September 2008 Archives

Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin will make her second trip to
Southern California this weekend with a GOP rally in Carson.
Palin will be appearing at a campaign rally at the Home Depot Center, 18400 Avalon Way, Carson, as part of a get out the vote effort of the party.

A fundraiser on behalf of Sen. Barack Obama, featuring Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, is planned for Saturday at The Edison in downtown Los Angeles, a former power plant now serving as a meeting place for power players. Council President Eric Garcetti is one of the hosts.
Billed as an environmental fundraiser, among the items noted about the event are fully compostable plateware and flatware is being provided by California Recycles , an offsetting of green house gas emissions through organizations such as Tree People and The Climate Registry and organic food and drink.
"Angelenos will come together to express their concern for the environment and show their support for Presidential candidate and environmental supporter Senator Barack Obama," the invitation says.
"This event aims to be an evening that will take a more thoughtful approach to political fundraising through environmental and sustainable means, while raising campaign funds for the last push of Senator Obama."
Cost of the event is $500 per perwson, $2,500 for those who want to go to a VIP reception with Clinton.

The identities of previously anonymous donors who have financed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's national and international travel to the tune of $2 million are now being disclosed for the first time. Capitol Weekly.

New donations to the California State Protocol Foundation - a non-profit which was established in March 2004 to "advise the Governor and First Lady of California on international, diplomatic and consular matters," according to its Web site -- were posted on the governor's Web site, as required by new regulations adopted by the Fair Political Practices Commission in June.

With the Dow closing down a record 777 points on Monday after Congress thumbed down a $700 billion bailout package for the financial industry, take a look at how the California delegation -- the nation's largest -- voted. Sacrramento Bee.

Overall, the delegation cast 29 aye votes and 24 no votes. A majority of both Republican (10 to 9) and Democratic lawmakers (19 to 15) from the state supported the bailout package.

Parents, teacher union representatives and school board members on Monday either blasted or questioned the growth of the Los Angeles Unified School District's massive bureaucracy in recent years as they responded to a Daily News analysis of the district's staffing and salary structure. George B. Sanchez in the Daily News.

The Daily News found that the LAUSD's bureaucracy ballooned nearly 20 percent from 2001 to 2007. During that same period, 500 teaching positions were cut and enrollment dropped by 6 percent.

"I think the teachers on the front line should be making a lot more money," said parent Raul Morales, who was attending a district-sponsored meeting for parents in North Hollywood on Monday. "Those who run the education system are overpaid for the little that they do."

While L.A. Unified Superintendent David Brewer III said the district bureaucracy is not bloated, he did say it is not as lean as it should be and pledged to tighten the belt, saying: "It'll get leaner."

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has allowed the City Council to go back and ask for an environmental impact report on the $180 million expansion of Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, an action that could postpone construction.Susan Abram in the Daily News.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Thomas I. McKnew Jr. is expected to sign off Thursday on his earlier ruling, which sided with a community group that wants more studies done to determine the effects the project will have on the neighborhood.

His judgment puts the future of the expansion back into the hands of the City Council. Construction would be postponed until the city approves an EIR.

Los Angeles schools will pay as much as $3 million more a year for electricity starting Wednesday when a long-standing agreement for reduced power rates expires.Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

Los Angeles Unified School District officials said they've tried to persuade the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to continue the 5 percent discount on electricity, but the utility has said no.

"At a time when the ratepayers of Los Angeles are subject to a rate increase, to give a straight, arbitrary 5 percent reduction is not the desirable way to go," said DWP General Manager H. David Nahai.

With nearly one in three Los Angeles County residents unable to fully read and understand English, the region must do more to prepare immigrant communities for catastrophes, city leaders said Monday at the close of Emergency Preparedness Month.Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

Too often, disaster preparedness officials and nonprofits rely on English-language materials and training to get residents ready for an emergency. Some agencies are increasingly translating materials into Spanish, but there are hundreds of other languages spoken in L.A.

"Natural disasters and other tragedies strike without concern for language abilities," said Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar, who has asked the city to report on ways to improve emergency preparedness outreach to immigrants.

Shortly after the House of Representatives voted down the $700 billion Wall Street recovery plan and stock values tumbled, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa issued his own challenge to Congress: Get back to work.

"As mayor of one of the cities hardest hit by our nation's foreclosure crisis, I implore our Congress to put politics aside and get back to work for the American people. This is not the time for partisan bickering. Too much is at stake. Too many families and employers are at risk," Villaraigosa said.

The mayor warned that if the credit market collapses and the economy worsens, Los Angeles would see tax revenue plummet, construction projects stop and taxpayer contributions to city-employee pensions would go through the roof.

"This crisis is no longer about Wall Street or Washington politics," Villaraigosa continued. "It's about families and small businesses in small towns and big cities across the nation. It's time for Congress to get back to work."

Arnold Schwarzenegger is vetoing hundreds of bills passed at the end of the 2007-2008 legislative session, many of them with little rhyme or reason and with a generic veto message, at a record clip of 47.8% of those sent to him in September.California Progress report.

This has occurred in the five days starting on last Wednesday in the telescoped time frame the Governor has to act, with many vetoes occurring at obscure times, such as the announcement made Friday evening 6:54 p.m.--in middle of Presidential debate of 27 vetoes and what some have dubbed the "Saturday Night Massacre" announcement of 99 bills being signed and 95 being vetoed. This was then exceeded last night with an announcement of signatures approving 64 bills and vetoes of 131.

Tucked away in a quiet neighborhood, Cleveland High officials take pride in the achievements of their 4,000 students. The school was recently accredited by the prestigious Western Association of Schools and Colleges. A banner tacked above the entrance reminds visitors this is a California distinguished school. George Sanchez in the Daily News.

The school's students, including more than 700 English-language learners, have consistently outpaced state and local averages on academic achievement scores. But even amid the gains, the school struggles with inadequate resources.

There are a little more than 120 Cleveland High teachers - 1 for every 32 students. There are just nine full-time counselors - 1 for every 422 students who attend either the traditional high school or a separate magnet program.

TIPOFFS: MTA spents $4.1 million on informational campaign for Measure R..

On the edge of downtown Los Angeles, overlooking the 110 Freeway, stands a 29-story office building that boasts many of the trappings of a modern corporate headquarters: a cafeteria with flat-screen TVs, a state-of-the-art media production center, an on-site dry-cleaning service.Beth Barrett in the Daily News.

The tower is the headquarters of the Los Angeles Unified School District - home to more than 3,400 employees. They are the core of a massive bureaucracy that has surged in recent years even as the number of students and teachers has dropped.

And 3,200 more administrators and support staff are scattered throughout the city, as top officials acknowledge that the number of highly paid managers has swollen beyond what is needed to run the nation's second-largest school district.

LAUSD Salary Database

With the city mired in a foreclosure and affordable housing crisis, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has created a five-year, $5billion plan to help develop and preserve 20,000 units of reasonably priced housing for low-income and middle-class Angelenos. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

Developed by managers of the city's housing, planning and redevelopment agencies, the plan includes existing city initiatives and some new, controversial proposals, including requiring developers to include low-income units in new projects.

The goal is to stimulate the construction of more publicly and privately funded housing for families earning less than $90,000 a year.

It's 2004 all over again - at least when it comes to home prices in the San Fernando Valley. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News

In August, the Valley's median house price plunged an annual 35 percent to $420,000, according to the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center. That's a price last seen in January 2004.

This is a big deal, especially if you bought a year ago, at the peak of the real-estate boom, when the median stood at $645,000.

Home to the country's first offshore oil well, California's coastal waters have been off-limits to new drilling for a quarter century.AP in the Daily News.

The congressional ban that halted development is set to expire next week, but chances are remote that the 10 billion barrels of oil estimated to lie under the continental shelf will ever be tapped.

Steadfast opposition within the state, fueled in part by memories of a catastrophic 1969 oil spill off the Santa Barbara coast, will make it extremely difficult for oil companies to win the necessary approvals and prevail in the lawsuits that would be sure to follow.

Former Gov. Pete Wilson on Saturday urged his fellow Republicans not to make light of a recall drive against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. AP in the Sacramento Bee.

He told delegates at the California Republican Party's fall convention that they should take the threat from the state prison guards union seriously, even if it isn't likely to succeed.

"I hope that I don't have to tell you what an ill-considered idea that is. We did it once; we did not do it lightly," he said, referring to the 2003 recall of former Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, an election that sent Schwarzenegger to Sacramento. "It is something that should not be taken lightly. It is an extreme measure."

California Republicans descend on Anaheim this weekend for their semi-annual state convention. Sacramento Bee.

Speakers include GOP legislative leaders Mike Villines and Dave Cogdill, ex-Gov. Pete Wilson and former Secretary of State Bill Jones.

The most notable out-of-state speaker is former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who will address convention-goes Saturday night along with Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.

Poizner, who is exploring a run for governor in 2010, rolled out the endorsements of seven former state party chairmen on Thursday.

One interesting back story to watch at this weekend's convention is whether the California Republican Assembly endorses the proposed recall of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Sen. John McCain issued a statement saying that while work still needed to be done on the Wall Street bailout, he is confident a framework for an agreement will be reached this weekend.
As a result, "The McCain campaign is resuming all activities and the Senator will travel to the debate this afternoon. Following the debate, he will return to Washington to ensure that all voices and interests are represented in the final agreement, especially those of taxpayers and homeowners."

The state budget that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed this week cut about $129 million from Los Angeles County programs - or $34 million more than expected, county officials said Thursday.Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

The cuts, focused on welfare, health and juvenile justice, come as those programs are seeing increases in demand.

The budget will cut $33 million from Medi-Cal, $8 million from probation camps, $10 million from mental health and $6 million from alcohol and drug programs, according to a memo by county Chief Executive Officer Bill Fujioka.

Los Angeles City Council members can run for three terms, according to a court ruling Thursday that upheld the ballot measure that allowed council members to serve for 12 years instead of eight. Daily News.

Angelenos passed Measure R with nearly 60 percent of the vote in November 2006. Since then, North Hollywood resident David Hernandez has sought to overturn the law, arguing that the ballot measure was designed to mislead the public by packaging an unpopular term-limits extension with popular ethics reforms. Hernandez and his attorney said Measure R violated the "single-subject rule" in the California Constitution by combining two separate issues into one initiative.

But a three-judge panel of the 2 nd District Court of Appeal decided that the single-subject rule doesn't apply to Measure R because it was put on the ballot by the City Council and therefore isn't an initiative.

Two years after the Los Angeles Police Department beefed up its Skid Row presence in a promised crackdown on crime, a UCLA study is questioning whether it had any major impact on reducing serious offenses in the area. Daily News.

In a follow-up study on the Safer Citiesy Initiative - the $6 million effort in which 50 extra officers were assigned to the 20-square-block area - UCLA law professor Gary Blasi examined the crime rate before theand after the program began and the most recent figures available.

"It looks like there was a reduction of one robbery per officer assigned to the area," Blasi said about the most recent figures available. "I suspect you could have done better by assigning these officers to a higher crime area."

Clearing the way for construction of a High Occupancy Vehicle lane on the San Diego (405) Freeway, the California Transportation Commission on Thursday allocated $730 million to begin work on the 10-mile segment. Daily News.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office announced the allocation of money from Proposition 1 B, the largest project approved as part of that package.

"This funding will not only help relieve the traffic congestion that clogs our Los Angeles freeways - it will create jobs and help stimulate California's economy when we need it the most," Schwarzenegger said in a written statement.

With Los Angeles and the nation on the brink of recession, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told business leaders Thursday that the city is in for another tough year and should focus on retaining and building its work force.Daily News.

"Last year, we had a $400 million (budget) shortfall that forced us to eliminate 767 (city) positions," Villaraigosa told the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce as it met at City Hall as part of its annual Access L.A. program.

"This year, we might be looking at the same thing and it will require us to look at this as an opportunity to become more efficient and concentrate on our core issues."

California Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is a big name supporter of GOP presidential candidate John McCain -- but apparently he's very particular who knows it. San Francisco Chronicle.

We've learned Schwarzenegger plans to address several hundred Republican activists at a debate-watching event at the state GOP convention in the Anaheim Marriott Friday.

But in an unprecedented move, the gathering --remember, the head of the state GOP addressing his own party in a major public setting -- has been declared ''closed press'' or off limits to the media.

The governor's office said that the decision was made by the California Republican Party to restrict reporters from the event.

California Republicans who consider themselves the party's conservative "conscience" will consider bucking their own party's governor this weekend to endorse the proposed recall of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Sacramento Bee

The board of directors of the California Republican Assembly will gather during the state party's convention in Anaheim for the recall vote.

Former Rep. Bob Barr, the Libertarian candidate for president, says he's willing to take on Sen. Barack Obama in Friday's scheduled debate if Sen. John McCain won't.
"For the past several elections, candidates have used the CPD (Commission on Presidential Debates) as an official buffer to keep competition out of the two-party presidential contest," Barr said. "McCain publicly proved with his announcement what we've been saying all along: The candidates call the shots as to when to debate, where to debate and who to debate.
"Given Senator McCain's political stunt to avoid the debate, I ask that Friday's debate moves forward without him, as I am more than willing to step in to participate."
Barr noted that former President Ronald Reagan debated third-party candidate John Andreson, one on one an din 1992, George H.W. Bush demanded the inclusion of H. Ross Perot in all three presidential debates.

The contentious county supervisor race between Councilman Bernard Parks and state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas spilled into city politics this week when Parks tried to evict a nonprofit group tied to Ridley-Thomas and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa stepped in to block the move.Daily News.

Parks and Ridley-Thomas are in a runoff for the 2nd District supervisor seat being vacated by Yvonne B. Burke. The campaign has turned ugly in recent weeks, with each candidate calling for investigations of the other.

On Tuesday, Villaraigosa was forced into the fray - reluctantly, his aides said - after Parks had the city send a 60-day eviction notice to Strategic Concepts of Organizing and Policy Education, a nonprofit focused on community organizing and job training.

San Fernando Valley homeowners saw property values plunge 35 percent - a quarter-million dollars on a median-price home - in the year since the credit crisis erupted and foreclosures began flooding the market, a research center said Wednesday.

The median price of a previously owned house tumbled from $650,000 in August 2007 to $420,000 last month, said a new report from the San Fernando Economic Research Center at California State University, Northridge.Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

The median price in August matched levels last seen in January 2004.

"It's stunning. That's a huge amount," said Daniel Blake, the center's director. "Next month we'll be back at 2003 prices."

The August median is still $260,000 higher than the $160,000 recorded in January 1996, the low mark of the previous bear market.

After a relatively mild summer, temperatures should shoot above 100 degrees today in Woodland Hills. Dana Bartholomew in the Daily News.

Get used to it, scientists said Wednesday. There are hotter days and longer heat waves ahead.

After 100 years of rising temperatures, Los Angeles summers will likely go from deep-tan to deep-fry, according to a NASA-based study.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger isn't known for mincing words. But earlier this month, as California's budget stalemate inched from serious problem toward full-blown crisis, he gave an interview to a German publication that was surprising in its candor -- and certainly didn't help his cause. Mike Zapler in the Mercury News.

At the same time he was trying to win Republican votes for his compromise budget plan, the GOP governor described members of his own party as, essentially, a band of ideologues.

"Think about the Republicans from California that are running the party," Schwarzenegger told Der Spiegel magazine. "I have almost no contact with them. None. Because they're just so out there."

Days later, Schwarzenegger made a rare appearance before the Assembly Republican caucus. Its members wore name tags to the meeting -- a half-joking response to the governor's remarks.

Former Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, will announce his candidacy for California Democratic Party Chairman in the coming days. Capitol Weekly.

Burton has told those close to him that he is running to succeed outgoing chairman Art Torres, who will leave the post after the party elects a new chairman in April. Burton was not immediately available to comment.

The job of party chairman is particularly important in this era of legislative term limits, and since voters approved Proposition 34, which set campaign contribution limits to candidates, and greatly enhanced the state parties' rolls as arbiter of millions in political donations during campaign cycles. Burton largely wrote the initiative.

After predicting for the past four years that California will be able to avoid a downturn, UCLA economists now say the state may plunge into recession because of the ongoing financial crisis. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.,

"Worst-case, we can go into a real deep recession," said David Shulman, senior economist at the university's Anderson Forecast, which for 50 years has analyzed and provided predictions on the California and U.S. economies.

The third-quarter report was released today but was prepared before last week's financial storm that engulfed American International Group, forced Lehman Brothers into bankruptcy and prompted the federal government to prop up the $3.3 trillion money-market-fund sector.

Delivering some Hollywood glamour to the Los Angeles County Fair, one of the more popular exhibits this year features celebrity contributions to county government, from Lou Ferrigno moonlighting as a sheriff's deputy to "Baywatch" glamorizing county lifeguards. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

Two life-size cutouts of Ferrigno, one as "The Incredible Hulk" and another in his new role as a reserve deputy, greet fairgoers, who line up to flex their muscles and pose for pictures with their movie-screen, and now, real-life hero.

"The women seem to like him in uniform; the kids and men like him as `The Hulk,"' said Judy Hammond, the county spokeswoman who helped create the exhibit "Los Angeles County: Movie Capital of the World."

It features movie trailers, posters, photos and historical trivia about famou

With the national economy in crisis, city and county leaders Tuesday urged department heads to tighten their budget belts to make sure the slide on Wall Street doesn't hit too hard locally. Daily News.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called for key city agencies to immediately launch a review of the city's financial health - and any risk it faces - by analyzing investments that could affect the city's daily operations and its pension system.

"We will not allow the unsound and unconscionable practices of Wall Street to stop the progress we've made on improving public safety and the delivery of services," Villaraigosa wrote in a memo sent to all department heads. "The unprecedented upheaval on Wall Street demands unprecedented vigilance at City Hall."

California Faultline, the political blog of KNBC, is reporting another dustup between the campaigns of Councilman Bernard Parks and state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas.
The two who are competing for the seat on the Board of Supervisors being vacated by Supervisor Yvonne Burke, have been engaged in a hotly contested race, with a series of charges and counter-charges.
The most recent involve Parks, who registered twice with the American Independent Party, an apparent mistake when he meant to register as decline to state. Officials with the AIP estimate up to one-third of their registered voters did so by mistake.
Here is the complete blog item and the link to the voter registration forms is here: California Faultline.:
Parks registered twice with American Independent Party, but party's chairman says 1/3rd of members may have have joined mistakenly.

On the first document, from 1992, Parks does check off "American Independent Party," but below it writes in "Independent." The form from 1996 only has "American Independent Party" checked off, but offers no other field to write in the party."

For the full item, go to ">California Faultline.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed the state's $143 billion spending plan after the longest budget deadlock in state history. Mercury News.

The governor's signature, which comes on the 85th day after the start of the fiscal year, frees up billions in payments to medical clinics, nursing homes, daycare centers and contract vendors.

It won't, however, finish the budget battle. That will be up to voters, who will be asked to tie up the agreement's loose ends during a special election next year

By next month, almost 20 percent of Los Angeles could be covered by gang injunctions, making it by far the most restrictive city nationwide for gang members and their associates.Rachel Uranga in the Daily News.

A judge is expected to approve City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo's request for a 131/2-square-mile injunction against six South L.A. gangs, which has renewed debate over a tool police call essential, but one that civil-rights attorneys and gang experts say goes too far.

"It's an integral part of the city's anti-gang strategy," said Bruce Riordan, a director of anti-gang operations in the City Attorney's Office. "It's not going to be the prosecutors who blink. It has to be the gang members."

Under pressure from Los Angeles officials to accelerate the cleanup of contaminated drinking water, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday ordered seven companies to pay a total of $500,000 to help decontaminate groundwater beneath the east San Fernando Valley.Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

Plumes of industrial chemicals leaked into the groundwater have forced the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to take nearly half its drinking water wells off-line, meaning Angelenos have to rely more on expensive imported water.

World War II-era munitions and the aerospace boom in the East Valley left huge plumes of contamination underground. The seven businesses cited by the EPA on Monday are just a few of those blamed for contaminating the groundwater.

Reports of fraud and misconduct by Los Angeles County government employees have increased steadily in recent years, possibly because of the worsening economy, officials said Monday.Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

During the nine months ending June 30, the Office of County Investigations opened 676 investigations into allegations of fraud and misconduct, according to a new report on the county's fraud hotline. They substantiated 91 tips, referring them for prosecution or disciplinary action.

During that time, seven county employees were convicted of crimes, 13 were fired and 18 were suspended, the highest number of suspensions and convictions since at least 2000.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich is leading his own trade delegation to China this week, nearly two years after a similar trip by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Daily News.

Joined by leaders of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. and the World Trade Center Association Los Angeles-Long Beach, Antonovich left Sunday for a nine-day trip to four cities, where they will meet with Chinese business leaders. The delegation will also attend the World Economic Forum's annual meeting.

"Los Angeles County is the gateway to the North American market," Antonovich said. "Our two ports handle approximately $200 million (annually) in trade with China."

The Bush administration insisted Sunday that Congress must move quickly to approve what one lawmaker called the "mother of all bailouts" - a $700 billion proposal to buy a mountain of bad mortgage debt in an effort to unfreeze the nation's credit markets. New York Times in the Daily News.

Congressional leaders endorsed the plan's main thrust, saying passage might occur in a matter of days. But they said it must be expanded to include help for people on Main Street as well as the big Wall Street financial firms who have lost billions of dollars through their bad investment decisions.

The proposal "does not include the necessary safeguards," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

She called for "independent oversight, protections for homeowners and constraints on excessive executive compensation."

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson stressed that time is critical to get the proposal passed and that changes to the administration's measure, which was sen

They sit. They watch. They wait. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

Ten days have passed since the horrific Metrolink crash claimed the lives of 25 people and injured 135 others, like Rachael Moyfa, a foreign-exchange student who remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition.

The massive impact fractured Moyfa's skull and damaged her brain, and she remains unconscious and medicated at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.

TIPOFFS: Former governor knows pitfalls of recall, comes to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's defense.

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A tribute to Metrolink crash victims
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Article Last Updated: 09/21/2008 12:23:51 AM PDT

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A candlelight vigil was held September 19 at the... (Ernesto Elizarraraz/Staff Phototgrapher)

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A funeral that began with a riderless horse and ended with white doves released into the air. American flags at City Hall and local government buildings flown at half-staff. A candlelight vigil at the Chatsworth train station. Daily News.

They are among the tributes to the victims of the Sept. 12 Metrolink crash that killed 25 people. See our tribute to them here.

Christopher Aiken, 38, of Thousand Oaks, became the proud stepfather of 15-year-old twins Samantha and Katie when he married their mother, Sharon, last year. He was commuting home from work at a food service company when the Metrolink crashed.

"He just loved life," said his mother, Donna Aiken. "Those two girls just meant the world to him."

Throughout the state's record-setting budget impasse, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger often said his goal was to bring structural reform to California so elected officials don't simply keep "kicking the can down the alley." AP in the Daily News.

They kicked the can anyway.

After three months of debate over tax increases, elected officials this year are resorting to accounting tricks and cuts to health care and education to fill the state's $15.2 billion shortfall. The result means partisan fighting will resume in January when the governor unveils the 2009-10 budget.

SACRAMENTO - The Legislature approved a compromise state budget Friday after ceding to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's demands for budget reform and receiving his approval for the plan to end the state's record three-month stalemate.

The $143 billion budget plan would allow California to resume payments to schools, medical clinics, day care centers and state vendors that haven't been paid since July 1, the start of the fiscal year. Legislators had to bridge a $15.2 billion budget deficit. AP in
the Daily News.
He said he was pleased legislative leaders agreed to stronger controls on the state's rainy day fund and gave him the authority to make spending cuts during the year. But he added that he wanted more reforms to prevent the state from spending more than it takes in.

He said he could sign the package as early as Monday, though there might not be much fanfare.

Hoping to avoid the hostile community reaction that helped kill the city's first bid to build a recycled-water project, DWP leaders said Friday that they're taking a new plan to the public early to win support. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

"The idea is not to repeat the mistakes of the past and to learn from those who have managed to successfully roll out a water-recycling process," said DWP General Manager H. David Nahai.

"I'm convinced that we can overcome people's reticence," Nahai said Friday at the DWP's first community forum to pitch the idea of recycled water.

The estimated $1 billion project is at least 10 years away from completion and DWP officials are now devising a plan to pay for it.

Secretary of State Debra Bowen released new voter registration figures on Friday, showing that interest in the presidential election remains high.
Bowen said the state now has 16.2 million registered voters, with Democrats representing 43 percent of all voters and also representing the biggest gains.
The full statement is on the jump...

Already some of the highest-paid city workers, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power employees will receive an unexpected raise of nearly 6 percent next month under a contract approved by the mayor and City Council in 2005.Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

The original 3.25 percent pay hike was boosted to 5.9 percent under an unusual agreement between city leaders and DWP workers that ties their annual raise to inflation. Since the cost of food and fuel has gone up so much in the past year, DWP workers on Oct. 1 will receive the largest pay raise of any city employee union.

The higher-than-expected salaries will cost the DWP about $16.4 million more than the utility had set aside in its budget.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders averted a historic budget veto Thursday, agreeing to a compromise spending plan that includes the governor's demands for budget reform and scraps some of the borrowing gimmicks he opposed. AP in the Daily News.

Facing a veto threat from Schwarzenegger of the spending plan they'd approved just days earlier and uncertain whether they could muster the two-thirds vote of the state Legislature required to override it, the four legislative leaders met with the governor again and agreed to many of his demands.

They emerged from a midafternoon meeting saying they would change the $143 billion spending plan the Legislature approved two days earlier.

As they heard reports of the carnage from the Metrolink train collision, doctors at Northridge Hospital Medical Center - just eight miles from the crash site - waited anxiously for the first patients to arrive as they prepped for a long night. Susan Abram in the Daily News.

The wait went on for nearly two hours.

"We were alerted about (the collision) and were ready fast," said Dr. Stephen Jones, director of the emergency department. "It was to the point where when the first victim came in, we were on edge."

United Airlines will pull service from L.A./Palmdale Regional Airport on Dec. 7, dealing a massive setback in the effort to divert air traffic from Los Angeles International Airport to outlying facilities. Art Marroquin in the Daily News.

Record-high fuel costs and a general lack of traveler interest hampered United since it launched service between Palmdale and San Francisco on June 7, 2007.

"I'm not surprised at all because this wasn't a lucrative route to begin with," said Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who represents the LAX area and has long supported spreading air traffic to other local airports.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is getting support from Henry Cisneros, former HUD secretary and one-time mayor of San Antonio, with an Oct. 10 fundraiser in Texas. Information about it came from the website, the Walker Report.
Cisneros and Villaraigosa have been friends for years. Cisneros also has been involved in numerous efforts in Los Angeles to build affordable housing.
The $1,000 a person event is being co-sponsored by other Texas officials and it describes the mayor as one of the leading progressives in the country.
"Villaraigosa is known for his exceptional skill at building broad bi-partisian coalitions and is considered one of the leading progressive voices in the country," the invitation said.
The mayor has amassed more than $1.7 million for his re-election next March in which there is a small field of opponents, none of whom is expected to raise significant amounts to challenge him.
Villaraigosa has raised money at a number of events across the country this year, including San Francisco, Chicago, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Miami.

The family feud raging within the Parks for Supervisor Campaign since the primary came to a head last week, when field director/campaign manager Herb Wesson III left the building. Betty Pleasajt in the Wave Newspapers

Wesson, son of City Councilman Herb Wesson, quit Councilman Bernard Parks' campaign for county supervisor Sept. 10 because "there was some punk [two expletives deleted] going on that is not politics," Wesson said.

Southern California's housing prices plunged further in August, falling a record 34 percent to the lowest level in five years, an industry tracker said Wednesday. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

The August median sank to $330,000, a decline of $170,000 over the past 12 months, said MDA DataQuick.

The Southland's median price is now at the same level as in November 2003, MDA DataQuick said.

Prices fell by large amounts in all six Southern California counties. That's because most of the sales are at the lower end of the price scale. And foreclosures accounted for 46 percent of August's sales versus 10 percent a year ago.

Pressured by politicians and the public to account for rail safety standards, Metrolink officials Wednesday said cost wasn't a factor in failing to adopt an innovative technology that might have averted last week's commuter train disaster. Sue Doyle and Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

After a special board meeting in which his colleagues complained they'd "taken a beating in the media," Metrolink Chief Executive Officer David Solow said positive train controls - which activate automatically if an engineer makes a mistake - are not readily available.

"Cost is not an issue if I don't have anything to buy," Solow said. "We are waiting for technology that works. These are very promising technologies."

PALMDALE - Against a backdrop of stepped-up workplace raids by U.S. immigration agents, Palmdale has become the first U.S. city to join a federal program aimed at reducing the hiring of undocumented workers.Karen Maeshiro in the Daily News.

The voluntary program emphasizes self-policing by employers and requires the use of a federal online system to verify employees' eligibility.

"We wanted a way to show that we are aware of the immigration status of our work force, and we are concerned about the people we contract with as well," said Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford.

Hoping to encourage tech-savvy residents to help solve crimes, the Los Angeles Police Department on Wednesday joined a national network that allows the public to use text-messaging to provide anonymous tips. Daily News.

And officials launched the new program with a plea for assistance on three major unsolved crimes.

Under the program, people who want to provide information on crimes, but keep their identity secret, can text to CRIMES (274637), type in LAPD and text any information they might have on a crime. They will receive a text message back that the tip was received, and they will be given an alias to use if a reward is available.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger filed his formal response to the recall drive aimed at him, callng it "special interest politics.: The full response:
.

This recall petition is special interest politics at its worst. It's not about the people of California; it's an intimidation tactic by the prison guards union to force Governor Schwarzenegger into giving them a bigger contract. The bosses want the same sweetheart deal Governor Davis gave them after $3 million in campaign contributions. When Governor Schwarzenegger ran for office he said if special interests tried to push him around he would push back.

The Los Angeles Times said this union "is fooling no one." The Sacramento Bee called it a "self-serving grab for power and money." The San Diego Union-Tribune says it's a "bullying tactic." The San Jose Mercury News calls this an attempt to "pressure" the Governor to "give away the store like his predecessor."

Even Democrat lawmaker Jackie Speier said this union has "a lock on the Legislature. ... They telegraph loud and clear: 'If you cross us, we'll take you out.'"

It's offensive that one special interest is using a recall to get more money. California faces a financial crisis and this union's leadership wants $1.3 billion more from taxpayers. Governor Schwarzenegger refuses to be intimidated and will do what's best for California, not a special interest.

As former LA Mayor Richard Riordan entered Tuesday night's Barack Obama fundraiser in Beverly Hills he told CBS2, "When I was mayor I had dealings with McCain where I didn't respect him." Courtesy of LAObserved on KNBC-TV
Riordan, a Republican, is now endorsing Obama for President, saying, "I think he's a much more open person. He's young, he has more energy, more electricity." [watch here]

Arnold Schwarzenegger was set to become the first California governor in decades to veto a state budget, rejecting the Legislature's spending plan Tuesday for failing to meet his reform demands and solve the state's persistent fiscal problems. Daily News.

The announcement set in motion a historic showdown with the Democrat-controlled Legislature, which has said it is prepared to override the governor's pending veto.

Schwarzenegger's announcement that he would veto the budget came after a record-long stalemate that forced the state to delay billions of dollars in payments to schools, medical clinics, day-care centers and state vendors.

Calling the 2007 May Day melee "a phenomenal black eye" for the Los Angeles Police Department, Chief William Bratton said Tuesday that he wants to fire four officers and discipline 11 others for their roles in the MacArthur Park skirmishes that left dozens of peaceful protesters injured. Daily News.

Bratton's recommendation to the Police Commission came after one of the department's most extensive internal investigations. It follows the demotion and reassignment of the two senior commanders in charge that day.

"It was a phenomenal black eye for the Los Angeles Police Department on that day, a phenomenal black eye for the police chief of the department and something that the leadership of this department felt serious about correcting," Bratton told the commission.

The fate of California's record budget standoff is up to one man now. Sacramento Bee.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger must decide, with a stroke of his pen, whether to sign a budget deal passed early today by the Legislature - and he has threatened a veto.

A marathon session of the Legislature ended at 2:30 a.m. with the proposed compromise receiving the necessary two-thirds majority to pass the Assembly, 61-1, and the Senate, 28-12.

Even as the first claim was made against Metrolink in the aftermath of the Chatsworth train disaster, legal experts are already saying the crash is likely to lead to hundreds of millions, if not billions in civil lawsuits.Troy Anderson and Susan Abram in the Daily News.

Metrolink's position, say experts, is further complicated because the agency admitted that its own engineer error was the likely cause - a stance from which it is now attempting to back away from.

On Monday, the family of a 19-year-old woman who died in Friday's Metrolink crash announced it has filed a claim against the agency, alleging the agency failed to employ available safety mechanisms to protect commuters.

After weeks of promoting himself as the GOP frontrunner, California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced Monday that he has created a 2010 exploratory committee for governor.
"This morning I filed the necessary papers with the California Secretary of State to establish an exploratory committee for Governor," Poizner said in a statement.
"I am taking the first formal step toward running for Governor in 2010 because I believe in California and I understand that meeting the challenges of the 21st century requires new and innovative ideas.
"Californians are frustrated with their government and are right to expect their elected leaders to work together to address California's biggest challenges. Serious reforms are needed to make our state government work again."
Poizner was a successful Silicon Valley businessman.
He said he will use the committee to allow him to meet with business owners, volunteers, community leaders and educators to discuss the state's needs.

The state controller says California's payroll computer program is so antiquated it would take six months to reconfigure it to change workers' pay. Sacramento Bee.

State personnel officials acknowledge the 70-year-old 10-step hiring system means it can take three years for a qualified applicant to land a state job.

No one even knows how much gasoline is burned up each year by the state's vehicle fleet.

This is apparently one tough state to run.

Federal authorities said Sunday they will seek the cell-phone records of two teens and the Metrolink engineer involved in Friday's deadly crash as they investigate whether text messages played a role in the fiery collision that killed 25 passengers. Sue Doyle in the Daily News.

Kitty Higgins, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, also told reporters late Sunday that engineer Robert Sanchez missed the last two "call-outs" to the conductor riding in the rear of Metrolink Train 111 before it slammed into an oncoming freight train.

While Metrolink quickly took responsibility for the crash, blaming it on "operator error," attention has focused on two 14-year-old boys who claimed they'd been exchanging text messages with Sanchez just

How many DWP workers will it take to get you to screw in an energy-saving light bulb? A lot. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

In what appears to be the nation's largest giveaway of compact fluorescent light bulbs, the Department of Water and Power plans to hire crews to deliver 2.4 million bulbs to every household in Los Angeles.

Over six months, the utility will leave bags containing two CFLs on as many doorsteps as possible. During a trial run this summer, more than 135 DWP staffers delivered 184,000 CFLs.

Tipoffs: Animal Services Director Ed Boks facing heat from within.Upcoming political campaigns for ballot measures.

Legislative leaders said today they at last have a compromise deal on an 11-week-late state budget that calls for no tax increases, no borrowing from local governments or other state special funds -- and which makes no one happy.Sacramento Bee.

Emerging from a weekend meeting in the office of Senate GOP leader Dave Cogdill, the quartet declined to give specific details of their compromise plan, saying they wanted to talk to their respective caucuses first.

But they said the plan closes the $15.2 billion gap in the $103.4 billion budget for the fiscal year that began July 1 with $9 billion in spending cuts. The rest of the gap will be patched by closing tax loopholes and "accelerated revenue collections," an accounting term for collecting some one-time revenues in this fiscal year rather than the next. The leaders indicated that while balanced, the budget anticipates at least a $2 billion hole in next year's budget.

MTA takes responsibility
As the death toll climbed to 25 Saturday in the Metrolink train collision, grieving relatives of the dead and injured learned the nation's worst commuter rail disaster in almost four decades was caused by a Metrolink engineer who ran a red light.

After nearly 24 hours of scouring the wreckage for survivors and the dead, rescue workers announced they had removed the last body from the crash site just before 3 p.m. Saturday. Daily News.a>

A frantic call
Shortly before 4:23 p.m. on Friday, a dispatcher in a remote Metrolink control room tried desperately to reach the crew of Train 111. Rachel Uranga in the Daily News.

A flashing error message popped up on a computer screen, signaling that something went wrong near a stretch of track where Metrolink engineer Rob Sanchez was supposed to stop at a rail signal.

So he showed up Saturday morning on Variel Avenue.
Ordinary heroes

California's legislative Republican leaders are backtracking on plans to attend a two-day, lobster-and-golf campaign fundraiser in Nevada early next week, as the state's record-setting budget impasse continues. Sacramento Bee.

Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines and Senate Republican leader Dave Cogdill are listed as the co-hosts of the "Republican Leadership Invitational" early next week, a Nevada golf tournament where big donors will be asked to fork over up to $15,000 to the California Republican Party.

But after Democrats raised questions about the event, spokesmen for both leaders said they won't go.

After being hammered by the campaign of Sen. John McCain and under fire from his own supporters to fight back, the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama in a memo to reporters said today is the first day of the new campaign.
And, campaign manager David Plouffe said the Obama campaign plans to fight hard.
Countering the controversy over pig on a lipstick and new McCain ads again calling Obama a celebreity, the Obama campaign has its own new ads out, this time questioning if McCain is out of touch with voters.
The full memo follows:

SACRAMENTO -- Months of bickering over the state budget have seriously damaged the state Legislature's public standing: A record few Californians approve of its performance, according to a new Field Poll. Mike Zapler in the Mercury News,
Even President Bush enjoys higher ratings in California than state legislators.
Only 15 percent of registered voters gave positive marks to the Democratic-controlled Legislature in the poll conducted this month. Seventy-three percent disapproved of its performance, and 12 percent had no opinion. The approval ratings are the lowest in the quarter-century of Field Polls surveying voter opinion of the Legislature.
The Legislature's abysmal ratings aren't exactly surprising given the drumbeat of bad news out of the Capitol this summer, said Larry Gerston, a San Jose State University political science professor.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority risked violating state law recently by using its taxpayer-funded Web site to potentially promote its proposed half-percent sales tax increase, the Los Angeles County Counsel's Office has determined. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

Following the counsel's advice, the agency removed material from the site that appeared to support Measure R, although officials said they may replace it with more neutral phrasing that conforms to state law.

But at the same time, the agency is moving forward with a $4.1 million public-information campaign that is apparently legal, although it has raised the ire of taxpayer groups and at least one county supervisor.

Tony Bell, spokesman for Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, said the supervisor plans to ask County Counsel Ray Fortner for a report on the information campaign.

"A public agency ought not to spend public dollars campaigning for a proposed ballot measure," Bell said. "That presents a legal question, and it may constitute a misuse of public funds."

As part of the information campaign, the MTA has placed advertisements on the radio and in local newspapers referring people to www.metro.net to get more information about the ballot measure. The MTA plans to spend $23,885 on radio advertisements and $884,948 on print advertisements through Nov. 4 in connection with the proposed tax increase.

Take six Nobel Peace Prize laureates, add the energy and idealism of young people and the good will of communities everywhere, and you have a prescription to change the world.
Daily News.
So say the organizers of PeaceJam, an effort that began on the streets of Denver 10 years ago to inspire activism by the young in the global fight against poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy and inner-city violence.

Working with schools and youth groups, PeaceJam representatives travel the globe to recruit young people who want to make the world a better place.

The ballot measure to ban same-sex marriages, which had been expected to bring out the Republican base in November, is actually dividing the local GOP, with some top members complaining that it's alienating gay members of the party.Daily News
Several current and former members of the Republican Central Committee and Executive Committee sent a letter to county Chairwoman Linda Boyd protesting a 90-minute town-hall meeting in support of Proposition 8.
Boyd and the county Republicans had offered opponents of the measure three minutes to address the session. Scott Schmidt, a spokesman for the Republicans Against 8, rejected the offer.

Joining with the frustration felt by more and more residents, the Valley Industry and Commerce Association said it was time for state legislators to end their posturing and get to work.
"With the state budget now 73 days over-due, the Government Affairs Committee of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association (VICA) unanimously recommended that its board of directors adopt the position that the California Legislature be required to stay in session 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, until they pass a budget.
"Lawmakers should not be allowed to leave the Senate and Assembly floors until a budget is passed and given to the governor to sign," said VICA Chairman Greg Lippe. "It is outrageous that we are 73 days into the fiscal year without a budget."
The business gorup said there are millions of dollars in unpaid state bills affecting schools, hospitals and small businesses.
"It is extremely frustrating that the Legislature has failed to perform its most important responsibility," said VICA Past-Chair Fred Gaines, who made the motion. "The fact that there is no sense of urgency among our leaders is even more disgraceful."

There was a common reaction when word spread this week that the state prison guards' union was threatening a recall effort against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Most Capitol watchers dismissed the talk as part of an ongoing public relations war between the union and the governor. But in the post-Gray Davis-recall world, few seem willing to completely write off the possibility that the effort may be for real. Capitol Weekly.
While the Schwarzenegger administration downplays the seriousness of the threat, his political team snapped to attention this week, sending out press releases, organizing conference calls with reporters, and encouraging surrogates to send out statements of support for the governor.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ordered flags lowered to half-staff today in memory of those who died in the Sept. 11 attacks. His statement:

"In the shadow of the twin towers, 9/11 will forever stand tall as the
mark of America at its most devastated and yet at its most resilient.

"We saw heroism then in every firefighter who ascended into unknown
danger and every police officer, paramedic and volunteer who dug through
rubble, day after day, driven by their sense of community with their
fellow Americans in need.

"Here in Los Angeles, we witness the same stripe of selflessness in
every-day acts of heroism from our men and women in uniform. As we honor
those fallen, let's not forget our commitment to those who remain
standing, who together are the heart of this great City."

As California's unemployment rate hits a 12-year high, the state program that pays benefits to the jobless is facing a severe money shortage and a huge backlog of unresolved appeals. AP in the Daily News.

The unemployment insurance fund, which paid out almost $662 million in July as California's jobless rate reached 7.3 percent, is expected to have a deficit of $1.6 billion at the end of 2009.

That shortage will force the fund to borrow from the federal government for only the second time since the program was established in the 1930s.

Freeway drivers passing the Los Angeles Convention Center would get an eyeful under a business deal approved by the City Council on Wednesday that allows new electronic billboards on the center. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

Anschutz Entertainment Group, the developer of the Staples Center and l.a. live entertainment complex, received the exclusive rights to install billboards and sell advertising at the convention center.

In exchange, the city receives a minimum of $2 million a year.

The council voted 12-1 in favor of the agreement, despite concerns that the signs would distract drivers and pose a safety hazard.

Mirroring a recent Los Angeles County proposal to post calorie information at fast-food and chain restaurants, the city now wants to let you know how much damage you're doing to your waistline when you pound that Big Mac or Whopper. Daily News.

On Wednesday, the Los Angeles City Council voted 14-0 to draft a law that could be on the books by next month - a move that would require many restaurants in the city of Los Angeles to follow rules already imposed in unincorporated Los Angeles County and New York City. A similar law is being considered by California lawmakers.

The vote comes as figures from the California Department of Public Health show that the state's residents have gained 360 million pounds of excess weight in the past 10 years, and one-third of children, one in four teens and more than half of all adults are overweight or obese.

The Los Angeles City Council adopted more limits on smoking in public Wednesday, this time banning it at farmers markets and drawing questions on whether the city is going too far.Daily News.

While the council voted 15-0 to adopt the measure, Councilman Bill Rosendahl - himself a former smoker - wondered whether the city is infringing too much on individuals' rights.

"If we pass this, will there be any place that smokers can smoke in public?" he said.

The Los Angeles Weekly takes a look at how Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa spends his days:
IN THE EARLY AFTERNOON of July 14, a week after quietly slipping home from a trip to Hawaii, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was halfway though a typical workday. He'd spent the morning doing interviews on two Latino radio stations, his picture was taken with an old friend, Juan Alvarez, he met with major labor union insider Sean Harrigan, he lunched with his staff, he was prepped by aides on what to say at an upcoming press conference urging Angelenos to vote for higher taxes, and he held a meeting to discuss one of his persisting embarrassments as mayor -- his failure to plant a promised "one million trees," or even a fraction of them, in Los Angeles.

As he began his closed-door meeting to review the million-trees fiasco, a loose coalition of angry community activists billing themselves as the Save L.A. Project stood on the steps of City Hall, venting frustration over the Los Angeles Unified School District, the mayor's stiff new rate increases on Angelenos' utility bills, and a controversy over alleged backroom talks by Villaraigosa's Planning Department "density hawks" about building yet another big-box project, this time a Home Depot in the Valley.

More students in Los Angeles schools are passing the California High School Exit Exam - a graduation requirement - on their first try, though they still lag behind their counterparts statewide, results released Tuesday show. George Sanchez in the Daily News.

The number of L.A. Unified School District 10th-graders who passed the math portion of the exam was 67 percent, up from 61 percent last year, and 70 percent passed the English part, up from 66 percent a year ago.

Among all 10th-graders in the state, 78 percent passed math, and 79 percent passed English.

In an unprecedented show of no confidence, Los Angeles animal control employees Tuesday called for the resignation of the city's seventh animal shelter manager in 10 years, citing mismanagement and a disregard for employees, animals and public safety. Dana Bartholomew in the Daily News.
Animal control employees packed City Hall to call for the heads of Ed Boks, general manager of the Department of Animal Services, and his assistant, Linda Barth.
The employees also filed a petition signed by half the department demanding Boks and Barth resign.

Hoping to relieve overcrowding and keep dangerous and violent offenders in jail longer, the Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to spend nearly $3 million to buy electronic monitoring devices to expand Los Angeles County's home-detention program. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

Now, about 350 of the county's 18,000 to 20,000 jail inmates are voluntarily serving their sentences at home under electronic monitoring.

The additional money will allow the sheriff's and probation departments to electronically monitor up to another 2,000 adult and juvenile inmates.

Neighborhood councils got another step closer Tuesday to being able to put specific items like fixing potholes directly on City Council agendas rather than having to convince a council member to put it on for them.Daily News.

After months of study, the City Council's Education and Neighborhoods Committee recommended that the City Council permit the neighborhood councils to place agenda items directly before the City Council without having to fill out conflict-of-interest statements.

The neighborhood councils complained the requirement to fill out those lengthy statements would bog down the process, and the Education and Neighborhoods Committee agreed.

T he internet newspaper Politico asked a number of people what questions they would post to Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin if they were to sit down with her for an interview.
Here is a sampling of the questions suggested from a variety of sources.

Barbra Streisand will be among the headliners at a fund-raiser for Barack Obama on Sept. 16, where she will perform for the presidential candidate at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Daily Variety.

The plans for the event were outlined this morning and Streisand confirmed that she would take the stage. The hotel ballroom holds an estimated 700 people.

Obama's fund-raiser is expected to be his final visit to raise money here before the general election.

Obama will start the evening with a 5 p.m. dinner event for about 250 people at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, the historic estate once owned by the legendary Doheny family. Tickets for the event are $28,500.

In an interview published Sunday with the German mag Der Spiegel, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he didn't miss going to the GOP national convention because it lacked "bipartisanship." He compared the "hard core" who run the national party to California's GOP leaders: "I have almost no contact with them - none. Because they're just so out there." That should help round up those GOP votes for his budget proposal. Sacramento Bee.
Every day that passes without a budget increases the likelihood that we will have to have an exotic type of cash-flow borrowing that will add hundreds of millions to the deficit." - MICHAEL GENEST, state finance director, in a commentary published Monday in the Fresno Bee.

wo months after he took over the city's anti-gang programs, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday attributed a sharp drop in gang violence in some of the city's worst neighborhoods to a late-night summer program that offers sports, movies and marble tournaments in eight city parks. Rachel Uranga in the Daily News.

Between July 1 and Sept. 1, there was only one gang-related killing in the areas surrounding those eight parks, including Hubert Humphrey Park in Pacoima, compared with seven over the same period last year.

The number of people shot this summer dropped nearly by half - from 42 to 23 - and aggravated assaults decreased from 84 to 65 from last year.

"Regardless of where you live or the color of your skin, we all pretty much want the same thing: We want to live, work and play in a safe community free of gang violence," Villaraigosa said. "We restored a sense of community in neighborhoods where gang violence has attempted to destroy it."

The Los Angeles County grand jury is investigating whether two prominent San Fernando Valley politicians were involved in improperly making political donations through a political committee, sources close to the investigation confirmed Monday.l Daily News.

The allegations involve whether state Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Van Nuys, and Los Angeles City Councilman Tony Cardenas broke state law by directing activities and donations by a committee that is supposed to be independent of elected officials.

The Citizens for Dependable and Reliable Leadership, created in 2002 by accountant Kindee Durkee of Durkee and Associates, is the subject of the inquiry by the District Attorney's Office's Public Integrity Division, working with the city Ethics Commission. Their investigators have already issued subpoenas for witnesses to appear before the grand jury.

Attorneys for the of

With the state's prison guards union threatening to launch a recall, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday he would not be intimidated by the union. Sacramento Bee.

"I will not be intimidated by anybody that is demanding more money than the state can afford and that demands deals more than the state is wanting to give," Schwarzenegger said. "So the prison guard union is not going to intimidate me with their kind of action."

"This is a different governor sitting here," he added. "I will not get intimidated."

Schwarzenegger was swept into the California governorship four years and eleven months ago in a dramatic recall of then-Gov. Gray Davis.

Compiled by the Sacramento Bee

Since you are probably as sick of reading all the budget rhetoric as we are of writing it, here's a rundown on the standoff. In cold, hard numbers:

70: Days into the 2008-09 fiscal year without a state budget.

$4.25 billion: Payments that state Controller John Chiang couldn't make in July and August because of the missing budget.

$7.6 billion: Payments that will go unmade in September if there's no budget.

$1.1 million: Amount that state lawmakers will earn this month, more or less (though they won't be paid until after a budget passes). This doesn't include per diem.

0: How many times California lawmakers and the governor have taken this long in years past to finish a budget.

873: Number of bills that state lawmakers have passed but not sent to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

342: Senate bills being withheld.

531: Assembly bills being withheld.

0: Number of bills Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said (on Aug. 6) that he would sign before there was a budget.

1: Number of bills Schwarzenegger has signed so far. (He broke his pledge in order to sign AB 3034, which amended the high speed rail measure on the November ballot.)

10,300: Temporary employees the governor laid off by executive order.

$6.55: The federal minimum hourly wage -- and the amount Schwarzenegger wants to pay state workers to conserve cash during the budget crunch.

0: State workers who have been paid the federal minimum wage.

85: Days since the state constitutional deadline (June 15) to pass the 2008-09 state budget.

125: Days until the constitutional date (Jan. 10) that Schwarzenegger must present the 2009-10 budget.

0 percent: Chance that Senate Democrats will pass the GOP budget plan, which is expected to be put up for a vote at 2 p.m. today.

It's been a long, uncertain summer for Antonia Rivas.
Troy Anderson and Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

Like many small-business owners who count on state government as a major client, the Reseda child-care provider has been struggling to make ends meet as the Sacramento budget stalemate has delayed billions of dollars in payments statewide.

Rivas, director of Antonia Rivas Licensed Family Child Care, estimates the state owes her at least $17,000 since July 1.

And soon, she will be forced to make a stark choice:

TIPOFFS: City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo drew attention at convention; Planning for Measure R campaigin.

Her mother shook. Her brother's eyes filled with tears. And at the front door loomed the shadows of an Army officer and chaplain. Dana Bartholomew in the Daily News.

Nicole Hart, wife of Sgt. David J. Hart, serving a second tour in Iraq, stared in stoney disbelief.

"On behalf of the secretary of defense," the woman officer told her Jan. 8, the day of her husband's death, "we regret to inform you ..."

Hart's grief - and support from an online group of young military widows - is the subject of a documentary that will be screened Monday in Culver City.

Nearly 57,000 false burglar alarms went off last year in Los Angeles and generated $11.5 million in fines, but the LAPD collected just 60 percent of the money because its antiquated computer system can't track the location of the alarms. Jason Kandel in the Daily News.

Because of the 1990 s-era False Alarm System, the city lost $4.5 million last year, according to the Los Angeles Police Commission, the civilian board that oversees the department.

"It was never intended to be an accounting system," said Richard Tefank, the commission's executive director.

A federal judge has found that two law firms inflated their bills to the city by $900,000, renewing concerns that City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo has spent too much money and provided too little oversight on outside counsel. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

But Delgadillo's office defended the firms, saying his staff approved each bill before payment. They credited the lawyers' work with helping win a major lawsuit and save the city tens of millions of dollars.

The city is supposed to receive partial reimbursement for the bills from Kern County, which lost a lawsuit filed by L.A. over transportation of sludge.

It began with a simple mission:

"We have originated this award to encourage men to do the work for their community that would not otherwise be done," wrote Roy E. Marquardt in a letter, dated Aug. 28, 1959, announcing the first recipient of the Fernando Award.

"We want to make the presentation of the award fit the high value that should be placed on civic work." Brendan Lowrey in the Daily News.

As if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger didn't have enough troubles with the state's $17.2 billion budget mess, now comes word that there may be a move afoot to recall him. Matier and Ross in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Well-placed Sacramento sources tell us the state's politically powerful and well-financed prison guards union has lawyers drawing up language for a recall initiative.
Word is, the union will decide within the next couple of weeks whether to hit the streets with petitions.
Recalling Schwarzenegger - who himself rode into office with the 2003 recall of then-Gov. Gray Davis - is probably a long shot at best.
Still, Schwarzenegger has angered fellow Republicans with his call for a three-year, 1-cent sales-tax hike to help balance the 2008-09 budget, now more than two months overdue.
His popularity among voters overall is down in the 30 percent range - that's the neighborhood where President Bush's numbers are living among voters nationally - and it stands to drop even more the longer the budget mess drags on.
The guards union, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, has been battling the governor over the group's contract for years. It has more than enough money to finance a statewide petition drive if it wants to pull the trigger.
Asked about the recall rumor, union spokesman Lance Corcoran said, "I can't comment other than to say we are taking a very hard look at it."
Schwarzenegger's office was quick to respond, saying that although the guards are mad about not getting their raises, "the governor will not be intimidated by scare tactics and will always do what is best for Californians."

Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood inadvertently became the backdrop for Sen. John McCain last night in his acceptance speech for the GOP presidential nomination.
The background was supposed to be of the Walter Reed Medical Center.

Its students made modest gains in math and English this year, but the Los Angeles Unified School District still lags behind the state average and remains on a watch list for falling short of federal goals, according to state exam results released Thursday. George Sanchez in the Daily News.

LAUSD's score on the Academic Performance Index - the state's academic benchmark - rose by 21 points to 683 for the 2007-08 school year. The statewide average was 742, up from 728 in 2006-07.

"We did well," LAUSD Superintendent David L. Brewer III said at a news conference in Sun Valley. "We still have a long way to go."

The API scale ranges from 200 to 1,000, with a statewide target of 800. The score is one of several used to measure a district's progress toward federal targets spelled out in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

At a press conference Thursday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger continued to criticize lawmakers for the overdue budget. A reporter asked "what sacrifices is your office making financially?" Sacramento Bee.

Schwarzenegger: "Well, financially we have cut back. But I think that the most important thing is that we are staying in town. Our office stays in town, I am staying in town. I said I will not leave town and I will not leave this state until there is a budget. For instance, I did not go to the Republican Convention."

Did we mention he was in Burbank?

Don't tell Republican presidential nominee John McCain's faithful in the San Fernando Valley that this is a "blue state" and that their freshly-minted national ticket doesn't have a prayer of winning California.Tony Castro in the Daily News.

"We hope to win L.A. County, and if we can win L.A. County, there's a chance we can carry California," said Nancy Spero of Tarzana, co-chairwoman of the San Fernando Valley McCain campaign.

Spero is one of many of McCain's faithful backers who say his prospects have been brightened by the choice of running mate Sarah Palin.

Facing harsh criticism from city leaders over conflict of interest concerns in the awarding of multimillion dollar contracts, the Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners will consider new ethics and disclosure procedures today.Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

Last month, the City Council and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa blocked two power contracts worth $5 million until the DWP could adopt a new ethics policy to ensure there was no involvement or influence by the utility's No. 2 executive, Raman Raj, who was a consultant for the two firms.

While DWP General Manager H. David Nahai assured leaders that he had built an "ethical wall" around Raj during the awarding of the contracts, he agreed to revise the department's conflict of interest procedures.

With the cost to paint over graffiti expected to soar to $8 million this year for Los Angeles, a City Council member called Thursday for adoption of a county program that makes parents financially responsible for cleaning up their children's tagging.Daily News.

Councilman Bernard Parks said he will introduce a proposal today to find out how to implement the program started by county Supervisor Gloria Molina.

"What we want is parents to take ownership of their kids," Molina said at a City Hall press conference. "A lot of times, parents are not aware of what their children are doing, and we want to get them involved to stop the behavior.

One day after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger criticized legislators for contjning to draw their daily $170 per diem, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass said that she will no longer accept the payments when the state is without a budget.
Her statement:
"If stopping per diem payments is what it takes to focus the Governor his attention on getting the votes for the budget, I'm happy to do it," said Bass. "The notion that Assembly Democrats aren't working overtime to get the budget passed is ludicrous. We've had budget votes, negotiated in good faith, and have a responsible, balanced solution that protects education and the safety net."
`"What the Governor needs to focus on is his ability to use his political muscle to get votes from his own party to pass a budget," said Bass. "Democrats have worked with him and have compromised as far as we can. It's time for him to stop the finger pointing at the Legislature and roll up his sleeves and show some leadership."

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Cal., offered a critical view of Palin's speech:

Last night, Sarah Palin proved that she can throw a punch--one packed with sarcasm to divert attention from her lack of experience.
Palin didn't even attempt to make the case to the American people that she is ready to be Vice President or President, should that become necessary. Sarah Palin is a great candidate for the far right, but after examining her slim record in office, I cannot imagine mainstream Americans would support a Vice Presidential nominee with such extreme views.
Palin would criminalize abortion, even in cases of rape or incest, and does not believe insurance companies should cover birth control.
Palin remains unconvinced that human activity is the cause of global warming, even though the world's leading scientists unequivocally agree that it is.
Palin has a one-dimensional answer to our energy crisis - the Exxon policy of giving more leases to Big Oil. She has no concern about our thriving coastal, tourism-based economy and no requirement that they drill in the
millions of acres where they already hold undeveloped leases. Sarah Palin is a candidate who is extreme, not mainstream.
In addition, Palin is under investigation by her state legislature for abusing her executive power and when she was mayor, she left the people of Wasilla in debt.
The choice of Sarah Palin by John McCain shows a real lack of judgment.

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As we continue to wait for a state budget, the Legislature is waiting, too. The Senate and Assembly are holding an estimated 850 bills at the Assembly and Senate desks, waiting to send them to Gov. Schwarzenegger. Capitol Weekly.
The governor has threatened to veto any bills that come to his desk until a budget is passed. But the clock is ticking. Any bill passed by the Legislature and sent to the governor must be acted on by Sept. 30 to take effect by January 2009. The governor has until November 15 to act on any bill containing an appropriation or with an urgency clause.
As the hands of time continue to turn, here's a look at some of the bills acted on in the final days of the Legislative session. We've focused much of this list on bills or subjects we've written about over the last legislative session, but feel free to email us and let us know which bills we've missed.

Delegate Joel Fox of Fox and Hounds Daily offered this review of Gov. Sarah Palin:
Vice-Presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska lit up the Republican National Convention last night and turned anxious delegates into wild cheerleaders. Many delegates admitted waiting with unease for what amounted to a coming out party for the little-known governor. If Palin didn't perform well, the delegates felt the campaign for President would never gain momentum.
But measuring the feelings of delegates who witnessed the speech in the Xcel Center, all concerns were put to rest. Former California Governor Pete Wilson said she was subject to "uncharitable speculation" before the speech that she would not do well. He said he was confident going into the speech that she would succeed. After he heard the speech, Wilson said, "My confidence was more than vindicated. She connected with the audience here in the hall and in the living rooms all over America."
Political strategist Jeff Randle said that Palin had no room for error after the pounding she had taken since John McCain's announcement that he had chosen her as a running mate. Randle said she made no error. Anaheim mayor Curt Pringle admitted to being anxious about her performance before the speech but concluded after the speech that it was "great and she over-performed."
Palin surprised many when she took to old fashion political hardball going after Democratic nominee Barack Obama. Speaking to Obama's theme of change Palin said, "In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change."

The McCain campaign put out these statements lauding the performance of Gov. Sarah Palin:
Patricia Bates, Orange County Supervisor: "Sarah Palin, like John McCain, knows what real reform and the right kind of change look like because she has taken on special interests and government corruption as governor of Alaska. She also knows the importance of finding realistic solutions to our current energy economy and that national security is imperative. John McCain could not have chosen a better or stronger running mate."

Sharon Runner, Assemblywoman: "Sarah Palin, as a former mayor and current governor, has shown her the strength of character and integrity as she has stood up to entrenched interests and government corruption. She has proven that she will put the well-being of citizens above politics. She has the experience to handle the most important issues that we face, like national security and energy. We are delighted that John McCain chose such a strong woman to be our vice presidential nominee."

The days of smoking while shopping for fruits and veggies at outdoor farmers markets could soon be over. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

The L.A. City Council's Arts, Parks, Health and Aging committee voted Wednesday to ban smoking at farmers markets permitted by the city.

The full City Council is expected to make the ban law in the coming weeks.

"Most people who shop at farmers markets are there to improve their healthy choices, and it seems ironic that they would be breathing secondhand smoke," said Councilwoman Janice Hahn.

The mayors of the state's nine largest cities, protesting new plans on how to balance the overdue state budget, called on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other leaders Wednesday to avoid taking money from cities that would jeopardize basic public services.Daily News.

A letter, signed by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the other mayors, urged the governor, Senate and Assembly leaders not to enact proposals to directly reduce funding or defer reimbursement of state-required costs.

"Today's uncertain economic climate has placed severe burdens on our own budgets and we have already made sacrifices through our own budget process," the letter reads. "If the state passes additional costs through to our cities, our ability to deliver basic services, including providing for public safety, will be at risk."

Now that Labor Day is over, the race for the county Board of Supervisors pickes up this week between Councilman Bernard Parks and state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, D-Los Angeles.
Parks holds most of the establishment endorsements, including of the member he wants to succeed, Supervisor Yvonne Burke.
Ridley-Thomas, however, has the support of unions and a number of other elected officials -- many of them colleagues in the state legislature -- who he will use in a kickoff rally this Saturday.
The event will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at his campaign headquartrs at 2092 Jefferson Blvd..
Ridley-Thomas was the top vote getter in the June primary, falling short of winning the election outright.

John McCain's prepping America for Sarah Palin's speech Wednesday night with a new 30-second TV ad. Sacramento Bee.
It contrasts the Alaska governor with Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. Palin, the presumptive vice presidential nominee, "has a record of bipartisan reform," the ad says. Obama is the Senate's "most liberal."
Palin "took on the oil producers," while Obama's reputation is "empty words," an allegation his backers would vigorously dispute.
Palin is to speak to the convention Wednesday at 10:30 P.M. eastern time.

Delegate Joel Fox gives his views for Fox and Hounds Daily on Day 2:
Fred Thompson rocked the house at the Republican Convention last night in St Paul, Minnesota, but Sen. Joe Lieberman left a larger mark on the delegates at the convention.
Democrat Lieberman went farther than he was expected to go in support of Republican McCain according to a number of delegates in the hall. Despite a host of previous speakers, it fell to the Democrat Lieberman to first mention by name Democratic Presidential Nominee Barack Obama.
"Senator Obama is a gifted and eloquent young man who can do great things for our country in the years ahead. But eloquence is no substitute for a record -- not in these tough times," Lieberman said. He added, "In the Senate he has not reached across party lines to get anything significant done, nor has he been willing to take on powerful interest groups in the Democratic Party."
Lieberman, the former Democratic Party vice-presidential nominee, offered words in support of Vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Homicides over the past three months in Los Angeles have fallen to their lowest levels since the Summer of Love more than 40 years ago despite a struggling economy that historically has meant more crime. Rachel Uranga in the Daily News.

In the normally violent months of June, July and August, 84 people were killed citywide, including just seven in the San Fernando Valley. That makes this year the first time slayings have fallen below 100 for those three months since 1970, and the lowest number since 1967, when there were 79, according to LAPD figures released Tuesday.

It's a stark comparison with the peak of bloodshed in 1991, when gang wars raged and the city became known for its drive-by shootings. Or 2002, when L.A. was the homicide capital of the nation and there were 174 slayings during those three months.

Nearly 700,000 students head back to Los Angeles Unified classrooms today, and tens of thousands of them will no longer suffer through chaotic, year-round schedules thanks to the district's massive ongoing construction program. George Sanchez in the Daily News.

The $19.2 billion effort, which would build more than 140 schools by 2012, will add six schools this fall, including two in the San Fernando Valley. The new schools have allowed the LAUSD to cut its year-round schools to just 114 this fall, down from 142 last year and 220 in 2002.

"It's better for the students," said Ken Lee, principal of San Fernando High School, which is coming off year-round scheduling for the first time since 1995. "Anything we did, we would have to do twice because one-third of the students and faculty were off."

Mayor sets goals
As students return to classrooms today for the start of a new school year in Los Angeles, major changes will greet 10 of the worst-performing campuses now under the authority of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Daily News.

During a visit Tuesday to one of the schools, Villaraigosa laid out ambitious goals for the coming year to reverse a failing system that has resulted in more dropouts than graduates.

"The whole nation is watching to see what we do here," Villaraigosa told a group of about 200 parents and teachers who reported to Markham Middle School on Tuesday to prepare for classes. "A lot of people are looking at the public school system and giving up on it. Not me. I believe in public education. I believe in these students."

The continued high cost of housing hurts young workers, the middle class and businesses by forcing employees to live far from their jobs, according to a report released Tuesday by the Los Angeles Business Council. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

Despite a building boom that created more supply, and the current foreclosure crisis that has pushed down prices, too few residents can afford to live near their places of work.

"A lack of housing near job sites consistently serves as one of the major obstacles to doing business in this region, and the situation is getting worse," said Antonio Manning, a vice president for Washington Mutual and one of the report's authors.

The director of the county's Animal Care and Control Department did not obstruct justice by instructing employees to delete e-mails in connection with an audit by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, county officials said Tuesday.Troy Anderson in the
Daily News.

It was clear by the timing of the e-mail from Marsha Mayeda that "there was no intent to impede or obstruct any DEA action," said county Chief Executive Officer Bill Fujioka.

However, Fujioka said he plans to meet with Mayeda to discuss the matter, and his office is conducting a review of the department.

Delegate Joel Fox, editor of Fox and Hounds Daily, filed this report on the first day of the convention:

With all eyes fixed on Hurricane Gustav bearing down on the Gulf Coast the Republican Convention was prepared for a quiet, uneventful, first day. Then as one reporter labeled it, the "hot story" broke--the news that presumptive Vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin's daughter, Bristol was pregnant. This was the number one issue for reporters to the delegates. What would the news mean to Palin's candidacy? How will the news effect the convention? What kind of mother is Palin? Did the McCain team know and when did they know it?
The campaign's response was that McCain knew ahead of time and that the media should leave the candidate's children out of campaign reporting. Even Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama argued that the media should stay away from the story.
The delegates rallied around Palin. On nearly every occasion when the names of John McCain and Sarah Palin were mentioned from the podium, Palin's name received the louder cheer.
Watching First Lady Laura Bush and First Lady-in-waiting Cindy McCain at the podium and in front of a large screen with video messages four Republican Gulf State governors, you had to wonder if there was a subliminal message being sent about strong women and strong governors - women/governors - a now prominent woman governor in the GOP -- or am I reaching here?

The Assembly and Senate wrapped up their legislative sessions Sunday after debating and voting on more than 100 bills, but none of them was related to solving the state's $17.2 billion budget gap. The gap includes $2 billion in reserves. S.F. Chronicle.

But while the bills have been approved, they and many others now hang in limbo, since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vowed not to sign any legislation into law until legislators approve a budget.

Schwarzenegger will have until the end of September to sign or veto measures.

Resuming its full schedule today, the Republican National Convention will try to make up for lost time in bashing Democrats.
President Bush is scheduled to address the convention via video and Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman crosses over to make the GOP keynote address.
The California Delegation also picks up todaywith a vaiety of meetings, including a post-convention appearance by former presidential candidate Mitt Romney,

Fueled by a broad crackdown by immigration officials, federal prosecutions of illegal immigrants with felony records in Southern California are on pace this year to hit a high not seen in nearly a decade.Rachel Uranga in the Daily News.

So far this fiscal year, there have been 657 federal prosecutions - up more than 20percent from the previous year, according to figures from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.

And with three months still left to count - and about 50 cases filed per month - this year's total should surpass the 792 cases filed in 2003-04 and mark a nearly 400 percent increase over the 135 cases filed in 2000-01.

Bob Hertzberg was once one of the top political leaders of the San Fernando Valley - community activist, speaker of the California Assembly, close adviser to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

And as someone who helped craft the state's laws, he learned firsthand how unfriendly they can be to business - even for firms on the cutting edge of environmental technology.

So after he lost his Los Angeles mayoral bid in 2005, Hertzberg and longtime business partner Ed Stevenson founded their solar-power firm G24i more than 5,000 miles away - in rainy Cardiff, Wale

Delegate Joel Fox of Fox and Hounds Daily offered his perspective:

Members of the California delegation to the Republican Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota responded to Senator John McCain's request to limit convention activities the first day as Hurricane Gustav threatens the Southeastern United States. McCain wanted the focus to be on the potential natural disaster the hurricane might cause in the Gulf States, and declared that conventioneers should take their "Republican hats off and put their American hats on."
Public Opinion Strategies pollster and GOP delegate Steve Kinney said, "This is what should happen. This is the John McCain we know. He would never put something over the interest of the country."
Board of Equalization Member Michelle Steel understood the Senator's motives but also emphasized that the business of the convention must go forward.
Congressman Dan Lungren said he had confidence that those running the convention would make good decisions, but he also said the Republicans had to present the party's candidates and ideas to the American people.
Chuck Bell, the attorney for the California Republican Party, suggested that the convention hear by satellite from the five governors in the states threatened by the hurricane. The governors of Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Texas could be seen in control, making executive decisions and keep the delegates informed of the circumstances from their states. Bell noted that the governors from all five states were Republicans.
He also pointed out that another Republican governor is set to accept the nomination for vice-president. Governors are decision makers, Bell said, and the American people will take notice.

The California Delegation to the Republican National Committee has changed its scheduled to reflect the toned-down event as a result of Hurricane Gustav.
Among the plans are fundraisers to help vicitms and other events designed to respect what those in teh affected areas are going through.
Compete statement on the jump:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued the followintg statement on his decision to pass on attending the Republican National Conention:
"I am honored that Senator McCain invited me to speak at the Republican National Convention. He is an American hero, a great leader, and the right candidate to be our next president.
"However, California is always my number one priority, and there is no greater priority for our state right now than putting a responsible budget in place that fixes our broken system. Therefore -- as I have said -- I will not be attending the National Convention in order to focus on working toward a state budget agreement. It is totally unacceptable that 62 days past its deadline, the Legislature has not sent me a budget that I can sign. Just as they must do in our nation's capital, Republicans and Democrats must compromise and do the work of the people."

Los Angeles unions this Labor Day are setting their sights on the political arena and job creation after a year marked by the most labor turmoil in recent city history.Daily News.

With presidential and local elections on the horizon, labor leaders and others say the 100-day strike by the Writers Guild late last year sent a nationwide message that unions won't hesitate to flex their muscle in negotiations.

"What it said is that Los Angeles is the focal point for unions," said Jack Kyser, chief economist of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp.

Tipoffs: Insurance Commission Steve Poizner claims to be No. 1.