Government services gather under one roof at Contra Costa County’s annual ‘block party’
Contra Costa County is holding its annual block party for people to avoid making multiple stops to government offices or wait in long lines to take care of important tasks. County agencies like the clerk-recorder-elections department and the city of Concord are collaborating to provide a fun, festive event this Tuesday offering a wide variety…
SUPPORT THIS WORK:
We count on the generosity of readers like you making tax-deductible donations to our nonprofit newsroom.
Bay Area News
Check here every day for local news that matters to the greater Bay Area. We count on readers like you to support this journalism through our 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Bay City News Foundation.
Housing & Homelessness
Housing and homelessness are acute challenges for the pricey Bay Area. Our coverage touches on the affordability issues that make finding shelter such a complicated problem for so many.
‘It starts at home’: In State of City address, Lincoln portrays Stockton with bright future
Civic Engagement Hub
Keep up with local news about voter registration, Bay Area races, polling places, voter turnout and more. Find the latest results for local races and measures with specific details for every Bay Area county.
Bay City Books
Bay City Books taps into our rich literary scene, bringing you recent releases, author interviews and recommendations. Turn the digital page with us to find your next read. Visit our Library Information Hub to find the the online resources, programming and events provided by your local public library, organized by where you live.
Public Health & COVID-19 Hub
Providing information to help you navigate the novel coronavirus pandemic, including the daily cases, updates on protective measures and other news. Have a question or feedback about this site? Contact the Local News Matters newsroom here.

The COVID-19 Information Hub is supported by the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships program at Stanford University. It is a public service project compiled by journalists at Bay City News Foundation.
Aging in the Bay Area
With California’s senior population expected to grow by two-thirds in the next two decades, one of the biggest questions is how prepared the state is to meet that challenge. Stay up to date with the latest stories regarding aging in the Bay Area.
Inspire Me
Everyone, especially now, needs to have hope. We are publishing a series of stories and profiles that showcase the remarkable volunteers, first responders and everyday heroes who are stepping up to serve our communities. Tell us about the heroes in your life here and sign up for our weekly newsletter here.
Lodi bicyclist ready to hit the road Saturday for cross-country charity ride to Boston
Data Points
Data is the starting point for many stories about where we live, how our world is changing and what we might expect in the future. Find the serious and the silly here with comparisons from the Bay Area, which viewed together help to define our region.
Equity Ripples
Bay City News Foundation is partnering on this series with Bay Area Equity Atlas, a collaborative project with the S.F. Foundation, PolicyLink, and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity.
Bay Area Arts & Entertainment
The Bay Area is a hub of artistic expression, attracting artists, writers and musicians from around the globe to live, work and create. We highlight some of the offerings here and invite you to sign up for a weekly newsletter with the weekend’s top choices for streaming movies and in-person events.
San Joaquin County Fair kicks off Friday with free admission day for kids, music and more
Bay City Sketchbook
Over the last five years, Joe Dworetzky has drawn more than a thousand cartoons on a wide range of social and political topics. These galleries showcase some recent areas of interest from a creative perspective.
Youth Voices
We value youth perspectives on issues from education to politics to culture. This section provides a space for youth voices from around the Bay Area, including high school and college journalists.
Take them out to a ballgame: Stockton Ports put young fans in stands for Education Day
Science & Nature
Perched on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, our communities surround the natural San Francisco Bay, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, and thousands of acres of wetlands. It is a key region for environmental research, news and activism.
Bay Area Wildfire and Drought Info Hub
Wildfires have been devastating for Bay Area communities in the last few years with tremendous loss of life, property and forests. Scientists, fire officials and local leaders worry that climate change and dry conditions are setting us up for another dangerous season. We track the trends and provide news you can use here.
California Currents
Stories about education, the economy, demographics, politics, health care, the environment and immigration in the state often impact the Bay Area. You can find stories about relevant California news here.
Talkers
Some articles, written by experts, researchers and those with experience in their fields, have important perspectives to share. We highlight some of those commentary pieces here.
Remember When
The history of the Bay Area is full of colorful people, impactful events and stories of innovation and change. We highlight some of those defining features as a way to learn about our evolution as a region.
Special Projects
We often work collaboratively on projects that bring more context, deeper coverage or investigative journalism to our readers. Below is a collection of stories we did with ProPublica Local Reporting Network in 2020-21.
Lessons from Bay Area Police Reform; Looking at Past Practice, Future Potential in Vallejo
This series was reported by John Glidden, edited by Dan Rosenheim and funded by Solutions Journalism Network.
The San Francisco Bay Area is fertile ground to investigate the role of policing in diverse communities and police violence against Black and other people of color — and to learn what has worked to cut that violence while ensuring safety in these communities. With 8 million people, the Bay Area is a diverse region made up of separate jurisdictions that have different experiences with police reform efforts, some longer-standing (Oakland and Richmond), others more recent (San Francisco), and one just announced (Vallejo). With this as a backdrop, we applied a solutions journalism lens to evaluate four types of policing reforms that have been attempted, with mixed results, to achieve more public safety, more community trust, and less police violence in Vallejo.
Audio Files
Sometimes you just want to listen, not read or watch. This Week in the Bay gives you an entertaining, quick recap of the most compelling stories from the last few days. Voices of the Bay brings you the backstories of ordinary people in the Bay. And our other special audio projects bring in-depth coverage of critical issues from Local News Matters to you.