Blog
Agriculture
May is National Mental Health Month
Mental health should take center stage in rural communities
Recent data highlighting the loss of farms and ranches throughout the United States in the Census of Agriculture from the United States Department of Agriculture should bring particular attention to the stressors in rural communities. To put the national losses in perspective, the U.S. lost an average of 545 farms ...
Blog
Read latest on BART's push for higher taxes
BART pushes to raise taxes to subsidize falling ridership
The pandemic is well behind us, yet transit ridership levels nationwide – and in the San Francisco Bay Area in particular – have only recovered somewhat from pre-pandemic levels. In fact, those pre-pandemic levels weren’t particularly great as transit ridership has been falling for years. Despite California’s reluctance to invest ...
Blog
Lawmakers are pushing again to ban plastic bags
The Plastic Bag Nags Are Still Wrong
Golden State policymakers seem to fear the strangest things. While they constantly go on about how they’re going to solve the housing crisis, end homelessness, fight crime, restore previous generations’ quality of life and steady an economy that has a shaky outlook, they don’t appear to be moved by the ...
Blog
Insurance crisis moves from hinterlands to big cities
Insurance crisis moves from hinterlands to big cities By John Seiler | May 3, 2024 The home-insurance crisis hitting California and other states is now thwarting cities’ efforts to house the homeless. All mortgages require insurance up front. No insurance, no homes for the homeless, or anybody. That directly will ...
Blog
Read latest on push for more government housing
Renaming ‘public housing’ doesn’t alter its sordid history
Politicians and activists have long tried to dress old, failed, sometimes contentious and often intrusive ideas in new clothing. Gun control has become “gun safety.” Illegal aliens are “undocumented immigrants.” The politically charged term abortion has been softened for the palate to “women’s reproductive health.” Often labels are changed due ...
Blog
Spending Watch
Consumers, Not ‘Polluters’, Would Be Hard Hit by New Climate Tax Legislation
Consumers, Not ‘Polluters’, Would Be Hard Hit by New Climate Tax Legislation Wayne Winegarden May 2024 SB-1497, the Polluters Pay Climate Cost Recovery Act of 2024, purports to “require fossil fuel polluters to pay their fair share of the damage caused by the sale of their products…to relieve a ...
Blog
Read latest on out of control crime in Oakland
Fear and Loathing in Oakland – the Savage Journey of Pamela Price
Upon assuming office in January 2023, Price established the Public Accountability Unit and reopened cases involving police officers that her predecessor had investigated and declined prosecute – including the Mario Gonzalez case. The three Alameda PD officers (one now works for another agency) attempted to arrest Gonzalez, who had been ...
Blog
Read about the latest attack on fossil fuels
Designated For Destruction: California’s Economic Oxygen
The Polluters Pay Climate Cost Recovery Act, Senate Bill 1497, requires “fossil fuel polluters to pay their fair share of the damage caused by the sale of their products.” The “responsible parties” are defined as entities that between the 2000 and 2020 calendar years, did business in the state or ...
Blog
Will Amtrak be the future of intercity travel? Not likely
Will Amtrak be the future of intercity travel? Not likely by William L. Anderson | April 26, 2024 One of the things I enjoy hearing each weekday morning living in Roseville, California, is the horn of the Capital Corridor Amtrak train that leaves the Roseville station at 7:07, give or ...
Blog
Read the latest on California's housing crisis
Cities can and should streamline housing approvals
Convoluted approval processes can mean lengthy delays and costlier developments, which in turn can mean less and more expensive housing. Fortunately, many city leaders are not only recognizing this but taking action to streamline how their own governments are doing things. Since taking office in 2022, Los Angeles Mayor Karen ...
May is National Mental Health Month
Mental health should take center stage in rural communities
Recent data highlighting the loss of farms and ranches throughout the United States in the Census of Agriculture from the United States Department of Agriculture should bring particular attention to the stressors in rural communities. To put the national losses in perspective, the U.S. lost an average of 545 farms ...
Read latest on BART's push for higher taxes
BART pushes to raise taxes to subsidize falling ridership
The pandemic is well behind us, yet transit ridership levels nationwide – and in the San Francisco Bay Area in particular – have only recovered somewhat from pre-pandemic levels. In fact, those pre-pandemic levels weren’t particularly great as transit ridership has been falling for years. Despite California’s reluctance to invest ...
Lawmakers are pushing again to ban plastic bags
The Plastic Bag Nags Are Still Wrong
Golden State policymakers seem to fear the strangest things. While they constantly go on about how they’re going to solve the housing crisis, end homelessness, fight crime, restore previous generations’ quality of life and steady an economy that has a shaky outlook, they don’t appear to be moved by the ...
Insurance crisis moves from hinterlands to big cities
Insurance crisis moves from hinterlands to big cities By John Seiler | May 3, 2024 The home-insurance crisis hitting California and other states is now thwarting cities’ efforts to house the homeless. All mortgages require insurance up front. No insurance, no homes for the homeless, or anybody. That directly will ...
Read latest on push for more government housing
Renaming ‘public housing’ doesn’t alter its sordid history
Politicians and activists have long tried to dress old, failed, sometimes contentious and often intrusive ideas in new clothing. Gun control has become “gun safety.” Illegal aliens are “undocumented immigrants.” The politically charged term abortion has been softened for the palate to “women’s reproductive health.” Often labels are changed due ...
Spending Watch
Consumers, Not ‘Polluters’, Would Be Hard Hit by New Climate Tax Legislation
Consumers, Not ‘Polluters’, Would Be Hard Hit by New Climate Tax Legislation Wayne Winegarden May 2024 SB-1497, the Polluters Pay Climate Cost Recovery Act of 2024, purports to “require fossil fuel polluters to pay their fair share of the damage caused by the sale of their products…to relieve a ...
Read latest on out of control crime in Oakland
Fear and Loathing in Oakland – the Savage Journey of Pamela Price
Upon assuming office in January 2023, Price established the Public Accountability Unit and reopened cases involving police officers that her predecessor had investigated and declined prosecute – including the Mario Gonzalez case. The three Alameda PD officers (one now works for another agency) attempted to arrest Gonzalez, who had been ...
Read about the latest attack on fossil fuels
Designated For Destruction: California’s Economic Oxygen
The Polluters Pay Climate Cost Recovery Act, Senate Bill 1497, requires “fossil fuel polluters to pay their fair share of the damage caused by the sale of their products.” The “responsible parties” are defined as entities that between the 2000 and 2020 calendar years, did business in the state or ...
Will Amtrak be the future of intercity travel? Not likely
Will Amtrak be the future of intercity travel? Not likely by William L. Anderson | April 26, 2024 One of the things I enjoy hearing each weekday morning living in Roseville, California, is the horn of the Capital Corridor Amtrak train that leaves the Roseville station at 7:07, give or ...
Read the latest on California's housing crisis
Cities can and should streamline housing approvals
Convoluted approval processes can mean lengthy delays and costlier developments, which in turn can mean less and more expensive housing. Fortunately, many city leaders are not only recognizing this but taking action to streamline how their own governments are doing things. Since taking office in 2022, Los Angeles Mayor Karen ...
