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Obama administration scraps program in health reform law -- The Obama administration on Friday told congressional leaders that it cannot implement a new program to provide Americans with long-term care insurance, abandoning a controversial part of the new healthcare law the president signed last year. Noam N. Levey in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/14/11 Pepper spray used at San Diego 'Occupy' protest -- San Diego police on Friday used pepper spray to break up a human chain formed by anti-Wall Street demonstrators at a downtown plaza where they've camped for a week. GREGORY BULL AP -- 10/14/11 KFI’s ‘John and Ken’ show loses advertisers as Latinos protest -- Verizon and AT&T Wireless have pulled their advertising off KFI's "John and Ken" show in response to a campaign by several Latino groups to drive the controversial radio talk hosts off the air. Mark Kellam in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/14/11 Calpers May Restrict Employees’ Stock Trading -- The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the largest U.S. public pension fund, is considering a proposal to restrict personal stock trades by employees as a way to avoid conflicts of interest. Michael B. Marois Bloomberg -- 10/14/11 Fox: CTA Supports Occupy Wall Street – Look for “Tax the Rich” Initiative -- teachers declared they are part of the 99% who seek tax fairness — which sets the organization up for announcing a “tax the rich” initiative, which probably will come about soon. Joel Fox Fox & Hounds -- 10/14/11 Pelosi Left Out of Leaders Meeting on Super Committee -- Congressional leaders met this week with two of the most important people in Washington: the co-chairmen of the Joint Committee for Deficit Reduction. There was only one problem: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi didn’t even know the meeting was taking place. Meredith Shiner Roll Call -- 10/14/11 Why Has Turnout for Occupy SF Been So Small? -- Call it occupation envy. The first wave of Occupy San Francisco protesters made their way down to the financial district a month ago to take a stand against what they perceived to be a financial system run amok. Reyhan Harmanci Bay Citizen -- 10/14/11 Jerry Brown's Super Tuesday Strategy -- In the 1970s, Jerry Brown, then California’s Secretary of State, allowed voter initiatives on the primary ballot, although the Constitution mentioned only general election placement. Flash forward to 2011. Sherry Bebitch Jeffe NBC LA Prop Zero -- 10/14/11 Sen. Sharon Runner breaks elbow, fractures tailbone in fall -- Republican Sen. Sharon Runner will undergo surgery Monday to mend a broken elbow. Torey Van Oot SacBee Capitol Alert -- 10/14/11 Cleanup of Occupy Wall Street protest site is postponed -- The owners of the park where anti-greed protesters have gathered for almost a month told the mayor's office they will postpone cleaning the area Friday, heading off an anticipated clash between police and hundreds who were determined to hold their ground. Tina Susman in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/14/11
California’s landmark Center for Governmental Studies to close — victim of “polarized” politics, economy -- Citing a lagging economy and “dramatically polarized political environment,” the head of California’s pioneering Center for Governmental Studies – which has provided research and analysis on Golden State governance and campaign finance for nearly three decades — says it will close Oct. 20, according to emails obtained by the Chronicle. Carla Marinucci Chronicle Politics Patrick McGreevy LA Times PolitiCal Torey Van Oot SacBee Capitol Alert -- 10/14/11 Prison hunger strike ends -- At its peak, more than 4,000 inmates up and down the state were refusing meals in prisons from the Tehachapis to Pelican Bay. The strike, which began Sept. 26, followed one in July over conditions in the system's high-security Security Housing Unit. Nicholas Riccardi LA Times PolitiCal -- 10/14/11 State commission could ease donor limits amid treasurer scandal -- The state Fair Political Practices Commission continued to weigh whether to allow candidates and committees to ask their donors to give more to replace millions of dollars that is probably lost in what the chairwoman called “the greatest campaign treasurer fraud in the history of the country.” John Hoeffel in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/14/11 State panel allows campaign contributions by text message -- The ability to contribute to your favorite California political candidates will soon be just a text message away, after the state’s ethics agency took a step Thursday to bring campaigning into the 21st century. Patrick McGreevy LA Times PolitiCal -- 10/14/11 Water Wars: Money, politics converge on water bond -- The buzz in the Capitol is that the $11.1 billion borrowing planned for the November 2012 ballot may get pushed back or downsized, in part because of the miserable economy, in part because of the ballot’s volatile political mix. John Howard Cal Water Wars -- 10/14/11 CalBuzz: And Now, a Brief Word About Poor People -- Before we mercifully consign this week’s Republican presidential debate to the dustbin of obscure Google searches, it’s worth noting two brief, but politically significant, moments that slipped by with almost no coverage. Jerry Roberts and Phil Trounstine CalBuzz -- 10/14/11 Fleischman: Brown Talks About Public Employee Pension Reform, But Can He Deliver? -- Yesterday in Los Angeles at an event with famed philanthropist and felon Michael Milken, Governor Jerry Brown said that he would soon be releasing details of his own pension reform plan, adding that his proposal will include a constitutional amendment and by necessity be put in front of the voters for approval. Jon Fleischman Flash Report -- 10/14/11 PG&E to replace more than 1,200 miles of faulty gas piping across California -- Facing pressure after a leaky plastic gas pipe sparked a fire at a Cupertino condominium complex, PG&E has decided to replace all 1,231 miles of the same type of aging and notoriously faulty pipeline spread across the state. Paul Rogers in the San Jose Mercury -- 10/14/11 Hiltzik: Milken Conference: Where are the game-changing (political) ideas? -- A common feature of learned panel discussions aimed at eliciting solutions for pressing problems is that the participants spend all their time stating the problem, and none offering solutions. Michael Hiltzik in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/14/11 Brown vetoes bill to extend California nursing board -- The governor objects to a provision that would have added to the state's pension costs by classifying certain board investigators as peace officers. He urges the Legislature to pass a revised bill quickly. Abby Sewell in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/14/11 Code of silence among jail guards hinders abuse probes, watchdog says -- Deputies who report wrongdoing are sometimes subjected to retaliation by colleagues, according to the Office of Independent Review. The findings echo allegations made by civilians. Jack Leonard and Robert Faturechi in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/14/11 California's emergency manager warns of need for federal money -- California's top emergency manager warned federal lawmakers Thursday that U.S. penny-pinching puts the state at risk. Michael Doyle in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/14/11 Another Calderon headed to the Capitol? -- Calderon clan may expand its legislative presence. Jim Sanders in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/14/11
State teachers union pitches tent with Occupy activists -- The California Teachers Association jumped on the Occupy Wall Street bandwagon Thursday, throwing the weight of 325,000 state teachers behind the movement for “tax fairness and against corporate greed.” Jill Tucker Chronicle Politics -- 10/14/11 Occupy L.A. protest at City Hall is not lawn-abiding -- The Occupy L.A. protest may be gathering strength at City Hall, but one thing is fading: The lawn. Dakota Smith in the Los Angeles Daily News -- 10/14/11 Occupy San Diego told to pack up; faction heads to Balboa Park -- olice told protesters with the Occupy San Diego movement Thursday that they must pack up their tents, tables and chairs in the Civic Center concourse before midnight or have their property impounded and possibly face arrest. Jen Lebron Kuhney, Jonathan Horn and Pauline Repard in the San Diego Union-Trib Tony Perry in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/14/11
State's exports again post strong growth in all segments -- While many businesses have slashed and struggled, California is closing in on two years of trade growth. Mark Glover in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/14/11 California plans $2-billion bond sale amid rising yields -- California will sell $2 billion in bonds next week, and the state probably will have to pay significantly more to borrow than it did three weeks ago. That may lure more yield-hungry individual investors to the securities. Tom Petruno in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/14/11 CalPERS fires partner in struggling winery investments -- After pouring $200 million into vineyards across California, Oregon and Washington, CalPERS said this week that it is firing the firm that has been its investment partner and land manager. Dale Kasler in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/14/11 State pays lower unemployment benefits, but for longer -- The Legislative Analyst's Office compared all 50 states for insight into the insolvency of California's unemployment insurance fund. Will Evans California Watch -- 10/14/11 San Francisco's South of Market a tech magnet -- Forty technology companies are looking for close to 2 million square feet of office space in San Francisco, most of it South of Market, according to a report by real estate firm Colliers International. Andrew S. Ross in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/14/11
Jerry Brown calls California's school testing program a "good system" -- Gov. Jerry Brown said Thursday that the school testing program he proposed overhauling in last year's gubernatorial campaign is a "good system" he will keep intact. David Siders in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/14/11 Fensterwald: Turning teaching upside-down -- Witty, brilliant, self-effacing, a seeming agnostic in the education wars over school choice and performance pay, Salman Khan is an unlikely revolutionary. But Khan, the former hedge fund manager turned online tutor, first for his East Coast nieces and nephews and now for the world, is flipping education upside-down. John Fensterwald educatedguess -- 10/14/11 CSU unveils new list for presidential salary comparisons -- Which colleges and universities should the California State University system compare itself with when deciding how much to pay its campus presidents? Erica Perez California Watch -- 10/14/11 Protest greets conservative education summit in San Francisco -- Activists with the Occupy movement joined forces with teachers union members outside a San Francisco hotel Thursday to protest an education conference promoting charter schools, teacher pay for performance and more digital instruction in schools. Jill Tucker, Vivian Ho in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/14/11 Baron: Jeb Bush’s ed reform show in San Francisco -- You could say that the only folks missing from the National Summit on Education Reform at San Francisco’s Palace Hotel were teachers, but that would be wrong, on a technicality; they were outside protesting. Kathryn Baron TopEd -- 10/14/11 Chief of state’s charter school division stepping down -- The California Department of Education is looking for a replacement for the chief of its charter school division, who is leaving her post after 18 months on the job. Louis Freedberg EdSource -- 10/14/11 Special program boosts math scores, study says -- Mandatory use of exams created by a joint California State University and University of California program has produced dramatic test score gains for San Diego Unified School District students, according to a study released this week by the Public Policy Institute of California. Corey G. Johnson California Watch -- 10/14/11 L.A. Unified adds test score measure to school report cards -- The report cards produced by Los Angeles Unified to allow parents and the public to evaluate the performance of district schools now include a new feature that measures the performance of a school's standardized test scores from year to year, district officials announced Thursday. Rick Rojas in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/14/11 ACLU files suit over alleged racial profiling of students -- The civil rights group alleges that about 55 Latino students at Glendale's Hoover High School were illegally detained, searched and interrogated. Megan O'Neil in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/14/11
Hospital chain billing Medicare for high number of uncommon disorders -- Prime Healthcare Services bills Medicare for a variety of unusual ailments – among them a brain disease and a condition causing eyes to bleed – that can generate lucrative payments to the chain. Christina Jewett and Stephen K. Doig California Watch -- 10/14/11
Federal prosecutors rattle California's medical marijuana industry -- Venture capitalist Steve Berg figured he had an unassailable business model. Peter Hecht in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/14/11 Gascón 'Double Dipping' While Supporting Pension Reform -- While San Francisco's District Attorney George Gascón publicly supports pension reform, he is quietly receiving a sizable pension from the Los Angeles Police Department, The Bay Citizen has learned. ZUSHA ELINSON Bay Citizen -- 10/14/11
Obama campaign raises $70 million in third quarter -- The total exceeds the campaign's goal, but it is less than what was raised in the previous quarter. New fundraising totals for his GOP challengers also are emerging. Tom Hamburger and Melanie Mason in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/14/11 Barack Obama holds MLK Jr.'s dream in view, activists at distance -- President Barack Obama has called Martin Luther King Jr. his North Star — a standard of “bold leadership and prophetic eloquence.” During the 2008 campaign, he said he would never have gotten as far were it not for the civil rights movement. “I stand on the shoulders of giants,” he said in a speech in Selma, Ala. JULIE MASON Politico -- 10/14/11
House Dems focus on raising revenue, taxes in supercommittee suggestions -- House Democrats are calling for the congressional supercommittee on deficit reduction to raise taxes and other revenue to narrow the nation’s long-term budget shortfall. Mike Lillis and Russell Berman The Hill -- 10/14/11 Did Herman Cain get 9-9-9 tax plan from SimCity video game? -- Yes, as we reported several days ago, former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain — or, “Herb Cain” in Palinspeak — is the GOP flavor of the month. New NBC/Wall Street Journal poll Thursday puts him atop the GOP prez leader board. Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/14/11 Herman Cain's surge put to test -- The clock is already ticking on Herman Cain’s presidential moment. The former pizza executive and talk radio host is suddenly scrambling to take advantage of an opening in the presidential race that even his supporters say seems too good to be true. ALEXANDER BURNS & MAGGIE HABERMAN Politico -- 10/14/11 Gingrich seeks middle path on immigration -- Newt Gingrich called for a middle path on immigration reform – implying a limited amnesty – as he made his presidential campaign pitch to the Republican-friendly Hispanic 100 on Thursday at the Newport Beach’s Balboa Bay Club. Martin Wisckol in the Orange County Register -- 10/14/11 |