Tag: California

“California seems hell-bent on medicalizing our children as a pretense to take them away from their parents. There’s some really bad bills in the legislature right now … Your child, as young as 12 years old, could be talking to a school counselor and say, ‘my parents don’t support my decisions,’ and that day, that child could be routed to ...

Tragedy struck a Home Depot store in the San Francisco Bay Area in April as a 26-year-old employee was fatally shot while confronting an alleged shoplifter who was armed with a handgun, authorities said. Just a few months before, an Antioch gas station cashier was shot to death during an armed robbery, according to local police. “I never believed in ...

Commentary “‘Mississippi miracle’: Kids’ reading scores have soared in Gulf South states,” AP just reported. It noted educators in other states with low test scores no longer can say, “Thank God for Mississippi.” That’s a cliché also in California, where journalists are wont to say of low test scores, “California is nearly as bad as Mississippi.” Not anymore. “Lately, the ...

Fentanyl is silently killing thousands of youth and young adults as California lawmakers struggle to pass laws preventing teens and adults from accessing the drug easily. Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that is often laced with other drugs, resulting in users unknowingly consuming it, leading to dangerous situations of addiction or overdose, leading to death. Drug traffickers lace fentanyl in ...

Commentary Can California further socialize the raising of children, reducing the parents’ role even more? Yes, it can. In the May Revision to his budget proposal for fiscal year 2023-24, Gov. Gavin Newsom advances what’s called “Whole Child” health care: “The state is reasonably positioned to sustain the continued multi-year implementation of the California for All Kids plan—a whole child ...

Eight out of the 10 least affordable cities for homebuyers in the United States are located in California, according to a recent report, with the state’s median sales price of a home over 30 percent higher compared to the early pandemic period. The eight Californian cities include Santa Barbara, Berkeley, Santa Monica, Glendale, Burbank, Los Angeles, Pasadena, and San Francisco, ...

Commentary Before California’s government imposed its zero-carbon by 2035 vehicle mandate, it first should have assured itself a secure market in cobalt. Otherwise, the main beneficiary will be the People’s Republic of China, which dominates the market in cobalt, a key mineral needed for batteries. That’s the conclusion I draw from a new book, “Cobalt Red: How the Blood of ...

News Analysis SAN FRANCISCO—San Franciscans started to feel the impact of a massive exodus starting with the COVID-19 pandemic and continuing as crime skyrocketed more recently. Residents have found that there are not as many people walking the streets downtown now. Usually there are more tourists than office workers, even during lunch break. No more crowds of people line up waiting ...

Commentary If you want to see what’s wrong with K-12 education in California, a good place to start is Assembly Bill 938, by Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance). It sets “aspirational funding levels” to “raise wages by 50 percent” for teachers and other school workers by fiscal year 2030-31. Or seven years from the 2023-24 fiscal year, which begins this July ...

Commentary The pace slowed, but people overall still are exiting California, according to the latest population report by the California Department of Finance. The decline of 138,400 people from 2021 to 2022 dropped the state’s population to 38,940,231, or -0.35 percent. Which put it below 39 million for the first time since 2015. The report notes some of the decline ...

For the first time in two years, high-priced California rentals have undergone a slight decline, while markets in the Midwest are experiencing an increase in monthly rentals. Realtor.com’s March rental report indicates 14 markets in California have seen year-over-year declines, including Riverside-San Bernardino at -5.3 percent, Sacramento at -2.1 percent, and San Francisco and Los Angeles both at -0.8 percent. ...