Gov. Brown says the Bay Bridge shouldn't be named after Willie Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco and the longest-serving speaker of the Assembly. Assemblyman Isidore Hall, D-Compton, is carrying ACR 65 to name the wester span after the former mayor.
From the Chronicle's Matier and Ross: "On the eve of a state Senate vote that would give final legislative approval to the idea, Gov.Jerry Brown has come out against renaming the western span of the Bay Bridge in honor of former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown."
“Gov. Brown believes that the iconic Bay Bridge should keep the name that it has had for nearly 77 years,’’ Evan Westrup, a spokesman for the governor, said Tuesday. “It’s a name that lives in the hearts and minds of all Californians. And he feels the same way about the Golden Gate Bridge.”
"We’re told the governor expressed similar sentiments in a private meeting with state NAACP head Alice Huffman, one of the key backers of the proposed name change."
A complex budget dance has begun in the final days of the legislative session that would ease Orange County's money fight with the state but do little for four Riverside County cities caught in a similar bind.
From the Press-Enterprise's Jim Miller: "A late-night budget deal 4-1/2 years ago is proving to be a valuable chit for Orange County, as the county seeks restoration of a 2011 cut that also hit Riverside County’s newest cities."
"But the fast-moving legislation to help Orange County notably lacks any assistance for the cities of Eastvale, Wildomar, Menifee and Jurupa Valley. Officials in Jurupa Valley say they will begin the disincorporation process by December if there is no fix for the 2011 shift that took almost one-half of its general-fund revenue."
"Meanwhile, a bill to help the Riverside County cities continues to sit in a legislative committee. There was no sign late Tuesday that Senate Bill 56, or an equivalent, will advance before lawmakers adjourn for the year early Friday."
An attempt to give the California Coastal Commission the power to impose fines on violators died in the Assembly, the latest in a series of efforts to give the commission tougher enforcement teeth.
From the LAT's Tony Barboza: A bill granting the agency the authority to impose fines on violators failed on a 34-30 vote, delaying the issue at least until next year."
"Under current law, the agency that for four decades has overseen land use and public access along California's 1,100-mile coastline must go to court to collect penalties from those who harm coastal habitat, build without permission or block public access to the beach in violation of the California Coastal Act. The process is time-consuming and expensive, enabling many violators to continue breaking the law for years."
"The commission has long sought the ability to issue fines to start clearing its backlog of more than 1,900 enforcement cases, but it has repeatedly faced opposition from business groups and agricultural interests that say the agency already wields too much power."
California's parks department still has a ways to go to correct its bookkeeping problems, the state auditor says.
From the LAT's Chris Megerian:"The California parks department, which was rocked by an accounting scandal last year, has not completely corrected its practices, according to a new audit."
"The department still lacks a system to track spending at individual parks, said the report, released Tuesday. And its budgets are calculated too slowly for officials to adequately plan park operations."
"The audit also found that more employees than previously believed were inappropriately reimbursed for unused vacation time. Roughly $42,000 was paid to several employees in 2010 and 2011, the report said. That's on top of $271,000 already discovered in an internal review."
The electorate next June will get a chance to weigh in on the thorny issue of reimbursing local governments for meeting transparency requirements.
From the AP's Laura Olson: "California voters will decide whether the public's right to inspect local government records should be enshrined in the state constitution after lawmakers voted Tuesday to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot next June."
"If voters approve, local governments would have to follow the California Public Records Act and the state's open-meetings law but would not be reimbursed by the state for doing so."
"The legislation, SCA3, was proposed in response to a media outcry over changes that loosened requirements on how local governments handle requests for public records. Lawmakers said the changes, which were proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown in the state budget, were intended to save the state millions of dollars it must pay local governments for following the law."
It's Sept. 11, 12 years since the World Trade Center was attacked and nearly 3,000 people lost their lives. Here's one mother's recollection.
"More than a decade after that dreadful day, 9/11 memories are still fresh for me. The intense, flesh-cutting urgency of the pain has diminished. I am no longer a grieving mother. I have learned to live with the loss of my son, Mohammad Salman Hamdani. But I am still waiting for justice."
"What I want is not complicated -- a recognition that, when Salman died beneath the rubble that day, he died as a first responder. His name should be reflected that way at the 9/11 Memorial, properly listed among the other first responders who rushed bravely toward the flames."
"On that terrible day, my husband Saleem and I could not know where Salman was. Nor could his brothers, Adnaan and Zeshan, know what had become of their Bhaijaan, the Urdu word for a beloved and revered elder brother. As anyone who lost a loved one on 9/11 knows, that uncertainty was cruel and crushing. We couldn't know it then, but what had happened to Salman that morning, along with the events of the following months, changed everything for our family, bringing unbearable pain into our lives and suddenly making us public persons...."