A judge says the state Assembly must make public the office budgets of lawmakers, following a complaint by one legislator that his budget had been slashed because leaders wanted to punish him for unpopular votes.
From the LATimes' Joe Piasecki: "The Los Angeles Times and McClatchy Newspapers sued the legislative body after records requests by The Times, the Pasadena Sun and the Sacramento Bee were denied."
"The newspapers sought data on the budgets after Assemblyman Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge) complained in June that Democratic Assembly leaders slashed his staff budget as political payback for voting against the party's budget proposal."
"This is a huge victory for transparency and accountability," Portantino said in a statement after the Thursday decision. "This issue is no longer about me, but is now about making Sacramento function better by using transparency to improve decision-making and the democratic process."
As the realignment of the corrections system moves forward, counties are grappling with the question of how funds can best be used for inmates. The Chronicle's Marisa Lagos tells the tale.
"The parenting class, run by the nonprofit Community Works and sponsored by the San Francisco Sheriff's Department, is one of a host of programs offered both in San Francisco's jails and in the community to help offenders get their lives back in order. Supporters say that for someone with a criminal history, a program can mean the difference between rehabilitation and returning to jail."
"And that's why many nonprofit community organizations around California have been lobbying hard to be included in the pot of money counties are receiving under the state's criminal justice realignment plan, which includes keeping more felons at county lockups instead of shipping them to state prisons."
"But how that funding is spent varies by county. Some jurisdictions are spending the bulk of the money on law enforcement, including the hiring of police and probation officers, while others are choosing to invest in nonprofits that offer substance abuse counseling, housing, job training and other services to criminal offenders."
A new Field Poll says Gov. Brown's job ratings remain relatively high, but the honeymoon may be about to end: Looming within weeks are major budget cuts that are likely to cause pain in education, social services, the public work force and others.
From the Bee's David Siders: "The Democratic governor's job approval rating nudged down two points from September, to 47 percent, according to the poll, while the percentage of voters who disapprove of his performance ticked up four points, to 36 percent."
"The public is, I think, bracing itself for additional spending cuts, and that's never a good situation, either for the governor or a state Legislature," poll director Mark DiCamillo said."
"With state revenue falling below projections, the Brown administration is expected this month to announce highly unpopular, automatic spending cuts in service areas including schools. Nearly two-thirds of Californians consider the trigger cuts, part of last summer's budget package, a bad idea, including majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents, the poll says."
The "Race to Nowhere" documentary produced by an East Bay mom is turning into a catgalyst for a national educational reform movement, which seeks in part to reduce the stress on students. The Contra Costa Times' Theresa Harrington has the story.
"Abeles said she began work on the documentary a few years ago, after having an "Aha"-"Inconvenient Truth"-type of moment, when she realized that a film about the kinds of discussions she was having with her own children and friends in the Bay Area could trigger a nationwide call to action. Since 2009, more than 1 million people have seen the film -- often in venues where parents and educators could discuss it afterward."
"The Grand Lake Theater in Oakland is showing the film three times a night through Thursday, with a question-and-answer session led by Abeles and some of the people who appear in her film after a 6 p.m. Tuesday screening."
"People usually spend a lot of time reacting at an emotional level because it kind of hits everybody where they live," Abeles said. "People want to understand what schools can do to influence change and how to make changes at college admissions offices."
And finally from our "Good Looking Drunks" file comes the tale of former Miss USA Rima Fakih, who got popped for drunken driving in a Detroit suburb.
"Former Miss USA Rima Fakih, 26, was serving as a designated driver Saturday night for herself and a companion, but realised only after she was behind the wheel that she, too, was intoxicated, her lawyer said."
"The beauty queen was arrested Saturday on suspicion of drunk driving in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan."
"She initially attempted to deny her arrest with a tweet posted around 5am Saturday morning. She wrote: ‘Let’s clear things up now…I’m NOT in Michigan and I’m not in jail! Wrong Fakih.’"
"The tweet has since been deleted."
Rules to live by: Don't drive near Detroit, don't use Twitter after a couple of beers....