Steven Greenhut points out in the OC Register that the Golden State’s ever-present water scarcity epidemic is not lamentably inevitable, as local pols speculate. Instead, by further developing and utilizing water-storage facilities (along with desalination), we can make the most of CA’s precious rainwater. Greenhut’s breakdown excerpted below.

The Frasier Institute’s Niels Veldhuis and Sylvia LeRoy explain that, historically, mandating an increased minimum wage—as SJ advocates are suggesting, citing housing unaffordability—doesn’t benefit poor people. Instead, minimum wage spikes force local businesses to cut employees (or hours, benefits, etc.), thereby making the job hunt more challenging.

California’s billionaire population may be threatened if controversial new bill AB 2289 passes, argues the Daily Breeze’s editorial board. SJ Assemblymember Alex Lee has proposed a “wealth tax” on residents’ total assets — which might prove the last straw for billionaires to U-Haul it to Texas or Florida. The analysis (excerpted) follows.

Echoing prevailing arguments from Bay Area housing experts, economist Bryan Caplan explains in Reason why housing deregulation will open up working-class jobs — much more progressively than, for instance, factitiously adding factory positions. For further innovation, for a competitive free market, Caplan calls for local policy reform.

While oil production is down in the Golden State, our need for oil (and excessive taxes/regulations on production) is not — so is it surprising that residents pay a pretty penny for imported power? The Heartland Institute’s energy advisor Ronald Stein breaks down our “self-inflicted” energy crisis, excerpted here.

Policy analyst Marc Joffe takes to the California Globe to examine the SF Bay Area Rapid Transit’s current extension project (which will connect tracks to downtown SJ). While costing a whopping $9.4 billion, the BART endeavor is far from needed in a highly remote post-Covid Bay Area, and is expected only to “post modest ridership numbers.”

Retired judicial staff attorney Ted Stroll ran for AD 25 this November. He reflects in the California Globe on how local media outlets refused to respond to his requests to share his platform (in particular, Treatment First for unhoused SJ residents). Despite this acute media partisanship he observed, Stroll is hopeful that he stimulated productive conversation and relationships—and “may run again.”

Educator–storyteller Karen Golden founded and has directed Creative Learning Place, a Los Angeles-based homeschool learning center, since 2009 — which has served over 800 K–12 students. She sits down with Opp Now for an exclusive analysis of CA’s homeschool charter (HSC) laws: why they’re growing constrictive, and how local homeschooling families are adversely affected.

Unsubstantiated accusations, belligerent Trumpian campaign tactics, turning a blind eye to actual concerns. To sum up the last election cycle with “polarized” feels like an understatement — and, for San Joseans, nothing new. Dan Walters in CalMatters unpacks the recent phenomenon of increasing extremism in both Parties: While the Left and Right aggressively plow further in their respective directions, a common-sense, collaborative middle ground has dwindled.