Two tribes pledge $1 million to fight expansion of Indian gambling -- Two tribes in Placer and San Diego counties announced Thursday that they will donate up to $1 million toward a petition drive for a state referendum seeking to bar four Southern California tribes from adding 17,000 new slot machines. Peter Hecht in the Sacramento Bee -- 8/9/07

White House takes initiative on immigration reform -- The Bush administration plans to announce a broad initiative Friday to sharpen immigration enforcement, including measures to raise fines for employers who hire illegal workers, require federal contractors to use an employment verification system and add thousands of agents at the southern border. Nicole Gaouette in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/9/07

Bush from the Bunker -- Looking at times unsteady and uncomfortable when talking about the economy, President Bush held a news conference today before heading off to Kennebunkport on vacation. The president proposed a corporate tax overhaul to address a roller-coaster stock market and called for more financial literacy to address the cratering no-downpayment mortgage market. Carolyn Lochhead in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/9/07

Third time's a charm? Anti-abortion activists try for third ballot measure -- Get ready for a rematch of the rematch. The same coalition of conservatives that put abortion parental-notification measures on the California ballot in 2005 and 2006 is coalescing around a third measure, this time requiring health care providers to report pregnant girls under 16 to the authorities under the suspicion of child abuse. Shane Goldmacher SacBee Capitol Alert -- 8/9/07

Budget deadlock stalls Schwarzenegger agenda -- The budget deadlock gripping the Capitol has put Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's policy agenda in jeopardy, with prospects for bringing healthcare to all Californians or solving the state's water problems dimming every day that lawmakers fail to pass a spending plan. Evan Halper in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/9/07

Budget battle gets greener -- Senate Democrats enlisted environmentalists Wednesday to chastise Republicans for holding up the state budget, arguing that the GOP is seeking a rollback of a Ronald Reagan-approved environmental law at the behest of business interests. Judy Lin in the Sacramento Bee -- 8/9/07

Perata vows to halt non-budget work -- In the biggest political clash since the budget stalled, frustrated lawmakers moved Wednesday toward shutting down the Legislature on unrelated but critical issues such as health care reform for the rest of the year. Steve Geissinger in the Contra Costa Times -- 8/9/07

Lone wolf dares to defy GOP pack in budget vote -- In a summer when California legislators seem lost, at least one clearly knows where he's going. Amid budget nonsense, he has shown common sense. While his Senate Republican colleagues have cowered under the shadow of right-wing ideology, he has had the courage to move forward on a centrist course of compromise. George Skelton in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/9/07

Budget impasse takes toll -- The impact of California's six-week overdue budget has trickled down to the community level, with $3 billion in paychecks and bills going unpaid by month's end. Among the most vulnerable are nursing homes, child-care providers and other small operations that depend on the state for the bulk of their income. HARRISON SHEPPARD in the Los Angeles Daily News -- 8/9/07

6 weeks in, is California budget delay a crisis? Not so much - yet -- California's budget is now six weeks late and with each passing day someone - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Democratic lawmakers, agencies and vendors that receive money from the state - bemoans the horrors of not having a budget. The item is in the San Jose Mercury -- 8/9/07

Second eminent-domain measure hits the streets -- A coalition led by the League of California Cities and state redevelopment agencies will take to the streets this week gathering signatures for their own eminent-domain ballot initiative. The move is seen by Capitol insiders as a defensive maneuver, just in case a more restrictive eminent-domain measure, which also would phase out rent control statewide, qualifies for the June 2008 ballot. Anthony York in Capitol Weekly -- 8/9/07

Orange County considers taking back pension hike -- Ever since the Legislature, former Gov. Gray Davis and local governments across California boosted pensions for public employees amid the stock market boom early in this decade, critics have been looking for ways to reduce the cost of those benefits to the taxpayers. Daniel Weintraub in the Sacramento Bee -- 8/9/07

Disenrolled Indians often lose federal benefits -- Individual Indian tribes are the sole arbiter of who is and is not a member. But members who are disenrolled from tribes can lose their access to federal benefits, as well, including housing, education, health care and welfare. Malcolm Maclachlan in Capitol Weekly -- 8/9/07

Charge will be filed in Migden case -- State Sen. Carole Migden will be charged with one misdemeanor count stemming from a wild ride in her state vehicle this spring that ended with a wreck on Highway 12 outside of Fairfield. Migden, D-San Francisco, will be charged Friday, L. Kathryn Coffer, chief deputy district attorney of Solano County, said Wednesday. Coffer would not specify what charge Migden would face. John Hill in the Sacramento Bee -- 8/9/07

Prison financing targeted in suit -- California's $7.9 billion prison construction package came in for its first legal attack Wednesday when an activist group filed a lawsuit in Sacramento saying the plan's financing mechanism violates the state constitution. Andy Furillo in the Sacramento Bee -- 8/9/07

Santa Clara County considers suit over voting decision -- Santa Clara County officials may sue the California secretary of state over the last-minute decision to curtail electronic voting next year because of security concerns. John Woolfolk in the San Jose Mercury -- 8/9/07

Pete Wilson returns -- Pete Wilson is coming back to Sacramento. The former two-term Republican governor, U.S. Senator and mayor of San Diego is opening a strategy and policy office in Sacramento, the latest outpost of Bingham McCutcheon, an international law firm with A-list corporate clients. The firm includes a consulting arm that advises clients on environmental, regulatory, legal, governmental and other issues. John Howard in Capitol Weekly -- 8/9/07

Feds investigate Orange County Treasurer -- The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a criminal probe into Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector Chriss Street's management of a bankrupt trucking company whose assets he allegedly used for a family vacation, gym memberships and Botox injections. PEGGY LOWE and NORBERTO SANTANA, Jr. in the Orange County Register -- 8/9/07

Proving Worker Status Poses Burden to Farms -- Employers warned of labor shortages, particularly in agriculture during the fall harvest, as the Bush administration appeared ready to implement new rules that would press employers to fire workers who appear to be in the U.S. illegally. JUNE KRONHOL in the Wall Street Journal -- 8/9/07

Immigration debate: Firms warn of lack of workers -- California businesses, which employ the majority of illegal immigrants throughout the country, are reeling after federal officials announced a new workplace crackdown. People in industries as diverse as California's hotels and massive farms, its restaurants and convalescent homes,said Wednesday they are confused and fear they could be forced into mass firings. Susan Ferriss in the Sacramento Bee -- 8/9/07

Race for '08: Devotion, dollars for Obama -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama breezed into Sacramento on Wednesday for a stop on one political circuit where he is faring exceptionally well -- raising money. On the money front, the Illinois senator is surpassing the establishment front-runner, Hillary Rodham Clinton. He has raked in $58.5 million this year -- compared with $52.5 million for Clinton -- and lured a remarkable quarter-million individual donors through the Internet. Peter Hecht in the Sacramento Bee -- 8/9/07

Primary Season Getting Earlier -- South Carolina's Republican Party will move its 2008 presidential primary forward to Jan. 19, sources said yesterday, a decision almost certain to spark a cascade of calendar changes that could push the start of voting to New Year's Day or even to before Christmas. Michael D. Shear in the Washington Post -- 8/9/07

6 war protesters arrested at Democratic lawmaker's Orange County office -- Six antiwar demonstrators were arrested Wednesday at the Garden Grove office of Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Santa Ana) after camping there overnight and telling her they wouldn't leave unless she promised not to approve more funding for the war in Iraq. Jennifer Delson in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/9/07

The Face of Local Counties Shifts With Surge in Minorities -- Fueled by an explosion of jobs attracting immigrants to the nation's suburbs, the percentage of minorities has dramatically increased in six local counties -- including Prince William, where the share of minorities grew from 35 percent in 2000 to 48 percent in 2006, according to census estimates to be released today. N.C. Aizenman in the Washington Post -- 8/9/07

Murdoch to sell smaller papers to boost Wall Street Journal -- Rupert Murdoch said he plans to sell off Dow Jones & Co.'s smaller newspapers and hire more staff to bolster The Wall Street Journal's presence, especially in Europe and Asia. The News Corp. chairman and controlling shareholder, who sealed a hard-fought deal to buy Dow Jones last week for $5 billion, also said Wednesday that he is weighing other steps after the transaction closes in a few months. Joseph Menn in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/9/07

Severe shortage of math and science teachers -- Maybe Albert Einstein said it best, "Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it." Apparently, California's citizens seem to be listening. In a report released by the California Council on Science and Technology and the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning, the state is experiencing a severe shortage of science and mathematics teachers. Nick Brokaw in Capitol Weekly -- 8/9/07

Interim stem cell chief picked -- Seven months into its search for a new executive, the governing board of the California state stem cell institute on Wednesday tapped one of its former members, neuroscientist Richard Murphy, to take the post on an interim basis. Jim Downing in the Sacramento Bee Terri Somers in the San Diego Union-Trib -- 8/9/07

Simpler bridge safety labeling sought -- Complaining that people are getting unclear messages about the safety of 23,000 bridges in California, the head of the state Senate transportation committee said Wednesday he will convene a hearing to cut through the confusion. Tony Bizjak in the Sacramento Bee -- 8/9/07

San Bernardino County in water crisis, officials say -- San Bernardino County supervisors Wednesday asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to declare a local state of emergency in Lucerne Valley after authorities impounded several unlicensed trucks that supplied much-needed water to far-flung desert communities. Sara Lin in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/9/07

Experts, residents unsure of new downtown rules' effect -- By significantly altering downtown zoning rules in a bid to spur more housing development, Los Angeles is gambling that it can ease its notorious housing crunch without causing bigger problems. Sharon Bernstein in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/9/07

Fishing ban off Channel Islands to expand -- The federal government will announce today that it has permanently banned fishing from nearly 150 square miles around the Channel Islands, expanding a network of marine reserves that now make up the largest cluster of no-fishing zones in the continental United States. Kenneth R. Weiss in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/9/07

Worries over U.S. housing market grow -- Anxiety over the housing slump kicked up a notch Wednesday, as two key industry players signaled that home sales would weaken further this year because the widening credit crunch is reducing the number of buyers who can qualify for a mortgage. Annette Haddad in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/9/07

Anthropologists split on what fossil find means about early humans -- A trove of fossil skulls, teeth and bones more than a million years old and discovered in Africa has opened a new controversy over the lineage of our early human ancestors: Just who descended from whom, and how long ago did they do it? David Perlman in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/9/07

Agency weighs use of longline fishing that could snag sea turtles -- The 60-mile-long fishing lines that can snag endangered leatherback sea turtles would be allowed off the California coast for the first time, under a decision being weighed by a federal agency. Jane Kay in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/9/07

Climate change, forest management result in bigger, hotter fires -- Forest fires in the Sierra Nevada are bigger, hotter, more numerous and they are killing more trees than ever as a result of human fire suppression and climate change, according to data from a fire severity monitoring study released Wednesday. Peter Fimrite in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/9/07

Half Moon Bay's Venice Beach deemed a health hazard -- A San Mateo County beach is among the most polluted in the United States, according to a report released by the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council. John Coté in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/9/07

Mortgage crunch hits Bay Area hard because of jumbo loans -- Need a mortgage this month? It's going to be harder - and more expensive - to get one. In the past week, turmoil in the mortgage markets has caused increasing problems for home buyers in the Bay Area and around the nation. Carolyn Said,Kelly Zito in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/9/07

Child services audit finds $1 million wasted -- Los Angeles County's child welfare agency wasted more than $1 million on unnecessary or overpriced equipment and failed to adequately keep track of hundreds of thousands of dollars more in supplies, a county audit has found. Jack Leonard in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/9/07

Hundreds mourn Bailey -- An overflow crowd spilled out of St. Benedict's Catholic Church in East Oakland on Wednesday as hundreds of mourners came to pay their respects to slain journalist Chauncey Wendell Bailey Jr., remembered as a crusading reporter, devoted father and a mentor and role model to many young journalists. Angela Hill, Jamaal Johnson and Cecily Burt in the Oakland Tribune -- 8/9/07

Slain newsman's investigative story will be told, publisher says -- Oakland Post Editor Chauncey Bailey may have been killed because of his reporting, but his publisher said Wednesday that Bailey's final story will be told, as hundreds of mourners honored the newsman for his tenacity and for being a powerful voice in the African American community. Henry K. Lee in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/9/07

Blacks, Latinos claim job bias at Ritz-Carlton in Pasadena -- A group of black and Latino employees Wednesday accused management of the Ritz-Carlton, Huntington Hotel & Spa in Pasadena of discrimination, saying workers experienced humiliating racial comments and repeatedly were passed over for promotions. Ashraf Khalil in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/9/07