Blog
BOOK EXCERPT Urban Policy Beyond the Nation’s Big Metros: Smaller-City Case Studies from California, Washington and Michigan
It’s easy to think that urban policy is solely about big cities and their surrounding suburbs, much in the way that one would naturally believe that farm policy is solely about farm regions. A quick perusal of the statistics suggests that America is indeed an urban nation despite its vast ...
Blog
Newsom has failed on homelessness, and it shouldn’t be hard so hard to spot.
“I’m a notoriously tough grader, but I would probably give him a B,” said former Congresswoman Katie Porter, who is also a professor at UC Irvine. “I don’t think this has been an easy problem to solve, but I give him a lot of credit for calling attention to the ...
Blog
Where Americans ride transit
A close look, however, reveals that the map is deceptive in two ways. First, it is based on pre-pandemic data. The map includes Ann Arbor, Mich.; Baltimore; Champaign, Ill.; Pittsburgh; Portland; and State College, Pa., in the 5-10% category, but none of these areas qualify today. Second, the map ...
Blog
Don’t blame Big Oil for California’s failed insurance system
Don’t blame Big Oil for California’s failed insurance system by Steven Greenhut | April 30, 2026 The Southern California News Group, of which I am a member, once interviewed Sen. Scott Wiener about his bill to decriminalize the use of some psychedelics. We questioned the obvious inconsistency between his anti-prohibition stance ...
Agriculture
What’s in a label?
“Free range,” “cage free,” “organic,” “non-GMO,” “hormone free,” and now “ultra processed” are all food terms that can confuse even the most astute shopper. As consumers move farther from the farm but express deeper concern about where their food comes from and how it is produced, answering those concerns becomes ...
Blog
Bay Area police oversight is in turmoil—and the real problem is inside the oversight system itself
Civilian police oversight was built on a simple premise: internal police discipline was not enough on its own. Independent civilian review would add transparency, improve accountability, and strengthen public trust. That model now exists in San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and San Jose. But its defining feature today is not success ...
Blog
America’s 250th Birthday and the Collapse of Civics Knowledge
Civics, according to education writer and longtime Los Angeles teacher Larry Sand, is “the study of what it means to be a citizen, focusing on the rights, duties, and responsibilities of community members,” and also “understanding how government functions, including citizens’ roles in voting, obeying laws, and participating in the ...
Blog
Santa Barbara needs more housing, not more decrees
Santa Barbara needs more housing, not more decrees Rent control is a bad idea politicians just can’t let go of. From Santa Monica to New York City, cities have discovered time and again that government decree is no guarantee of housing affordability. But that hasn’t stopped California cities like Pasadena, ...
Blog
Trading Road Repairs For Green Jet Fuel — Is This A Deal That Californians Want To Make?
Only one state, Alaska, has worse roads than California. Tens of billions are needed to repair the crumbling, cracking and cratered infrastructure. Nearly a decade ago, legislators passed a $52 billion bill to fix the problems. So, what is Sacramento thinking about? Moving fuel tax revenue dollars that should be used for road repair to fund a scheme to ...
Blog
Proposed $10 billion housing bond will only burden California cities
California’s housing overhaul has been so extensive — 45 bills signed last October alone by Gov. Gavin Newsom — the results won’t be clear for years. Even so, voters this November 3 may get to decide on another $10 billion in housing bonds. That’s from the Affordable Housing Bond Act ...
BOOK EXCERPT Urban Policy Beyond the Nation’s Big Metros: Smaller-City Case Studies from California, Washington and Michigan
It’s easy to think that urban policy is solely about big cities and their surrounding suburbs, much in the way that one would naturally believe that farm policy is solely about farm regions. A quick perusal of the statistics suggests that America is indeed an urban nation despite its vast ...
Newsom has failed on homelessness, and it shouldn’t be hard so hard to spot.
“I’m a notoriously tough grader, but I would probably give him a B,” said former Congresswoman Katie Porter, who is also a professor at UC Irvine. “I don’t think this has been an easy problem to solve, but I give him a lot of credit for calling attention to the ...
Where Americans ride transit
A close look, however, reveals that the map is deceptive in two ways. First, it is based on pre-pandemic data. The map includes Ann Arbor, Mich.; Baltimore; Champaign, Ill.; Pittsburgh; Portland; and State College, Pa., in the 5-10% category, but none of these areas qualify today. Second, the map ...
Don’t blame Big Oil for California’s failed insurance system
Don’t blame Big Oil for California’s failed insurance system by Steven Greenhut | April 30, 2026 The Southern California News Group, of which I am a member, once interviewed Sen. Scott Wiener about his bill to decriminalize the use of some psychedelics. We questioned the obvious inconsistency between his anti-prohibition stance ...
What’s in a label?
“Free range,” “cage free,” “organic,” “non-GMO,” “hormone free,” and now “ultra processed” are all food terms that can confuse even the most astute shopper. As consumers move farther from the farm but express deeper concern about where their food comes from and how it is produced, answering those concerns becomes ...
Bay Area police oversight is in turmoil—and the real problem is inside the oversight system itself
Civilian police oversight was built on a simple premise: internal police discipline was not enough on its own. Independent civilian review would add transparency, improve accountability, and strengthen public trust. That model now exists in San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and San Jose. But its defining feature today is not success ...
America’s 250th Birthday and the Collapse of Civics Knowledge
Civics, according to education writer and longtime Los Angeles teacher Larry Sand, is “the study of what it means to be a citizen, focusing on the rights, duties, and responsibilities of community members,” and also “understanding how government functions, including citizens’ roles in voting, obeying laws, and participating in the ...
Santa Barbara needs more housing, not more decrees
Santa Barbara needs more housing, not more decrees Rent control is a bad idea politicians just can’t let go of. From Santa Monica to New York City, cities have discovered time and again that government decree is no guarantee of housing affordability. But that hasn’t stopped California cities like Pasadena, ...
Trading Road Repairs For Green Jet Fuel — Is This A Deal That Californians Want To Make?
Only one state, Alaska, has worse roads than California. Tens of billions are needed to repair the crumbling, cracking and cratered infrastructure. Nearly a decade ago, legislators passed a $52 billion bill to fix the problems. So, what is Sacramento thinking about? Moving fuel tax revenue dollars that should be used for road repair to fund a scheme to ...
Proposed $10 billion housing bond will only burden California cities
California’s housing overhaul has been so extensive — 45 bills signed last October alone by Gov. Gavin Newsom — the results won’t be clear for years. Even so, voters this November 3 may get to decide on another $10 billion in housing bonds. That’s from the Affordable Housing Bond Act ...