Daily Business Report: August 21, 2026
U.S. aircraft carrier arrives in Middle East, relieving long-deployed USS Lincoln
By Associated Press
The Asia-based USS George Washington aircraft carrier is now operating in the Middle East, the U.S. military said Thursday, relieving a long-deployed carrier following reports of mental health challenges and supply shortages aboard while it was supporting the Iran war.
U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, said on social media that the carrier arrived in the region Wednesday. It was not clear when the USS Abraham Lincoln — which is home-ported in San Diego — would arrive back in the U.S., or whether it would make a port stop along the way, but the journey takes just over a month.
Steve Hilton Calls for Removal of Nancy Skinner and Plans to Abolish California Energy Commission
By Katy Grimes | Califiornia Globe
Gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton is calling for the removal of Nancy Skinner from the California Energy Commission (CEC), arguing that she is not qualified for the commission seat intended for an engineering or scientific expert. He also renewed his pledge to eliminate the CEC entirely as part of his broader effort to streamline state government and reduce bureaucratic waste.
A bill to regulate car tires was passed by the California Legislature 20 years ago but never implemented, the Globe reported.
Assembly Bill 844 “directs the California Energy Commission to adopt a Replacement Tire Efficiency Program to ensure replacement tires for passenger cars and light-duty trucks sold in California are at least as energy-efficient as the tires sold as original equipment on new vehicles.”
California’s Housing Shortage Has a Washington Fingerprint
by Jay Rogers | California Globe
I landed in California in 1990, the tail end of the Reagan afterglow, when the state still felt like the reward at the end of the road trip. Three decades later I’ve got two sons who will be hunting for their first home in a state where “starter home” has become a punchline. What’s standing between them and a house isn’t just price. It’s their parents’ generation, sitting tight in homes we can’t afford to sell.
Blame Washington. Specifically, blame a tax rule Congress wrote in 1997 and then forgot existed.
Under Section 121 of the tax code, a homeowner can exclude up to $250,000 of capital gain on the sale of a primary residence from federal tax, or $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly, so long as they’ve owned and lived in the place for two of the last five years. Congress set those numbers in the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 and never touched them again. No inflation adjustment. No update for the fact that home values have exploded since Bill Clinton was in office. The same year Congress locked in that $500,000 ceiling, Titanic hit theaters and the Spice Girls owned the charts. My oldest son wasn’t even born yet. The exclusion is old enough to buy the house it’s punishing you for selling.
