Tax windfall allows governor to boost spending in state budget -- A multibillion dollar tax windfall has eased the strain of California's perennial state budget debate and handed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a chance to buy off Democrat and Republican critics as he heads into his re-election campaign. Aaron C. Davis AP -- 5/11/06

Westly pumps another $5 million into campaign -- Controller Steve Westly upped the ante for the last month of the tightening Democratic primary race, writing another $5 million check to his campaign for governor. Kate Folmar in the San Jose Mercury -- 5/11/06

House chairman denies wrongdoing, disputes investigation report -- A powerful House Republican from California disputed a report Thursday that he is the target of a federal investigation focusing on his ties to a lobbyist linked to disgraced former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, also denied any wrongdoing in his role in awarding federal funds. ERICA WERNER AP -- 5/11/06

Congressman asks President Bush to help save San Diego cross -- The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee asked President Bush to help save a 29-foot cross standing on San Diego city property from being removed by court order. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, joined Thursday by Mayor Jerry Sanders, asked the president to exercise his power of eminent domain and take over the half-acre cross site atop Mount Soledad. ALLISON HOFFMAN AP-- 5/11/06

Why the speaker didn't speak -- "The speaker does not cross picket lines." That's the explanation given by Fabian Núñez's office for why he left UC Berkeley Wednesday without delivering a commencement address to thousands of students and guests who were gathered to receive their diplomas and hear him speak. The school's chancellor jumped in at the last minute to replace him. Dan Weintraub SacBee Weblog AP -- 5/11/06

Insurance For Kids, Homeless Housing -- Some years, the state budget has a national security-like secrecy surrounding it in the days before the governor officially unveils its contents. Other years, every good Delta breeze blowing through downtown Sacramento seems to land a snippet of the supposedly embargoed document into a reporter's hands. It's a little breezy out there this week. John Myers KQED weblog -- 5/11/06

Assembly votes to ensure college newspaper First Amendment rights -- University administrators would be prohibited from censoring student newspapers at California's colleges and universities under a bill approved Thursday by the Assembly. SAMANTHA YOUNG AP -- 5/11/06

Senators agree to revive immigration bill -- Senate leaders reached a deal Thursday on reviving a broad immigration bill that could provide millions of illegal immigrants a chance to become American citizens and said they'll try to pass it before Memorial Day. SUZANNE GAMBOA AP -- 5/11/06

Lewis Surfaces in Probe of Cunningham -- Federal prosecutors have begun an investigation into Rep. Jerry Lewis, the Californian who chairs the powerful House Appropriations Committee, government officials and others said, signaling the spread of a San Diego corruption probe. Peter Pae in the Los Angeles Times -- 5/11/06

Ex-Lawmaker Is Unhelpful in Bribe Case -- Randy Cunningham, the former congressman who pleaded guilty last year to taking bribes from military contractors, has refused to talk with Pentagon investigators about the bribery scheme and other people involved in it, a Pentagon official said Wednesday. PAUL von ZIELBAUER in the New York Times -- 5/11/06

Cheney to pass the hat for Doolittle -- Vice President Dick Cheney is scheduled to appear in Sacramento on May 22 for a fundraiser for Rep. John Doolittle. Contributors will have to fork over $250 to attend the Hyatt Regency event. For $2,000, they can get a photo with the vice president. David Whitney in the Sacramento Bee -- 5/11/06

Environmental groups step up involvement in Pombo race -- The League of Conservation Voters announced Wednesday it is endorsing former Rep. Pete McCloskey in his GOP primary challenge to Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, chairman of the House Resources Committee. ERICA WERNER AP -- 5/11/06

Poll says Pombo support waning -- Voters may not know much about the Democrats opposing Tracy's Rep. Richard Pombo, but it might not matter, according to a new poll released Wednesday. Hank Shaw in the Stockton Record -- 5/11/06

Parole chief fired over placement of sex offenders -- The head of the parole division of the state's corrections department was fired Wednesday amid controversies about the placement of paroled sex offenders in both Northern and Southern California. Mark Martin in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 5/11/06

Angelides, Westly Find Agreement and Discord -- Phil Angelides and Steve Westly tore into each other Wednesday night in a harshly personal debate, burying the many areas of agreement in their campaigns for governor beneath a barrage of accusations and insults. Mark Z. Barabak and Michael Finnegan in the Los Angeles Times Tom Chorneau in the San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hecht and Kevin Yamamura in the Sacramento Bee Edwin Garcia and Kate Folmar in the San Jose Mercury John Marelius and Bill Ainsworth in the San Diego Union-Trib LAURA KURTZMAN AP -- 5/11/06

All about Phil: Angelides is strategist in own campaign -- Political pros chart the course of almost every major campaign in California. The state's top strategists increasingly are wooed and pursued as more and more candidates turn over the reins of their campaigns to these hired-guns. But not Phil Angelides. Shane Goldmacher in Capitol Weekly -- 5/11/06

The Winner Of The Democratic Debate? Arnold Schwarzenegger -- Who won last night’s Democratic gubernatorial debate? Arnold Schwarzenegger. The two highly-programmed Democratic candidates, Treasurer Phil Angelides and Controller Steve Westly, slashed at each other repeatedly, reverting to planned attack lines at virtually every turn, which did not present either in a very appealing light. Bill Bradley NWN weblog -- 5/11/06

Governor reaches out to tribes -- Gov. Schwarzenegger met for the first time ever with Inland tribal leaders Wednesday, signifying a marked change in his approach to tribes he once accused of "ripping off" taxpayers and not paying their "fair share" into the state's general fund. JIM MILLER and MICHELLE DeARMOND in the Riverside Press -- 5/11/06

School funds: Governor Tries to Defuse Union Wrath -- With his deal this week to repay schools billions of dollars he had borrowed to balance the state budget in recent years, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has undercut the main argument that California's powerful education unions have made for driving him out of office. Peter Nicholas in the Los Angeles Times Greg Lucas in the San Francisco Chronicle Andy Furillo and Clea Benson in the Sacramento Bee HARRISON SHEPPARD in the Los Angeles Daily News Steven Harmon in the San Jose Mercury BRIAN JOSEPH in the Orange County Register Ed Mendel in the San Diego Union-Trib Aaron C. Davis AP -- 5/11/06

Schwarzenegger savors good news while rivals trade invective -- Phil Angelides and Steve Westly, the two Democrats who aspire to the governorship, chose an inauspicious moment to stage their final face-to-face verbal confrontation - a week in which their common foe, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was wallowing in positive events that pump up his re-election prospects. Dan Walters in the Sacramento Bee -- 5/11/06

Dems, GOP agree on surplus -- Surplus? What surplus? That was the message from legislative leadership this week as the hands came out for a piece of the unexpected tax revenues. The state so far has collected billions in revenues above this time last year. And yet, everyone seems to be talking about fiscal restraint. Malcolm Maclachlan in Capitol Weekly -- 5/11/06

Bond campaign sets off feeding frenzy among political consultants -- Because of the bond's bipartisan support, both Democratic and Republican consultants are angling for a piece of the action. The wide ideological base of support for the bonds means that consultants and interest groups, who went to war during the special election just last year, now find themselves on the same side of the issue. But that doesn't necessarily mean they're willing to campaign together. Anthony York in Capitol Weekly -- 5/11/06

Voting machines a key issue in bid to lead elections office / Dem opponents disagree as they vie to face incumbent -- Questions about the accuracy of electronic voting machines have become a dominant issue in the race for California secretary of state, with the two Democratic challengers for the job carving out differing positions. Greg Lucas in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 5/11/06

Garamendi says insurers used extortion to block new automobile regulations -- State Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi accused automobile insurers of "coercion, extortion and blackmail" for launching a $2.4 million campaign attacking his proposed regulations that would cut the cost of some drivers' coverage in crowded urban areas. He asked the FBI, the U.S. attorney and state Attorney General Bill Lockyer to investigate his allegations. John Howard in Capitol Weekly -- 5/11/06

2 Republicans, Lockyer in bid for treasurer -- With high name recognition among voters and a $10.5 million campaign war chest, Attorney General Bill Lockyer scared all other Democrats out of the race for state treasurer. But two Republicans say they can beat him in the fall. Assemblyman Keith Richman, R-Northridge, and Board of Equalization member Claude Parrish are vying for the right to do so in the June 6 Republican primary. Clea Benson in the Sacramento Bee -- 5/11/06

Controller candidates vow to go to bat for taxpayers -- Being state controller may not land you on the cover of magazines or make you a hit at cocktail parties. But the post carries power that no one else can claim in Sacramento: free rein to audit local and state agencies without anyone's approval. Past controllers have uncovered excessive pension payments and $500 million of waste in the state Medi-Cal program. Ryan Huff in the Contra Costa Times -- 5/11/06

GOP's Prop. 187 Wounds Healing, But Dems Are Bleeding -- It's an accepted truth — at least it keeps getting reported — that Proposition 187 was an unmitigated disaster for the Republican Party in California and a boon for Democrats. When Republican Gov. Pete Wilson aggressively pushed for the anti-illegal immigration initiative in 1994, it set back the GOP at least a generation. And it's conceivable the party will never recover. Or so they say. George Skelton in the Los Angeles Times -- 5/11/06

Affordable housing fund OK'd -- The Schwarzenegger administration has agreed to make a $1.5 billion investment in affordable housing for the mentally ill over the next two decades, potentially creating thousands of homes for emancipated foster children, elderly shut-ins and people living on the streets, officials involved in the deal said Wednesday. Clea Benson in the Sacramento Bee -- 5/11/06

Study: State is one of poorest in U.S. -- California's high cost of housing has given the state one of the worst poverty rates in the nation, according to an independent study that was welcomed by critics who believe the government's method of counting the poor overlooks many people. Brandon Bailey in the San Jose Mercury Nancy Wride in the Los Angeles Times Juliana Barbassa AP Nathaniel Hoffman in the Contra Costa Times -- 5/11/06

Facing Senate rebuke, Desmond gets new gig -- The day before California Energy Commission chairman Joe Desmond would have been forced to resign his post without Senate confirmation, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger created a new, high-paying position in the state Resources Agency specifically for Desmond. Shane Goldmacher in Capitol Weekly -- 5/11/06

Something doesn't add up in attack ad fiasco -- It's so frustrating when you know you're being lied to, but you can't prove it. Vic Pollard in the Bakersfield Californian -- 5/11/06

Oakland Teachers OK contract after 2-year fight -- The contract, which is retroactive to July, gives teachers a 6.25 percent pay increase spread out over three years and increases their contribution to health care premiums. Simone Sebastian in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 5/11/06

audit of LAUSD -- While Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa moves aggressively to take control of Los Angeles Unified, leaders of other cities resurrected the idea Wednesday of dismantling the nation's second-largest school district instead. NAUSH BOGHOSSIAN in the Los Angeles Daily News -- 5/11/0

Villaraigosa's Request for a State Audit of L.A. Unified Prompts a Rebuke From Romer --Los Angeles schools chief Roy Romer fired off a stern rebuttal to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's call for a state audit Wednesday, saying that he and the Board of Education welcome the review but reject the mayor's continued attacks on the school district. Joel Rubin in the Los Angeles Times -- 5/11/06

Legislator urges audit of UC president office -- Amid controversy over the University of California doling out millions of dollars in executive compensation without proper approval, a state legislator has called for a performance audit of UC's Office of the President. Todd Wallack in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 5/11/06

Nuñez cancels Cal speech over protest -- A union protest threw a wrench Wednesday into the Commencement Convocation at University of California, Berkeley: The keynote speaker, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuez, declined to give his address because he refused to cross a union picket line. Michelle Maitre in the Oakland Tribune -- 5/11/06

Worker wins her rights but loses hope Someone told feds she's here illegally -- Sonia Cano was happy to win thousands of dollars from the San Francisco taqueria that for two years had paid her less than the city minimum wage. But she may have lost far more when someone anonymously reported her and her husband to immigration authorities. Tyche Hendricks in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 5/11/06

More legal immigrants applying for citizenship -- Juana Elba Benitez is studying for the U.S. citizenship test she failed eight years ago – an exam the 75-year-old native of El Salvador swore she would never take again. Then she learned that Congress was debating a crackdown on illegal immigrants, and Benitez worried that legal residents like her might be next. AP -- 5/11/06

Stockton woman alleges retaliation for attending rally -- A Stockton woman who said she had her company's approval to miss work May 1 -- and then was fired after taking part in an immigrant-rights march -- filed complaints with state and federal agencies Wednesday, saying her political activity was none of her employer's business. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 5/11/06

Migrant hiring tackled -- A new policy that would place explicit language in city contracts forbidding the hiring of illegal immigrants could be ready for consideration as early as next month, City Manager Sam Racadio said Wednesday. Andrew Edwards in the San Bernardino Sun -- 5/11/06

House passes capital-gains tax bill -- Republicans managed to extend for two more years the 15 percent rate on capital gains and dividends, and avoid a huge tax increase this year on upper-middle-income taxpayers -- particularly in California and other high-tax states vulnerable to the alternative minimum tax -- with the House passage Wednesday of a long-delayed tax bill. Carolyn Lochhead in the San Francisco Chronicle H. Josef Hebert AP -- 5/11/06

Frustrated Kaiser kidney patients eager to get transplants elsewhere -- Pleasant Hill resident Bonnie Fadavi, a transplant candidate at Kaiser Permanente's troubled Northern California kidney unit, has been waiting for a new organ for six years. Now she has decided that's too long. Victoria Colliver in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 5/11/06

Kaiser Official Apologizes -- Despite patients' letters, area chief says she was unaware of problems in its transplant program. Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein in the Los Angeles Times -- 5/11/06

State officials to oversee Kaiser's kidney unit -- California HMO regulators and Kaiser Permanente said Wednesday that state officials will oversee Kaiser Permanente's kidney transplant center in San Francisco to ensure that patients get proper care and don't experience undue delays in getting organs. Victoria Colliver in the San Francisco Chronicle Jordan Robertson AP -- 5/11/06

Kaiser makes good on kidney transplants -- Facing state and federal probes into its troubled kidney transplant program, Kaiser Permanente will pay transplant costs for its patients who choose to have the procedure elsewhere and will cooperate with extensive state oversight, officials said Wednesday. Rebecca Vesely in the Oakland Tribune -- 5/11/06

Bill would gauge levels of chemicals in people -- State Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, introduced a bill Wednesday that would create the country's first statewide program to accumulate data on measurements of toxic chemicals in the bodies of the general public. The item is in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 5/11/06

California college gets $16 million donation for stem cell center -- Sound pioneer Ray Dolby has given $16 million to the University of California, San Francisco, to start a stem cell center that will perform research without federal funds, the school announced Wednesday. Paul Elias AP -- 5/11/06

SALES TAX ON GASOLINE A BONANZA FOR STATE -- Oil companies aren't the only ones raking in the money because of rising prices at the fuel pump. The coffers of state and local governments are seeing big gains as a result of increased revenue generated by the sales tax that consumers pay on gasoline. Matthew Yi in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 5/11/06

As gas costs rise, rail attracts new passengers -- Long-distance commuters in big SUVs are no doubt hating life right now. Even those in the smaller Toyotas and Hondas are wincing at the pumps. Andrew Silva in the San Bernardino Sun -- 5/11/06

High gas prices hit main street -- For the 30 or so small-business owners in the 1600-1700 block of South Bascom Avenue in Campbell, rising fuel costs feel like a pesky mutt nipping at their heels. From fuel surcharges added to hamburger-bun deliveries, to haircuts put on hold, to the climbing cost of overseas postage, rising gas prices have bloodied this commercial corridor with a thousand cuts. Many of the impacts seem minor on their own. Taken together, they feel a lot more traumatic. Patrick May in the San Jose Mercury BEN van der MEER in the Modesto Bee -- 5/11/06

Panel OKs Offshore Drilling for Gas -- The House bill would allow exploration -- not for oil, though -- in California and Florida and all along the Outer Continental Shelf. William E. Gibson in the Los Angeles Times -- 5/11/06

Congress considers hydrogen prize -- A group of congressmen think they know the right recipe for getting America started down the hydrogen highway to a new energy epoch -- take a helping of good-old American know-how and throw in the lure of millions of dollars. Edward Epstein in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 5/11/06

Unity Is Urged on Chemical Policy in State -- Industry leaders and others weigh how best to respond to calls for lawmakers to give the public more protection from toxic compounds. Marla Cone in the Los Angeles Times -- 5/11/06

Slow-Growth Advocates Win in Court -- Appeals panel rules that a Santa Paula group has the needed signatures to put a measure on large developments on ballot. Gregory W. Griggs in the Los Angeles Times -- 5/11/06

Agency Joins Dust-Up Over Development Plans -- The ongoing clash between landowners and environmentalists over the largely undeveloped hills of Northeast Los Angeles intensified recently when the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy jumped into the fray. Stephen Clark in the Los Angeles Times -- 5/11/06

Is This a Mission Impossible? -- Official seeks a constitutional amendment to use state funds to repair religious landmarks such as Mission San Miguel, now on an endangered structures list. Steve Chawkins in the Los Angeles Times -- 5/11/06

Don't dump old medicine in toilet / Sewage plants' operators ask public to change habit -- The Tylenol, antibiotics, ibuprofen and Prozac that people toss into the toilet or down the drain may be flowing straight to the bay and contaminating fish, warn local sewage treatment officials who want to stop it. Jane Kay in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 5/11/06

Griffith Observatory -- the backdrop for dozens of movies, a favored make-out spot for generations of teenagers and, not to be overlooked, a substantial educational and scientific institution, will reopen this fall after a four-year foundation-to-dome renovation. JOHN M. BRODER in the New York Times -- 5/11/06

L.A. Psychologist Who Didn't Get Tote Bag at Mother's Day Angel Game Files Lawsuit -- A Los Angeles psychologist who was denied a tote bag during a Mother's Day giveaway at an Angel game is suing the baseball team, alleging sex and age discrimination. Michael Cohn's class-action claim in Orange County Superior Court alleges that thousands of males and fans under 18 were "treated unequally" at a "Family Sunday" promotion last May and are entitled to $4,000 each in damages. Dave McKibben in the Los Angeles Times -- 5/11/06