Less Punishment=More Crime?
At about the same time Gov. Jerry Brown was explaining his new initiative to reform the determinate sentencing law, Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell was telling Town Hall Los Angeles that law enforcement was facing a losing battle with crime. The sheriff argued that ballot measures back to Proposition 36 in 2000 easing drug […]
Flint and East Porterville — Equivalent Public Health Risks; Vastly Different Responses
Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton used her entire closing statement at the January 17 Democratic presidential debate to highlight the lead-poisoning crisis in Flint, Michigan’s water supply, a racially tinged health and public policy disaster that the Democratic front-runner casts as an urgent catastrophe requiring immediate attention. Clinton’s debate prose sought to shame Michigan’s Republican governor […]
Even Beyoncé Can’t Buy a House in L.A.
Dear Beyoncé, Please forgive the tardiness of this note. You moved to California more than a year ago, and I’m only now welcoming you. And I still haven’t baked you a cake. First, a huge thanks to you and your husband Jay Z for taking Gwyneth Paltrow’s advice and relocating here. A move to California […]
Pensions Drowning California And Its Cities
Get ready California. Without very much fanfare, the proverbial one-ton Government Accounting Standards Board gorilla has entered the room. As the result of years of discussions over how best to account for the growing unfunded liabilities owed by government pensions systems, municipalities for the first time ever must include the unfunded actuarial accrued liability of […]