The Campaign to Save India’s Tigers Ignores the Human Cost of Conservation

Saving South Asia’s Regal Cats Has Plunged Thousands of Women Into Poverty and Ignominy

Tigers are for most of us a hypothetical necessity.

Hypothetical in the sense that very few of us spend any time around tigers outside of zoos, though we interact with images of tigers on a daily basis, depending on what type of cereal we eat, sports team we root for, or comic strip we read.

Necessities in the sense that most of us would agree that the world really, really needs tigers; that tigers must remain lurking in the jungle, with their stripes rippling under the dappled light. The existence …

By Lisa Margonelli | March 30, 2016

Homeless Services Don’t End Homelessness

Good Intentions Notwithstanding, Soup Kitchens and Shelters Have Become an Industry Unto Themselves

By Tully MacKay-Tisbert | February 17, 2016

Homelessness is often described as a problem we must solve—and Los Angeles city and county now have expensive plans to do so. Homelessness is also an industry.

And as George …

Last Year There Were 800 Fewer Homicides in L.A. Than in 1992

The Recent Crime Surge Doesn’t Compare to the Tsunami of Violence 20 Years Ago

By Miles Corwin | December 2, 2015

The recent surge in the violent crime rate in Los Angeles after more than a decade of decline, the hostility in inner cities against law enforcement, the high-profile incidents of …

There’s Hope for Fresno

To Address Poverty, the City is Nurturing Entrepreneurs, Counseling Families, and Learning to Take Pride in Itself

By Paul Bisceglio | October 14, 2015

In 2005, the Brookings Institution released a depressing statistic about Fresno: The landlocked Californian city, about 200 miles southeast of San Francisco in the state’s Central Valley, had the highest …

There Isn’t One Answer to Ending Poverty

Mid-Sized Cities Like Fresno Should Better Capitalize on Resources and Improve Existing Opportunities to Help the Poor

October 12, 2015

In 1984, Dan Whitehurst, then-mayor of Fresno, California, appeared on Late Night With David Letterman to discuss a depressing distinction: his city had been ranked the least livable in America …

Why California Should Position Itself as a Mecca for the Poor

For One, It's a Strategy That Worked for the United States of America

By Joe Mathews | October 8, 2015

Fresno regularly ranks as one of the poorest metro areas in the United States. So why do people keep moving there?

The short, if incomplete, answer: Fresno is in California. And …

poverty