Dan Richard vs. CWD over bullet train, via James Fallows

Wait, there’s still more from the suddenly feverish debate over the bullet train. The head of California High-Speed Rail Authority takes on my July 11 CWD post knocking Jim Fallows for his support of the project point by point.

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Six Californias?

Today entrepreneur Tim Draper is submitting signatures to put his Six Californias idea onto the 2016 ballot. That will give him two more years to sell his idea that the state — which by then will be crammed with 40 million

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LA and SF dogfight over transport visions

In San Francisco, a bus project over a decade in the making finally receives its massive environmental impact report. In Los Angeles, the mayor announces his first executive directive, launching a “Great Streets” program. It’s a tale of two cities

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Fallows cites CWD critique of his bullet-train stand

The Atlantic’s James Fallows, to his credit, followed up on his post last week touting the California bullet train project with another post acknowledging the strong push-back he had received. His respectful, straightforward tone was far different than the norm

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Dems back Prop. 45 medical insurance price controls

The Democratic Party just backed Proposition 45, which would give the state insurance commissioner vast new powers to regulate medical insurance rates. According to the Bee, the initiative pits “trial lawyers and consumer groups against doctors and hospital groups.” According to

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Judge rules smelt can’t stop water sales

  On June 13, a coalition of sports fishermen and Northern California groundwater users sued to stop water sales to the parched Central Valley. They contended conveying water through the Delta would kill Delta Smelt fish. But that didn’t convince

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CA law promoting school choice, competition barely used

Advocates of education choice in California have been fighting the good fight for decades. They’ve gotten nowhere with school vouchers but have a strong record with charters — albeit a record that requires a constant struggle to defend against the

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Backdrop to CalPERS’ many debacles: Agency thinks it’s great

The giant California Public Employees’ Retirement System, as one might suspect from its massive and self-important Sacramento headquarters, thinks it is the bomb — a flawless organization that should inspire awe in onlookers. Yes, of course, the phenomenon of government

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Berkeley: Poor have right to free pot

This sounds like a Cheech and Chong routine. The People’s Republic of Berkeley has mandated that medical-marijuana dispensaries must give free pot to poor people. As marijuana is legalized in more places, that likely will spread across the country. In

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