Blog
Halloween candy is putting the trick in treats this year
Not even the sweetest night of the year is immune to inflation. According to the Federal Reserve Bank, the cost of Halloween candy has outpaced overall inflation in the United States by more than double between 2025 and 2026. The 7.7 percent cost increase for the spookiest night of the ...
Blog
California’s 10 biggest cities are lagging state housing goals
California’s 10 biggest cities are lagging state housing goals By John Seiler | October 30, 2026 California has spent more than a decade trying to solve its housing shortage. In 2024 alone, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed more than 60 housing laws. In 2025 it was more than 50. And, for ...
Blog
Another Bite At The Rotten Apple Of Publicly Financed Political Campaigns
Financing candidates’ campaigns with public dollars has been largely prohibited in California since 1988, when voters enacted a ban by passing Proposition 73. Prop. 73 also placed restrictions on incumbent officeholders’ use of tax money to send newsletters and mass mailings, which the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office said at the ...
Blog
With $178 in General Fund, Hollister Becomes California’s Fiscal Mismanagement Capital
When I was a kid, my grandparents retired not to Miami or Palm Springs as many retirees do – rather, but rather the city of Hollister, about 45 minutes of San José. Known as the unofficial “earthquake capital of the world,” the home of the famous Casa de Fruta fruit ...
Blog
Los Angeles public school parents are sending a clear message. Is the district listening?
A recent poll shows the district receiving largely positive marks from local parents despite their widespread dissatisfaction with the direction of the state and city. But the same poll shows the district might not know how to leave well enough alone by pushing forward with broad restrictions on classroom technology. ...
Blog
RIPA, Race, Policing, and the Numbers We Choose to See
Consider RIPA, the Racial and Identity Profiling Board. In 2024, 533 agencies reported 5,065,428 encounters featuring 75 data points ranging from why encounters begin, whether they result from calls for service, what officers do, whether they search someone and what happens afterward. In all, 405 million pieces of information are ...
Blog
Will voters continue to subsidize transit’s death spiral in 2026?
Will voters continue to subsidize transit’s death spiral in 2026? By D. Dowd Muska | October 23, 2026 On Election Day, transit enthusiasts will direct their attention to greater San Francisco. There, five counties will decide whether to hike their sales taxes to bail out rail, bus and ferry services ...
Blog
Why is the California government so lousy at battling wildfires?
My recent trip to Malibu from LAX was my first post-wildfire drive through the Pacific Palisades and, my goodness, there’s nothing like seeing something with one’s own eyes to grasp the enormity of the devastation. The obliterated hulks along Pacific Coast Highway 21 months after the tragedy raises multiple issues, ...
Blog
California’s Bad Student Test Scores and Newsom’s Deceitful Edu-Ganda
The state administers its California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CASPP) annually to students in grades 3-8 and grade 11. There are four performance levels on the exam—advanced, proficient, developing, and minimal. For a student to meet grade-level standards, he or she must score at either the advanced or ...
Blog
California Has Taken A Wrong Turn — Will It Ever Get Back On Track?
Long before it was even a state, California was the destination for the hard working, the enterprising, the free thinking, the dynamic dreamers who have left their marks in countless positive and useful ways. It was always moving in the right direction, ever upward. But as 2026 winds down, Californians ...
Halloween candy is putting the trick in treats this year
Not even the sweetest night of the year is immune to inflation. According to the Federal Reserve Bank, the cost of Halloween candy has outpaced overall inflation in the United States by more than double between 2025 and 2026. The 7.7 percent cost increase for the spookiest night of the ...
California’s 10 biggest cities are lagging state housing goals
California’s 10 biggest cities are lagging state housing goals By John Seiler | October 30, 2026 California has spent more than a decade trying to solve its housing shortage. In 2024 alone, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed more than 60 housing laws. In 2025 it was more than 50. And, for ...
Another Bite At The Rotten Apple Of Publicly Financed Political Campaigns
Financing candidates’ campaigns with public dollars has been largely prohibited in California since 1988, when voters enacted a ban by passing Proposition 73. Prop. 73 also placed restrictions on incumbent officeholders’ use of tax money to send newsletters and mass mailings, which the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office said at the ...
With $178 in General Fund, Hollister Becomes California’s Fiscal Mismanagement Capital
When I was a kid, my grandparents retired not to Miami or Palm Springs as many retirees do – rather, but rather the city of Hollister, about 45 minutes of San José. Known as the unofficial “earthquake capital of the world,” the home of the famous Casa de Fruta fruit ...
Los Angeles public school parents are sending a clear message. Is the district listening?
A recent poll shows the district receiving largely positive marks from local parents despite their widespread dissatisfaction with the direction of the state and city. But the same poll shows the district might not know how to leave well enough alone by pushing forward with broad restrictions on classroom technology. ...
RIPA, Race, Policing, and the Numbers We Choose to See
Consider RIPA, the Racial and Identity Profiling Board. In 2024, 533 agencies reported 5,065,428 encounters featuring 75 data points ranging from why encounters begin, whether they result from calls for service, what officers do, whether they search someone and what happens afterward. In all, 405 million pieces of information are ...
Will voters continue to subsidize transit’s death spiral in 2026?
Will voters continue to subsidize transit’s death spiral in 2026? By D. Dowd Muska | October 23, 2026 On Election Day, transit enthusiasts will direct their attention to greater San Francisco. There, five counties will decide whether to hike their sales taxes to bail out rail, bus and ferry services ...
Why is the California government so lousy at battling wildfires?
My recent trip to Malibu from LAX was my first post-wildfire drive through the Pacific Palisades and, my goodness, there’s nothing like seeing something with one’s own eyes to grasp the enormity of the devastation. The obliterated hulks along Pacific Coast Highway 21 months after the tragedy raises multiple issues, ...
California’s Bad Student Test Scores and Newsom’s Deceitful Edu-Ganda
The state administers its California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CASPP) annually to students in grades 3-8 and grade 11. There are four performance levels on the exam—advanced, proficient, developing, and minimal. For a student to meet grade-level standards, he or she must score at either the advanced or ...
California Has Taken A Wrong Turn — Will It Ever Get Back On Track?
Long before it was even a state, California was the destination for the hard working, the enterprising, the free thinking, the dynamic dreamers who have left their marks in countless positive and useful ways. It was always moving in the right direction, ever upward. But as 2026 winds down, Californians ...