Stanford prof and Hoover Institution fellow Thomas Dee filed a brief as part of a 2020 lawsuit that analyzes how California's school closures hurt vulnerable student groups. But the State's Dept of Education claims—perhaps unconstitutionally—that Dee can't use public data to litigate against them. The Free Beacon reports.
Read MoreAs CA'n leaders continue huckstering absurd and altogether backwards approaches to criminal justice (namely, that hamstringing our police depts will reduce crime), frustrated residents and businesses are speaking out. According to Newsweek, it's getting harder for locals to ignore the State's surging violent and property crime—though Supe Ellenberg insists our problem is we're jailing too many people.
Read MoreAlong with local NAACP chapter president Cynthia Adams, Oakland's Bishop Bob Jackson wrote a letter demanding city gov't step up and end its raging crime epidemic. In the Daily Mail, Jackson reiterates: Despite Oakland DA Price's attacks, he'll keep advocating for consistent community policing—though defund activists want to “demonize” and estrange officers.
Read MoreBloomberg reports that since the Twin Cities took an axe to single-family zoning, housing construction has surged while keeping rent prices affordable. However, a concurrent rent control policy has halted—by making financially untenable—certain projects.
Read MoreIt's no secret that Bay Area residents are rapidly transitioning away from BART: overruled by anarchy, inefficiency, and ballooning expenses wreaking havoc on the foreseeable future. However, argues transit analyst Tom Rubin, it's not time to throw in the towel and abandon BART for a discrete system—for several reasons. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreSJ City votes to accede to union demands for a gold-plated contract—even without a strike. Now the big question raises its head: What gets cut to fund union demands? Pat Waite of Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility sees choppy waters ahead. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreIn an open letter to Gov. Newsom and SF's mayor and city supervisors, 165-year-old luxury retailer Gump's criticizes “failed public policies” that encourage public drug use, sidewalk encampments, and behaviors like harassment and property damage. The Globe reports on Gump's' plea for sensible, well-enforced anti-crime ordinances.
Read MoreWhen repatriation activists took offense to Dr. Elizabeth Weiss' tweet in 2021, the San Jose State professor was punished and publicly lambasted by her university. Here, Weiss analyzes SJSU president Teniente-Matson's troubling plan to shift objectives towards “inclusion” and combating “discrimination”—i.e., unwanted free thought. From the Martin Center.
Read MorePol leaders push generalized environmental mandates (see the Bay Area's ban on natural gas water heaters), but many ignore how rich liberal white enclaves are polluting specific minority communities—and have been for decades. AfroLA's analysis below of SoCal and how local freeway infrastructure, which disproportionately hurts non-white residents, needs to level up.
Read MoreSupervisor Ellenberg and other decarceration advocates might want to spend some time with Rafael A. Mangual's 2022 book Criminal (In)Justice, as it offers acute critiques of the jailbreak policies floated by some fringe local politicos. A collection of comments on Mangual's book, below.
Read MoreThe Manhattan Institute's Judge Glock takes on the central claim of Housing First for the WSJ, explaining that government-sponsored permanent housing—often without sobriety or behavioral standards—can't solve homelessness. In fact, this plan of action only amplifies homeless numbers and attracts out-of-area folks who have drug addictions, as observed in SF.
Read MoreCalifornia public transit expert Tom Rubin tackles, point by point, why planned BART extensions to DTSJ and Eastridge may be technically possible but won't deliver on key promises. An Opp Now exclusive.
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