Kevin Fagan, who spent decades at the San Francisco Chronicle, argues in a new book that ‘atrociously unforgivable’ US poverty must be addressed

The veteran journalist Kevin Fagan spent decades covering homelessness for the San Francisco Chronicle, reporting on a crisis that persists despite billions poured into housing and services and years of political debate.

The issue is personal for him. Fagan was episodically homeless in his youth, sleeping in his car and camping outside while he attended college and later in doorways abroad as a traveling musician.

Authorities are preparing for flooding and debris flows after recent wildfires have stripped vegetation from hillsides

California is bracing for a powerful atmospheric river storm that is expected to drench large swaths of the state with rain and bring several feet of snow to the mountains.

Much of northern California was under a winter storm warning because of the gusty winds and heavy snow in the forecast that the National Weather Service (NWS) said would lead to “difficult to impossible travel conditions”.