A Major Reform of California's Environmental Regulations Looks Destined for Failure
While votes are still being counted, a majority of voters appear to have said no to a major overhaul of the California Environmental Quality Act.
California
Tax Cuts Won and Lost in the Midterms
Voters punished Republicans at the polls, but their appetite for lower taxes proved more complicated at ballot initiatives.
Democratic Socialist Nithya Raman Set To Oust L.A. Mayor Karen Bass
DSA mayors are set to run New York, L.A., and Washington, D.C.
J.D. Vance Claims 'Illegal Immigrant Somalis' Conspired To 'Flood the Polls' in Ohio
The vice president's tall tale could be a preview of Republicans' sore-loser complaints after the midterm elections.
Why Is Donald Trump Suddenly Obsessed With Men's Bodies, Especially Their Butts?
I talked with John Stagliano, the adult filmmaker known as Buttman, about the president's newest fixation.
The Housing Ballot Initiatives To Watch
Across the country, voters will decide whether to shrink minimum lot sizes, roll back environmental review laws, and cut property taxes.
California's Bond Issues Aren't 'Free' Money. Voters Should Tread Carefully.
Borrowing money for infrastructure projects can be a good idea, but it can often become a sinkhole for taxpayers.
What Do Libertarians Have To Gain From the Midterms?
Plus: what Democrats would do with control of Congress, the future of Trump's tariffs and the war in Iran, and the fight over gerrymandering
Trump's Election Interference in California and Alaska Prompts a Series of Judicial Rebukes
Four federal courts say the Trump administration is trying to usurp the states' constitutional authority over elections.
California's Uber and Lyft Union May Just Be the Beginning
Industry-wide bargaining could erode the very flexibility that gig workers most desire.
California Voters Have a Chance To Address the State's Broken Environmental Regulations
The California Environmental Quality Act has led to long delays, enormous costs, and special interests that use the process to stop projects they dislike.
Billionaires Have Already Paid Us Back. So Why Does California Want More?
People don't build great wealth first and redeem it later through good works. They build it by making the world better.
L.A. Teachers Union Flunks Math, Blames Billionaires
Faced with LAUSD's "high risk" of insolvency due to plummeting enrollment and increased hiring, the union is railing against a "fake independent analysis" and pushing for two separate wealth taxes.
Ninth Circuit Rules Trump Illegally Federalized National Guard in Los Angeles
The ruling is an important decision on judicial review of executive invocation of emergency powers to use the military for domestic law enforcement.
California's Wealth Tax Could Cost the State $39 Billion
Plus: the costs of France's welfare state, María Corina Machado returns to Venezuela, and Republicans brace for the midterms.
Will the Wealth Tax Fail?
Plus: Brazilian presidential elections, passing by Cuba, Taiwanese families who hate Arizona's schools, and more...
California Republicans Pushing New Voter ID Law Are Motivated by Trump's 'Stolen Election' Fantasies
Proposition 39's requirements aren't overly obtrusive, only unnecessary.
France Is a Warning to California's Tax-the-Rich Crowd
The French economist pushing California's billionaire tax should instead see his country as a cautionary tale.
California's 'Wealth Tax' Could Cost the State $39 Billion
New study finds that 85 percent of "plausible scenarios" result in negative revenue for the state as wealthy residents flee.
ADU Nihilism
Definitions of different housing types are arbitrary. Every productive housing reform produces conflict.
Why Are California's Governments So Lousy at Fighting Wildfires?
Bigger agencies, higher spending, and expanded workforces don't always make government more effective.
Despite a Notable Victory in Oklahoma, Legal Challenges to Flock Cameras Still Face Long Odds
State and federal courts have almost uniformly ruled that searches of ALPR databases do not implicate the Fourth Amendment.
The Pentagon Is Eating Silicon Valley
An influx of military spending has been moving tech companies away from serving consumers and back toward chasing government contracts.
A Court Rules That San Francisco's Empty Home Tax Is Illegal
San Francisco's tax on vacant homes is bad policy. Now it's also bad law.
California Lawmakers Passed a Pension Bomb. Newsom Was Right To Veto It.
Newsom echoes former Gov. Jerry Brown and acts like Sacramento's last adult.
You Can Now Sue Federal Agents in California. Good Luck Getting Past Qualified Immunity.
Californians can now sue federal officers for civil rights violations, but cops can still claim qualified immunity as a bona fide defense for official misconduct.
Department of Homeland Security
Homeland Security Admits To Watchlisting Americans Based on 'Potential Inaccuracies'
The feds’ response to a lawsuit over their voter fraud investigation program is an admission that their approach didn’t work. But some questions are still unanswered.
Department of Homeland Security
Homeland Security Agents Are Harassing American Voters of Foreign Origin
A campaign against noncitizen voter fraud is sweeping up U.S. citizens. California counties are suing to stop it.
California Wants to Write America's AI Rules
Newsom's expert panel has two months to consider new AI rules, including "kill switches," that could spread nationwide.
Paramount Bends the Knee to Rob Bonta
California and 11 other states weaponized antitrust law until Paramount agreed to film quotas and an oversight board for CNN and CBS.
Why Did a California County Fine Them Over $1 Million for Someone Else's Code Violations?
A recent settlement crippled a local code enforcement scheme—and exposed the perils of turning petty violations into government revenue streams.
SCOTUS May Soon Determine If California Can Force Doctors To Learn About 'Implicit Bias'
A Supreme Court petition challenges California’s attempt to force private medical instructors to teach “implicit bias.”
Report: California's Proposed 'Billionaire Tax' Is Based on Bad Research
The planned wealth tax leads slightly in the polls and is already driving capital flight.
DOJ Says Workers at L.A. Homeless Nonprofits Spent Tax Dollars on Vacations, Nightclubs, Bail
Three people in the Los Angeles area have been charged with fraud related to misappropriation of homelessness funds.
Is AI Really an Existential Threat?
Plus: California's new restrictions on social media, Trump's $5,000 “dividend,” and the future of libertarianism.
The 'Stop Nick Shirley Act': Yet Another Anti-Doxxing Law That Chills Free Speech
A lawsuit argues that a recently passed law to protect immigration service providers in California is "overbroad and vague."
This California Social Media Law is a Privacy and Free Speech 'Nightmare'
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed more than a dozen online safety and tech regulation bills into law this week.
Politicians See Opportunity in Data Center Panic
The panic is pretty silly, since these facilities are necessary to power industries that power our economy and fund state budgets.
The Feds Are Spying on Your Bank Account
While the Treasury forces money changers to report on suspected immigrants, Homeland Security is having police pull people over for suspicious transactions.
Who Owns California's Gold?
The Gold Rush was not only a scramble for wealth. It was also a scramble for property rights.
State Film Subsidies Lose Money. Trump Wants To Try the Idea Nationally.
There's “no reason to think a federal incentive would work any differently from state incentives,” says one expert.
A California County Used Drones To Spy on Homes. A Settlement Will Now Require Warrants.
Sonoma County launched the program to find illegal cannabis grows, but it secretly morphed into a wider search for minor building code violations.
Prosecutors Say a North Carolina Teenager Committed Murder by Livestreaming a California Mosque Shooting
The case smacks of a desire for retribution that cannot be satisfied by prosecuting the actual killers, who committed suicide.
Federalism Will Save the Data Centers
State preemption worked for housing. It's unlikely to come to the rescue of incredibly unpopular data centers.
