Blog
Jury Still Deliberating On California’s Push To Build More Homes
This year’s devastating wildfires decimated upwards of 13,000 homes. In response, California has passed two new laws that seek to streamline the process of housing development. Will they have the desired effect? That remains to be seen. Under AB130, new housing developments that meet certain size, density, location, and use requirements ...
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Bed, Bath & Bye-Bye
Does Vegas have a betting line on which company will next abandon California? Maybe it should. But then the field of possibilities is just too large to fit them all on a casino board. Following a business plan that has worked for so many others, Bed, Bad & Beyond is ...
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Disaster plans: Cities persist with pointless climate ‘action’
Disaster plans: Cities persist with pointless climate ‘action’ “We’ve lost the culture war on climate, and we have to figure out a way for it to not be a niche leftist movement.” — Jody Freeman, Director, Environmental and Energy Law Program, Harvard Law School “We’re not doing that climate change, you ...
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Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
You have rights to your property, not to control others
Everything in this world does seem nonsensical, especially as we consider the issue of land-use regulation and California’s efforts (led by progressives) to jump-start housing construction by—yes, you heard this right—reducing the role of government in dictating what we can do with our property. Meanwhile, many conservatives have dug in ...
Blog
In America’s Education Darkness, Catholic Schools Are a Bright Spot
On the 2024 NAEP eighth-grade reading test, Catholic-school students scored 20 points higher than public school students. On the eighth-grade math test, Catholic-school eighth graders scored 21 points higher than their public-school peers. According to education policy analyst Matt Ladner, the academic advantage for Catholic-school students has been growing over ...
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Get the inside scoop on what's going on under the Capitol dome
Three Big Issues to Watch as 2025 Legislative Session Draws to Close
Assembly Bill 84: Yet Another Attack on California Charter Schools Ever since charter school supporter Gov. Jerry Brown left office in 2019, charter schools have been under attack in Sacramento. The latest attack is Assembly Bill 84 (Muratsuchi), which would – if enacted – would impose huge new restrictions that ...
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After reforms, Casitas quietly are reshaping California’s cities
After reforms, Casitas quietly are reshaping California’s cities By John Seiler | August 22, 2025 Although I now live in Irvine, a highly planned community, I weekly drive to Huntington Beach. For most of the 38 years since I came to California, I lived near the power plant now called ...
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Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Here Come the Democratic Socialists
Although democratic socialism is a fringe position at one extreme of the political spectrum, voters in the country’s two largest cities have been open to electing its proponents. Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City in July and Los Angeles has four democratic socialists on ...
Blog
Never Gonna Give You Up: Will High-Speed Rail Ever Be Scrapped?
Critics say the troubled project should be abandoned. They correctly point out that incurring sunk costs is a better outcome than continuing to spend tens of billions on a dream that is unlikely to be completed, and if it is, won’t be anything like the modern system promised to voters ...
Blog
California’s Counterproductive Approach to Reducing GHG Emissions
California’s Counterproductive Approach to Reducing GHG Emissions by Wayne Winegarden | August 19, 2025 The state of California, along with a host of other cities and municipalities, is suing American energy companies. The lawsuit alleges that these private U.S. companies misled the public about greenhouse gases’ impact on the climate ...
Jury Still Deliberating On California’s Push To Build More Homes
This year’s devastating wildfires decimated upwards of 13,000 homes. In response, California has passed two new laws that seek to streamline the process of housing development. Will they have the desired effect? That remains to be seen. Under AB130, new housing developments that meet certain size, density, location, and use requirements ...
Bed, Bath & Bye-Bye
Does Vegas have a betting line on which company will next abandon California? Maybe it should. But then the field of possibilities is just too large to fit them all on a casino board. Following a business plan that has worked for so many others, Bed, Bad & Beyond is ...
Disaster plans: Cities persist with pointless climate ‘action’
Disaster plans: Cities persist with pointless climate ‘action’ “We’ve lost the culture war on climate, and we have to figure out a way for it to not be a niche leftist movement.” — Jody Freeman, Director, Environmental and Energy Law Program, Harvard Law School “We’re not doing that climate change, you ...
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
You have rights to your property, not to control others
Everything in this world does seem nonsensical, especially as we consider the issue of land-use regulation and California’s efforts (led by progressives) to jump-start housing construction by—yes, you heard this right—reducing the role of government in dictating what we can do with our property. Meanwhile, many conservatives have dug in ...
In America’s Education Darkness, Catholic Schools Are a Bright Spot
On the 2024 NAEP eighth-grade reading test, Catholic-school students scored 20 points higher than public school students. On the eighth-grade math test, Catholic-school eighth graders scored 21 points higher than their public-school peers. According to education policy analyst Matt Ladner, the academic advantage for Catholic-school students has been growing over ...
Get the inside scoop on what's going on under the Capitol dome
Three Big Issues to Watch as 2025 Legislative Session Draws to Close
Assembly Bill 84: Yet Another Attack on California Charter Schools Ever since charter school supporter Gov. Jerry Brown left office in 2019, charter schools have been under attack in Sacramento. The latest attack is Assembly Bill 84 (Muratsuchi), which would – if enacted – would impose huge new restrictions that ...
After reforms, Casitas quietly are reshaping California’s cities
After reforms, Casitas quietly are reshaping California’s cities By John Seiler | August 22, 2025 Although I now live in Irvine, a highly planned community, I weekly drive to Huntington Beach. For most of the 38 years since I came to California, I lived near the power plant now called ...
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Here Come the Democratic Socialists
Although democratic socialism is a fringe position at one extreme of the political spectrum, voters in the country’s two largest cities have been open to electing its proponents. Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City in July and Los Angeles has four democratic socialists on ...
Never Gonna Give You Up: Will High-Speed Rail Ever Be Scrapped?
Critics say the troubled project should be abandoned. They correctly point out that incurring sunk costs is a better outcome than continuing to spend tens of billions on a dream that is unlikely to be completed, and if it is, won’t be anything like the modern system promised to voters ...
California’s Counterproductive Approach to Reducing GHG Emissions
California’s Counterproductive Approach to Reducing GHG Emissions by Wayne Winegarden | August 19, 2025 The state of California, along with a host of other cities and municipalities, is suing American energy companies. The lawsuit alleges that these private U.S. companies misled the public about greenhouse gases’ impact on the climate ...
