California Grapples With Cost of Justice for Decades-Old Crimes
A 2019 law created a dramatic dilemma in the Golden State: compensating victims of decades-old abuses is draining the coffers of schools and cities.
The exterior of Liberty Elementary School, part of the Riverside Unified School District, in Riverside, California, on Jan. 17th, 2026.
Photographer: Karla Gachet/Bloomberg
Welcome to Bloomberg’s California Edition—covering all the events shaping one of the world’s biggest economies and its global influence. This week, Maxwell Adler joins us with a dispatch from the High Desert. Sign up here if you’re not already on the list.
In a remote stretch of California’s High Desert, I witnessed firsthand what happens when a school district runs out of money.