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Whitman camp says negative ads kick off 'issues debate' -- Most campaign watchers call it "negative advertising." Meg Whitman's aides have another name: "the issues debate." Michael Rothfeld in the Los Angeles Times -- 2/26/10 GOP sharpening knives for Cal judicial nominee -- As predicted Wednesday, Senate Republicans are preparing to put up a fight against the confirmation of University of California, Berkeley Boalt Hall Law School Associate Dean and Professor Goodwin Liu to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Josh Richman Political Blotter weblog -- 2/26/10 Bill would put health reforms before California voters -- As Democrats in Washington consider going it alone to reform health care, a California lawmaker has introduced a measure that would give state voters the final say over any changes to their coverage. ROBIN HINDERY AP -- 2/26/10 State takes aim at 'risks' of Twitter, bans Facebook friends -- The Internet can be a wild place, with all the damage one can do from an office cubicle on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the like. So the state of California on Friday unveiled a "Social Media Standard" to ensure that its employees aren't running amok. Michael Rothfeld in the Los Angeles Times -- 2/26/10 Meg Whitman goes negative in new campaign ads -- Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman directly attacks her chief primary rival, California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, in four new television spots released Friday. Capitol Weekly's Anthony York in the Los Angeles Times Steven Harmon in the Contra Costa Times Joe Garofoli Chronicle Politics Weblog -- 2/26/10 Unusual poll finds Whitman most popular -- Former eBay boss Meg Whitman holds a commanding lead over Steve Poizner, her rival for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, and runs ahead of Democrat Jerry Brown, a new poll of "high-propensity" voters by Datamar, an El Cajon survey firm, has found. Dan Walters SacBee Capitol Alert -- 2/26/10 Fox: Campbell Opens Gap with Rivals in Poll -- Tom Campbell has opened up a lead over Carly Fiorina and Chuck DeVore in the U.S. Senate race according to the M4Strategies poll for the Small Business Action Committee. Joel Fox Fox & Hounds weblog -- 2/26/10 Democrat Jerry Brown says he's planning "eloquent" 2010 gov campaign rollout -- Democratic State Attorney General Jerry Brown answered the GOP's needling about "Where's Jerry" Friday -- saying he has a plan for running for governor "if and when I jump into the fray.'' Carla Marinucci Chronicle Politics Weblog -- 2/26/10 Teachers union launches effort to repeal corporate tax breaks -- The California Teachers Assn. has contributed more than $630,000 over the last two weeks to repeal new tax breaks for corporations, which are scheduled to go into effect this summer. Capitol Weekly's Anthony York in the Los Angeles Times -- 2/26/10 Noose found at UCSD triggers probe and protest -- On a campus already facing racial tensions, UC San Diego police said Friday that they were investigating the discovery of a noose hanging from a library bookcase and questioning a student who may be responsible. Larry Gordon in the Los Angeles Times -- 2/26/10 State lawmakers use their office to duck uncomfortable questions -- You can probably guess that state lawmakers weren’t too happy about the Register’s recent look at the way they use their expense allowance. We found that some of them were leveraging their “per diem” to earn hundreds of thousands in profit on Sacramento real estate. BRIAN JOSEPH in the Orange County Register -- 2/26/10 Health insurers are the latest punching bag -- For health insurers doing business in California, this is the worst of times, politically speaking. Dan Weintraub HealthyCal.org -- 2/26/10 Up to $2.5 billion in State Payments to Public Schools Delayed -- Over the objections of public schools, the Assembly narrowly passed a bill February 25 that would allow the state to postpone up to $2.5 billion in payments to kindergarten through Grade 12 districts between July 2010 and March 2011. Greg Lucas California's capitol weblog -- 2/26/10 California puts 11 office buildings up for sale -- California has put up the "for sale" sign on 11 state office buildings, including the San Francisco Civic Center and Ronald Reagan building in Los Angeles. JUDY LIN AP -- 2/26/10 Audit finds L.A. County supervisors' behind-the-scenes effort to control policy -- A long awaited audit released by Los Angeles County officials found that the Board of Supervisors often use behind-the-scenes levers to control the inner workings of the Regional Planning Department, whose decisions are key to hotly contested battles over development, environmental protections and code enforcement. Garrett Therolf in the Los Angeles Times -- 2/26/10 Maviglio: Senate Dems: Schwarzenegger Still Doesn't Get How Legislature Works -- Senate Democrats pushed back at Governor Schwarzenegger after the Governor made a serious of false statements about the progress of jobs legislation in the Senate. Steve Maviglio Cal Progress Report -- 2/26/10 Wildermuth: GOP Senate Race Goes Nuclear -- Well that cleared everything up. Marty Wilson, a top aide to GOP Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina, denied he ever called Tom Campbell an anti-Semite, but he had no problem suggesting that the rival Senate candidate hobnobs with terrorists. John Wildermuth Fox & Hounds weblog -- 2/26/10 Inland perchlorate bill moves forward in House -- A House panel this week approved legislation to initiate a government study into perchlorate contamination of Inland Southern California's water supply. Ben Goad in the Riverside Press -- 2/26/10 Paterson drops out of New York governor race -- His announcement comes in the wake of a scandal involving a top aide, but Paterson acknowledged that 'it hasn't been the latest distraction, it's been an accumulation of obstacles.' Geraldine Baum and Michael Muskal in the Los Angeles Times -- 2/26/10 Modesto to Google: Check us out! -- Dozens of people gathered under Modesto's historic downtown arch today to urge search engine giant Google to build a high-speed Internet network here. The item is in the Modesto Bee -- 2/26/10
Meg Whitman holds forth on guns, gays and government -- Gays and lesbians should be allowed to adopt, but not marry. Illegal immigration is a huge problem, but immigrant children shouldn't be punished for the sins of their parents. And California is a mess, but that doesn't mean it's going to fail. Ken McLaughlin in the San Jose Mercury -- 2/26/10 Whitman backs $11 billion state water bond -- Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman yesterday appealed for support for the $11.2 billion water bond on the November ballot, saying its failure would set California back years. John Marelius in the San Diego Union-Trib -- 2/26/10 Whitman no rookie at playing hardball -- The GOP gubernatorial candidate, a hard-nosed ex-CEO, tried to push a rival from the race and threatened labor leaders with retaliation if they funded attacks against her. But the moves carry risks. Michael Rothfeld in the Los Angeles Times -- 2/26/10 Democratic group calls for details of Whitman's eBay jet use -- First it was Meg Whitman's tax returns. Now it's her many trips on eBay's posh jets. Denis C. Theriault in the San Jose Mercury -- 2/26/10 Newsom rolls with adviser's punches -- Mayor Gavin Newsom wasn't staggered by the sucker punch from his old pal Garry South (his adviser while running for governor), and the mayor certainly did nothing to suggest Thursday that he'd stay out of the lieutenant governor's race. John Coté, Rachel Gordon in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 2/26/10 Judge rules state workers owed back pay -- Tens of thousands of state employees who were illegally placed on unpaid furloughs for three days a month last year are entitled to back pay for the time they missed, an Alameda County judge ruled Thursday. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle Jon Ortiz in the Sacramento Bee -- 2/26/10 Prop. 8 suit closing arguments may be televised -- Despite a rebuff from the U.S. Supreme Court, the Bay Area's federal judges are again proposing to allow cameras in their courtrooms, a plan that could lead to telecasting of closing arguments in a suit challenging California's ban on same-sex marriage. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 2/26/10 Walters: PG&E taking a tough line on public rivals -- Sacramento-area voters, responding to a Sacramento Bee-led crusade, voted in 1923 to divorce themselves from Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and create a publicly owned electric utility, but it took 23 more years before the Sacramento Municipal Utility District began serving customers. Dan Walters in the Sacramento Bee -- 2/26/10 Jerry Brown, state Assembly turn up the heat on California's health insurers -- Scrutiny of California's health insurers intensified Thursday with both Attorney General Jerry Brown and the state Assembly demanding more financial information from the industry. Jim Sanders in the Sacramento Bee -- 2/26/10 Water package for parched San Joaquin Valley set to be unveiled -- The Obama administration is expected today to unveil an ambitious-sounding package of irrigation deliveries, water transfers, farm loan guarantees and other programs targeting the parched San Joaquin Valley. Michael Doyle and Mark Grossi in the Sacramento Bee -- 2/26/10 Years of bad blood between construction union and Bogh surface again in Senate campaign -- Republican state Senate candidate Russ Bogh and California's largest private-sector construction union are engaged in a new round of bad blood over recent mailers criticizing Bogh. JIM MILLER in the Riverside Press -- 2/26/10 Podcast: Small Steps -- We're back to the budget deficit. On this week's Capital Notes Podcast, we look at this week's budget news… small steps towards closing the $20 billion gap, but steps nonetheless. John Myers Capitol Notes weblog -- 2/26/10 CalBuzz: OK Meg and Steve: Let’s Analyze California, Inc. -- Meg Whitman says she wants to run California state government like a business. Mark Paul CalBuzz -- 2/26/10
Governor's office, Republicans and Senate Democrats bring own approaches, spark disagreement on jobs agenda -- California's 12.4 percent unemployment has made jobs the new buzzword in the Capitol. But while everyone says they want to help the state's 2.3 million unemployed, there is little agreement about what approaches to take. JIM MILLER in the Riverside Press -- 2/26/10 Health insurance hikes stun small businesses -- While Anthem Blue Cross has been taking the heat for proposing rate increases of up to 39 percent on individual consumers, other health insurers have stunned some small businesses with hikes that in some cases exceed 75 percent. Victoria Colliver in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 2/26/10
The charter school test case that didn't happen -- If they hadn't been mostly shut out of bids to run a slew of new L.A. Unified campuses, the groups might have demonstrated how they handle students with challenging needs. Howard Blume in the Los Angeles Times -- 2/26/10 Fensterwald: State delays list of lowest performers -- State and federal education officials are continuing to haggle over which low-performing schools should be restructured, leading to yet another delay in releasing a much-anticipated list of schools that makes superintendents shudder. John Fensterwald educatedguess.org -- 2/26/10 California Education: Tallying Cuts and Costs -- A new round of rallies are planned for next week to protest the budget cuts in higher education and the resulting layoffs, furloughs and fee increases. Here are some numbers — from state and nonprofit sources — that describe education in public schools and colleges. ANNA BLOOM in the New York Times -- 2/26/10
Opposition mounts to 12,000-home development on Cargill Salt lands in Redwood City -- Fifteen months after beating back a challenge from environmental groups at the ballot box, an Arizona developer's plans to build the largest housing development on the shores of San Francisco Bay since Foster City was constructed 50 years ago are running into an increasing headwind. Paul Rogers in the San Jose Mercury -- 2/26/10 Incentives to rise for home solar arrays -- At least 10 times a day Andrew Kin clicks onto the Internet for the pure joy of watching his electricity meter run backward. Margot Roosevelt in the Los Angeles Times -- 2/26/10
Federal judge blocks cuts to California's adult day care program -- Disability rights advocates have scored another victory – and thwarted another budget cut – with a federal court injunction this week that blocks tightening eligibility guidelines for getting into California's adult day care program. Susan Ferriss in the Sacramento Bee -- 2/26/10
Richmond-Indian tribe casino deal reinstated -- A state appeals court has reinstated an agreement between the city of Richmond and an Indian tribe that wants to build a casino on 30 acres near the waterfront over some residents' objections. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 2/26/10 Oakland ends unequal ticketing, officials say -- Oakland officials said Thursday they have stopped the unequal practice of issuing tickets for certain violations in some neighborhoods while issuing courtesy notices in others. Matthai Kuruvila in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 2/26/10
Report: E-Verify misses a lot of illegal workers -- Touted by some as an essential tool for stopping illegal immigration, an independent research firm says the E-Verify system flags less than half the number of illegal workers it checks. Stephen Wallin the Inland Daily Bulletin -- 2/26/10
President Urges Focus on Common Ground -- If there was any question about how deeply divided Republicans and Democrats are about how to reshape the American health care system, consider that they spent the first few hours of President Obama’s much-anticipated health care forum on Thursday arguing over whether they were in fact deeply divided. SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and ROBERT PEAR in the New York Times -- 2/26/10 At health-care summit, Obama tells Republicans he's eager to move ahead -- President Obama declared Thursday that the time for debate over health-care reform has come to an end, closing an unusual seven-hour summit with congressional leaders by sending a clear message that Democrats will move forward to pass major legislation with or without Republican support. Shailagh Murray and Anne E. Kornblut in the Washington Post -- 2/26/10
Uniting Democrats Is Challenge at Health Forum -- After more than six hours of extraordinary debate on Thursday over health care policy, President Obama had not won over any of the Republicans, and he seemed to end the day largely where he started, with little choice but to try to rally his Democrats to act on their own. DAVID M. HERSZENHORN in the New York Times -- 2/26/10 Coffee Party activists say their civic brew's a tastier choice than Tea Party's -- Furious at the tempest over the Tea Party -- the scattershot citizen uprising against big government and wild spending -- Annabel Park did what any American does when she feels her voice has been drowned out: She squeezed her anger into a Facebook status update. Dan Zak in the Washington Post -- 2/26/10 |
