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A look at CA’s mixed-bag teacher firing reform
In some respects, it’s now easier to fire teachers in California. In others, it’s more complicated. That’s the verdict on AB 215, the version of several different firing reform bills that cleared the Legislature and received Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature
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Speed promises for bullet train? CA says ‘never mind’
In 2008, California voters narrowly approved $9.95 billion in funds for a statewide high-speed rail network. When they voted for Proposition 1A, they didn’t think there was much doubt about what they were getting — a “safe, reliable, high-speed passenger
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Port of San Diego turns permit process into profit center
The Port of San Diego is breaking crazy new ground. The agency — which has 500-plus employees and a $97 million annual budget to oversee maritime cargo and cruise ship facilities in a coastal area covering San Diego and four smaller
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CA, feds struggle with — and spar over — pot regulation
As California muddles ahead with its disorganized decriminalization of marijuana, local and federal lawmakers are adopting distinctly different approaches to the prospect of pot-related crime. City councils are apt to worry about different kinds of drug crime than Congress. But the
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Parallels between Australia, Assembly AB 32 revolt are obvious
One of the most universal findings in the social sciences has been the uniform way that humans at all stages of history have been for something that they think reflects well on them until they perceive that it costs them
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Richmond pols continue posturing on underwater mortgages
A majority of the Richmond City Council still wants to use eminent domain powers to to seize “underwater mortgages” even though the bond market refused to sell $34 million in municipal bonds for the city last year due to Richmond
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CA fossil-fuel foes want to ban more than just fracking
California foes of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, have been surprised and disappointed at their inability to get Gov. Jerry Brown or the Legislature to ban the practice. Brown’s support for a law regulating but permitting the newly improved drilling technique
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FTB spends 5 years, fails to collect $392
California’s Franchise Tax Board spent thousands of dollars over five years in the futile pursuit of a Redondo Beach septuagenarian for $392. For more than half of that time, FTB staff lost the taxpayer’s records and didn’t inform him
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Board chair’s upbeat take on bullet train at sharp odds with MSM
When James Fallows of The Atlantic came out last week in strong support of the California high-speed rail project, I responded with an unnecessarily snarky piece — sorry, James — headlined “7 ways James Fallows is wrong about the CA bullet
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Controller 2014: 7 reasons why John Perez should quit while he’s behind
The “sunk cost fallacy” — a self-destructive quirk of human behavior — explains why we persist in losing. We hold onto loser stocks, attend concerts we’d rather skip and demand recounts of decided elections. The sunk cost fallacy is alive and
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