forever’ | Chalk It Up!

Insight With Vicki Gonzalez

How a new deal between lawmakers and Google impacts journalism in California. The controversial city plan from California Forever is off this year’s election ballot. Finally, the Chalk It Up! Festival returns to Fremont Park over Labor Day weekend.

California, Google, and Funding Journalism

California lawmakers and tech giant Google have reached a deal to provide almost $250 million over five years to support journalism in California, as well as an artificial intelligence accelerator. However, the deal replaced Assembly Bill 886 - which sought to use tech revenues to fund newsrooms every year across the state, but drew significant opposition from companies like Google and Meta. Executive Director Alma Martinez and Executive Editor Joe Kieta from the nonprofit Central Valley Journalism Collaborative join Insight to discuss how the deal compares to AB 886, how to ensure the funds are being distributed equitably, and the importance of having a well-funded newsroom.

CapRadio is a partner of the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative.

Postmortem of ‘California Forever'

A controversial plan to build a new city in Solano County is on hold until 2026, after the company behind the initiative - California Forever - pulled it off the November ballot last month. The billionaire-backed East Solano Plan promised affordable housing and jobs for hundreds of thousands of residents, but attracted questions and criticism around its feasibility. KQED Housing Reporter Adhiti Bandlamudi discusses how this proposal came to be, how the effort to get it to voters fell apart, and what comes next.

Chalk It Up!

The family-friendly Chalk It Up! festival is returning for its 34th year. The free art and music festival takes place every Labor Day weekend in Midtown Sacramento’s Fremont Park. Rocki Solis Nelson is the organization’s board director, and she joins Insight to talk about how the festival started and why money raised is used to fund mini-grants for Sacramento arts programs.