Reining in county costs

Los Angeles County may be drowning in red ink, but at least it won't be coming from $40 fountain pens anymore.Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

And county bureaucrats will no longer be able to sweep costly mistakes under $131 floor mats.

Shocked to learn public employees have been able to choose between fancy fountain pens and 24-cent ballpoints, county officials are eliminating thousands of high-ticket items from the official office supplies catalog.