Will the bankruptcy travail of Detroit affect the Stockton bankruptcy? It could happen, depending on the major bond insurers.
From Calpensions' Ed Mendel: "Attorneys for the city and bond insurers told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein last week that mediation, presided over by Judge Elizabeth Perris, is an “uphill battle.”
"But the brief update hearing was held on the day that Stockton, which had been the largest city to file for bankruptcy, was bigfooted by the bankruptcy filing of a much larger city known around the world, Detroit."
"Now will the big national bond insurers, who lost the first round when Stockton was ruled eligible for bankruptcy in April, decide the main battle has shifted to Detroit and cut a deal with Stockton, where they have less exposure and a weaker hand?"
Speaking of pensions, changes that San Jose voters approved last year are going to have their day in court.
From the Mercury-News' John Woolfolk: "The pension reforms that San Jose voters overwhelmingly approved just more than a year ago come to a key test with a trial starting Monday before a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge."
"No one expects the weeklong hearing to be dramatic. There won't be celebrity defendants or star witnesses, nor the courtroom suspense of a whodunit, nor even a jury for lawyers to sway with theatrical performances. After bureaucrats and actuaries dissect fund figures and lawyers parse nuances of the city charter and case law, it could be months before the judge issues a ruling. And then there will be appeals."
"But much is riding on the outcome. San Jose's current budget already relies on $20 million from parts of the Measure B pension reforms. A city win could add $48 million in yearly savings. Workers, though, want to keep the city from grabbing even more of their paychecks to pay for their pensions. More broadly, the judge's ruling will affect similar debates over government pensions throughout the state and across the country."
So what happens now, following the abolishment of California's decades-old enterprise zones?
From the Press-Enterprise's Jim Miller and Jack Katzanek: "Under the new incentives available starting a year from now, manufacturing and biotech companies anywhere in the state would be eligible for sales-tax exemptions on the purchase of manufacturing equipment. Companies also could get hiring credits if they are located in census tracts with the highest rates of poverty and unemployment. There also would be tax credits to attract and retain businesses."
"But some Inland Southern California lawmakers and business leaders say they fear the region will be hurt by the demise of enterprise zones and will gain little, if anything, from the new program."
"Riverside and San Bernardino counties are not manufacturing or biotech hubs, they say. The requirement that employers pay workers from $12 to $28 an hour to be eligible for the new hiring credits ignores the realities of the region’s labor market, they contend."
There's no shortage of students, but there is a shortage of teachers, when to comes to youngsters with disabilities.
From the Cabinet Report's Tom Chorneau: "Even as enrollment in special education programs statewide continues to escalate, California’s teacher credentialing system is turning out only about half the number of fully authorized classroom educators needed to serve students with disabilities."
"The deficit, which officials at the Commission on Teacher Credentialing estimate at about 5,000 per year, is largely attributed to an inability to attract enough candidates to fill California’s vast array of authorizations and certification assignments required to teach the specialized population."
"{But the problem, officials say, has been complicated in recent years both by legislative efforts to address the rising numbers of children diagnosed with autism and by the ravages of the economic recession that prompted thousands of teacher layoffs and widespread shuffling of staff to plug service demands."
That old chestnut about spending money to make money is getting new scrutiny in Congress, which is considering whether to halt a major agricultural marketing program.
From the LAT's Richard Simon: "In this era of federal austerity, appetites are souring over spending taxpayer money on dinner parties in India featuring California prunes, cartoons in Spain touting homegrown walnuts and billboards in South Korea extolling American beef."
"Yet an effort to end a $200-million-a-year federal program that promotes U.S. agricultural products abroad has run into bipartisan opposition in Congress and has created a rare rift among Republicans in California, which receives a large chunk of the money."
"At issue is a U.S. Department of Agriculture program that provided funds to about 65 groups last year, including nearly $7 million to the San Francisco-based Wine Institute, about $4.2 million to the California Walnut Commission and $2.2 million to the California Dried Plum Board. Funds also went to promote U.S.-produced candy, catfish, pet food and popcorn, among other products."
And from our "Back in the Saddle Again" file comes a horse tale from McDonald's, which refused a woman on horseback from using the drive-through lane.
"A female horse-rider who was refused service in the drive-through lane of a McDonald’s while in the saddle, subsequently led the animal inside, where it defecated on the floor."
"CCTV showed the woman and her daughter taking their pet into the restaurant after they were told they had to tie it up."
"But then customers in the restaurant looked on in astonishment as the animal “ended up doing his business on the floor. The woman was issued with a fine after the incident at the branch on Bury New Road in Whitefield, Greater Manchester, last Saturday."