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Initiative would revive redevelopment agencies
If it were a movie, it might be called “Revenge of the JEDI: the Redevelopment Empire Strikes Back.” It’s the California Jobs and Education Development Initiative (JEDI), which would enable the revival of the 425 redevelopment agencies eliminated in
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CalSTRS unfunded liability hits new high
The California State Teachers’ Retirement System just announced it faces $73.7 billion in long-term liabilities. Left untouched, that would spell bankruptcy in 2043. For critics of California’s public-employee pensions programs, the grim numbers heighten the urgency for reform. If CalSTRS wants
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Video: Teacher challenges teachers’ unions
CalWatchDog.com Editor-in-Chief Brian Calle interviewed Rebecca Friedrichs, a 25-year Orange County school teacher. She is tired of the California Teachers’ Association and its parent union, the National Education Association, taking her money without her consent for their political agenda. She’s
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“Captain America” sequel: The first libertarian popcorn movie
The stars and heroes of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” may be government employees, but the messages of the movie amount to entry-level libertarian thinking — messages with massive resonance for current policy and political debates. Among them: 1) Don’t
Read MoreColbert rips Common Core
Stephen Colbert plays a “conservative” on Comedy Central. When he takes over the the “Late Show” from David Letterman next year, Colbert supposedly will reveal his inner liberal self. We’ll see. In the meantime, Colbert just attacked President Obama’s “Common
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Silicon Valley and Bakersfield Oil Patch lead CA jobs recovery
What cities can California look to for jobs growth to pull it out of its laggard growth since the 2008 economic recession? A new online economic tracking tool called Metro Monitor by the Brookings Institution ranks metropolitan areas in the
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Subsidize opera?
I think everything should be privatized. But as the April 15 Day of Tax Doom approaches, if I’m going to be taxed to death, it might as well be for something useful, such as opera. The San Diego Opera is
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Why CA has an affordable housing crisis
What a long strange trip it’s been for the Pebble Beach Company since it unveiled its Del Monte Forest development plan all the way back in 1987. In the ensuing 27 years, PBC has revised its plan innumerable times only
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What IS going on in CA schools?
California’s government school students score among the lowest on national tests. Now this: Uproar over classroom scuffle reflects a profession under siege Groundswell of support for teacher who wrestled disruptive student to the floor shows the public is fed up
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Puerto Rico experiments with tax cuts
California is experimenting with high taxes. Seventeen months after voters passed Proposition 30, which raised taxes $7 billion a year, California’s unemployment rate remains high at 8 percent, fourth worst in the country. While the government got the taxes to
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