In an important ruling last week, the U.S. Supreme Court held that unions can be sued in state court for damages if striking workers intentionally destroy their employer’s property. The decision is a victory for employers that puts unions on notice that there are consequences for their reckless actions during strikes. In Glacier Northwest v....
The Lone Star State continues to profit from the corporate exodus from California as the list of big-name businesses moving to Texas grows. Fleeing California’s highly-regulated environment, a number of companies have announced they’re moving to Texas for the state’s dynamic, growth-friendly economy. Last week, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce released a study...
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also referred to as the Nation’s Report Card, is a test that measures the knowledge of American students in various areas. The results of the NAEP test in U.S. history and civics, taken in 2022, were released last month. They paint a grim picture: according to the data,...
Like San Francisco, the Bay Area City of Oakland is facing major budget woes. Mayor Sheng Thao’s proposed budget for 2023-25 released last month reveals the city is facing a $360 million shortfall, the largest budget deficit in Oakland’s history. The proposed budget for FY 2023-24 and 2024-25 plans for total expenditures of over $2.1...
The State of California isn’t the only one scrambling to prepare a budget while staring down a deficit. Several Bay Area municipalities are also struggling with their own budget problems, San Francisco chief among them. San Francisco’s 2022-23 budget and next year’s 2023-24 budget total approximately $14 billion each. On March 31, the San Francisco...
The most powerful and destructive perception in the world today is that using fossil fuels will cause catastrophic climate change. This belief, marketed by every major government and corporate institution in the Western world, is the foundational premise underlying a policy agenda of stunning indifference to the aspirations of ordinary people. The war on fossil...
Governor Newsom’s FY 2023-24 budget update included a larger projected deficit and more balancing measures than his January budget. But, despite pressure from Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and transit agencies, the May Revise excluded emergency funding for local bus and rail systems around the state. The agencies’ proposed transit bailout was at best premature,...
When the California State Auditor’s Office released its annual report on the “Fiscal Health of California Cities” in fall 2022, most city officials and journalists focused on the blunt financial risk rating results and the relative position of their city organization amongst the 431 cities analyzed. But there is more that we can learn from...
By Michael Davis Dire were the predictions when our little charter school, Orange County Classical Academy, was approved over three years ago in a famously raucous Orange Unified School District board hearing. The skepticism was forgivable then but not today. In its first year of operation, 50 percent of OCCA’s English Learners achieved English-language proficiency by the...
Over the years, a cause for teen angst, suicide, etc., has reportedly been the media. But there is no definitive evidence to corroborate that. In fact, every recent generation has traditionally pointed to the media or some other cultural factor as damaging to youth. In the 1920s, it was the Charleston, and in the 1940s,...
Dams and aqueducts on the Colorado River make civilization possible in the American Southwest. But for the last 20 years, as a prolonged drought has gripped the region, withdrawals from the river have averaged 15 million acre-feet per year, while inflows into Lake Mead and Lake Powell have averaged only 12 million acre feet per year. For the first...
Leaders in Sacramento are grappling with the state budget this month as California faces a budget deficit of nearly $32 billion. Senate leaders claim they can address the deficit without cutting spending on state programs, but the reality is that a fiscal reckoning is long overdue. According to a survey released by the Public Policy...
The Oakland Education Association — the teachers union in Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) — is at it again. Last week, the union announced that 88 percent of its members voted in favor of authorizing a strike. The strike is scheduled to begin May 4th, unless the district and union come to a last-minute agreement....
The term “Critical Race Theory” is frequently featured in contemporary political debate and has been central to school curriculum controversy in recent years. And yet, many parents and concerned citizens seek clarity as to precisely what Critical Race Theory (CRT) is, its origins, and how it became entrenched in public schools.