Columns

CA economic ranking renews debate

For those who put a lot of stock in statistics, it’s a good month for California. The Golden State has returned to take its former position among the world’s largest economies. World Bank calculations show California — if it were considered a country —

Activists try to stop crude-by-rail

Joseph Perkins June 3, 2014

“Boom!” read the signs carried by some of the five dozen or so protesters who raised a ruckus Saturday outside the Kinder Morgan rail yard in the Contra Costa County city of Richmond. The aim of the environmental and

Column: UC regents urged to divest in fossil fuels

Joseph Perkins May 30, 2014

The scene brought to mind Tom Wolfe’s essay “Mau Mauing the Flak Catchers,” which was published all the way back in 1970, when young Jerry Brown was a member of the Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees. Wolfe’s

Tesla latest CA company to diss Golden State

Joseph Perkins May 29, 2014

Tesla Motors, the Palo Alto maker of luxury electric cars, is holding its annual stockholder meeting next Tuesday. It will be interesting to see whether CEO Elon Musk announces the two states that will compete in a “bakeoff” to

Why CA has an affordable housing crisis

Joseph Perkins April 12, 2014

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

CA high-speed rail strikes out at hearing

Joseph Perkins March 28, 2014

The state Senate’s Transportation and Housing Committee held a hearing Thursday on California’s quixotic high-speed rail project. Even Gov. Jerry Brown, who still hopes the bullet train will be the enduring legacy of his third stint as governor, might

$Rick Perry returns to woo CA businesses$

Rick Perry returns to woo CA businesses

Joseph Perkins March 21, 2014

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is returning next week to the Golden State. Maybe this time, California Gov. Jerry Brown will take him seriously. Perry made a four-day recruiting trip to California in February of last year, visiting San Francisco,

California’s culture could slow rush toward e-cig bans

James Poulos March 3, 2014

In the biggest “blue state” cities, administrative and regulatory action against e-cigarettes has been swift and fierce. California officeholders — from the city council level all the way up to the U.S. Senate — are poised to follow suit. But

CA massage law: A case study in regulatory failure

James Poulos February 27, 2014

Residents of Los Angeles know that “medical” marijuana shops are not the only gray-market business that’s experienced a recent boom. In a city with a taste for pleasure and an enterprising working class, “massage” parlors are apt to have

Ivanpah solar plant bets on wrong technology

Joseph Perkins February 16, 2014

U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz was in the unincorporated San Bernardino County community of Nipton Thursday, where he dedicated the new $2.2 billion, 392-megawattt Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (SEGS). “The Ivanpah project is a shining example of how America