Lions and Fido and bears -- oh my! A hunting tale for your perusal.
From the LAT's George Skelton: "Admittedly I'm biased about bears. I don't think they're hunted enough in California. I say hunt them down with dogs. Hunt them with drones.
Maybe roll in the tanks."
"I've awakened to this conclusion while watching brazen black bears grow out of control in this state."
"They should be properly managed just like much of our wildlife: by hunting. But they should be hunted humanely — with hounds."
"That's why Gov. Jerry Brown should veto a fuzzy-headed bill, SB 1221 by Sen. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), to outlaw the use of dogs in hunting bears and bobcats."
Even as California voters are set to decide in less than two months whether to repeal the death penalty, at least two prosecutors are seeking to speed up the pace of executions.
From Howard MIntz in the Mercury News: "Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley has been heading the charge, moving in recent months to sidestep legal obstacles that have put executions on hold for nearly seven years and secure execution dates for condemned killers Mitchell Sims and Tiequon Cox."
"But San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe has quietly joined in, asking a local judge to set an execution date for Robert Green Fairbank, sent to death row for the 1985 murder of a San Francisco woman."
"The legal gambit is spurred by some prosecutors' mounting frustration with Gov. Jerry Brown and Attorney General Kamala Harris, who instead of rushing to resume executions have focused on fighting state and federal court orders that froze executions because of flaws in the prison system's three-drug execution procedures. The state, in fact, assured a federal judge two years ago that there would be no attempts to execute inmates until those legal battles were resolved."
Meanwhile, Gov. Jerry Brown says an economic recovery is under way and the best thing that Republicans can do is step aside.
From Michael Mishak in the LA Times: "Maybe I know too much about this stuff, but we’re in a recovery, a slow recovery, and it'll keep recovering with any luck,” Brown said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “And if the Republicans would get out of the way and let, you know, the stimulus and the investment go forward, such as the Democrats have proposed, we'll be better off.”
"Brown, who campaigned for governor as a political mediator, has taken a harder public line against the GOP since failing to win a single Republican vote last year for his plan to place taxes on the ballot. Now, he is taking his case directly to voters, having qualified a November ballot measure, Proposition 30, to raise taxes to help close the state’s deficit."
"On Sunday, he said California voters face a choice not unlike the one they face in the presidential contest: investment or retrenchment. “This is just math now,” Brown said, echoing former President Bill Clinton’s emphasis on “arithmetic” during his speech at last week’s Democratic National Convention."
Tne state's political watchdog wants tighter controls on disclosing independent political expenditures and wanrts Gov. Brown to sign bipartisan legislation that would do just that.
From the Bee's Jim Sanders: "The Fair Political Practices Commission is asking Gov. Jerry Brown to tighten disclosure rules for independent expenditure committees through a bill that cleared the Legislature with bipartisan support."
"The measure, Assembly Bill 481, targets a segment of politics that has grown significantly the past decade - independent political campaigns that support or oppose candidates or ballot measures but are not coordinated by them."
"FPPC Chairwoman Ann Ravel touts the bill "a major step to ensure accountability and public disclosure of independent expenditures."
Members of California's delegation at last week's Democratic National Convention in Charlotte stayed at the Blake Hotel, but it's unlikely that many of them will make a return visit.
From the Press-Enterprise's Jeff Horseman, Ben Goad and Jim Miller: "Construction noise, wet paint everywhere, scalding hot water from bathroom faucets, dysfunctional elevators, cockroaches: We’re guessing the Blake Hotel, home to California’s delegation to the Democratic National Convention, is going to get some tough reviews on TripAdvisor and Yelp."
"The Charlotte hotel’s condition became a punchline during the delegation’s morning breakfasts, where the hotel ballroom’s acoustics rendered speeches from Democratic political leaders virtually inaudible."
"When the state party’s chairman, John Burton, departed early for a pre-scheduled dental appointment back home, California Assembly Speaker John A. Perez joked that he chose a root canal over the Blake."