Parents are willing to spend thousands to get the competitive edge in the college admissions process, but at what cost? Socal Connected takes a revealing look at the high stakes world of the for-profit education consultant business.

The following changes were made to the original episode:
Students featured in the #decisionday section were replaced with new photos.

State and local regulators are overwhelmed and outgunned when it comes to closing down California’s poisonous pot pipeline.

Take a rare behind-the-scenes look inside the busiest fire station in the country, where firefighters act as both primary care providers and emergency responders for the nearly 5,000 people living on Skid Row.

In the beginning of 2019, California, one of the nation’s most secretive states when it comes to police files, put Senate Bill 1421 into effect. The new law made public thousands of police records pertaining to police dishonesty, sexual assault and use of force. And in an unprecedented move, forty news groups partner to dig into these once-secret police files. But even after a year into the new transparency law, journalists and the public are realizing that the law has its limits when it comes to investigating police misconduct.

As California deals with the fallout of a global waste crisis, plastic manufacturers continue to spread misleading information about recycling, while spending big on lobbying efforts to keep their products on the shelves.

A Humboldt town is polarized over allegations of racism and police incompetence surrounding the death of college student Josiah Lawson.