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What’s Blocking Housing Reform? Special Interests or Public Opposition?
The belief that California has a profound housing crisis took hold in the state’s media and political establishments in recent years after Census Bureau statistics showed the Golden State had the highest effective rate of poverty once cost of living was included. The view was amplified by stories about four-hour commutes forced by housing costs and about shocking numbers […]
San Francisco Homeless Population Rises 17% in Two Years
San Francisco continues to struggle with homelessness, with a population count revealing last week that the local homeless population had risen by 17% since 2017 — though youth and veteran homelessness had dropped. Many cities across the U.S. have struggled with rising homelessness in recent years, partly due to the pressure of rising housing costs, […]
Use $21 Billion Surplus Instead of Taxing Californians More
California has a record $21.5 billion surplus. That’s the good news. The bad news is that we have all that money because you are being overtaxed. Earlier this month, Gov. Gavin Newsom released his revised budget proposal, the largest in California history. At a staggering $214 billion dollars, the budget is larger than that of […]
California Regulator Threatens Trump With `Extreme’ Auto Rules
A top California environmental regulator is threatening to enact tough, new pollution rules — including an unprecedented ban on cars burning petroleum-based fuels — in response to a Trump administration plan to relax vehicle emission standards. California Air Resources Board Chairman Mary Nichols said the state would be forced to pursue “extreme” requirements to offset the […]
Workers Of California Unite … Against Minimum Wage Hikes
They were warned. They wouldn’t listen. But they should have. A university study confirms what so many of us already knew — and what several other studies have corroborated: Minimum wage hikes kill jobs. Scholars at the University of California, Riverside, looked at the labor market and found that job growth in the state’s “vibrant” […]
CPR Blog
Could You Pass the Citizenship Test?
Quickly now – name one of the authors of The Federalist Papers, and don’t you dare go to Google. Do you know the pseudonym used by the authors to hide their true identities? Do you know why the Federalist Papers were written? If you have difficulty with any of the above be thankful that you’re not […]
Is Anything Off-Limits for California’s Police Unions?
A few weeks ago the Costa Mesa Police Association (read: Police Union) and their former law firm agreed to pay $607,000 to settle a lawsuit after their scheme against two Costa Mesa city councilmen came to light. As I wrote in my book, this settlement represents a small but important victory in the broader philosophical war between California’s […]
Towards a Grand Bargain on California Water Policy
When it comes to water policy in California, perhaps the people are more savvy than the special interests. Because the people, or more precisely, the voters, by huge majorities, have approved nine water bonds in the past 25 years, totaling $27.1 billion. It is likely they’re going to approve another one this November for another […]
Publisher’s Corner
Half of Americans call Mueller Investigation a “Witch Hunt” – USA Today poll
WASHINGTON – Amid signs that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference may be near its conclusion, a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds that trust in Mueller has eroded and half of Americans agree with President Donald Trump’s contention that he has been the victim of a “witch hunt.” Support for the House of Representatives to […]
Cali-Culture
Los Alamitos Show Choir Named National Grand Champions
Los Alamitos’ Sound FX Choir “strives to achieve the highest level of choral excellence” … and recently they did just that by earning 1st place and the title of Grand Champion at Show Choir Nationals. Sound FX is no stranger to success, having been named Grand Champions at over 175 competitions, including nine National Grand Championship […]
Trending News
High-Speed Rail Construction Continues as California Sues Trump
California’s high-speed rail agency remains determined to complete about 119 miles of bullet-train construction in the central San Joaquin Valley, even as a confrontation with the Trump administration over promised federal funds escalates into a lawsuit. “We are looking for a ramp-up in activity for construction,” said Tom Richards, vice chairman of the California High-Speed Rail […]
California lawmakers weigh budget proposals to cover health care for illegal immigrants
California lawmakers are weighing proposals this week that would offer government-funded health care to adult illegal immigrants but are at odds over how far to go. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed $98 million a year to cover low-income illegal immigrants between the ages of 19 and 25, but the state Assembly’s bill would cover all illegal immigrants […]
Guns, gas and soda – most California tax proposals died at the Capitol, but a few remain
California lawmakers this year put forward new tax proposals that would have hit soda drinkers, bankers and gun owners — not to mention anyone with a car. Most of those proposals died this week in a major culling of bills, leaving only a handful of tax measures in place. Some of them died before they reached the […]
Trump administration cancels $929 million in California high speed rail funds
The Trump administration said on Thursday it was formally cancelling $929 million in previously awarded funding for California’s high-speed rail program after rejecting an appeal by the state. The U.S. railway regulator, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), said on Thursday it had canceled the funding awarded in a 2010 agreement after it said the state […]
Fire officials determine PG&E equipment sparked deadly California fire
As California fire investigators officially concluded that the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century was caused by Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. power lines, lawmakers expressed deep skepticism about whether the utility had made the dramatic changes needed to prevent another deadly blaze. The company’s new chief executive, Bill Johnson, made his first appearance before […]
