Federal stimulus money hits Valley

Despite the debate over federal funding for earmarks, millions of dollars for local projects will soon be pouring into the San Fernando Valley. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

The $411 billion appropriations bill signed by President Barack Obama includes millions of dollars for lawmakers' pet projects, including community health clinics, local colleges - even a controversial tattoo-removal program.

"The public has come to see earmarks as political footballs - all pork, all waste - and that's far from the whole truth," said Jaime Regalado, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles.