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Tunnel could boost high-speed rail cost
The cost of the high-speed rail project might be going above the current estimate of $68 billion. The California High-Speed Rail Authority recently announced a strategic shift to consider an alternative for its 40-mile Palmdale-to-Burbank link. Instead of the current plan
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Water fight: Now it’s four bonds
For California’s water, now it’s dueling water bonds — four of them. First bond: On Friday, Senate Republicans refurbished their own water-bond proposal, now for $8.7 billion. According to the Los Angeles Times, “Nearly a third of the money in the
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Scam exposed: UTLA wants $ for troubled students to fund 17.6% raise
When Gov. Jerry Brown signed the Local Control Funding Formula for state schools into law in the summer of 2013, it was billed as the biggest education reform in California in decades. The premise of the law — and the
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Legislature returns for last month
“No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session,” Mark Twain supposedly said. That certainly is true in California, where the last month of the legislative session, which we’re now in, always sees a frenzy
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Cell kill-switch bill moves ahead
California could soon become the second state in the nation to force so-called “kill switches” into cellphones. The technology causes equipped devices to be disabled remotely, by a figurative flip of the switch. An owner might throw the kill switch
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2 realities of $11 billion water bond
There are two realities with the current $11.1 billion water bond currently scheduled to appear on the November ballot as Proposition 43. One, the bond is too big and filled with pork. Two, even so, if it appeared on
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Prop. 26 shows teeth, kills San Diego hotel tax hike
One of the few recent big triumphs of the small-government, low-tax movement in California came in 2010, when state voters approved Proposition 26. The constitutional amendment cleared up loopholes that allowed governing bodies to pass tax hikes on simple majority
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CA bill aims at home guns
Proposed gun control legislation often appeals to a sense of public fear. Playing on worries about lone nuts and random killings, gun control groups like former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown organization seek to tighten gun restrictions with
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Summary details high-speed rail problems
As construction is going forward, now would be a good time to clear the air a little and summarize California’s high-speed rail project. And why not with a little humor? This month the Santa Clarita Valley Signal published a tongue-in-cheek editorial
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CA on sidelines as brown energy revolution unfolds
In the 41 years since the OPEC cartel begin throwing its weight around, U.S. consumers have gotten used to fluctuations in the price of gasoline. The dynamics have gotten pretty stable in recent decades as OPEC has deradicalized. In the
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