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How Are We Going to Build New Transmission Lines for Renewable Energy Transition?

The ​​California Independent System Operator recently released its 2022-23 transmission plan, in which it outlines “new transmission infrastructure needed to reliably and efficiently meet California’s clean-energy objectives over the next decade.” It “identifies additional transmission and resource capacity” and “recommends 46 transmission projects costing an estimated $9.3 billion.” “But getting ...
Blog

Charters Shortchanged Despite State Funding Increases

L.A. Charter Schools Receive Less Funding Than Regular Public Schools

While Governor Gavin Newsom has touted how he has increased state education funding during his tenure, charter schools have seen less funding compared to regular public schools, with the gap widening in places like Los Angeles. A new study by the University of Arkansas analyzes the funding disparity between charter ...
Blog

Read about latest Sacramento overspending

State Budget Update: Lawmakers Propose ‘Old Fashioned Tax and Spend Budget’

With the turning of the page on the calendar to May comes the anticipated arrival of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s “May Revise” budget plan, which should be released around May 10. The May Revise is the governor’s updated budget plan taking into account the state’s latest economic forecasts and cash receipts.  ...
Blog

Newsom’s housing bonds: Another failed-policy redux

According to the governor’s announcement, among other things the initiative would, “Amend the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), leading to at least $1 billion every year in local assistance for housing and residential services for people experiencing mental illness and substance use disorders, and allowing MHSA funds to serve people with ...
Blog

Get a Preview of Upcoming Study

Population trends prove people prefer pro-growth cities

The movement away from large cities is not universal, however. People may be leaving Los Angeles, but they are moving to Fort Worth, Atlanta and Las Vegas. Figure 1 presents the diverse five-year percentage change in population for the 50 largest cities in the United States. The vast differences in ...
Agriculture

Read the latest on animal rights extremism

Animal rights activism is not about the animals

The activists claimed the chickens were suffering from neglect and in need of “rescue.” However, they did not call animal control authorities or anyone else, they simply plucked the chickens off the farm and left. Quite simply they stole the chickens. Livestock – even those raised on a farm paid ...
Blog

U.S. Progressives Would Be Wise to Learn from Europe’s Shift Away from Socialism

The political progressives in the U.S. look to Europe for much if not most of their policy ideas. Be more like the Europeans, they say, adopt their welfare state models and their green energy programs, push the masses into cramped housing and set taxes and regulation so that they consume ...
Blog

SCOTUS Harvard-UNC Case: Higher Ed’s Discrimination Against Asians

On March 28, 2023, Lance Izumi delivered the following address as part of a National Association of Scholars panel that discussed discrimination against Asian Americans in higher education. Let me start by saying that we often hear that underrepresented minorities face a systemic problem in education.   However, that systemic ...
Blog

Free Markets Fuel Outdoor Dining

Cities should maintain flexible outdoor dining programs

One of the few silver linings of the coronavirus pandemic was that governments were forced to think outside-of-the-box in order to make things happen. In the early months of the pandemic, local governments across the country loosened regulations to allow restaurants and bars to serve customers outdoors. They made it ...
Blog

Government health care hurts minority communities

Racial health gap is about government, not race

Black Americans continue to lag behind their peers of other races on numerous measures of health, from life expectancy to prevalence of chronic disease. Progressives take these data points as proof of systemic racism. The only antidote is more government: higher subsidies for insurance through Obamacare’s exchanges, Medicaid expansion, even ...
Blog

How Are We Going to Build New Transmission Lines for Renewable Energy Transition?

The ​​California Independent System Operator recently released its 2022-23 transmission plan, in which it outlines “new transmission infrastructure needed to reliably and efficiently meet California’s clean-energy objectives over the next decade.” It “identifies additional transmission and resource capacity” and “recommends 46 transmission projects costing an estimated $9.3 billion.” “But getting ...
Blog

Charters Shortchanged Despite State Funding Increases

L.A. Charter Schools Receive Less Funding Than Regular Public Schools

While Governor Gavin Newsom has touted how he has increased state education funding during his tenure, charter schools have seen less funding compared to regular public schools, with the gap widening in places like Los Angeles. A new study by the University of Arkansas analyzes the funding disparity between charter ...
Blog

Read about latest Sacramento overspending

State Budget Update: Lawmakers Propose ‘Old Fashioned Tax and Spend Budget’

With the turning of the page on the calendar to May comes the anticipated arrival of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s “May Revise” budget plan, which should be released around May 10. The May Revise is the governor’s updated budget plan taking into account the state’s latest economic forecasts and cash receipts.  ...
Blog

Newsom’s housing bonds: Another failed-policy redux

According to the governor’s announcement, among other things the initiative would, “Amend the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), leading to at least $1 billion every year in local assistance for housing and residential services for people experiencing mental illness and substance use disorders, and allowing MHSA funds to serve people with ...
Blog

Get a Preview of Upcoming Study

Population trends prove people prefer pro-growth cities

The movement away from large cities is not universal, however. People may be leaving Los Angeles, but they are moving to Fort Worth, Atlanta and Las Vegas. Figure 1 presents the diverse five-year percentage change in population for the 50 largest cities in the United States. The vast differences in ...
Agriculture

Read the latest on animal rights extremism

Animal rights activism is not about the animals

The activists claimed the chickens were suffering from neglect and in need of “rescue.” However, they did not call animal control authorities or anyone else, they simply plucked the chickens off the farm and left. Quite simply they stole the chickens. Livestock – even those raised on a farm paid ...
Blog

U.S. Progressives Would Be Wise to Learn from Europe’s Shift Away from Socialism

The political progressives in the U.S. look to Europe for much if not most of their policy ideas. Be more like the Europeans, they say, adopt their welfare state models and their green energy programs, push the masses into cramped housing and set taxes and regulation so that they consume ...
Blog

SCOTUS Harvard-UNC Case: Higher Ed’s Discrimination Against Asians

On March 28, 2023, Lance Izumi delivered the following address as part of a National Association of Scholars panel that discussed discrimination against Asian Americans in higher education. Let me start by saying that we often hear that underrepresented minorities face a systemic problem in education.   However, that systemic ...
Blog

Free Markets Fuel Outdoor Dining

Cities should maintain flexible outdoor dining programs

One of the few silver linings of the coronavirus pandemic was that governments were forced to think outside-of-the-box in order to make things happen. In the early months of the pandemic, local governments across the country loosened regulations to allow restaurants and bars to serve customers outdoors. They made it ...
Blog

Government health care hurts minority communities

Racial health gap is about government, not race

Black Americans continue to lag behind their peers of other races on numerous measures of health, from life expectancy to prevalence of chronic disease. Progressives take these data points as proof of systemic racism. The only antidote is more government: higher subsidies for insurance through Obamacare’s exchanges, Medicaid expansion, even ...
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