Blog
Agriculture
Colorado River ‘plan’ staves off federal interference, keeps water coming
The Colorado River supplies 4.4-million-acre feet of water to California every year with about 80 percent of that allocation being delivered to farms in the Imperial Valley. (An acre-foot is enough water to cover one acre of land with one foot of water or 326,000 gallons.) Earlier this week, California, ...
Pam Lewison
May 31, 2023
Blog
Learn About Latest Costly Green Mandate
California Emphasizes The ‘DIE’ In Diesel
The state Air Resources Board has approved new rules that says, “all Class I line haul locomotives” that have “an original engine build date of 2035 and beyond” can operate in California only if they have “a zero-emissions configuration.” That’s also the last year that new diesel big rigs can ...
Kerry Jackson
May 30, 2023
Agriculture
Celebrate National Beef Month
The best activism is the one that allows everyone to make their own dietary choices
Considering how much beef is consumed annually in the United States, it is odd to think about the amount of vitriol aimed at cattle production. Whether it is a story about the greenhouse gas emissions of cattle, the misunderstanding of animal breeding and care, or the anthropomorphism of animal rights ...
Pam Lewison
May 29, 2023
Agriculture
Part of WOTUS struck down in victory for private property owners
The ruling changes how “waters of the United States” can be applied by leaving wetlands that are not directly flowing into a body of water that meets the definition of “rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water that flow across or form a part of State boundaries” out of the ...
Pam Lewison
May 26, 2023
Blog
Read latest from Free Cities Center
Coercion-free planning can lead to glorious results
Central planning, no matter if the target is an economy or a community, has generally had historically disastrous results. When the government plots and schemes the future, people are ultimately doomed to lower living standards at best, and misery, all too often. Yet central planning can work – but only ...
Kerry Jackson
May 25, 2023
Blog
Read latest from Free Cities Center
San Diego offers pragmatic model to restore downtown life
According to Neighborhood Scout, a data-driven organization that provides detailed insights into local crime rates at a far more granular level than national statistics, San Diego has 4 violent crimes and 19.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents. In contrast, Los Angeles has 8.4 violent crimes and 24.6 property crimes per ...
Kenneth Schrupp
May 24, 2023
Blog
California's Outmigration Problem is Growing Worse
More Are Fleeing California Due to Progressive Policies
In 2018-19, California lost not quite $10 billion in gross adjusted income to other states, a bit less than New York. The following year, New York still had the largest loss of adjusted gross income, nearly $20 billion, with California close behind. By 2020-21, California had taken the “lead,” tripling ...
Kerry Jackson
May 23, 2023
Blog
Read latest on CARE Courts
AB 1708 and Care Courts – A Step in the Right Direction
In the mid 1980s, I lived in Traverse City, Michigan, where I was a student at Great Lakes Maritime Academy. In the downtown, there was a diner eponymously named for its proprietor, head waitress, hostess, and friend to everyone, Stacy. Like a thousand diners in a thousand small towns, ...
Steve Smith
May 22, 2023
Blog
Private cities bypass ossified governments. Will California follow?
Private cities bypass ossified governments. Will California follow? By Thibault Serlet California’s public discourse about urbanism has become extremely pessimistic. A glimpse into some of the large-scale private cities – generally known as Special Economic Zones, or SEZs – popping up in developing countries might offer us some well-needed hope. ...
Thibault Serlet
May 19, 2023
Blog
Will we see the return of redevelopment agencies?
Redevelopment failed cities, but keeps trying for a comeback
This column was originally published in the American Spectator. Say what you will about Jerry Brown, but I’ll always think fondly of him because of his crowning achievement in his more-recent stint as governor. In 2011, he eliminated the state’s noxious, property-rights-destroying redevelopment agencies. He didn’t axe these locally controlled agencies entirely ...
Steven Greenhut
May 18, 2023
Colorado River ‘plan’ staves off federal interference, keeps water coming
The Colorado River supplies 4.4-million-acre feet of water to California every year with about 80 percent of that allocation being delivered to farms in the Imperial Valley. (An acre-foot is enough water to cover one acre of land with one foot of water or 326,000 gallons.) Earlier this week, California, ...
Learn About Latest Costly Green Mandate
California Emphasizes The ‘DIE’ In Diesel
The state Air Resources Board has approved new rules that says, “all Class I line haul locomotives” that have “an original engine build date of 2035 and beyond” can operate in California only if they have “a zero-emissions configuration.” That’s also the last year that new diesel big rigs can ...
Celebrate National Beef Month
The best activism is the one that allows everyone to make their own dietary choices
Considering how much beef is consumed annually in the United States, it is odd to think about the amount of vitriol aimed at cattle production. Whether it is a story about the greenhouse gas emissions of cattle, the misunderstanding of animal breeding and care, or the anthropomorphism of animal rights ...
Part of WOTUS struck down in victory for private property owners
The ruling changes how “waters of the United States” can be applied by leaving wetlands that are not directly flowing into a body of water that meets the definition of “rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water that flow across or form a part of State boundaries” out of the ...
Read latest from Free Cities Center
Coercion-free planning can lead to glorious results
Central planning, no matter if the target is an economy or a community, has generally had historically disastrous results. When the government plots and schemes the future, people are ultimately doomed to lower living standards at best, and misery, all too often. Yet central planning can work – but only ...
Read latest from Free Cities Center
San Diego offers pragmatic model to restore downtown life
According to Neighborhood Scout, a data-driven organization that provides detailed insights into local crime rates at a far more granular level than national statistics, San Diego has 4 violent crimes and 19.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents. In contrast, Los Angeles has 8.4 violent crimes and 24.6 property crimes per ...
California's Outmigration Problem is Growing Worse
More Are Fleeing California Due to Progressive Policies
In 2018-19, California lost not quite $10 billion in gross adjusted income to other states, a bit less than New York. The following year, New York still had the largest loss of adjusted gross income, nearly $20 billion, with California close behind. By 2020-21, California had taken the “lead,” tripling ...
Read latest on CARE Courts
AB 1708 and Care Courts – A Step in the Right Direction
In the mid 1980s, I lived in Traverse City, Michigan, where I was a student at Great Lakes Maritime Academy. In the downtown, there was a diner eponymously named for its proprietor, head waitress, hostess, and friend to everyone, Stacy. Like a thousand diners in a thousand small towns, ...
Private cities bypass ossified governments. Will California follow?
Private cities bypass ossified governments. Will California follow? By Thibault Serlet California’s public discourse about urbanism has become extremely pessimistic. A glimpse into some of the large-scale private cities – generally known as Special Economic Zones, or SEZs – popping up in developing countries might offer us some well-needed hope. ...
Will we see the return of redevelopment agencies?
Redevelopment failed cities, but keeps trying for a comeback
This column was originally published in the American Spectator. Say what you will about Jerry Brown, but I’ll always think fondly of him because of his crowning achievement in his more-recent stint as governor. In 2011, he eliminated the state’s noxious, property-rights-destroying redevelopment agencies. He didn’t axe these locally controlled agencies entirely ...