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Top 5 States of Confusion
 Top 5 States of Confusion 
OPINION
Jul 3, 2009 12:14 PM CDT

Top 5 States of Confusion

(Newser) - It’s not easy being an elected official in a time of crisis, but a select few governors are having a particularly tough time. And some of them are even trying to get reelected. Politico looks at the 5 worst-off states:
  • California: No surprise here. The state's issuing of IOUs
...

LA Braces for Jackson Masses
 LA Braces for Jackson Masses 
Jul 3, 2009 11:28 AM CDT

LA Braces for Jackson Masses

City, hard-up for cash, also concerned about costs

(Newser) - Now that Michael Jackson’s memorial has a time and place, cash-strapped Los Angeles must move on to the next problems: Where to put tens of thousands of mourners, and how to pay for it. “If you can imagine 100,000 people show up and you have 20,000...

California Begins Printing IOUs
California Begins
Printing IOUs
Jul 2, 2009 7:49 PM CDT

California Begins Printing IOUs

(Newser) - Thousands of Californians still waiting for their state tax returns will open their mail to find an IOU instead of a check. Unable to close a gargantuan budget deficit, the state began printing a $53 million batch of IOUs this afternoon, the Los Angeles Times reports. Some banks have agreed...

Who Replaces Arnold? 'Entertaining' Race Unfolds

(Newser) - Sure, California's going through a little financial Armageddon, but that's not keeping candidates from lining up to replace Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is prevented by term limits from running in 2010. In the New York Times magazine, Mark Leibovitch takes a look at the eclectic field, which includes Jerry Brown ("...

Arnold Declares Emergency in Calif. Budget Mess

(Newser) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today declared a fiscal emergency and ordered lawmakers to produce a plan to close the state’s $24.3 billion deficit within 45 days, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. To accomplish that, Schwarzenegger called a special session of the legislature, and also ordered 220,000 state...

EPA Bucks Bush Policy, Lets Calif. Set Own CO2 Standard

(Newser) - The Environmental Protection Agency today granted California the right to set its own strict emissions standards, an about-face from Bush-era policies, Reuters reports. In a sly rebuke to the previous administration, the EPA said the move rested on a “traditional legal interpretation of the Clean Air Act.” California...

Facing $24B Shortfall, Calif. Gets No Love From Feds

Washington refuses state's requests for aid

(Newser) - California may be the world’s 8th-largest economy and key to President Obama’s re-election, but requests for financial aid are falling on deaf ears in Washington, Politico reports. The Golden State remains deadlocked over a $24 billion budget deficit, and many of its own officials are unsympathetic. “Why...

Calif. May Need to Issue IOUs Next Week

(Newser) - California’s finances are so dire that the state controller says he’s going to have to start doling out IOUs to creditors soon, reports the Los Angeles Times. Likening the situation to the Great Depression, John Chiang says he’ll have to issue IOUs to social-service agencies, private contractors,...

Whistleblowers Eye 6-Figure Gov't Retirees

Amid criticism, group outs fat-cat pensioners on the public dime

(Newser) - A California interest group is on a mission to publicize the names of public retirees with outsize pensions, arguing that they’re bankrupting local governments, the Wall Street Journal reports. Atop one list sits a former small-town administrator who pulls in $499,674.84 a year. But critics say this...

Calif. Program Trains 'Green Collar' Workers

Pioneering initiative's grads tackle both pollution and poverty

(Newser) - The first waves of graduates from California's pioneering "green collar" training program are ready to put their new skills to work reducing the state's carbon footprint, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The trainees, including ex-cons and low-income residents, have finished an extensive course in construction skills to equip them...

LA Mayor Won't Run for Governor
LA Mayor
Won't Run
for Governor
Jun 23, 2009 9:39 AM CDT

LA Mayor Won't Run for Governor

With Villaraigosa out, Jerry Brown leads Democratic pack

(Newser) - The mayor of Los Angeles said yesterday he will not run for governor of California next year, upending the race to succeed Arnold Schwarzenegger. In an interview with the Times, Antonio Villaraigosa said he made the "agonizing" choice to stay at city hall to tackle the fiscal crisis and...

LA Latinos Are Gay Marriage Wild Card: Poll

(Newser) - A new Los Angeles Times poll shows why gay marriage advocates and opponents are targeting LA Latinos after Proposition 8: Unlike African Americans, they are divided on the issue. While African American voters oppose gay marriage by 54% to 37%, Latinos are split, 45% in favor and 46% against....

Calif. Gay Marriage Fight Centers on Chinatown

Campaigners hope to repeat success in changing Asian attitudes

(Newser) - Campaigners seeking to bring legalized gay marriage back to California believe their success in Chinatown points the way forward, Reuters reports. The state's Asian communities swung in favor of gay marriage faster than any other group over the last decade as advocates worked to bring taboos into the open and...

Schwarzenegger Seeks Switch to E-Textbooks

Paper is expensive, says governor; so are computers, say critics

(Newser) - Arnold Schwarzenegger wants kids—and California’s budget—to stop lugging around paper textbooks, the San Jose Mercury News reports. The governator is advocating a switch to digital textbooks, in an effort to cut the $350 million the state spends on old-fashioned hardbound tomes each year. But critics worry that...

Gossip Site Broke Labor Laws With Octomom: Calif.

RadarOnline allegedly lacked permit to film minors

(Newser) - California labor officials have cited RadarOnline for breaking labor laws in its coverage of octuplet mom Nadya Suleman, the Los Angeles Times reports. On March 17, the day the first two of the octuplets returned home from the hospital, a crew filmed the infants for the gossip site without first...

As Calif. Righty Bastion, Orange County Cedes to Rural Placer

But it's a place to hide from, not breed, change

(Newser) - Placer County, Calif.—stretching from Sacramento east to Lake Tahoe—is this generation’s Orange County, and that bodes ill for conservatives, Tom Schaller writes on FiveThirtyEight.com. Placer’s demographics and voting record are similar to the Orange County of the 1960s, which birthed the modern conservative movement....

How Prop 8 Could Help Everyone
 How Prop 8 Could 
 Help Everyone 
OPINION
Jun 16, 2009 12:28 PM CDT

How Prop 8 Could Help Everyone

(Newser) - Proposition 8 could turn out to be a win-win for everyone, “if we can stop all the shouting,” writes Douglas Kmiec, a Catholic, pro-Obama Republican law professor. The California Supreme Court’s ruling “is as inconsistent as it is incomplete,” declaring that gay couples must be...

Feds Reject Plea for Calif. Bailout

Aid ruled out for now as state warns of fiscal meltdown

(Newser) - The federal government has rejected pleas for emergency aid from top California officials, reports the Washington Post. State officials warn that its budget crisis is approaching the point of a "fiscal meltdown" that will cause massive cuts and deepen the state's recession. But the Obama administration fears bailing out...

Huckaby Pleads Not Guilty in Murder of 8-Year-Old Girl

(Newser) - Melissa Huckaby, the Sunday school teacher accused of kidnapping, raping, and murdering an 8-year-old girl in California, pleaded not guilty today, KPIX-TV reports. Sandra Cantu, a playmate of 28-year-old Huckaby’s daughter, was found in a suitcase in a nearby pond in April. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for September....

Legal Pot Backers Target 2010 Calif. Vote

Advocates step up efforts to have legalization put on next year's ballot

(Newser) - Advocates of marijuana legalization—and taxation—have stepped up their efforts to include the issue on California's November 2010 ballot, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Backers say the tide of public opinion has turned strongly in favor of legalizing and taxing pot for personal use, especially in light of its...

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