Introduction‭: ‬Wildfires Should Serve As Wake-Up CallNews reports cite the beginning of the 2025 Los Angeles fires on January 7 at 10:30 am, as the Santa Ana winds blew a cloud of black smoke over heavily populated areas in and around Los Angeles. An hour or so later, NBC 4 Los Angeles reported that "gridlock formed on Sunset Boulevard," which "blocked people in traffic for miles as they desperately tried to evacuate and get away from the dangerous flames. The Palisades Fire quickly expan...

In his new Pacific Research Institute book Winning the Water Wars, journalist and R Street Institute western region director Steven Greenhut writes that California can end its decades-long battles over water and meet the needs of its current and future population by promoting abundance rather than managing scarcity.Greenhut writes, "this book does not propose solely building more dams . . . I explain the importance of water pricing and trading, regulatory reforms, ...

California is at a tipping point. Severe budget deficits, unsustainable pension costs, heavy taxes, cumbersome regulation, struggling cities, and distressed public schools are but a few of the challenges that policymakers must address for the state to remain a beacon of business innovation and economic opportunity. City Journal has for years been cataloging the political and economic issues of our nation's largest metropolitan areas, and in this collection compiled and introduced by City J...

Saving California is focused on policy changes that could help restore some of California's lost luster - regardless of what politician runs our massive state government apparatus. The authors are all current or former Californians, people with deep expertise in their respective policy areas. Although their chapters include a fair share of criticism of current policy directions - how could they not? - they each propose real-world policy changes that could push the state onto a bet...