Sacramento: March 2008 Archives

- CSUN professor Aida Metzenberg has cherished more than a decade of teaching genetic counseling, a graduate-degree program available on only 30 campuses in North America. Conniei Llanos in the Daily News.

But amid continuing budget squeezes, California State University, Northridge, is cutting the program that melds the study of genetics and medical counseling.

"I was shocked," Metzenberg said, adding that she is hopeful a donor might come forward to save the program. "I never thought this would end."

The program's elimination is the latest casualty at colleges across the Southland that have been struggling with years of financial trimming - and bracing for more if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's $386 million proposed cut to the CSU system is approved.

Eight California lawmakers are traveling overseas this week to study high-speed rail systems and other matters as the Legislature takes an 11-day spring break.

Assembly members Charles Calderon, D-Whittier, Mary Hayashi, D-Hayward, Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, and Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, are on a trip to Spain sponsored by the California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy.

Sen. Jim Battin, R-Palm Desert, and Assembly members Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia, Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, and Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco, are part of a delegation visiting Japan.

One reason for the trips is to study the development of high-speed rail systems in both countries. A measure on the November ballot would authorize California to sell nearly $10 billion in bonds to help pay for a 700-mile high-speed rail system linking the state's largest cities.

Anne Leyden has been home schooling her three sons - now 8, 12 and 15 - since they were old enough to start learning. Barbara Correa in the Daily News.

Leyden chose home schooling not because she thinks the public schools are terrible - in fact, her husband, Bill, teaches at Pacoima Middle School - but simply because she can.

But under a recent California court ruling requiring home-schoolers to have teaching credentials, that right could become more complicated.

Winning a California lottery jackpot won't force you into a higher state income tax bracket, but if you strike it rich at the horse track or casino the state taxman will want a cut.AP in the Daily News.

Buy a yacht, motor home or airplane in California and you'll pay a hefty sales tax bill. But purchase the same item in Oregon and keep it out of California for more than 90 days, and you'll avoid sales and use taxes altogether.

Sales taxes will be added to your restaurant bill, but there's no tax on the candy bar you buy as you head out the door.

Julie Davine, a mother of two in West Hills, has never considered herself politically active.

But she is hopping mad and drafting a letter to Arnold Schwarzenegger - her first letter to a California governor - over proposed state budget cuts that she considers theft from resources and funding for her kids' schools. Barbara Corea in the Daily News.

"When I first heard this, I thought, `It's like robbing from the poor.' We already pay for the music teacher. We pay for a P.E. teacher.

"We have to buy pencils, markers, Kleenex, copy paper. Now the school is going to ask for more. It boggles my mind."

Late this week, notices will go out to thousands of teachers across California informing them that they may be out of a job in a few months - the first and clearest indication to many families of the kind of pain that California's massive budget deficit could inflict. Mike Zappler and Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

The layoff letters, which by law must go out by Saturday, could number in the tens of thousands, school officials warn.

Although it's possible, if not likely, that many of the warnings won't result in actual pink slips, the notices could be a flash point in the debate about how to close an $8 billion budget deficit - and what the fallout might be for California residents.

A California lawmaker is proposing loosening state lottery rules to lure more gamblers and their dollars - but the move could draw the wrath of two of the most powerful interests in the Capitol. Steve Geissenger in the Daily News.

State Sen. Dean Florez, D-Fresno, has introduced a pair of bills that would allow the lottery to loosen prize payout rules, allow gambling themes such as blackjack and poker, clear the way for phone wagering, and permit electronic ticket-dispensing terminals that don't determine the outcome of the bet like slot machines.

Such changes would help the underperforming lottery and might also entice outside interests to consider leasing the lottery from the state - an idea floated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to help ease the state's budget deficit.

Advancing California's continuing war against smoking in public and private, a San Fernando Valley lawmaker is pushing a statewide measure that could prohibit renters from smoking inside their own homes.
Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.
The bill by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Van Nuys, would allow - although not require - landlords to ban smoking inside rental units as a means of protecting the health of other tenants who may live nearby.

"The goal here is to try to provide smoke-free housing for folks who live in multiunit buildings in California," Padilla said.

"More than 30 percent of California residential units are multifamily dwellings. So if you're a family hoping to live in a smoke-free environment, it's currently next to impossible to find a smoke-free unit."