Amy Taxin

Stay informed with Amy Taxin’s coverage and analysis for Fortune.

Immigration raids

Deadly ICE raids on California cannabis farms yield over 360 arrests in one of largest anti-immigrant crackdowns by Trump

By Julie Watson, Amy Taxin, and others

Passengers take in scenery during a history tour aboard the Pacific Pearl on Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

California’s salmon fishermen are making their living from whale watchers and sea burials because the fishery is closed for a 2nd year

By Amy Taxin and The Associated Press

Ippei Mizuhara, former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers baseball star Shohei Ohtani expected to be sentenced for bank and tax fraud arrives at federal court on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025, in Santa Ana, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, who stole $17 million from the LA Dodgers superstar, sentenced to 5 years in prison for bank and tax fraud

By Amy Taxin and The Associated Press

FILE – Megan Mantia, left, and her boyfriend Thomas, only first game given, return to Mantia’s fire-damaged home after the Eaton Fire swept through the area, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, in Altadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope, File)

Flawed emergency alert systems meant to warn residents lagged during Los Angeles wildfires

By Christopher L. Keller, Claudia Lauer, and others

FILE – Water is dropped by helicopter on the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon, Jan. 11, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer,File)

Trump is accusing California of sending too much water to the Pacific instead of to Los Angeles as he prepares to tour fire damage

By Amy Taxin and The Associated Press

Hunter Biden is pictured outside the court room wearing a dark navy suit and tie.

Hunter Biden avoids tax trial with surprise guilty plea

By Amy Taxin, Deepa Bharath, and others

California Cultured lab technician Aubrey McKeand works on cell cultures in the company’s lab in West Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

California firm grows cocoa from cell cultures as climate change threatens supply

By Amy Taxin, Terry Chea, and others

FILE – Tom Brundy looks over a field in preparation for planting at his farm on, Feb. 28, 2023, near Calexico, Calif. Under a new program, farmers of certain forage crops, including alfalfa, will be paid to shut off water to their fields for a short period of time during the hot summer months, which are not peak times for the crop and which won’t affect its long-term viability. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)

California farmers are signing up in droves to get paid to give up their water rights for 2 months because their summer crop prices are so low

By Amy Taxin and The Associated Press

FILE – Farmworker Xochilt Nunez holds a copy of the bill signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom aimed at making it easier for farmworkers to unionize, in Sacramento, Calif., Sept. 28, 2022. One of California’s most influential agricultural companies announced Monday, May 13, 2024, that it is suing the state to stop the contentious law to help farmworkers unionize. The legal action by the Wonderful Co. comes as it battles United Farm Workers over a newly formed union at one of its businesses. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

$6bn California agricultural company founded by Biden and Newsom donors sues state to stop a law meant to help farmworkers unionize

By Julie Watson, Amy Taxin, and others

FILE – Roger Corman addresses the audience during the awards ceremony of the 76th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Saturday, May 27, 2023. Corman, the Oscar-winning “King of the Bs” who helped turn out such low-budget classics as “Little Shop of Horrors” and “Attack of the Crab Monsters” and gave many of Hollywood’s most famous actors and directors an early break, died Thursday, May 9, 2024. He was 98. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole, File)

Roger Corman, ‘King of the Bs’ who directed ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ and hired young filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese, has died at 98

By Bob Thomas, Amy Taxin, and others

FILE – Farmworkers Cynthia Burgos, left and Teresa Maldonado, right, hug after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill aimed at making it easier for farmworkers to unionize in Sacramento, Calif., Sept. 28, 2022. A battle between The Wonderful Co. which grows pistachios, pomegranates, citrus and other crops and United Farm Workers is over new rules in California aimed at making it easier for farmworkers to form unions. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

United Farm Workers takes aim at one of California’s top farm companies after state made organizing agricultural workers easier

By Amy Taxin and The Associated Press

Jerry Boylan

Scuba boat captain given four year prison sentence in fire that killed 34 people

By Stefanie Dazio, Amy Taxin, and others

Robert Iger

Disney advances plan to inject $1.9 billion into ‘the happiest place on Earth’

By Amy Taxin and The Associated Press

Disney Land

Disney’s multibillion-dollar theme park facelift gets unanimous approval from Anaheim council

By Amy Taxin and The Associated Press

FILE – Sandbags are stacked around a well in anticipation of flooding of the Kings River in the Island District of Lemoore, Calif., April 19, 2023. California officials are considering whether to take over monitoring groundwater use in the fertile San Joaquin Valley under a landmark law aimed at protecting water flow to homes and farms. The Tuesday, April 16, 2024, hearing before the State Water Resources Control Board is the first of its kind since California passed a groundwater management law a decade ago. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

California agriculture zone is so dry state will monitor how much groundwater it pumps for crops—and farmers say move will force many out of business

By Amy Taxin and The Associated Press