Budget, hundreds of bills await California lawmakers -- California lawmakers return from their summer break Monday to deal with hundreds of bills in four hectic, final weeks of their 2008 session. There's also the little matter of passing a state budget. For the 23rd time in the last 32 years, California has begun a new fiscal year without a budget, leaving it unable to pay its suppliers, fund some school programs and pay the salaries of elected officials and their staffs. It also has delayed payments to certain health care providers that care for the poor. STEVE LAWRENCE AP -- 8/3/08

Obama Wants Full Voting Rights for Florida and Michigan Delegates -- It seems like another lifetime ago, but remember all the fuss about Michigan and Florida? After those states held their primaries in violation of Democratic Party rules, the party cracked down on them and said their delegates would not have a voice at the national convention in Denver. Then in May, the rules committee agreed to let their delegates have half a vote each. Now Senator Barack Obama, the party’s presumptive nominee, has asked the credentials committee to let the two states have full voting rights at the convention after all. Katharine Q. Seelye in the New York Times -- 8/3/08

San Francisco fund aids teen felons who are illegals -- As San Francisco's juvenile justice system shielded young illegal immigrant felons from possible deportation, Mayor Gavin Newsom's office gave grants totaling more than $650,000 to nonprofit agencies to provide the underage offenders with free services - everything from immigration attorneys to housing assistance to "arts and cultural affirmation activities," city records show. Jaxon Van Derbeken in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/3/08

Illegal immigrant arrested 5 times before feds told -- If Mayor Gavin Newsom is serious about tightening up San Francisco's sanctuary laws, he might want to take a look at the case of Marco Martinez - a 26-year-old illegal immigrant from El Salvador who has been arrested by police five times in the past year and a half for allegedly selling crack cocaine but has never wound up in the feds' hands. Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/3/08

Walters: Time to end two-thirds vote on budget -- The annual political impasse over the state budget raises this annual question: Is it time to get rid of California's almost unique requirement for a two-thirds legislative vote on the state budget? Yep. Dan Walters in the Sacramento Bee -- 8/3/08

Brown: If Feinstein's in, Dem rivals should bow out -- Will she? Won't she? And what if she does? That poll Matier and Ross published in The Chronicle showing Sen. Dianne Feinstein beating out all the other Democrats hands down in the governor's primary for 2010 is driving all the other wannabe candidates crazy, especially Attorney General Jerry Brown. Willie Brown in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/3/08

Mercury News interview: Tom Campbell's journey: from D.C. to Berkeley to Africa -- Tom Campbell's résumé is longer than most, and reveals a restless intellectual energy that is somewhat rare in a politician. He recently stepped down as dean of Haas School of Business at the University of California-Berkeley, and filed papers to form an "exploratory committee" to run for governor. He remains a professor at the school and has joined law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in its Palo Alto office as an adviser. Pete Carey in the San Jose Mercury -- 8/3/08

State budget stalemate halts funding -- The state this week began cutting off Medi-Cal payments to nearly 4,700 community clinics, nursing homes, senior day programs, hospitals and other organizations because a $2 billion contingency fund has run out of money. Payments to such institutions will not resume until the state budget impasse is resolved. Sandy Kleffman in the Oakland Tribune -- 8/3/08

Most of transportation sales tax would go elsewhere -- A plan to raise Los Angeles County's sales tax a half-percent is sparking heated debate over whether it shortchanges the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys out of billions of dollars for much-needed transportation funds. Sue Doyle in the Los Angeles Daily News -- 8/3/08

Saunders: Tax-cut nation keeps spending -- Every year, Washington spends more than it takes in. The federal deficit is expected to hit $482 billion next year. So why are both presidential candidates promising voters bigger government and more tax cuts? They must figure that if they don't, they lose. Debra J. Saunders in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/3/08

AFTER THE FIRES: Tons of questions -- The city of San Diego rushed to hire contractors to help homeowners in Rancho Bernardo clear their lots after the firestorms of 2007. It turned out to be an expensive venture for taxpayers, who will cover what private insurance doesn't. Dana Wilkie, Brooke Williams and Danielle Cervantes in the San Diego Union-Trib -- 8/3/08

Democrats say they'll make a run at Bilbray -- Having lost both houses of Congress in 2006, Republicans are bracing for their second straight shellacking in this November's election. Republicans lost 30 House seats two years ago, and political handicappers say they could easily lose 10 to 20 more as economic anxieties rise in inverse proportion to President Bush's plunging popularity. John Marelius in the San Diego Union-Trib -- 8/3/08

Shipping Costs Start to Crimp Globalization -- When Tesla Motors, a pioneer in electric-powered cars, set out to make a luxury roadster for the American market, it had the global supply chain in mind. Tesla planned to manufacture 1,000-pound battery packs in Thailand, ship them to Britain for installation, then bring the mostly assembled cars back to the United States. But when it began production this spring, the company decided to make the batteries and assemble the cars near its home base in California, cutting more than 5,000 miles from the shipping bill for each vehicle. LARRY ROHTER in the New York Times -- 8/3/08

Clinton Embraces Return to Ambassador Role -- There will be no Clinton restoration -- not this year, at least. But the rehabilitation of Bill Clinton has begun. The former president in many ways ended the Democratic primary campaign more isolated than his wife, with his own friends and allies unhappy with his flashes of anger and ill-chosen words and blaming him in part for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's defeat. Anne E. Kornblut in the Washington Post -- 8/3/08

Obama, McCain find race issue isn't easily discarded -- There is still no subject in American politics as fraught as the color of a candidate's skin -- as the recent back-and-forth between Barack Obama and John McCain testifies. Mark Z. Barabak in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/3/08

With Genie Out of Bottle, Obama Is Careful on Race -- Senator Barack Obama is a man of few rhetorical stumbles, but this week a few of his words opened a racial door his campaign would prefer not to step through. When Senator John McCain’s camp replied by accusing him of playing the race card from the bottom of the deck, the Obama campaign seemed at least momentarily off balance. MICHAEL POWELL in the New York Times -- 8/3/08

Private equity fears criticism if Romney VP -- If John McCain selects Mitt Romney as his running mate, Romney's former colleagues in the private equity industry expect they are in for a bloody campaign that will paint them all as job-killing fat cats eager to stomp the little guy to make a quick buck. LISA LERER Politico -- 8/3/08

Firebombs target UC-Santa Cruz scientists who use animals in research -- Two University of California-Santa Cruz research scientists were targets of firebombs early Saturday, which authorities called a troubling sign of escalating violence against university researchers who use animals in their labs. Santa Cruz police labeled the incidents "acts of domestic terrorism." Mary Anne Ostrom in the San Jose Mercury -- 8/3/08

Oakland high school is just for immigrants -- The students at Oakland International High School form a real-life melting pot. There's Esteban Rojas, 17, who arrived from Mexico three years ago and still speaks mostly Spanish. French-speaking Valerie Ndong, 16, who goes by Grace, emigrated from her West African home in Gabon to be with her mother in Oakland. Trevor Hunnicutt in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/3/08

Beverly Hills case blends free speech, public schools and cyber-bullying -- Middle school friends, talking off-campus, criticize a classmate. A video is posted on YouTube. Now the case is in federal court. Victoria Kim in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/3/08

Experts clash over viability of biofuels, alternative energy -- Pre-eminent UC Berkeley scholars clashed Saturday over whether biofuels will help solve the energy crisis - or whether biofuel supporters are duping themselves and everybody else with empty promises. The university's College of Natural Resources hosted a panel discussion called "The Future of Biofuels?" and it became clear early on why the question mark was tacked onto the title. Heather Knight in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/3/08

Bypass purchases worry Yolo -- Southern California's biggest water agencies are putting down roots in the Yolo Bypass. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and Westlands Water District are buying land and jointly planning restoration projects in the bypass to protect their access to water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, officials told The Bee. Matt Weiser in the Sacramento Bee -- 8/3/08

Sierra warming: Climate change puts heat on high country -- Standing atop Yosemite's tallest peak in August 1950, Hal Klieforth looked out across the Lyell glacier and marveled at how solid and unyielding it appeared. "It was like Grand Canyon or the Sierra itself," the 81-year-old meteorologist said recently. "It had been there for many years and probably would be there for many more." Tom Knudson in the Sacramento Bee -- 8/3/08

Harbor porpoise deaths climbing as cause remains unknown -- A large number of dead harbor porpoises have been washing up on beaches in San Mateo County and elsewhere in the Bay Area this summer, and marine mammal experts are at a loss to explain what could be killing them. Julia Scott in the Contra Costa Times -- 8/3/08

Proposed high-speed rail route divisive -- California bullet-train enthusiasts risk losing support from key environmental groups because of a dispute over the train's route. Unless it is resolved soon, the conflict could pose problems for a high-speed rail bond measure on the November ballot. The Sierra Club and Planning and Conservation League have not yet taken a position on Proposition 1, which would authorize $9.9 billion in state borrowing to jump-start the 800-mile rail. E.J. Schultz in the Fresno Bee -- 8/3/08

New tracking method shows higher rate of HIV -- A new method of tracking HIV infections has revealed that about 40 percent more people each year are infected by the virus that causes AIDS than previously believed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Saturday. Matthew B. Stannard in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/3/08

Ralph Nader wins spot on California's presidential ballot -- Ralph Nader, the former Green Party candidate and scourge of many Democrats who blame him for Al Gore's defeat in 2000, earned a place on the California ballot Saturday as the newly minted candidate of the Peace and Freedom Party. Nader won the party's presidential nomination over the spirited challenge of a socialist candidate, Gloria La Riva, in an eclectic gathering of the political left in a Sacramento hotel. Peter Hecht in the Sacramento Bee -- 8/3/08

Police see disturbing trend: Sacramento gangs getting younger -- In recent years, Sacramento Police Capt. Darrell Fong has observed a troubling trend: The gangs of Sacramento are getting younger. As a gang detective in the 1980s, Fong said, he mostly encountered gang members in their later teen years and early 20s. These days, his detectives are finding more gang members who started, or are starting, their thug lives in middle and elementary schools. Chelsea Phua in the Sacramento Bee -- 8/3/08

Sheriff's deputy shot dead outside his Cypress Park home -- Neighbors describe Juan Abel Escalante, 27, as hardworking and dedicated, a husband and father of three who served in the military and rose above the violence of his gang-plagued neighborhood. Jean-Paul Renaud, Sam Quinones and Andrew Blankstein in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/3/08