Judge calls California's lethal-injection procedure 'intolerable' -- A federal judge in San Jose said that California's lethal injection procedure represents "an undue and unnecessary risk" of a violation of the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Henry Weinstein in the Los Angeles Times DON THOMPSON AP -- 12/15/06

Florida, California suspend executions -- Gov. Jeb Bush suspended all executions in Florida after a medical examiner said Friday that prison officials botched the insertion of the needles when a convicted killer was put to death earlier this week. RON WORD AP -- 12/15/06

Schwarzenegger inauguration co-chair list includes prominent Dems -- Talk about a hip party. The list of co-chairs for Arnold Schwarzenegger's inauguration looks like a who's who of California politics -- from both sides of the aisle. Carla Marinucci Chronicle Politics Weblog Robert Salladay LA Times weblog Josh Richman Political Blotter weblog -- 12/15/06

Senior advisers -- It's the new title of choice, apparently. Schwarzenegger has a bunch of them. Now the California Democratic Party has added two: Roger Salazar and Andrew Acosta. The two are partners in the political consulting firm Acosta/Salazar, and Salazar, a former Gray Davis aide, was communications director for the party's Victory 2006 committee. Salazar will be a senior adviser to Chairman Art Torres and the party spokesman. Acosta will merely be a senior adviser. Dan Weintraub SacBee Weblog -- 12/15/06

November revenues down $657 million -- The Department of Finance’s monthly revenue report today has an ominous number: general fund revenues are down $657 million in November from projections for the month. That’s a huge drop and, if it signals a trend, would be a disaster for the state and for Schwarzenegger’s efforts to balance the budget without raising taxes. Dan Weintraub SacBee Weblog -- 12/15/06

Where the budget commitments have no name -- U2 frontman Bono met Thursday with House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and Senate Majority Leader-elect Harry Reid, D-Nev., to urge them to make AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa a priority for the 110th Congress. Apparently he didn’t like what he heard. Josh Richman Political Blotter weblog-- 12/15/06

Dymally, De La Torre -- Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally's fight with his fellow lawmaker, Assemblyman Hector De La Torre, is rooted in a longstanding feud over a South Gate political boss now in jail for embezzling millions. Four years ago, Dymally intervened to defend the corrupt official while De La Torre was trying to clean up South Gate's political cesspool. Robert Salladay LA Times weblog -- 12/15/06

Safety seal for produce proposed -- Consumers buying California-grown lettuce and spinach could soon be able to check for a safety seal of approval under an industry-backed proposal being formulated in the wake of recent E. coli outbreaks. E.J. Schultz in the Fresno Bee -- 12/15/06

First-ever space tourism rules issued by FAA -- Thrill-seekers looking to blast into space would need to be informed in writing of serious risks - including death - and promise not to sue the government under the first-ever rules for commercial space travel. ERICA WERNER AP -- 12/15/06

Guilty plea in hiring of illegal immigrants -- A company that built fences at military bases and along the border in San Diego pleaded guilty yesterday to hiring illegal immigrants in an unusual case in which it agreed to forfeit $4.7 million and two of its executives face imprisonment. Onell R. Soto in the San Diego Union-Trib Elliot Spagat AP -- 12/15/06

Council members say immigration fight not over -- We're not ending our fight against illegal immigration and its effects on Escondido, several City Council members said Thursday. The council decided Wednesday night to stop efforts to defend in court its controversial ordinance punishing landlords for renting to illegal immigrants, citing rapidly rising legal bills and uncertainty over whether the ordinance could ever be enforced in cooperation with the federal government. QUINN EASTMAN in the North County Times -- 12/15/06

Counties may be pressed for drug treatment funding -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration is considering moving Proposition 36 drug treatment funding into a new program that requires counties to put up $1 for every $9 they receive. Laura Mecoy in the Sacramento Bee -- 12/15/06

Arnold Shuffles Staff With Flak From The Right -- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger shuffled the top ranks of his gubernatorial staff some this week, mostly moving people around and filling a couple of holes. The core of the staff remains the same: Democrat Susan Kennedy as chief of staff. Moderate Republican Adam Mendelsohn as communications director. And Democrat Dan Zingale as First Lady Maria Shriver’s chief of staff, picking up the title of senior advisor to the governor, which he actually has been all year anyway. Bill Bradley NWN weblog in the Los Angeles Times -- 12/15/06

Head of badge investigation a 'racist,' Dymally says -- The assemblyman at the center of a controversy over the issuance of official-looking badges to campaign supporters on Thursday called the fellow lawmaker asked to investigate the practice "the most racist legislator I have encountered in over 40 years." Nancy Vogel in the Los Angeles Times -- 12/15/06

Republicans update lawsuit against Brown -- A group of Republican activists has revamped its lawsuit challenging outgoing Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown's eligibility to serve as state attorney general. The amended complaint filed Wednesday in Sacramento County Superior Court seeks to prevent Brown, 68, from taking the office to which 56 percent of voters elected him Nov. 7. Josh Richman in the Oakland Tribune -- 12/15/06

Westly's actions are revealing -- Steve Westly, the wealthy Silicon Valley executive who was elected state controller and then made a close-but-no-cigar bid for the Democratic nomination for governor this year, is reaping a bumper crop of editorial kudos for standing up to Intuit Corp., the maker of the popular TurboTax software. Dan Walters in the Sacramento Bee -- 12/15/06

Encore for key health official -- The retirement party was planned. The parting gifts had been purchased. Medi-Cal Director Stan Rosenstein was dreaming of finally having the time to train for a marathon. But California Health and Human Services Secretary Kimberly Belshé wanted to make one last pitch to keep Rosenstein from retiring. It worked. Clea Benson in the Sacramento Bee -- 12/15/06

New Orange County state legislators pledge bipartisan approach -- County assemblymen and senators talk about the issues they'll focus on in Sacramento. WILLIAM DIEPENBROCK in the Orange County Register -- 12/15/06

Winners, losers: All must pay the piper at the end -- Campaign debts come with the territory for San Joaquin Valley congressional candidates. But erasing the red ink will be easier for some than for others. Michael Doyle in the Oakland Tribune -- 12/15/06

Pelosi pushes ethics, intelligence oversight -- House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi pushed ahead Thursday with two of the Democrats' 2006 campaign pledges, creating a special panel to oversee the intelligence community's secret multibillion-dollar budget and starting to study the controversial idea of turning over the House's ethics process to outsiders. Edward Epstein in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 12/15/06

GOP misses chance to reshape environmental laws -- If ever there was a Congress in which Republicans were positioned to remake the nation's environmental laws, it was the 109th. But by the time the session ended last week, the GOP's environmental agenda had been largely thwarted. Bettina Boxall in the Los Angeles Times -- 12/15/06

Democrats plan new intelligence oversight -- House Democrats unveiled plans Thursday to create a single congressional panel to oversee both the budgets and operations of American intelligence agencies, a realignment that would give lawmakers greater control of the expanding U.S. espionage community. Greg Miller in the Los Angeles Times -- 12/15/06

Census Bureau says Americans love electronics and prefer the Internet to people -- It is, for better or worse, an American portrait. Next year, adults and adolescents in the United States will spend almost five months -- 3,518 hours -- exploring the Internet, watching television, reading daily newspapers and listening to music on various personal devices. They'll invest an average of $937 on media. Patricia Yollin in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 12/15/06

Letters to the troops -- Two weeks ago, 42 letters arrived on the same day. "My chin just dropped," said Simona Simonyan, 8, a student at Trinity Christian School in Sacramento. The rest of her third-grade class was just as surprised, she said. Since early November, the class has been writing to newspapers across the country to ask their readers to write to American soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Chelsea Phua in the Sacramento Bee -- 12/15/06

Silicon Valley espionage case -- Federal prosecutors in San Jose say a "former Chinese national" living in Cupertino stole night vision training software from a Silicon Valley defense contractor and tried to sell it to military buyers in Thailand, Malaysia and China. Tom Abate, John Coté in the San Francisco Chronicle Connie Skipitares and K. Oanh Ha in the San Jose Mercury -- 12/15/06

Cyclist indicted on perjury charge / She allegedly lied in grand jury testimony in BALCO steroid case -- A former world-class cyclist who was caught up in the BALCO steroid scandal was indicted Thursday on charges of lying to a federal grand jury about her use of banned drugs. Lance Williams, Mark Fainaru-Wada in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 12/15/06

Chump change? -- a penny costs 1.73¢ to make And the nickel costs 8.34¢ -- mint fears poaching of metal -- As crises go, this one is pretty small change, but the government has discovered that the metal in 1-cent and 5-cent pieces is now worth more than the face value of the coins. Carl Nolte in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 12/15/06

Gateway High wins federal accolade -- Gateway High School is a standout among the nation's charter schools, using innovative methods to help all students learn, according to a U.S. Department of Education publication released this week. Jill Tucker in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 12/15/06

Judge to hear LAUSD reform case -- A Los Angeles Superior Court judge will hear arguments today on the legality of legislation that would give the mayor substantial control over public schools - a ruling that will have wide implications. NAUSH BOGHOSSIAN in the Los Angeles Daily News -- 12/15/06

Some noteworthy gifts -- A partnership program plays Santa to music students at four underserved L.A. schools, giving $80,000 in new instruments. Chris Pasles in the Los Angeles Times -- 12/15/06

Unity High students build self-esteem through theater -- There's a dearth of banks and retail in the Eastmont-Seminary area, so the idea of creating a community theater near Oakland Unity High School may seem like a long shot to some. But not to one teacher and a few students — the pioneers of the school's first drama club. Kamika Dunlap in the Oakland Tribune -- 12/15/06

Study: Ivory towers crumbling for many tenured professors -- The report by the American Association of University Professors concludes that relying on adjunct professors and other nontenured faculty could harm the quality of higher education. Heavy teaching loads often prevent temporary professors from keeping up with developments in their field, researchers wrote. Matt Krupnick in the Oakland Tribune -- 12/15/06

Students learn sportsmanship by giving awards for rivals' fair play -- Ann Chavez told her students the idea, and they were taking a decidedly wait-and-see position on the matter. Let us get this straight, their eyes seemed to be saying. You want us, the fifth- and sixth-graders of Teague Elementary School, to give a medal to the other team? Matt James in the Fresno Bee -- 12/15/06

Tribe donates $10m to library -- Table Mountain Rancheria, which runs a casino northeast of Fresno, is donating $10 million to Fresno State's library — the largest single cash gift in the university's history. Fresno State President John Welty announced the donation Thursday. Doug Hoagland in the Fresno Bee -- 12/15/06

Drug dogs heading to class -- Lincoln Unified administrators plan to allow drug-detecting dogs into high school classrooms, an effort school leaders say is important to protecting campus and student safety. Jennifer Torres in the Stockton Record -- 12/15/06

New stem cell technique -- no embryos used -- Scientists have found a way to make stem cells from unfertilized eggs, suggesting a potential alternative to controversial and technically difficult embryo cloning. Carl T. Hall in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 12/15/06

Study: Stem cells repair brain tissue -- In some of the first research funded by California's stem cell agency, scientists at the University of California, San Francisco, suggest that stem cells in the brain have a surprising capacity to repair damaged tissue. The findings could help in the quest for treatments of brain trauma such as stroke, researchers said. Rebecca Vesely in the Oakland Tribune -- 12/15/06

Gore implores scientists to raise alarms -- Al Gore, who emerged from political defeat to attain celebrity status as a harbinger of the hazards of global warming, told thousands of scientists Thursday in San Francisco that they have a responsibility to translate their research into possible policy solutions. Jane Kay in the San Francisco Chronicle Julie Sevrens Lyons in the San Jose Mercury -- 12/15/06

Bay Area population expected to swell by 2 million -- Planners and demographers said Thursday it may be time for the Bay Area to bite the bullet and plan for density, because people will continue coming here to work. Wyatt Buchanan in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 12/15/06

Utility district votes against coal-fired plant -- Directors of Truckee's utility district have decided not to enter into a contract to help finance the construction of a coal-fired power plant that had provoked a passionate debate - in the mountain town and around the state -- about energy use and global warming. Mark Martin in the San Francisco Chronicle Edie Lau in the Sacramento Bee -- 12/15/06

L.A.'s future is on the line -- After nearly a decade of worsening traffic, stagnant air pollution and increasingly unaffordable housing, Southern California is on the verge of turning around, local government leaders said Thursday. KERRY CAVANAUGH in the Los Angeles Daily News -- 12/15/06

Region's traffic receives F grade -- The Inland region is generating almost half the new jobs in Southern California and is experiencing steady growth in homeownership but traffic congestion still plagues motorists and high school dropout rates are rising, a report released Thursday said. DOUG HABERMAN in the Riverside Press -- 12/15/06

Riverside County makes big freeway plans -- The $2-billion price tag for easing the traffic crunch includes new or extended toll lanes. Sara Lin in the Los Angeles Times -- 12/15/06

No U.S. aid for fishermen -- Congress adjourned this month without sending any disaster assistance to commercial fishermen idled by the nearly total closure of the salmon season off the California and Oregon coasts. David Whitney in the Sacramento Bee -- 12/15/06

Inland Empire's affordability takes a steep drop -- The region is still growing rapidly, but wages aren't catching up to home prices. Jean Guccione in the Los Angeles Times -- 12/15/06

Bay Area housing market keeps sliding -- The Bay Area housing market showed further signs of weakness in November as home prices slipped for the second time in three months and the number of houses sold continued its slide, a new report says. Marni Leff Kottle in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 12/15/06

Sacramento-area November home sales slow -- More than 3,000 Sacramento-area buyers picked up keys to their new homes last month, but analysts still called it the slowest November in nine years in Sacramento and Placer counties. Jim Wasserman in the Sacramento Bee -- 12/15/06

Panel OKs nuclear plant repairs -- The work will extend Diablo Canyon's life. In return, PG&E will create a conservation easement along the San Luis Obispo County coast. Tim Reiterman in the Los Angeles Times -- 12/15/06

Utility users to foot bill for cleaner air -- Regulators approve a voluntary program that would let PG&E customers pay extra to offset the effects of greenhouse gases. Elizabeth Douglass in the Los Angeles Times -- 12/15/06

Smoky diesel locomotive turns into a clean machine -- On first glance, the hulking locomotive in Union Pacific Railroad's yard near the Port of Oakland looks like any other. But Locomotive 1378 doesn't have any smokestacks -- or the clouds of black smoke that typically puff from the diesel engines. Michael Cabanatuan in the San Francisco Chronicle Erik N. Nelson in the Oakland Tribune -- 12/15/06

PUC to supply hydro, solar power to homes in old naval shipyard -- The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission has struck a deal with a housing developer to provide power for an anticipated 1,600 new homes at the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. Robert Selna in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 12/15/06

Muni deficit is projected, but fares will hold steady -- There are no plans to raise fares on San Francisco's public transit system next year, but officials need to find other money sources as they face yet another projected deficit. Rachel Gordon in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 12/15/06

Adding color to farm-raised salmon lands on state Supreme Court menu -- The California Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether supermarkets can sell farm-raised salmon without labels disclosing that the grayish fish have been fed chemicals to give their flesh the orange color of wild salmon. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 12/15/06

Finances put the brakes on light-rail work -- Light rail has been on an unprecedented roll in Sacramento. Four expansions in four years, including a new line last week to the downtown Amtrak depot, have nearly doubled the 20-year-old system's reach and turned its boxy blue and gold trains from curiosities to daily habits for a growing number of Sacramento commuters. Tony Bizjak in the Sacramento Bee -- 12/15/06

How much do you pollute? -- In what is believed to be the first such effort by a major utility in the United States, Pacific Gas & Electric won approval Thursday to launch a program that will tell customers -- house by house and business by business -- how much carbon dioxide they emit every month, and then allow them to offset it to become ``carbon neutral.'' Paul Rogers in the San Jose Mercury -- 12/15/06

Commercial fishing impact downplayed in new report -- A report focused primarily on four tuna species in the Pacific Ocean suggests that top predators are not as threatened by commercial fishing as some scientists have claimed. Bruce Lieberman in the San Diego Union-Trib -- 12/15/06

A 90-minute house -- It took about an hour and a half yesterday morning to build a house. A huge crane first lifted the bottom floor onto a foundation, then a second floor atop that. Presto, 1,420 square feet of living space, almost ready for occupancy. J. Harry Jones in the San Diego Union-Trib -- 12/15/06

Skid row scams cost taxpayers millions -- The homeless take 50 cents on the dollar in food stamp schemes. Clinics do bogus tests. Richard Winton in the Los Angeles Times -- 12/15/06

Violent bigotry -- Hate crimes in Los Angeles County surged 26 percent last year, fueled by anti-immigrant sentiment, white supremacist activity and racial tension in schools, jails and neighborhoods, officials said Thursday. TROY ANDERSON in the Los Angeles Daily News -- 12/15/06

Favors for sex at the LAPD alleged -- A sergeant in internal affairs says in a lawsuit that her boss promoted sexual partners, which he denies. Bratton vows a complete investigation. Andrew Blankstein and Patrick McGreevy in the Los Angeles Times -- 12/15/06

Judge bars evidence in Long Beach hate crime trial -- A DNA analysis that matched blood from a victim and a stain on the clothing of defendant will not be allowed, a source says. Joe Mozingo in the Los Angeles Times -- 12/15/06

57 white supremacists arrested in sweep -- The Orange County operation involving many agencies targeted a gang that allegedly threatened law enforcement officials. David Haldane in the Los Angeles Times -- 12/15/06

Ex-union chief gets jail for aiding councilman -- The former president of the union representing Los Angeles school workers was sentenced to six months in jail Thursday for illegally diverting union funds to the 2003 political campaign of disgraced Los Angeles City Councilman Martin Ludlow. Peter Y. Hong in the Los Angeles Times -- 12/15/06

Ex-official enters crash plea -- Former Orange County Supervisor Bruce Nestande denies lying to an insurer after an accident in which police say he was driving under the influence. LARRY WELBORN in the Orange County Register -- 12/15/06

Hate crimes up -- Reported incidents of hate crimes in Los Angeles County increased for the first time in four years, while such incidents in schools have more than doubled from last year, according to a report released Thursday. Susannah Rosenblatt in the Los Angeles Times -- 12/15/06

Second suit hits juvenile facility -- As one major lawsuit against the Sacramento County juvenile hall nears an end, with millions of dollars promised to teens who were strip-searched, another suit is gaining momentum that claims a culture of abuse and neglect prevails at the hall. Hudson Sangree in the Sacramento Bee -- 12/15/06

Take your wife's name? That'll cost you -- so ACLU steps in -- Long before they got engaged on a ridge in the Grand Tetons, they had talked about the future and children and names — specifically their own surnames. She loved hers. He wanted to shed his. Carla Hall in the Los Angeles Times -- 12/15/06

Believing is seeing -- The faithful have spotted holy images in the ordinary: chocolate, tortillas and even a grilled cheese sandwich. Humans are hard-wired for such perceptions, some scientists say. David Haldane in the Los Angeles Times -- 12/15/06