America’s schools won’t recover through more spending or slogans, but through a return to proven basics—clear instruction, firm discipline, accountable teaching, and classrooms focused on learning. As someone who attended public school in the 1950s and 1960s, taught in elementary and middle schools in the early 1970s, and then from 1984 until I retired in...
The Statistical Review of Global Energy, has been published every year since 2023 by The Energy Institute. For nearly 75 years before that it was published by British Petroleum. It is one of the most authoritative sources available for energy statistics. It is a terrific place, if not the place, to develop a deeper understanding of our global...
California’s scandal dwarfs Minnesota’s. Tim Walz perp-walked himself out of the Minnesota governor’s race this past week, beset by evidence that fraudsters have plundered his state’s federally funded food, housing, daycare, and Medicaid programs. It’s “what has been described as the nation’s largest COVID-era scheme,” says Fox News, with the U.S. attorney in Minnesota estimating “the fraud...
January 15, 2026 Authored By: Edward Ring, Director, Water and Energy Policy, CPC & Marc Joffe, Visiting Fellow, CPC Access PDF Version
The premise of this newsletter is that abundant and affordable energy and water are prerequisites to solving every other challenge standing in the way of lowering California’s overall cost-of-living. Not only because the cost for energy and water directly impacts the cost to build homes, or pay household utility bills, or engage in industrial production,...
For years, cities have implemented various metrics and scoring systems to assess their fiscal condition. The Government Finance Officers Association provides a “Fiscal First Aid” program complete with a multi-step process for assessing fiscal health. Yet such efforts have not improved cities’ ability to manage their finances. A recent report by the National League of...
How is your city doing? My city just announced that it’s looking at putting two measures on the ballot to increase taxes and fees. And based on its low ranking, it either needs to reduce spending and debts or raise revenues or both. My city refused to reduce debts, so suggesting tax increases came as...
2026 began with revelations that numerous billionaires owning upwards of $1 trillion in assets had cut ties with California just before the ball dropped on January 1. These well-heeled folks did not suddenly get tired of California’s weather, scenery, culture, or social scene. Instead, they were avoiding a potential wealth tax hatched by a group...
It’s been years since Gov. Gavin Newsom put on a tie and made his way to the Assembly Chambers to grace the legislature with his presence and share some witty lines his whip-smart crisis communications team put together for him. He is, afterall, preparing to storm the country with his not-yet-declared-but-super-obvious campaign for the presidency...
The scandals erupting in Minnesota offer another example of how easy it is for generous U.S. welfare programs to squander billions of dollars. And while it’s important to hold accountable the individuals who figured out how to scam the system, until the system itself is changed, for every billion-dollar fraud that is uncovered, others will take...
A health-care union’s ‘one-time fix’ for federal Medicaid cuts could easily become permanent. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), one of the largest labor unions in the country, has launched an experiment in California to determine whether it can wring a large amount of revenue from the state’s billionaires. Its idea is a one-time retroactive...
A new year has begun, and here in California, 2026 promises to deliver challenges that may at last transform the state’s energy and water policies. Let’s begin with a quick look at California’s current water policies in action. The last month of 2025 delivered a series of storms that merited the distinction of being dubbed “atmospheric...
SAN DIEGO – In a landmark victory for parental rights, a federal judge in Southern California ruled Monday that parents have a constitutional right to be informed if their minor child socially transitions their gender at school and that teachers have a constitutional right to inform parents of the transition. U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez...
According to EdChoice, about 1.5 million students are now enrolled in voucher, educational savings account (ESA), and tax-credit programs, nearly doubling the number from just three years ago. Education Week reports that 30 states and the District of Columbia now have at least one private school choice program. Of those, 19 states have at least...