Washington, D.C. faces reality and shuts down its little-used, overpriced streetcar line. A case study for VTA? PJ Media tells the tale.
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Most higher ed institutions require a hefty applicant package: essays, recommendations, grades, interviews, etc. But University of Austin prof and statistician David Puelz thinks biased local colleges might want to rethink that—he lays out some compelling data, below, including what one metric is likely the most valuable for admissions. An Opp Now exclusive.
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Even as SJ watered down its Responsibility to Shelter ordinance, adding new levels of "discretion," SF Supervisor Matt Dorsey calls for tough love for homeless addicts. KRON4 reports.
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Tolls keep rising, while MTC keeps asking for more taxes. State Senator Dave Cortese wants to get to the bottom of the murky accounting practices that are hiding the facts. SJ Merc reports.
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Turns out, the “people-changing” model isn't just effective (90% of San Antonio's Haven for Hope grads stay in housing afterwards), but also economic: Haven for Hope, and similar shelters around the country, are saving locals money on jailing and healthcare. From the Texas Tribune.
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A blistering audit reveals the manifold ways (no uniform data standards or real-time oversight) that gov't and nonprofit organizations avoid basic accountability for how they spend taxpayer money. LAist uncovers the mess.
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The standard journalistic narrative is that local, statewide, and national politics is unduly influenced by big business. But much data suggests that, in fact, the opposite is true. Eitan Hersh explores in Annual Review of Political Science.
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If the cancel culture phenomenon is a snowball effect (starting with recruiting one coercive professor), how can we stop the snow in the first place? According to free speech advocates David Puelz and Elizabeth Weiss, it’ll take hiring centered on quality scholarship; high academic standards for students; and perhaps a smaller, tighter university. An Opp Now exclusive.
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Some cities get it done. Abilene, TX focused on individual, by-name client management and tight cross-agency cooperation to bring their homeless neighbors off the streets and into care. Community Solutions reports.
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In the wake of a startling anti-Mahan flyer—featuring the SJ mayor's eyes x'd out in red—City Journal clarifies what kind of folks are fomenting political violence today. Hint: it's not the conservatives. Or the reasonable progressives. From a 2025 nationwide survey.
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While CA and Bay Area gov't prioritizes PR over public safety, wild projects over wildfires, the rest of the state is suffering—and leaving en masse. Turning things around is possible, writes Jon Fleishman of FlashReport; but it won't be flashy, quick, or easy. From Substack.
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Thoreau's Walden is criticized, in many cases rightly, for being out-of-touch or hypocritical—but it offers us a great lesson today in Silicon Valley: that the good life isn't necessarily what is chosen for us by others (or ourselves). And that through careful reflection, we can break free from such bounded expectations. Kinfolk mag.
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