Perata says sales tax idea is only 'a start' -- Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata today welcomed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed 1-cent sales tax hike as "a start," but declared budget negotiations are at an impasse and said he does not expect a quick resolution. Aurelio Rojas in the Sacramento Bee -- 8/5/08

Schwarzenegger v. Chiang? -- The battle over Governor Schwarzenegger's executive order reducing the state's payroll is about to get real interesting, real fast. This afternoon, the Schwarzenegger administration sent Controller John Chiang a letter formally requesting Chiang begin the process of reducing some state worker paychecks down to minimum wage. John Myers Capitol Notes weblog -- 8/5/08

'At loggerheads,' Perata sees 'no end in sight' -- In some of his most pessimistic statements to date, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata told reporters Tuesday that talks have stalled between the legislative leaders and there is "no end in sight" for the state's overdue budget. Shane Goldmacher SacBee Capitol Alert -- 8/5/08

CHP, CalFire Exempt From Pay Cut -- As various state agencies continue to decide which workers would, and would not, be exempt from Governor Schwarzenegger's executive order suspending all but minimum wages for their work in August, there's now word that two departments are completely off limits. John Myers Capitol Notes weblog -- 8/5/08

High Oil Prices Giving Iraq Up to $79 Billion in Surplus Cash -- The soaring price of oil will leave the Iraqi government with a cumulative budget surplus of as much as $79 billion by year’s end an American federal oversight agency has concluded in an analysis released on Tuesday. JAMES GLANZ in the New York Times -- 8/5/08

Race-card flap reopens Clinton camp wounds -- The Clintons and their allies may forgive Barack Obama for beating Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primary, but there’s one sore point they’re not quite ready to absolve: leaving the impression that Bill and Hillary Clinton have a race problem. BEN SMITH Politico -- 8/5/08

Job loss, business impacts seen in proposed sales tax hike -- An analysis by the state agency that collects California's sales taxes suggests that a one-cent increase in the statewide sales tax would bring in hundreds of millions of dollars less than anticipated and cost thousands of jobs. John Howard in Capitol Weekly -- 8/5/08

Animal-rights activists suspected in attacks on UC Santa Cruz researchers -- A car and a home were firebombed, forcing one scientist and his family to flee out a window. Authorities cite increasing violence against UC researchers. Richard C. Paddock and Maria L. LaGanga in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/5/08

3 Democrats decry leaks in probe of Sen. Don Perata -- Since 2004, the FBI has been investigating California Sen. Perata's conduct in office. Three members of Congress supporting him accuse federal sources of leaking information. Jordan Rau in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/5/08

L.A. County Board of Supervisors rejects sales tax -- In a surprise move, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors denied a request today to place a half-cent sales tax on the November ballot to pay for up to $40 billion of road and mass transit improvements, including the so-called subway to the sea. Garrett Therolf in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/5/08

L.A. trash fee hike is approved -- The Los Angeles City Council today approved Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's latest trash fee hike, which was used to help balance the city's budget earlier this year and to continue the mayor's effort to hire 1,000 new police officers. Phil Willon in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/5/08

California state computers can't handle pay cut, controller says -- If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to issue minimum-wage checks to 200,000 state workers in less than a month, he may want to rehire any semi-retired computer programmers he terminated last week. The massive pay cut would exhaust the state's antiquated payroll system, which is built on a Vietnam-era computer language so outdated that many college students don't even bother to learn it anymore. Kevin Yamamura in the Sacramento Bee -- 8/5/08

State wage cuts not needed, Chiang tells California Senate committee -- State workers, their unions and other officials warned legislators Monday that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to slash state worker pay during a budget impasse will disrupt lives while doing little to ease a supposed cash crunch. "We are not in a cash crisis," Controller John Chiang told the Senate Governmental Organization Committee. "The need for this is misdirected." John Hill in the Sacramento Bee -- 8/5/08

Governor proposes one-cent sales tax increase -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed a temporary, one-cent increase in the state sales tax along with long-term budget reforms in an effort to break the stalemate in budget negotiations that have been stalled for more than a month, legislative sources close to the talks said Monday. Matthew Yi in the San Francisco Chronicle Jim Sanders in the Sacramento Bee Evan Halper and Nancy Vogel in the Los Angeles Times Ed Mendel in the San Diego Union-Trib Mike Zapler in the San Jose Mercury -- 8/5/08

Walters: Governor's latest political stunt is a dud -- Arnold Schwarzenegger, it would appear, just can't help himself. The man who achieved success as a bodybuilder and action movie star with over-the-top, attention-getting stunts keeps trying to make them work in politics – and keeps failing. Dan Walters in the Sacramento Bee -- 8/5/08

Governor's cuts may mean DMV pileup / Expect delays with part-timers and overtime gone -- If you're doing business at a state Department of Motor Vehicles office, you might have to wait longer or may be asked to return another day. Eddie Jimenez in the Fresno Bee -- 8/5/08

Nicole Parra links budget vote to water bond -- Assembly Member Nicole Parra could once again be in some trouble with fellow Democrats -- this time over a suggestion that she won't vote for the state budget unless lawmakers approve a water bond. E.J. Schultz in the Fresno Bee -- 8/5/08

Prop. 8 not retroactive, Jerry Brown says -- If voters approve a November ballot measure banning same-sex marriages in California, thousands of gay and lesbian weddings conducted since the state Supreme Court legalized the unions on May 15 will probably remain valid, Attorney General Jerry Brown said Monday. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/5/08

Schrag: Summer in California, and livin' isn't so easy -- August in California. It doesn't scan as a song title, doesn't sound like "Autumn in New York" or "April in Paris," even if you if you accentuate it into Schwarzeneggerian rhythms. Nobody this year can complain, as in that Larry Hart lyric, that they hate California because "it's cold and it's damp." But who'd want to sing about it now, anyway? Still, it's a pretty typical August, hot and dry, not cold and damp. The temperature in Needles is 110. Peter Schrag in the Sacramento Bee -- 8/5/08

Firebombs show new tactics of animal activists -- Two firebombs targeting UC Santa Cruz biologists appear to mark an escalation in violence by militant opponents to animal research, a transition from threats and harassment to acts of terrorism and attempted homicide, authorities said Monday. John Coté in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/5/08

Allstate settles with California insurance commissioner on homeowners' coverage -- The insurer agrees not to oppose a 28.5% rate cut, while Steve Poizner drops an effort to seek refunds for policyholders who might have paid too much in recent years. Marc Lifsher in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/5/08

Jerry Brown sues YourTravelBiz.com over alleged pyramid scheme -- The state attorney general, who seeks to shut down the operation, asks for more than $25 million in fines and restitution. Marc Lifsher in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/5/08

Clean-tech investment leaps 83% in year -- U.S. venture investments in clean-technology companies climbed to a record $961.7 million in the second quarter of 2008 - up 41 percent from the first quarter and 83 percent from the same quarter last year, according to a new report. Deborah Gage in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/5/08

Program to keep trucking -- A controversial experiment that is testing the safety of allowing Mexican trucks to travel throughout the United States has so far survived the repeated efforts of opponents to shut it down in Congress and the courts. Paul M. Krawzak in the San Diego Union-Trib -- 8/5/08

Move to curb recorded celebrity phone calls -- Dakin is founder of Citizens for Civil Discourse, a nonpartisan group in Washington, D.C., working to promote a new "National Political Do Not Contact Registry" that includes such "robocalls," which are used in political campaigns ranging from school board elections to the race for president. John Wildermuth in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/5/08

Tire gauge pumping up campaign rhetoric -- But American voters may soon weigh in on whether the little tool is something far more - an effective symbol or a cheesy gimmick - in the presidential campaign of 2008. The tiny prop has taken center stage this week as the presidential race gets nastier than an oil slick, with both Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain trading charges over who can deliver energy policies to help average Americans survive high gas prices. Carla Marinucci in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/5/08

Framing The Opposition -- Today's politics is fueled by a string of Rorschach tests, double entendres and code words. We see what we want to see; we hear what we want to hear. Candidates and their campaigns bet on that. And that has sullied the 2008 Presidential race. Sherry Bebitch Jeffe Political Perspectives -- 8/5/08

Latinos in math, science do better with strong faculty ties, USC study says -- Latino college students who major in math, sciences and technology do better academically when they have strong relationships with faculty, according to a study from USC Rossier School of Education. Mary MacVean in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/5/08

UC asks Berkeley to clear campers from median -- UC Berkeley, poised to clear the Memorial Stadium oak grove for a sports training center, has asked the city for help to control a growing encampment on a nearby street median of people who support tree-sitting protesters. Carolyn Jones in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/5/08

UC Davis researcher tests Beijing's pollution curbs -- When China pledged to sharply reduce air pollution during the 2008 Olympics, it caught the eye of a UC Davis researcher who saw the effort as a potential living laboratory. Just what kind of impact would there be downwind of Beijing after China shut down factories and kept some cars, trucks and buses off the roads? Carrie Peyton Dahlberg in the Sacramento Bee -- 8/5/08

Kids meals bust calorie, fat, sodium targets -- After analyzing kids' items offered by 13 of the nation's 25 largest restaurant chains, the Center for Science in the Public Interest concluded that 93 percent of the meals provide too many calories. Carrie Peyton Dahlberg in the Sacramento Bee -- 8/5/08

UC Davis study: Agent Orange exposure doubles veterans' likelihood of getting prostate cancer -- Veterans exposed to the herbicide Agent Orange are twice as likely to get prostate cancer as other veterans, UC Davis researchers found in a study published online by the journal Cancer. Carrie Peyton Dahlberg in the Sacramento Bee -- 8/5/08

More UCLA Medical Center employees peeked at celebrities' records, state says -- Even after UCLA Medical Center warned employees that it was cracking down on unauthorized access to medical records, the privacy of a "well-known individual" was breached by two nurses and an emergency room technician who called up the patient's computerized records in mid-April, according to a critical state report released Monday. Charles Ornstein in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/5/08

California Central Valley fights obesity epidemic -- On a recent day, Maria Velasquez led 25 women in outdoor aerobics at a park in this city's rough southeast district, home to a large farmworker community. Nearby, young children played noisily on well-clipped grass. Wiping sweat from her brow, Velasquez announced she'd lost 80 pounds and, with it, a high risk of diabetes. Catherine Saillant in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/5/08

Newsom signs strict green building codes into law -- San Francisco took a major step Monday to cement its reputation as the most environmentally progressive city in the United States, as Mayor Gavin Newsom signed into law stringent green building codes for new construction and renovations of existing structures in the city. Wyatt Buchanan in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/5/08

Bush rules on fuel economy hit from 2 sides -- President Bush drew rare praise from environmentalists last year when he signed into law the biggest increase in fuel economy in three decades. But consumer groups and environmentalists now warn that the administration's new rules to implement the law are too weak to shift the country from gas-guzzling to gas-sipping cars and trucks. Zachary Coile in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/5/08

Scientists look into death of harbor porpoises -- Bay Area researchers are looking into whether harbor porpoises that have washed up on local beaches in recent months might have been killed by long-term exposure to toxic algae. Marisa Lagos in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/5/08

Many California bridges still need earthquake upgrades -- Since the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989 and the Northridge quake in 1994, the state has been trying to seismically retrofitted bridges across California. Given the significant earthquake last week, I thought it would be a good time to provide an update. Steve Hymon in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/5/08

Emirates' decked-out A380 jet drops by SFO -- Showers in plane bathrooms with temperature-controlled floors. Twenty-three-inch screens with 1,200 channels of audio and video entertainment. Sleeping compartments with built-in makeup mirrors and mini-bars that recede at the touch of a button.. Ilana DeBare in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/5/08

Deputy pleads not guilty in bicyclists' deaths -- Lawyers for a Santa Clara County sheriff's deputy accused of misdemeanor manslaughter in connection with the deaths of two bicyclists in Cupertino in March pleaded not guilty on his behalf Monday, court officials said. Deputy James Council faces the two misdemeanor manslaughter charges in connection with the March 9 deaths of Matt Peterson, 29, of San Francisco and Kristy Gough, 30, of San Leandro. Matthew B. Stannard in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 8/5/08

For veterans home from Iraq, sleep is now the enemy -- In Mira Mesa, a former Marine fights nightmares by struggling to stay awake. He finds compassion from fellow veterans but little relief. Jia-Rui Chong in the Los Angeles Times -- 8/5/08