Blog
Spending Watch
Legislators Did Not Relieve California’s Energy Poverty Problem
Legislators Did Not Relieve California’s Energy Poverty Problem Wayne Winegarden September 2025 The legislative year is over and there is lots to be concerned about. Paramount among these concerns, the legislature passed several bills that will worsen the state’s energy affordability problems. Perhaps most disappointing, though not unexpected, legislators passed ...
Blog
YIMBYs win political victories, but where are the new houses?
Gov. Gavin Newsom even held up passage of the state budget until lawmakers approved two reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Assembly Bill 130 exempts a broader number of environmentally friendly infill housing projects from CEQA. Senate Bill 131 exempts nine types of projects from CEQA. These include ...
Agriculture
New World Screwworms arrive in the U.S. Now what?
Given the global environment we live and work in today, New World Screwworms have always been a threat to the U.S. cattle herd. The confirmation of New World Screwworms being found in a person in Maryland who had traveled from Guatemala should put livestock raisers on alert. Complacency in a ...
Blog
Fact Checking The Governor on Manufacturing
While announcing last month the state’s Regional Investment Initiative “to fund ready-to-go projects,” Newsom’s office declared that “California is the nation’s top state for” a number of economic sectors, including manufacturing. It’s a recurring message from the governor’s press team. It is true that California has the most manufacturing jobs in the country. Federal data ...
Blog
Mayor Daniel Lurie slashes red tape in San Francisco
Mayor Daniel Lurie slashes red tape in San Francisco By Sal Rodriguez | September 15, 2025 Since taking office in January, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has made streamlining his city’s notoriously challenging regulatory processes a top priority. In February, Lurie established PermitSF, a multi-agency effort tasked with speeding up ...
Blog
Je suis Charlie
On Wednesday, September 10, Charlie Kirk went to Utah and was killed. He went there to visit the campus of Utah Valley University (UVU) as part of his role as president of Turning Point USA – a conservative student organization he founded that boasts over 800 chapters and tens of ...
Blog
The Gordon Chang Report–China’s Car Industry Slams Into the World
READ THE PDF China’s Car Industry Slams Into the World BYD Co., the world’s largest maker of electric vehicles, reported that sales in August increased 0.2% from the same month last year. That rate was down from July’s year-on-year increase of 0.6% and the 12.0% jump in June. The company’s ...
Blog
Los Angeles Faces an Olympian Task
The city and county of Los Angeles have struggled to jump-start home and business reconstructions eight months after wildfires destroyed Pacific Palisades and Altadena, with only 17 permits issued for the Palisades and fewer than 300 for all the affected areas combined. State and local officials have waived myriad building ...
Agriculture
Wage regulation roll back is a step in the right direction for the H-2A program
The Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) is the de facto minimum wage for H-2A workers in the United States. It is set annually and differs from state-to-state depending upon the prevailing wage of the local agricultural workforce. Because all H-2A workers are in the United States temporarily to work in ...
Blog
Read the latest on California's cruelest law - Assembly Bill 5
As Legislature Does Nothing, Manicurists Become Latest Victim of AB 5
Assembly Bill 5 has no redeeming value and has caused innumerable headaches and hassles. By outlawing independent contract work, the 2019 law destroyed livelihoods and caused many to reroute their lives. A flood of complaints forced lawmakers to create exemptions for some professions and trades. One of those carve-outs, for ...
Spending Watch
Legislators Did Not Relieve California’s Energy Poverty Problem
Legislators Did Not Relieve California’s Energy Poverty Problem Wayne Winegarden September 2025 The legislative year is over and there is lots to be concerned about. Paramount among these concerns, the legislature passed several bills that will worsen the state’s energy affordability problems. Perhaps most disappointing, though not unexpected, legislators passed ...
YIMBYs win political victories, but where are the new houses?
Gov. Gavin Newsom even held up passage of the state budget until lawmakers approved two reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Assembly Bill 130 exempts a broader number of environmentally friendly infill housing projects from CEQA. Senate Bill 131 exempts nine types of projects from CEQA. These include ...
New World Screwworms arrive in the U.S. Now what?
Given the global environment we live and work in today, New World Screwworms have always been a threat to the U.S. cattle herd. The confirmation of New World Screwworms being found in a person in Maryland who had traveled from Guatemala should put livestock raisers on alert. Complacency in a ...
Fact Checking The Governor on Manufacturing
While announcing last month the state’s Regional Investment Initiative “to fund ready-to-go projects,” Newsom’s office declared that “California is the nation’s top state for” a number of economic sectors, including manufacturing. It’s a recurring message from the governor’s press team. It is true that California has the most manufacturing jobs in the country. Federal data ...
Mayor Daniel Lurie slashes red tape in San Francisco
Mayor Daniel Lurie slashes red tape in San Francisco By Sal Rodriguez | September 15, 2025 Since taking office in January, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has made streamlining his city’s notoriously challenging regulatory processes a top priority. In February, Lurie established PermitSF, a multi-agency effort tasked with speeding up ...
Je suis Charlie
On Wednesday, September 10, Charlie Kirk went to Utah and was killed. He went there to visit the campus of Utah Valley University (UVU) as part of his role as president of Turning Point USA – a conservative student organization he founded that boasts over 800 chapters and tens of ...
The Gordon Chang Report–China’s Car Industry Slams Into the World
READ THE PDF China’s Car Industry Slams Into the World BYD Co., the world’s largest maker of electric vehicles, reported that sales in August increased 0.2% from the same month last year. That rate was down from July’s year-on-year increase of 0.6% and the 12.0% jump in June. The company’s ...
Los Angeles Faces an Olympian Task
The city and county of Los Angeles have struggled to jump-start home and business reconstructions eight months after wildfires destroyed Pacific Palisades and Altadena, with only 17 permits issued for the Palisades and fewer than 300 for all the affected areas combined. State and local officials have waived myriad building ...
Wage regulation roll back is a step in the right direction for the H-2A program
The Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) is the de facto minimum wage for H-2A workers in the United States. It is set annually and differs from state-to-state depending upon the prevailing wage of the local agricultural workforce. Because all H-2A workers are in the United States temporarily to work in ...
Read the latest on California's cruelest law - Assembly Bill 5
As Legislature Does Nothing, Manicurists Become Latest Victim of AB 5
Assembly Bill 5 has no redeeming value and has caused innumerable headaches and hassles. By outlawing independent contract work, the 2019 law destroyed livelihoods and caused many to reroute their lives. A flood of complaints forced lawmakers to create exemptions for some professions and trades. One of those carve-outs, for ...
