Banning gas cars won’t fuel a cleaner and cooler future
It’s not the end of the world, but from some of the photographs you’d be forgiven for thinking it might be. Across the West Coast, raging wildfires have led to mass evacuations, caused multiple deaths and billions of dollars in property damage, and even gave the sky an eerie, dystopian look as dangerously polluted air settled in […]
Reading the Props. 16: This Is Simple Repeal. Really!
Every two years, I read the full text of all statewide ballot propositions—because at least one Californian should. Next is Prop 16. Whatever you think of affirmative action and Prop 16, give the proposition this. There aren’t many ballot measures that actually make the California State Constitution shorter. Prop 16, a constitutional amendment, is the […]
CABIA Speaks Up for AB 5’s Victims
If you watched last night’s Presidential Debate in the Bay Area, you might have seen a television ad from the California Business and Industrial Alliance (CABIA) criticizing the state’s AB 5 law. The same ad aired on national television earlier in the day. The ad features stories from real freelancers, told in their own voices, […]
Climate Change, Forest Management and Wildfires
Gov. Gavin Newsom likes to beat Californians over the head that every ill under his administration is due to climate change, including wildfires. But what you will not find him saying is that, while he is spending billions of dollars to have California singlehandedly eliminate global greenhouse gases, he and fellow Democrats have spent relative […]
When It Comes to Housing, Jack Kemp had Good Ideas
Roughly thirty-five years ago, Yelena Bonner was not well known in America. But, by the time she was allowed by mother Russia (then the Soviet Union) to travel to this country hers was nearly a household name. When the sixty year-old human rights activist – wife of exiled Soviet peacenik Andrei D. Sakharov – arrived […]
Californians and the Presidential Debate
Californians are highly inclined to tune in to tonight’s presidential debate, even though most have made up their minds about the two major party candidates. What does this tell us about California’s political landscape during this highly consequential—and divisive—election? At this point in the process, Californians are engaged. The latest PPIC Statewide Survey finds that […]
From California’s Miracle Country, Post-Apocalyptic Life Lessons
Recovery from recession, fire, pandemic and political conflict might require a miracle. Where can Californians find one? In Miracle Country. Miracle Country is the title of Kendra Atleework’s magical memoir about her life in the Eastern Sierra. The book begins with the 2015 fire that decimated her 200-person hometown, Swall Meadows, north of Bishop and […]
No New Gas-Powered Cars? Hello Vehicle Mileage Tax
California officials have been toying with the idea of a Vehicle Mileage Traveled Tax (VMT) for some time but due to Governor Newsom’s executive order that only zero-emission cars must be sold starting in 2035 you can bet that the VMT will become a reality. If Californians switch to electric vehicles under the executive order, […]
Reading the Props: Prop 15—Who Cares?
Every two years, I read the full text of all statewide ballot propositions—because at least one Californian should. Next is Prop 15. Proposition 15 is nothing but hype. Its proponents say it will boost the schools and enact tax fairness and reform the previously untouchable Prop 13. Its opponents say it will threaten Prop 13, […]