Vue lecture

California’s Environmental Past Confronts Economic Worries of the Present

Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic state lawmakers have focused on pocketbook concerns this year, seeing their party’s national losses as a reckoning.

© Loren Elliott for The New York Times

California Democrats relaxed a landmark environmental law this year, hoping to spur more housing construction. Cities like San Francisco are struggling to build enough units.
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Firefighters Race to Save a Treasured Sequoia Grove in California

Giant sequoias can live for thousands of years, but wildfires have killed staggering numbers of the trees in recent years.

© Noah Berger/Associated Press

The Garnet Fire burning near the McKinley Grove in the Sierra National Forest in California on Monday.
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Animal Activists Target Farmers in Sonoma, Known as ‘America’s Provence’

A new generation of activists has used extreme tactics and viral video to challenge farmers in Sonoma County, a region known for some of the industry’s most humane practices.

© Rachel Bujalski for The New York Times

A protest organized by the group Direct Action Everywhere outside a Trader Joe’s in Berkeley, Calif., in August.
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Minneapolis Community Grieves Together After Catholic School Shooting

In the first Mass since an assailant attacked Annunciation Catholic Church, parishioners gathered to grieve and support one another.

© Jenn Ackerman for The New York Times

Flowers and signs are placed near Annunciation Catholic Church after Wednesday’s school shooting.
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