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LA Mayor Karen Bass revives the ‘free transit’ debate

LA Mayor Karen Bass revives the ‘free transit’ debate By Sal Rodriguez | October 2, 2026 Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has revived the conversation about “free” public transportation.  Upon assuming the role of chair of the Los Angeles Metro Board in July, the mayor declared her intent to “develop ...
Blog

Why Karen Bass is in Big Trouble in LA Mayor’s Race

It’s been a difficult re-election campaign for Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to say the least. Now comes word that, despite holding narrow yet unimpressive leads in the primary election and public opinion polling throughout the campaign to date, Bass is now trailing Democratic socialist challenger Nithya Raman by 11 ...
Blog

Newsom Had Veterans’ Backs – For a Day – Then Signed a Law That Could Bar Some Veterans from Public Employment

On September 28, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed five bills supporting California veterans and servicemembers and had a message for those who served. “Veterans served us honorably; now it’s our honor to serve them,” Newsom declared. “California has their backs.” One day later, he signed a law that says otherwise. Assembly ...
Blog

Homeowners’ underinsurance and why it happens

In the aftermath of the 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires, thousands of homeowners learned a terrible fact that compounded their tragedy. Although they had intended to insure themselves sufficiently to rebuild, their coverage was inadequate to the need. This hidden problem was brilliantly described and analyzed in the series, “Burned,” ...
Blog

Didn’t We Just Vote on Proposition 1? Ballot Numbers Add to Confusion

This November, Californians will decide the fate of 14 different statewide ballot measures.  While it sounds exhausting, we’ve voted on more in the past – a whopping 29 in the November 1988 election and 28 in the 1990 general election. Adding to the confusion are the ballot proposition numbers themselves. ...
Blog

Why cities should convert public property to private housing

In a recent piece for Works in Progress, “a magazine of new and underrated ideas to improve the world,” Zigmund Forrest and Maxwell Tabarrok noted that since “the completion of Battery Park City in 1976, there has not been a single major urban land reclamation project in the United States.” ...
Blog

California’s home insurance market: Political trouble on the horizon

California’s long-distorted insurance market reached a level of dysfunction in 2023 that had tangible consequences for average homeowners. Following a series of costly wildfires, they struggled to find insurance, faced soaring prices and, in many cases, had no choice but to turn to the overburdened, state-created insurer of last resort, ...
Blog

As Other Crimes Decline in California, Why Do Rape Cases Remain So High?

Recently, California has had some genuinely good crime news. In 2025, violent crime declined 10.2 percent. Homicides fell from 1,666 to 1,374, robberies dropped nearly 20 percent, and property crime continued downward. But one violent crime has proved remarkably resistant to the trend.  Rape has settled into a stubborn plateau. ...
Blog

New Mexico’s ‘free’ childcare program is another costly disaster

New Mexico’s ‘free’ childcare program is another costly disaster by Paul Gessing | September 18, 2026 National media outlets which rarely report on any news from New Mexico were eager to report on the big news this past November that the Land of Enchantment had become the first state to ...
Blog

‘Inclusionary zoning’ seems designed to exclude new housing

One often-overlooked impediment to housing construction is something known as “inclusionary zoning,” which requires builders to set aside lower-income housing in order to gain a project’s approval — or pay a large fee to the local government. A July study from the University of California Irvine (UCI) finds that these ...
Blog

LA Mayor Karen Bass revives the ‘free transit’ debate

LA Mayor Karen Bass revives the ‘free transit’ debate By Sal Rodriguez | October 2, 2026 Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has revived the conversation about “free” public transportation.  Upon assuming the role of chair of the Los Angeles Metro Board in July, the mayor declared her intent to “develop ...
Blog

Why Karen Bass is in Big Trouble in LA Mayor’s Race

It’s been a difficult re-election campaign for Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to say the least. Now comes word that, despite holding narrow yet unimpressive leads in the primary election and public opinion polling throughout the campaign to date, Bass is now trailing Democratic socialist challenger Nithya Raman by 11 ...
Blog

Newsom Had Veterans’ Backs – For a Day – Then Signed a Law That Could Bar Some Veterans from Public Employment

On September 28, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed five bills supporting California veterans and servicemembers and had a message for those who served. “Veterans served us honorably; now it’s our honor to serve them,” Newsom declared. “California has their backs.” One day later, he signed a law that says otherwise. Assembly ...
Blog

Homeowners’ underinsurance and why it happens

In the aftermath of the 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires, thousands of homeowners learned a terrible fact that compounded their tragedy. Although they had intended to insure themselves sufficiently to rebuild, their coverage was inadequate to the need. This hidden problem was brilliantly described and analyzed in the series, “Burned,” ...
Blog

Didn’t We Just Vote on Proposition 1? Ballot Numbers Add to Confusion

This November, Californians will decide the fate of 14 different statewide ballot measures.  While it sounds exhausting, we’ve voted on more in the past – a whopping 29 in the November 1988 election and 28 in the 1990 general election. Adding to the confusion are the ballot proposition numbers themselves. ...
Blog

Why cities should convert public property to private housing

In a recent piece for Works in Progress, “a magazine of new and underrated ideas to improve the world,” Zigmund Forrest and Maxwell Tabarrok noted that since “the completion of Battery Park City in 1976, there has not been a single major urban land reclamation project in the United States.” ...
Blog

California’s home insurance market: Political trouble on the horizon

California’s long-distorted insurance market reached a level of dysfunction in 2023 that had tangible consequences for average homeowners. Following a series of costly wildfires, they struggled to find insurance, faced soaring prices and, in many cases, had no choice but to turn to the overburdened, state-created insurer of last resort, ...
Blog

As Other Crimes Decline in California, Why Do Rape Cases Remain So High?

Recently, California has had some genuinely good crime news. In 2025, violent crime declined 10.2 percent. Homicides fell from 1,666 to 1,374, robberies dropped nearly 20 percent, and property crime continued downward. But one violent crime has proved remarkably resistant to the trend.  Rape has settled into a stubborn plateau. ...
Blog

New Mexico’s ‘free’ childcare program is another costly disaster

New Mexico’s ‘free’ childcare program is another costly disaster by Paul Gessing | September 18, 2026 National media outlets which rarely report on any news from New Mexico were eager to report on the big news this past November that the Land of Enchantment had become the first state to ...
Blog

‘Inclusionary zoning’ seems designed to exclude new housing

One often-overlooked impediment to housing construction is something known as “inclusionary zoning,” which requires builders to set aside lower-income housing in order to gain a project’s approval — or pay a large fee to the local government. A July study from the University of California Irvine (UCI) finds that these ...
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