Coastal Commission prepares for budget cuts -- As the state sharpens its budget knife, an agency directly under the blade is the California Coastal Commission, the guardian of 1,100 miles of coast line and an entity that has enflamed passions like few other government offices in California. John Howard in Capitol Weekly -- 7/29/08

The Elusive Budget Jackpot, Part II -- For more than a year, the California Lottery has been a tempting, and theoretical, treasure chest for lawmakers in search of a government cash infusion. But there’s no guarantee that the treasure chest actually has treasure in it. John Myers Capitol Notes weblog -- 7/29/08

5.4 earthquake rocks L.A. area -- The quake, which Caltech officials downgraded from an initial magnitude of 5.8, is believed to have been centered near Chino Hills. The officials doubted the temblor caused major structural damage. David Pierson in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/29/08

Strong quake shakes Southern California -- A strong earthquake shook Southern California on Tuesday, causing buildings to sway and triggering some precautionary evacuations. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The jolt was felt from Los Angeles to San Diego, and slightly in Las Vegas. ROBERT JABLON AP -- 7/29/08

Sen. Ted Stevens indicted -- Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), a giant of Senate politics and a legend in Alaska, has been indicted on seven federal criminal charges accusing him of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in home renovations from VECO, an Alaskan oil company that in turn asked for favors in the Senate. MARTIN KADY II & JOHN BRESNAHAN Politico LARA JAKES JORDAN AP DAVID STOUT and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN in the New York Times Carrie Johnson and Paul Kane in the Washington Post -- 7/29/08

Mervyns files Chapter 11 bankruptcy -- Department store chain Mervyns LLC says it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. That makes it the latest merchant to become a casualty of the harsh retail environment. AP -- 7/29/08

Newhouse News Service to close -- Newhouse News Service, a supplemental wire service founded in 1961, will close on Nov. 7, after the election. The news service is also the Washington bureau of Advance Publications Inc. of New York, which owns 26 daily newspapers, including The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J; The Oregonian in Portland, Ore.; The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, and The Times-Picayune in New Orleans. AP -- 7/29/08

Home price declines hit record lows -- One index says Los Angeles-area homes had a 24.5% price drop in May from a year ago; nationally, the drop was 15.8%. Peter Y. Hong in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/29/08

The 5 latest state budgets -- While the state Senate is on 24-hour call and both houses are set to return to the Capitol next week to ponder the four-week-delayed state budget, the chances of its actually passing soon are slim to none - and don't bet on slim. Still, the 2008-09 version of the state spending plan will have to crawl along for quite a while yet to make the list of the five latest state budgets of all time. Steve Wiegand in the Sacramento Bee -- 7/29/08

Walters: Legal picture muddled in game of budget chicken -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he'll slash wages for as many as 200,000 state employees and lay off 22,000 temporary workers until the state has a budget – but he'd better keep a few lawyers around because he may find himself in an epic legal battle. Dan Walters in the Sacramento Bee -- 7/29/08

Governor delays order cutting workers' pay in state budget battle -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will wait until Thursday to sign an order slashing state workers' pay to the federal minimum wage and laying off thousands of other employees to save money during the impasse over the state budget, a spokesman for the governor said Monday. Matthew Yi in the San Francisco Chronicle Mike Zapler in the San Jose Mercury -- 7/29/08

Backers of same-sex marriage ban to challenge rewording of Proposition 8 -- Proponents of a ballot measure to ban same-sex marriages in California plan to appear in court today to challenge state Attorney General Jerry Brown's rewording of the measure's ballot summary. On the petitions circulated last year to qualify the measure for the Nov. 4 ballot, it was described as a "Limit on Marriage." Aurelio Rojas in the Sacramento Bee -- 7/29/08

Air tanker drops in wildfires are often just for show -- The bulky aircraft are reassuring sights to those in harm's way, but their use can be a needless and expensive exercise to appease politicians. Fire officials call them 'CNN drops.' Julie Cart and Bettina Boxall in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/29/08

Lax Lending Standards Led to IndyMac’s Downfall -- After his mortgage company nearly crashed a decade ago, Michael W. Perry set a new course. He bought a bank so the company, soon rechristened IndyMac Bank, would never run short of money again. VIKAS BAJAJ in the New York Times -- 7/29/08

Kaine in 'Serious' Talks With Obama -- Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has told close associates that he has had "very serious" conversations with Sen. Barack Obama about joining the Democratic presidential ticket and has provided documents to the campaign as it combs through his background, according to several sources close to Kaine. Michael D. Shear and Shailagh Murray in the Washington Post -- 7/29/08

McCain defends his tech smarts in San Francisco -- GOP presidential candidate John McCain, fundraising in the San Francisco Bay Area, one of the nation's technology capitals, acknowledged Monday that he isn't a "tech freak" or entirely comfortable with the Internet, BlackBerrys or e-mail. But he strongly disputed criticism that he is "out of the loop" as unfair. Carla Marinucci in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 7/29/08

McCain talks the talk at San Francisco fundraiser -- Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain preached offshore oil drilling, nuclear energy, victory in Iraq and school vouchers to a well-heeled crowd of Bay Area donors at a fundraiser Monday night. Josh Richman in the Oakland Tribune -- 7/29/08

Obama meets economic and business leaders; McCain promotes energy policies -- Back from a nine-day overseas trip, Sen. Barack Obama made a point of turning quickly to domestic concerns, calling a meeting Monday to solicit advice on reviving the economy and lifting wages. Peter Nicholas and Mark Z. Barabak in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/29/08

GOP suffering from a lack of (ballot) initiative -- The strategy of pushing propositions likely to draw conservatives to the polls has faltered as Republicans face mishaps in drafting measures and a more aggressive opposition. Dan Morain and Nicholas Riccardi in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/29/08

Campaign ads attack GOP candidates for oil industry ties -- With consumers fuming about high gas prices, political strategists see connections to oil firms as an added liability -- and Democrats are taking aim. Richard Simon in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/29/08

LAUSD bond proposal now twice as large -- Los Angeles Unified School District officials are considering asking voters to approve a $7 billion bond measure in November, more than twice as big as previously discussed and nearly half of it set aside for unspecified future projects. George B. Sánchez in the Los Angeles Daily News -- 7/29/08

Less driving forces gas prices down -- This year's record-shredding spike in gasoline prices has finally ended, with prices throughout the country falling by more than a penny per day. And American drivers can thank themselves for the drop. David R. Baker in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 7/29/08

Bay area gas tax money -- Bay Area transportation officials stepped up their campaign Monday to keep state leaders from using gasoline tax revenue intended for local road and transit projects to help close California's projected $17.2 billion budget deficit. State legislators, who are now nearly a month overdue in adopting California's annual spending plan for the new fiscal year, have floated the idea of borrowing money earmarked for transportation-related projects under Proposition 42, approved by voters in 2002. Rachel Gordon in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 7/29/08

Sempra to buy EnergySouth for $510 million -- The acquisition of the Alabama gas storage company would support Sempra's expansion in natural gas. Elizabeth Douglass in the Los Angeles Times Dean Calbreath in the San Diego Union-Trib -- 7/29/08

Man arrested, accused of trying to pump stolen airplane fuel into his car -- That's one way to fill 'er up. A man somehow got through the locked gates at Reid-Hillview Airport in East San Jose on Sunday night and started refueling his car at the self-serve pumps when San Jose police showed up. Patrick May in the San Jose Mercury -- 7/29/08

Sewage spills are a summer bummer for beachgoers -- The L.A. and San Gabriel rivers are like 'big latrines' that dump into Long Beach harbor, a city health official says. Severe sewage contamination has forced four beach closures so far this summer. Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Tami Abdollah in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/29/08

Tribe says it will put millions into roads -- The Pauma Indian band in North County has reached a tentative agreement to pay for $38 million in road improvements and take other steps to minimize the effects of a luxury resort it is building. As part of its $300 million project, the tribe will pay for improvements along state Route 76 and Pauma Reservation Road. Onell R. Soto in the San Diego Union-Trib -- 7/29/08

Inexperienced scooter riders -- But as commuters park gas-guzzling vehicles and opt for scooters, seasoned riders and safety experts worry these drivers are not prepared for a lifestyle change and an entirely different approach to driving. Some worry that the ease by which someone can plunk down cash and hit the road might quickly get some riders in over their heads. Jim Guy in the Fresno Bee -- 7/29/08

Valley officials fear raid of funds for state budget -- Local officials sent state lawmakers an early warning Monday -- don't raid local government and transportation funds to help balance the state budget. Although Gov. Schwarzenegger says legislators are hatching just such a plan behind closed doors, Democratic leaders in the Senate and the Assembly said earlier this month that they aren't considering any "major" or "massive" borrowing schemes. Brad Branan in the Fresno Bee -- 7/29/08

Sierra Vista Hospital expansion -- The $8 million structure rising behind a south Sacramento psychiatric hospital offers concrete proof of the facility's determination to become the region's largest destination for people in mental health crisis. Yet Sierra Vista Hospital has one of California's worst patient mistreatment records, with 111 violations since 2004, ranging from understaffing to lax drug controls and failures to protect patients from violence, according to hundreds of pages of government inspections and court records reviewed by The Bee. Todd Milbourn in the Sacramento Bee -- 7/29/08

Is preacher a killer? Tiny town takes sides -- This hideaway farm town east of Modesto seemed too small to be torn in two. But that was before a truck sped down a dirt road, past cornfields and nut trees, and flopped into an irrigation canal. That was before people started exploring the bond between the men inside the cab. Demian Bulwa in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 7/29/08

San Francisco overtime costs soar -- In the first six months of this year, 184 San Francisco city employees made at least $30,000 apiece in overtime, according to data obtained by The Chronicle. And the top overtime earner of 2008 should be little surprise. Christian Kitchin, a nurse at the county jail, is on track to pull in even more pay than he did last year, when he made $216,000 in overtime, bringing his total earnings to about $350,000. So far this year, he's made nearly $128,000 in overtime. Wyatt Buchanan in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 7/29/08

Steel net preferred for halting bridge jumpers -- A steel net stretched 20 feet below the Golden Gate Bridge's pedestrian walkways to catch jumpers before they hit the water has emerged as the most popular design idea for a suicide barrier. Rachel Gordon in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 7/29/08

Villaraigosa recommends six groups for new Los Angeles anti-gang contracts -- The mayor bypasses some well-known organizations and vows to veto any attempt by the City Council to award pacts to organizations he did not support. Phil Willon in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/29/08

Dream of spaceflight takes wing -- Visionary aerospace engineer Burt Rutan and British billionaire Richard Branson yesterday rolled out a “mothership” aircraft that has the capacity of carrying their dreams of personal spaceflight for the masses. The giant plane is designed to serve as the first stage in an audacious flight plan by transporting an eight-person rocket plane into the stratosphere for launch into space. Bruce V. Bigelow in the San Diego Union-Trib -- 7/29/08