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State agency clings to dodgy $75,000 dune buggy -- Despite Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2009 order for departments to cut their vehicle fleets by 15 percent, the Department of Parks and Recreation won't be sending one of its favorites to the auction house any time soon. That would be the sleek and zippy $75,000 Funco "sand rail" dune buggy. Andrew McIntosh in the Sacramento Bee -- 2/27/10 Meg Whitman unleashes four TV ads attacking rival Steve Poizner -- The race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination turned negative Friday as candidate Meg Whitman unleashed four TV ads accusing rival Steve Poizner of supporting tax increases and donating to Democrat Al Gore in his 2000 presidential run. Jack Chang in the Sacramento Bee Steven Harmon in the Oakland Tribune -- 2/27/10 Ad Watch: Whitman hits Poizner for supporting Proposition 39 -- Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman released four short TV ads Friday attacking rival Steve Poizner's record on taxes and his alleged support for 2000 Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore. Following is text of one of the ads and an analysis. Jack Chang in the Sacramento Bee -- 2/27/10 Voters to consider open primary initiative in June -- Supporters say it would dramatically decrease the partisan gridlock that plagues Sacramento. Opponents charge it would increase the power of money in campaigns. Rebecca Kimitch in the San Gabriel Tribune -- 2/27/10 Q and A: California furloughs and back pay -- An Alameda Superior Court judge on Thursday ordered the state to immediately end furloughs for tens of thousands of state workers and pay them for wages they've lost since the controversial policy started 13 months ago. Jon Ortiz in the Sacramento Bee -- 2/27/10 New California Assembly speaker gets a Silicon Valley boot camp -- Only days before his inauguration as one of California government's most powerful figures, John Perez spent Friday getting better acquainted with a region he acknowledges will be central to the success of his reign: Silicon Valley. Denis C. Theriault in the San Jose Mercury -- 2/27/10 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 -- 2/27/10 Twitter, Facebook use allowed on military non-classified computer network -- Everyone from troops in the field to the highest brass and civilian leaders will be allowed to Twitter, blog and use Facebook and other social networking sites on the military's non-classified computer network, the Pentagon announced Friday. AP -- 2/27/10 CalBuzz: Why Meg Went Negative on Poiz; Hell Freezes Over -- Inquiring minds want to know: Scoop of the week honors to KTVU-TV in Oakland, which did the first story on new, 15-second eMeg spots attacking Steve Poizner, after some anonymous hero saw them suddenly turn up in the ad rotation and heads-upped the newsroom. Jerry Roberts and Phil Trounstine CalBuzz -- 2/27/10
Federal stimulus funds slow to take hold in Inland region -- In its first year, President Barack Obama's $787 billion stimulus program hasn't been the quick cure proponents had envisioned for the Inland area's ailing economy, an analysis of state and federal data shows. BEN GOAD and DUG BEGLEY in the Riverside Press -- 2/27/10 Sun, salt, sheep and the stimulus -- What do hummingbirds, pregnant sheep and staring at the sun have in common? They have or will help create jobs in the Inland area, paid for by federal stimulus funds. DUG BEGLEY and BEN GOAD in the Riverside Press -- 2/27/10 Many borrowers in default stay put as lenders delay evictions -- Despite being months behind, many strapped residents are hanging on to their homes, essentially living rent-free. Pressure on banks to modify loans and a glut of inventory are driving the trend. Alana Semuels in the Los Angeles Times -- 2/27/10
Noose ignites more protests at UC San Diego -- A UC San Diego student admitted Friday to hanging a rope noose from a campus library bookcase in an act that triggered more protests at a school already roiled by other recent racially charged incidents. Larry Gordon in the Los Angeles Times -- 2/27/10 California Campus Sees Uneasy Race Relations -- It began, as so many racial flare-ups on campus do, with a prank that some called malicious, others insensitive. RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD in the New York Times -- 2/27/10 Protests could lack focus, but not energy -- Some worry that the shattered windows at a Subway sandwich shop on Telegraph Avenue could be a harbinger of more damage Thursday, when demonstrations against education budget cuts will take place statewide. Some hope protests scheduled for that day do not overshadow the message. Matt Krupnick in the Contra Costa Times -- 2/27/10 UC Berkeley fee protest turns rowdy -- Bay Area students, faculty and organizers revving up for a series of protests and rallies next week over fee increases and cutbacks to public education condemned the destruction and violence at UC Berkeley late Thursday by demonstrators promoting the March 4th events. Kevin Fagan, Jill Tucker in the San Francisco Chronicle Elliot Spagat AP -- 2/27/10 Beleagured East Sacramento school tries sharing a principal -- Two east Sacramento schools sit just five blocks apart, but the desirable neighborhood has been the only thing they had in common. Melody Gutierrez in the Sacramento Bee -- 2/27/10
Below-normal water deliveries to Southern California still forecast -- Storms have been steering clear of the region that drains into Lake Oroville, the main reservoir in the state system that sends supplies south. Bettina Boxall in the Los Angeles Times -- 2/27/10 Feds plan 5% to 30% water allotment to San Joaquin farms -- Capping weeks of political debate over the water-starved west San Joaquin Valley, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Friday personally delivered the farm-water forecast – a 5 percent allotment, and up to 30 percent if storms keep coming. Mark Grossi, Michael Doyle and Bob Rodriguez in the Fresno Bee Jason Dearen AP Peter Fimrite in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 2/27/10 Local transit in middle of fuel tax swap proposal -- Local and state transit agencies are still waiting for lawmakers to decide the fate of their funding. Sandra Emerson in the Inland Daily Bulletin -- 2/27/10 $90 million earmarked for clean energy firms -- The California Energy Commission announced this week that it will oversee $90.1 million in programs to provide financing to clean energy manufacturers. Mark Glover in the Sacramento Bee -- 2/27/10 Lawsuit: Striped bass to blame for California's salmon decline -- Some fish do the eating and others get eaten. That is the nature of nature. But if man helps one voracious eater that doesn't belong, is that fair? Matt Weiser in the Sacramento Bee -- 2/27/10 Recession seen at the landfills; less trash -- Forget looking to the housing market or Wall Street or unemployment figures as barometer of the economy. To see how the recession affects Ventura County, you need only look as far as the trash. Zeke Barlow in the Ventura Star -- 2/27/10
Freedom Communications may leave bankruptcy by March 31 -- Freedom Communications Inc., Irvine-based parent of the Orange County Register, should emerge from bankruptcy by the end of March, according to the company’s top executives. Jan Norman in the Orange County Register -- 2/27/10 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 -- 2/27/10 Journalists to receive courage award for work on Chauncey Bailey Project -- Four journalists from The Chauncey Bailey Project, an investigative campaign launched after the Oakland journalist's 2007 killing to pursue both Bailey's work and his killers, will be honored in March with the McGill Medal for Journalistic Courage. The award, given out by the University of Georgia, will go to Thomas Peele, Josh Richman, Mary Fricker and Bob Butler. Peele and Richman are Bay Area News Group reporters. Sean Maher in the Oakland Tribune -- 2/27/10 Los Angeles International is rated one of the nation's worst airports for customer satisfaction -- In a J.D. Power survey, passengers gave LAX below-average marks on accessibility, including parking, ease of checking in and the amount of time it took to get through security. Hugo Martín in the Los Angeles Times -- 2/27/10 Three cities named as finalists for 2012 Republican convention -- The Republican National Committee named three cities on Friday as potential hosts for the 2012 Republican National Convention: Phoenix, Tampa and Salt Lake City. Peter Hamby CNN -- 2/27/10
Democrats to Press Health Bill With Simple Majority -- Seeing no prospect of a bipartisan agreement on health care, Congressional Democrats said Friday that they would make another effort to pass sweeping health care legislation on their own. ROBERT PEAR in the New York Times Noam N. Levey and Janet Hook in the Los Angeles Times -- 2/27/10 |
