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Walter Forster, a Los Angeles resident, holds a sign that advocates for financial compensation during the California Reparations Task Force meeting that was held at the California Science Center in Los Angeles on Sept. 23, 2022.
Photo by Pablo Unzueta for CalMatters
An investigation into the voting records of state lawmakers. Also, an event tonight at Sac State discusses what reparations could look like in Sacramento. Finally, a Grass Valley author’s new book chronicles the pioneering female physicians of the Old West.
Investigation into California Lawmaker Voting Records
They say every vote matters. They say that every vote is important. However, newly uncovered data about voting records by California legislators shows that many of our elected leaders in the state Capitol habitually don’t cast votes on bills that come up, or that they greenlight everything that comes across their desks by rarely ever voting “No.” CalMatters Digital Democracy reporter Ryan Sabalow joins us with some of the questionable voting trends of state lawmakers, what they might point to and how simply not voting on a bill can derail legislation that voters may find necessary or important to their communities.
Sacramento Reparations Event
After two years and hundreds of hours of public testimonies across the state, California lawmakers are taking the first-in-the-nation California Reparation’s Task Force report and recommendations and crafting them into legislation. The California Legislative Black Caucus has more than a dozen bills to begin the process of atonement for the ongoing harms of slavery on African Americans and society as a whole. But none at this moment includes cash payments to Black Californians who are descendants of slavery. In Sacramento, Sheba Farms Foundation has been holding events over the past month to better understand what reparations could look like locally. Tonight at 5:30 p.m., they will be having a conversation at Sacramento State with six panelists. Moderator Zion Taddese and panelist Chris Lodgson with the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California join us with more on how these ongoing events hope to shape policy at the State Capitol. They also have a public survey for Sacramento residents on reparations here.
Grass Valley Author Chronicles First Female Physicians in the West
A New York Times bestselling author from Grass Valley’s newest book profiles the pioneering female physicians of the Old West – from one of the first women to work in plastic surgery, to the first female dental school graduate. The new book is titled The Doctor Was a Woman: Stories of the First Female Physicians on the Frontier. Author Chris Enss talks about her literary journey and shares some of these women’s stories – including one with local ties to Nevada County.