 |
 |
||||
 |
 |
 |
|
||
Schwarzenegger's budget plan puts unions in the cross-hairs -- His proposals to privatize prisons, curtail teachers' seniority protections and reduce the number of in-home care workers would be major blows to powerful labor interests. They're girding for a fight. Shane Goldmacher in the Los Angeles Times -- 1/25/10 California inmate release plan begins -- The state's controversial plan to reduce its prison population by 6,500 inmates over the next year begins today, with victims and law enforcement groups once again warning it will increase crime. Sam Stanton in the Sacramento Bee -- 1/25/10 Money and Scott Brown are driving California candidates -- Republican Meg Whitman adds $20 million to her campaign. Democrats, who lack that kind of largesse, are paying attention to voters' perceived anger. Cathleen Decker in the Los Angeles Times -- 1/25/10 Skelton: Impatient voters want changes now -- Legislative leaders know they have to act, but they can't agree on what to do. George Skelton in the Los Angeles Times -- 1/25/10 McManus: Independents are calling the electoral shot -- Most of these voters want bipartisanship and centrism, not populism. Will Obama and fellow Democrats listen? Doyle McManus in the Los Angeles Times -- 1/25/10 Delta environmental review begins amid skepticism -- A cold classroom was the venue for something momentous and obscure Sunday evening: 15 scientists gathered from around the country to help solve the Delta's environmental problems. Matt Weiser in the Sacramento Bee -- 1/25/10 Schwarzenegger leaves California in worse shape than when he arrived, poll finds -- Remember back in 2003, when voters decided Gray Davis was running the state into the ground and picked a movie superhero to lead California? Shelby Grad in the Los Angeles Times -- 1/25/10 Sheehan: Senate Committee Critiques Governor's Attacks on Environment, Public Health -- If the Governor thought Washington D.C. was cold, he should have seen the Senate's response to his budget ideas. Traci Sheehan Cal Progress Report -- 1/25/10 Boren: No shame in Gilmore cutting his losses early -- There were many things that helped Assembly Member Danny Gilmore, R-Hanford, decide he wasn't cut out for the petty world of the California Legislature. Jim Boren in the Fresno Bee -- 1/25/10 Hiltzik: Stop looking to feds to cure California's budget crisis -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says the state is running a budget deficit because we pay more in federal taxes than we get back in federal spending. The biggest cause of the deficit is the governor. Michael Hiltzik in the Los Angeles Times -- 1/25/10 Proposition 8 trial at a crossroads -- Except for a few loose ends that will be tied up this morning, the case against California's ban on same-sex marriage is complete. Testimony in the case has painted a portrait of historical bias and modern political backlash, brushed with raw emotions and textured with academic insights. Howard Mintz in the San Jose Mercury -- 1/25/10 Prop. 8 foes tell court why they see measure as unconstitutional -- Challengers of the ban on gay marriage conclude two weeks of testimony, calling multiple witnesses to define homosexuality, marriage and the role religion has played in prejudice. Maura Dolan in the Los Angeles Times -- 1/25/10 Dowd: The Naked and the Dead -- I wondered how the Governator of California felt about the crumbling Kennedy legacy in Massachusetts and the rocketing Scott Brown, who has promised to scuttle the health care bill. MAUREEN DOWD in the New York Times -- 1/25/10 Walters: Schwarzenegger's private lunch a big nothing -- The most overblown California political story – or non-story – of the still-new year may be the flap over Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's private lunch for state legislators. Dan Walters in the Sacramento Bee -- 1/25/10 Lawsuit at heart of Republican rift -- Even though their party appears to be on the rise after winning the U.S. Senate seat long held by Democrat Ted Kennedy, local Republicans are split between factions that support the status quo and those seeking a sea change. At the heart of the rift is a December lawsuit filed by Robert Vaughn of Monrovia. Bethania Palma Markus in the Inland Daily Bulletin -- 1/25/10 Critics say redistricting panel needs diversity -- When voters were asked to approve a plan in 2008 to let private citizens instead of politicians draw legislative boundaries, supporters touted the initiative as a way to depoliticize the process and eliminate conflicts of interest, while opponents said it would create a secretive and unaccountable commission that wouldn't reflect the diversity of the state. Marisa Lagos in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 1/25/10 Thousands apply for redistricting panel -- California’s first-ever citizens commission to reshape legislative districts is beginning to take shape — its mission potentially complicated by two rival initiatives aimed for the November ballot. John Marelius in the San Diego Union-Trib -- 1/25/10 Bay Area leaders tout measure to block state take-aways -- City and county leaders across California are fed up, their pleas to state legislators to not raid local revenue sources ignored. Elisabeth Nardi and Paul Thissen in the Oakland Tribune -- 1/25/10 Meg Whitman turns the page on campaign trail -- Meg Whitman, the billionaire former eBay CEO who has plunged an astonishing $39 million of her own money into her 2010 GOP run for California governor, has some advice for America in her new book: "Be frugal." Carla Marinucci in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 1/25/10 This Week in the Capitol: Sacramento's scheduled events -- Both the Senate and the Assembly have scheduled sessions today. Also on tap is a legislative hearing investigating the so-called "interchange" fees that banks charge on credit-card and debit-card transactions. The list is in the Sacramento Bee -- 1/25/10 CalBuzz: Meg’s Trouble With Women, Jerry’s With Youth -- Your faithful Calbuzz datasluts couldn’t wait to mine last week’s Field Poll crosstabs for the governor’s race, so we could tell you about nuggets like: While Jerry Brown is beating Meg Whitman 44-32% overall, he’s ahead 48-33% among women who give eMeg a pathetic favorable rating of 19-20%. Jerry Roberts and Phil Trounstine CalBuzz -- 1/25/10
Pension costs hit big-city budgets: LA, SF and SD -- A wave of higher pension costs is hitting California’s three major coastal cities, prompting proposals to shore up future budgets with ballot measures in Los Angeles and San Francisco and eroding progress in San Diego, once dubbed “Enron by the sea.” Ed Mendel Calpensions.com -- 1/25/10 Labor’s deals stir dust-up in construction -- Organized labor’s success in getting the San Diego Unified School District to grant union hiring preferences on $2.1 billion in construction projects last year has sparked a major counteroffensive from business interests that say it’s bad for taxpayers. Helen Gao in the San Diego Union-Trib -- 1/25/10 Wal-Mart to cut 11,200 jobs at Sam's Club -- The company will outsource in-store demonstrations and product sampling at the warehouse stores, cutting 10,000 workers. It will also eliminate about 1,200 positions in business membership recruiting. Dawn C. Chmielewski in the Los Angeles Times -- 1/25/10 Big finance firms watch MID's moves -- Wall Street paid attention when a board on 11th Street in Modesto rolled back electricity rate hikes last year. And it wasn't terribly pleased. John Holland in the Modesto Bee -- 1/25/10 Apple's rumored tablet may write next chapter in publishing -- The tech giant hasn't announced that it will offer such a device, but the anticipation that it will do so this week has already caused a stir in the newspaper, book and magazine world. Dawn C. Chmielewski and Alex Pham in the Los Angeles Times -- 1/25/10 Stakes are high as government plans exit from mortgage markets -- For more than a year, the government pulled out the stops to revive home buying by driving down mortgage rates. David Cho, Neil Irwin and Dina ElBoghdady in the Washington Post -- 1/25/10 In recession, lawyers turn to stealing -- The recession has driven an increasing number of California lawyers to cheat and steal, say State Bar officials, who expect to discipline or expel hundreds of them. Barbara Anderson in the Modesto Bee -- 1/25/10 Affordable housing freeze locks out needy -- But the 60-unit Glenoaks Gardens complex has been put on hold, along with hundreds of other affordable housing projects across California, all victims of the state budget crisis. With California delaying payments on voter-approved bonds, developers have been unable to get the bridge loans from commercial lenders they need to build the projects. Dana Bartholomew in the Los Angeles Daily News -- 1/25/10 Veterans' loans shunned by sellers, real estate agents say -- But misperceptions about the riskiness of these buyers, combined with the reality of stringent inspection standards and piles of paperwork, have left many sellers unwilling to take VA bids, said real estate agents and mortgage brokers throughout the region. ERIC WOLFF in the North County Times -- 1/25/10 Healthcare unions await Los Angeles workers' vote results -- Election on which union will represent workers at Kaiser Permanente's L.A. Medical Center is a key battle in the clash between giant SEIU and upstart NUHW. Results are to be counted Tuesday. Patrick J. McDonnell in the Los Angeles Times -- 1/25/10
Fensterwald: Parcel tax initiative needs signatures -- Twenty-two of state Sen. Joe Simitian’s colleagues in the Senate are co-sponsoring a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow lower the threshold for passing a local school parcel tax from two-thirds to 55 percent. John Fensterwald educatedguess.org -- 1/25/10 California Watch: Schools reject immigrant, preschool reforms in Race to the Top -- Hundreds of school districts and charter schools have pledged support for the federal government's Race to the Top education reforms. Corey G. Johnson California Watch -- 1/25/10 California schools angry over even more cuts -- Despite Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaiming this month that his proposed budget "protects education," school administrators say they will actually lose about $200 per student under Sacramento's version of new math. Sharon Noguchi in the San Jose Mercury -- 1/25/10 Menifee school officials remove dictionary over term 'oral sex' -- After a parent complained about an elementary school student stumbling across "oral sex" in a classroom dictionary, Menifee Union School District officials decided to pull Merriam Webster's 10th edition from all school shelves earlier this week. JULISSA McKINNON in the Riverside Press -- 1/25/10 Making a Healthy Lunch, and Making It a Cause -- Between them, Kristin Richmond and Kirsten Tobey have worked on Wall Street, traveled the world and taught school from East Africa to Ecuador. Now they make lunch for a living. DANIEL WEINTRAUB in the New York Times -- 1/25/10 Madera Unified superintendent gets raise -- Facing severe budget cuts last year, the Madera Unified School District was forced to furlough workers, increase class sizes, and lay off more than 30 teachers and two dozen other employees. Chris Collins in the Fresno Bee -- 1/25/10 Fresno State students save money by renting textbooks -- Most college students get their first hard lesson before setting foot in class: a crash course in economics delivered by the campus bookstore, where textbooks cost hundreds of dollars. Cyndee Fontana in the Fresno Bee -- 1/25/10 Stanford receives record number of applications -- Despite a shaky national economy, Stanford University has received a record number of applications for its fall freshman class. John Wildermuth in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 1/25/10 San Diego Schools' New Testing Idea: No Child Left Unmeasured -- Tom O'Malley knew that the fourth grade classes at Birney Elementary had been a success -- but the numbers said it had failed. EMILY ALPERT Voiceofsandiego.org -- 1/25/10
Beaches awash in garbage after series of storms -- Much of the Southern California coastline, particularly near river mouths, is littered with bottles, cans, tires, shoes and shopping carts. Corina Knoll in the Los Angeles Times -- 1/25/10 Cache Creek casino's new expansion plan stuns residents -- Residents of the rural Capay Valley can't help feeling a little beleaguered these days. Hudson Sangree in the Sacramento Bee -- 1/25/10 Scientists envision monster storm for California -- Recently, a team of scientists met at the California Institute of Technology to work on a “Frankenstorm” scenario — a mother lode wintry blast that could potentially sock the Golden State. Gina Tenorio in the Desert Sun -- 1/25/10
Redlands doctor's practice reflects health care model proposed under reform bill -- A business model like the one a Redlands doctor started using decades ago to control costs and provide quality care has captured attention in Washington, D.C., as lawmakers debate health care legislation. LORA HINES in the Riverside Press -- 1/25/10 California Watch: Why Palm Springs' addiction to MRIs could be dangerous -- Two weeks ago, I wrote about how the rampant use of MRI machines may lead to unnecessary medical procedures, including a spike in back surgeries. Christina Jewett California Watch -- 1/25/10
Women at center of power -- Critics of America's corporate culture insist that a glass ceiling still exists, but at the California Independent System Operator Corp. in Folsom, women wield considerable power in more ways than one. Mark Glover in the Sacramento Bee -- 1/25/10 Labor leader at helm of fight -- The man behind the lawsuit to block Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson's strong-mayor initiative from the ballot wears suspenders, speaks with a gentle South Carolina drawl and calls those he's friendly with "brother." Ryan Lillis in the Sacramento Bee -- 1/25/10 Baja smugglers’ use of boats rising rapidly -- On any given night, small fishing boats from Mexico are puttering up the San Diego County coast, unlighted and so dangerously overloaded with human cargo that their hulls are barely above water. Leslie Berestein in the San Diego Union-Trib -- 1/25/10 Inland reactions vary regarding law on prayer during government events; many not in compliance -- Many Inland elected officials start their meetings with prayers to Jesus Christ, though courts have ruled the practice unconstitutional. AARON BURGIN in the Riverside Press -- 1/25/10 Few in county receiving federal aid to prevent homelessness -- Most Ventura County families seeking emergency aid for homelessness through the federal stimulus package are rejected because they don’t meet the government’s rules for the program. Kathleen Wilson in the Ventura Star -- 1/25/10
Immigrants often see peril in reporting domestic abuse -- Language barriers, cultural differences and lack of information keep many women tied to abusive spouses. Help is available. Anna Gorman in the Los Angeles Times -- 1/25/10 Debate grows in aftermath of quake: Should U.S. let more Haitians immigrate? -- From morning until night, Dieula Celestin's cellphone rings in Miami's Little Haiti. It is her younger brother, Roger Paul, calling from Port-au-Prince, where he and their 65-year-old mother live with no food, no job and no money in the street outside the remnants of their house. Amy Goldstein and Peter Whoriskey in the Washington Post -- 1/25/10
Obama critics say his economic vision lacking -- With the possibility of losses for Democrats looming in November, the president is moving to emphasize a new economic message. Don Lee and Jim Puzzanghera in the Los Angeles Times -- 1/25/10 White House brass split on stimulus stats -- White House advisers appearing on the Sunday talk shows gave three different estimates of how many jobs could be credited to President Obama’s Recovery Act. Politico -- 1/25/10 Brown's win shows GOP how to seize Obama's old Senate seat -- In a year when populism is good politics, Scott Brown has given Republicans a model for how to harness voters’ frustration. Sean J. Miller The Hill -- 1/25/10 Obama to Offer Aid for Families in State of the Union Address -- President Obama will propose in his State of the Union address a package of modest initiatives intended to help middle-class families, including tax credits for child care, caps on some student loan payments and a requirement that companies let workers save automatically for retirement, senior administration officials said Sunday. SHERYL GAY STOLBERG in the New York Times -- 1/25/10 Obamas' carefully crafted image of ordinariness may be working -- 'If you were to create the perfect American family in the laboratory, the Obamas would be it,' says one observer. Kathleen Hennessey in the Los Angeles Times -- 1/25/10
G.O.P. Seeks to Widen Field of Play in Fall Elections -- Republicans are luring new candidates into House and Senate races, and the number of seats up for grabs in November appears to be growing, setting up a midterm election likely to be harder fought than anyone anticipated before the party’s big victory in Massachusetts last week. ADAM NAGOURNEY and CARL HULSE in the New York Times -- 1/25/10 |
