Gov. Brown likes the new budget numbers from the LAO, but says everybody should take a deep breath and hang on to their pocketbooks.
From the Bee's David Siders: "One day after the Legislature’s fiscal analyst projected years of multibillion-dollar budget surpluses, Gov. Jerry Brown urged caution Thursday, calling on the Legislature to bolster reserves."
“It turns out, according to the legislative analyst, we have billions of dollars in surplus,” Brown said at an event in Santa Monica. “So there will be a great effort to spend it as quickly as possible.”
"The Democratic governor, speaking at the Milken Institute California Summit, said the budget’s reliance on capital gains – a traditionally volatile source of revenue – makes financial peaks and valleys more pronounced."
A pair of Amtrak lines in California have set ridership records, the San Joaquin that goes down the Valley and the Surfrider along the coast.
From the LAT's Dan Weikel: "Rail officials announced Thursday that the two lines, which are funded by Caltrans, carried almost 3.93 million passengers for the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, 2013. That represents an increase of more than 110,000 riders from the year before."
"In California, a rail renaissance is underway," Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty said. "Train travel is increasingly seen as a smart option."
"The Pacific Surfliner has operated since 1976 between San Diego and San Luis Obispo. The San Joaquin runs between Bakersfield, Sacramento and the Bay Area. Passengers from Los Angeles can reach the San Joaquin service via bus service from Union Station."
"But a great deal has changed and the electoral map now tells a different tale."
"Although Bush was able to win California in 1988, he did it with just 51 percent of the vote to Dukakis’ 48 percent. Dukakis’ strength foreshadowed a changing state that was more diverse and socially accepting than the direction the national Republican Party was heading."
Apparently, the deal is done: The owner of the Orange County Register has bought the Riverside Press-Enterprise. We don't hear a whole of rejoicing in Riverside.
From the LAT's Ken Bensinger: "After weeks of intense negotiations and missed deadlines, publishing entrepreneur Aaron Kushner can finally call the Riverside Press-Enterprise his own."
"Kushner, who also controls the Orange County Register, closed the $27.25-million purchase Thursday, according to the paper's former owner, A.H. Belo Corp."
"Kushner will now begin the work of incorporating the Press-Enterprise into his small but rapidly expanding newspaper empire, which flies under the flag Freedom Communications. In addition to the Register, Freedom operates three smaller papers, in Long Beach, Victorville and Barstow."
Whatever the problems nationwide with the ACA, in California, the signups are continuing apace: 80,000 now have signed the dotted line, according to Covered California.
From Reuters: "The latest data, which charts enrollment from the October 1 start through November 19, means that about 20,000 more people signed up for plans since the exchange's initial update on its enrollment released November 13."
"California, which is the most populous U.S. state and embraced the Affordable Care Act early on, is considered a crucial region for the administration's enrollment effort. The state is one of 14 operating their own exchanges, as opposed to relying on the federal government."
"Last week, the U.S. government released initial data showing that 106,000 people had enrolled in new exchanges nationwide from October 1 through November 2. California's enrollment amounted to about one-third of all sign-ups during that period and outnumbered the combined tallies of all 36 states that use the faulty HealthCare.gov website operated by the federal government."