State Worker Pay Cut: Real or Political Posturing? -- Today is Day 30 of the budget impasse and without a deal in sight, it looks like Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will likely follow through with his promise to sign an executive order Thursday to slash state worker pay to minimum wage and layoff thousands of workers. Matthew Yi Chronicle Politics Weblog -- 7/30/08

McCain’s cacophonous Cabinet -- Republican faithful have grumbled in recent weeks about the lack of a consistent message from John McCain’s campaign on key issues, leading observers to wonder what McCain’s top advisers are thinking. The answer, it turns out, could be part of the problem. KENNETH P. VOGEL Politico -- 7/30/08

4 Senate Dems urge EPA chief to resign -- Four Senate Democrats called on EPA chief Stephen Johnson to resign Tuesday, alleging that he gave misleading testimony to Congress and repeatedly bowed to pressure from the White House to avoid regulating greenhouse gases. Zachary Coile in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 7/30/08

Anti-illegal immigrant group comes to City Hall for raucous protest -- About a dozen members of the Minutemen, a group that patrols the U.S.-Mexican border in an effort to keep illegal immigrants out, stood on the steps of San Francisco's City Hall today to decry the city's sanctuary policy and demand that Mayor Gavin Newsom resign. Heather Knight in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 7/30/08

Study: Number of illegal immigrants in U.S., California likely fell sharply -- The number of illegal immigrants in the United States and California has stopped growing and probably dropped substantially in the past year, according to estimates released today by a Washington, D.C. think-tank that favors tighter curbs on immigration. Mike Swift in the San Jose Mercury -- 7/30/08

Republican Welfare State -- My first up-close memory of Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens was in the early 1990s at a Washington dinner after California Sen. Dianne Feinstein had just joined the Senate. Carolyn Lochhead Chronicle Politics Weblog -- 7/30/08

Lockyer: Gov. skips 'nitty-gritty' negotiations -- State Treasurer Bill Lockyer this morning criticized Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as disengaged in the budget process, saying the "governor would rather have press conferences than do the tough, nitty-gritty negotiations." Shane Goldmacher SacBee Capitol Alert -- 7/30/08

Bill to help exonerees shrunk by budget crunch -- Money is being stripped out of a bill aimed at doing right by those wrongfully convicted of crimes in California, even as this year’s legislative clock ticks down. Josh Richman Political Blotter weblog -- 7/30/08

Reagan bound for Capitol rotunda this fall -- A 500-pound, 7-foot bronze statue of the former president is nearing completion. BRITTANY LEVINE in the Orange County Register -- 7/30/08

State's vendors stiffed as bills go unpaid amid crisis -- It's a rite of summer as constant as the song of an ice cream truck. The calendar ambles past July 1. The American League wins the All-Star Game. Central Valley temperatures flirt with triple digits. And California government starts mooching Cyndy Mulhern's fruits and vegetables. Steve Wiegand in the Sacramento Bee -- 7/30/08

Bracing for steep pay cuts -- About 200,000 state employees are bracing for steep pay cuts as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger prepares to sign an executive order that would reduce their wages to the federal minimum wage — $6.55 an hour. Schwarzenegger is slated to sign the order — which also includes laying off 22,000 part-time employees — Thursday, the first day of the state's pay period. That has employees, legislators and public employee groups outraged and worried — especially because the budget negotiations appear to remain deadlocked. Steven Harmon in the Contra Costa Times -- 7/30/08

Weintraub: Despite appearances, budget deal draws closer -- To the casual observer, the situation in Sacramento probably seems pretty bleak right now. With the state facing a $15 billion budget shortfall, Democrats and Republicans are a month overdue in getting a new spending plan in place. Daniel Weintraub in the Sacramento Bee -- 7/30/08

plunge in the price of homes gets worse -- A 10-city composite index plummeted a record 16.9 percent compared with a year ago, while a 20-city index fell a record 15.8 percent, according to S&P/Case-Shiller. Every one of 20 metropolitan regions being tracked posted annual declines, half of them in double digits. Carolyn Said in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 7/30/08

New San Quentin housing also could run out of room, report says -- The cost of new housing for San Quentin State Prison's growing number of Death Row inmates will exceed estimates by nearly $40 million, and the compound could run out of space soon after it is completed, according to a state auditor's report released Tuesday. Matthew Yi in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 7/30/08

Prop. 8 backers sue to change ballot wording -- Attorney General Jerry Brown is trying to stack the deck against a November ballot measure barring same-sex marriage by declaring in his formal ballot description that it "eliminates the right of same-sex couples to marry," sponsors of the initiative charged in a lawsuit Tuesday. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 7/30/08

Online voter registration close to reality -- Californians may soon be able to use their computers to register to vote and they can thank the state Department of Motor Vehicles for the chance. John Wildermuth in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 7/30/08

Crystal ball predicts good things for Newsoms -- Author, spiritual healer and "intuitive consultant" Simone, who presided over the weekend wedding of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and actress Jennifer Siebel, is predicting a very bright future for the city's first couple. Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 7/30/08

California tribe fears a return of Keno -- Indian gambling interests are concerned that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to bring back Keno, a popular bingo-like game banned 12 years ago for violating state gambling law. According to a draft of the governor's lottery plan obtained by The Bee, Schwarzenegger would propose a state constitutional amendment that tribes say could override a California Supreme Court decision that outlawed the game. Judy Lin in the Sacramento Bee -- 7/30/08

$20 million Latino outreach plan thrills superdelegate-for-sale -- Steve Ybarra got his $20 million after all. The Democratic superdelegate from Sacramento made national headlines when he put his vote up for sale in the Democratic primary back in May. That's when Ybarra announced that either Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama could have his support – for a cool $20 million. The catch: Every penny was to go to voter outreach for Latinos. Shane Goldmacher in the Sacramento Bee -- 7/30/08

PG&E backs gay marriage rights -- Pacific Gas and Electric Co., California's largest investor-owned utility, has contributed $250,000 to defeat a ballot measure that would ban same-sex marriage in the state, it was announced Tuesday. Businesses often steer clear of ballot measures that deal with social issues for fear of alienating customers. Aurelio Rojas in the Sacramento Bee -- 7/30/08

Mervyns files Chapter 11 -- Mervyns, the 59-year-old department store chain headquartered in Hayward and catering to mid-tier customers, filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday, the most recent retailer to be damaged in a brutal economy. The company, with 175 locations in seven states, primarily California, said it will continue doing business while it restructures debt and realigns its business operations. George Raine in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 7/30/08

Sprint early termination fees are illegal, judge rules -- Californians fed up with being charged for ending their cell phone service prematurely won a major victory in a Bay Area court decision that concluded such fees violate state law. In a preliminary ruling Monday, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Bonnie Sabraw said Sprint Nextel must pay California mobile-phone consumers $18.2 million as part of a class-action lawsuit challenging early termination fees. Steve Johnson in the San Jose Mercury -- 7/30/08

'Robocalls' violate state law -- Just maybe you can get through dinner this fall without repeated phone calls from John McCain, Barack Obama and dozens of other candidates and celebrities. Automated phone messages, or "robocalls," are not allowed in California, the state Public Utilities Commission has determined after a recent review of the utilities code. Frank Davies in the San Jose Mercury -- 7/30/08

McCain extends olive branch to Pelosi, Gore -- Republican Sen. John McCain, engaged in increasingly sharp attacks on rival Barack Obama, pledged that if elected president, he would work closely with Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, praising her as an effective leader and an "inspiration to millions of Americans." Carla Marinucci in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 7/30/08

Top schools choosing academic freedom over government research restrictions -- Caught between the demands of academic freedom and national security in a post-Sept. 11 world, the Bay Area's two major research universities are walking away from lucrative research contracts rather than consenting to intrusive restrictions on their work. Lisa M. Krieger in the San Jose Mercury -- 7/30/08

LAUSD thinking smaller -- If Los Angeles Unified officials decide Thursday to place a $7 billion bond on the fall ballot, they are expected to campaign on a plan to build small schools of 500 students or less. But while the district has been talking up the need for smaller schools for at least five years, it has continued to build mammoth campuses to warehouse thousands of students. George B. Sánchez in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/30/08

Emeryville firm pays employees to bike -- Lots of folks bike to work. But bike for work? And get reimbursed for it? Siegel & Strain, an Emeryville architecture firm, reimburses employees who use their bikes to get to work-related meetings away from the office. The firm pays them the same amount it would pay for personal auto use - the IRS rate of 58.5 cents per mile. Ilana DeBare in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 7/30/08

California considers ban on plastic bags to protect -- Should California become the first state to ban plastic bags? One of the state's top environmental officials embraced the idea Tuesday, citing the devastating impact on marine animals, which die after ingesting plastic bags or becoming entangled in them. Mike Zapler in the San Jose Mercury -- 7/30/08

3 West Coast governors oppose new offshore oil drilling -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, joined with Democratic Govs. Ted Kulongoski of Oregon and Chris Gregoire of Washington to reaffirm their opposition to opening undersea oil fields to new drilling, as part of an elaborate action plan for preserving coastal waters. Kenneth R. Weiss and Michael Rothfeld in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/30/08

Court denies stay in Pacific Lumber case -- Billionaire founders of San Francisco's Gap Inc. are expected to take control of some of the most valuable timberland in the country within days, after a federal appeals court Tuesday shot down some of the last legal arguments from opponents to a plan to reorganize the storied Pacific Lumber Co. Kelly Zito in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 7/30/08

Brown threatens to sue to block Nestle's water-bottling plant -- Attorney General Jerry Brown said Tuesday that he will sue to block a proposed water-bottling operation in Northern California unless its effects on global warming are evaluated. Nestle Waters North America wants to pump about 200 million gallons of water a year from three natural springs that supply McCloud, a Siskiyou County town about 280 miles north of San Francisco. Brown's office said that is enough to fill 3.1 billion 8-ounce plastic bottles. AP- 7/30/08

tobacco ban in pharmacies -- San Francisco lawmakers voted Tuesday to make the city the first in the nation to ban the sale of tobacco products at most pharmacies, a move that backers hope will lead to similar laws across the country. The ban has already attracted the attention of Marin County leaders, who may push forward with their own proposal. Wyatt Buchanan in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 7/30/08

Carcinogen worries stick to food packaging -- Perfluorooctanoic acid is found in 98% of Americans' blood. The chemical industry says the concerns are based on animal tests and there's no evidence PFOA is harmful to humans. David Lazarus in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/30/08

CPS: Outrage at rising death toll -- While the death of one Sacramento child last week unleashed an internal review of the county's Child Protective Services, the streak of dead children known to the agency actually began in September, a Bee review of public documents shows. Since then, seven children have died on CPS' watch, including one just before Christmas. And at least two more kids known to CPS nearly died last year – one of them a 4-month-old girl, who was referred to the agency 12 times before being hospitalized for suspected shaken baby syndrome. Marjie Lundstrom and Sam Stanton in the Sacramento Bee -- 7/30/08

Gang tax fails by 1 vote in council -- Sacramento's proposed anti-gang tax was dumped by the City Council on Tuesday night. Doomed by its failure to meet much of the city's public safety needs, the measure calling for a quarter-percentage-point increase in the city's sales tax fell one council vote short of the six it needed to appear on the Nov. 4 ballot. Ryan Lillis in the Sacramento Bee -- 7/30/08

Budding preservationists ride out quake at Gamble House -- The Pasadena home's designers had the 1906 San Francisco earthquake in mind when they built the residence in 1908. The home performed as intended in Tuesday's temblor. Bob Pool in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/30/08

Riverside County sheriff calls for closure of Soboba tribe's casino -- Sheriff Sniff tells county supervisors that he has asked federal authorities to suspend the casino's operating license. He says deputies were barred from entering the reservation. David Kelly in the Los Angeles Times -- 7/30/08

Latest decision: Cross can stay -- The giant cross atop Mount Soledad can stay, a federal judge ruled yesterday. The La Jolla landmark has been the subject of nearly 20 years of litigation, public votes and legislative maneuvers as critics complain it's unconstitutional to have a religious symbol on public land. Onell R. Soto and Matthew T. Hall in the San Diego Union-Trib -- 7/30/08