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Grand Cayman’s mini buses: Lessons for failing US transit

Grand Cayman’s mini buses: Lessons for failing US transit Jeremy Lott | May 17, 2024 Washington state’s law on children in cars is quite something for parents to accommodate, as one illustrated state handout demonstrates. Your children must be in the back seat, in car seats facing backwards, for the ...
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Portland gets serious about housing by slashing red tape

“The proposals, brought by Commissioner Carmen Rubio, would reduce bike parking requirements, allow residential units on the ground floor, relax rules for architectural reviews and temporarily suspend some requirements to hold neighborhood meetings in the areas where they want to build,” reported the Oregonian. As noted by Commissioner Rene Gonzalez ...
Agriculture

Prop 12: Implementation aftereffects are just now becoming apparent

Under Proposition 12, veal calves must be provided 43 square feet of floor space, laying hens must be afforded 1 to 1.5 square feet of cage-free space either indoors or outdoors, and breeding pigs (sows) must be provided at least 24 square feet of space in a pen without touching ...
Blog

Producing Democratic Citizens: Private Schools Do Better Than Public Schools

As college campuses across the country descend into chaos, with authoritarian mobs violently taking over buildings, attacking police, and vandalizing property, Americans rightly wonder why so many young people are engaging in grossly undemocratic behavior.  New research provides a clue, with public schools scoring significantly below private schools in forming ...
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Cities can slash homeless housing costs by ditching subsidies

Cities can slash homeless housing costs by ditching subsidies by John Seiler | May 10, 2024 Why reject government subsidies? After all, everyone pays huge amounts in taxes. Might as well get some of it back. But that’s just what’s happening in California’s housing crisis. In part of a new ...
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Spending Watch

May Revise Preview: Sacramento Should Learn Lessons from the 2009 Budget Crisis

May Revise Preview: Sacramento Should Learn Lessons Wayne Winegarden     May 2024 Governor Newsom is finalizing the May Revision for his 2024-25 budget plan this week. As he does, the parallels between California’s 2009 budget crisis and today’s budget difficulties are too compelling to ignore. Sacramento policymakers should heed the ...
Blog

Girding For The Cost Of A Grid Upgrade

Demand will be roughly 336,000 gigawatt hours while supply will reach only about 280,000 gigawatt hours without a miracle. But even if somehow supply satisfies demand, the infrastructure that carries electrons is so creaky that there is no guarantee that the power will arrive where it’s needed. A pair of ...
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

Grand Cayman’s mini buses: Lessons for failing US transit

Grand Cayman’s mini buses: Lessons for failing US transit Jeremy Lott | May 17, 2024 Washington state’s law on children in cars is quite something for parents to accommodate, as one illustrated state handout demonstrates. Your children must be in the back seat, in car seats facing backwards, for the ...
Blog

Portland gets serious about housing by slashing red tape

“The proposals, brought by Commissioner Carmen Rubio, would reduce bike parking requirements, allow residential units on the ground floor, relax rules for architectural reviews and temporarily suspend some requirements to hold neighborhood meetings in the areas where they want to build,” reported the Oregonian. As noted by Commissioner Rene Gonzalez ...
Agriculture

Prop 12: Implementation aftereffects are just now becoming apparent

Under Proposition 12, veal calves must be provided 43 square feet of floor space, laying hens must be afforded 1 to 1.5 square feet of cage-free space either indoors or outdoors, and breeding pigs (sows) must be provided at least 24 square feet of space in a pen without touching ...
Blog

Producing Democratic Citizens: Private Schools Do Better Than Public Schools

As college campuses across the country descend into chaos, with authoritarian mobs violently taking over buildings, attacking police, and vandalizing property, Americans rightly wonder why so many young people are engaging in grossly undemocratic behavior.  New research provides a clue, with public schools scoring significantly below private schools in forming ...
Blog

Cities can slash homeless housing costs by ditching subsidies

Cities can slash homeless housing costs by ditching subsidies by John Seiler | May 10, 2024 Why reject government subsidies? After all, everyone pays huge amounts in taxes. Might as well get some of it back. But that’s just what’s happening in California’s housing crisis. In part of a new ...
Blog

Spending Watch

May Revise Preview: Sacramento Should Learn Lessons from the 2009 Budget Crisis

May Revise Preview: Sacramento Should Learn Lessons Wayne Winegarden     May 2024 Governor Newsom is finalizing the May Revision for his 2024-25 budget plan this week. As he does, the parallels between California’s 2009 budget crisis and today’s budget difficulties are too compelling to ignore. Sacramento policymakers should heed the ...
Blog

Girding For The Cost Of A Grid Upgrade

Demand will be roughly 336,000 gigawatt hours while supply will reach only about 280,000 gigawatt hours without a miracle. But even if somehow supply satisfies demand, the infrastructure that carries electrons is so creaky that there is no guarantee that the power will arrive where it’s needed. A pair of ...
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 ...
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