The recriminations have already begun in the Labor/Left media and advocate community. So who’s to blame for their disappointing showing in the mayoral and District 7 race? It’s not the candidates, their campaigns, or their policies, of course. It’s—take a deep breath—People Who Didn’t Vote. The Opp Now team unpacks the false nature of the low-turnout myth. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreJohn Inks—former Mountain View mayor, termed-out councilmember, and longtime Libertarian—analyzes local governments’ plans for construction and development projects. While praising these plans’ comprehensiveness, Inks suggests that too-stringent courses of action constrain owners’ crucial decisions about their own projects. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreThe Opp Now team spoke with educational expert Michael Alexander to parse unsettling recent news: The Bay’s public schools are sliding behind local privates in statewide rankings. Alexander finds COVID-19 mandates to blame for local public institutions’ bad break — not declining school quality. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreIn a recent e-mailer, the Libertarian Party of SCC argues that education-centric bonds (e.g., the measures proposed in Los Gatos/Campbell school districts) are inefficient, unproductive, and distract attention from the real priority: empowering parents to make cogent decisions “as they see fit.” The LPSCC’s take on bonds, public education, and government overreach follows.
Read MoreSan Francisco is just one Bay Area city facing urgent crime, homelessness, and drug crises. The NY Post’s Leighton Woodhouse argues that by decriminalizing the use of illicit substances, Woke SF governance inadvertently encourages addiction and criminal behavior.
Read MoreThe East Bay Times’ Katie Lauer examines California’s pension liability dashboard, in which San Jose is CA’s 2nd worst in funding for existing arrears. Boasting $9.5 billion in accrued pension debt (only $3.6 billion of which is funded), SJ’s economy may face a “looming crisis” barring intervention, says Lauer.
Read MoreSwanee Edwards recently left the local Dem Party after the controversy surrounding her endorsement of nonpartisan County Supe candidate Johnny Khamis. Here, Edwards unpacks the Gilroy City Council’s “dysfunctional” ways of operating, and how oversensitive political correctness is destroying local politics. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreThe latest chapter of Opp Now’s favorite political book series features regular contributors California Policy Center VP Jackson Reese and Institute for Public Policy Director at William Jessup University (Rocklin) Pete Constant. Below, Reese and Constant recommend “sensible,” pragmatic, field-friendly reads in economics and politics. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreWhile the homeschool option continues booming across the nation (propagated by various states’ deregulation efforts), local advocates question how lenient is too lenient when it comes to educating the next generation. RealClearInvestigations’ Vince Bielski examines critics’ concerns about how to honor parents’ freedom and states’ obligations.
Read MoreReason’s J.D. Tuccille discusses California’s AB 257 (chaptered in early Sept.) and its promises to champion local workers through a statewide Fast Food Council. As extant minimum wage directives have exemplified, mandating restaurants’ working conditions may harm business, workers, and customers alike.
Read MoreThe Daily Signal’s Arjun Singh analyzes California’s unprecedented decrease in number/value of initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2022. Though Gov. Newsom has praised so-called surpluses, Singh points out that less corporate activity (due to domestic migration) actually constrains CA’s tax revenue — and, ergo, public services.
Read MoreRefuting Gov. Newsom’s assertion that Golden State students performed better than most of the nation from 2019–2022, the California Globe’s Katy Grimes breaks down why recent educational assessment data isn’t all that impressive: Test scores were already at a low ebb in 2019, so pandemic shutdowns didn’t tremendously worsen them. Covid may not be to blame for CA’s “F”-graded policies, suggests Grimes.
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