Stanley "Tookie" Williams
was executed after midnight this morning.
Ultimately, Gov. Schwarzenegger
never accepted Williams' claim that he was transformed. ""Stanley Williams insists he is innocent, and that he will not and should not apologize or otherwise atone for the murders," Schwarzenegger wrote in a statement denying clemency Monday. "Without an apology and atonement for these senseless and brutal killings there can be no redemption."
Evan Halper reports in the LA Times that the governor
plans to cut Medi-Cal reimbursement rates by 5% through 2006. "The Medi-Cal cut was authorized by the Legislature under former Gov. Gray Davis but had been held up in court until this year. When it was approved, the state had a projected $38-billion budget shortfall."
"We are paying doctors at the lowest rate of any state,' said Dr.
Jack Lewin, chief executive of the California Medical Assn. 'Half the doctors in this state have dropped out of the program. The rest are staying involved almost as a goodwill service for their communities. This sends the message from the state that these patients are not that important.'"
"'We recognize that this rate reduction is a hardship to healthcare providers,' said
Ken August, a spokesman for the California Department of Health Services. 'But California continues to face a deficit.'"
Dan Weintraub writes that now may be a good time to
reconsider implementing legislative review for initiatives, which was available but largely unused until eliminated in the 1960s. "A review process would also allow for compromise. One idea is to allow supporters of an initiative to gather signatures to qualify for a series of legislative hearings on their measure. If the Legislature, after the hearings, adopted the measure as proposed, it would not go on the ballot. If lawmakers adopted a modified version, supporters would be free to go forward if they wanted to or drop their measure at that point. You could even allow them to take suggestions that further the purpose of their proposal and then put the modified version on the ballot."
"
Reviving the indirect initiative as an option would not do damage to the direct democracy Californians love. It would improve it."
Meanwhile, Jake Henshaw of the Desert Sun reports "Just when Californians thought it was safe to visit the grocery stores and malls for the holidays,
the signature-gatherers are back."
"'
One way to look at it is that it took 22 years from 1912 to 1934 to get about the same number (135) we've received this year alone,'
Nathan Barankin, Lockyer's spokesman, said in an e-mail on the numbers."
Dan Walters
adds the 2004 deal with the California Teachers Association to the series of mistakes made by the governor. The reneged deal set the stage for a barrage of television ads claiming that the governor was cutting funds from schools.
"Schwarzenegger and [
Barbara] Kerr staged a news conference at a Sacramento school in January 2004, just before the Republican governor was to submit his first budget to the Legislature, to trumpet the deal. It was, Schwarzenegger crowed, an example of how he would balance the budget through negotiations. Kerr blandly declared it to be 'fair' but was clearly elated because one little-noticed aspect of the agreement would free up another $2 billion in restricted school funds for teacher salary increases to be negotiated."
"Ultimately, however, the much-heralded deal proved to be a Faustian bargain for the governor, leading to a massive political rupture with the CTA. It blew up a year after it was made, when Schwarzenegger proposed in another new budget to raise school aid by $3 billion but not include another $3 billion that the CTA and other elements of the 'Education Coalition,' citing state revenue increases, claimed as repayment on the 2004 deal."
OK, if the deal was a Faustian bargain, did Walters just say Kerr was ... oh never mind.
Meanwhile, one of the disputes that fed this year's battle between labor and the governor has been resolved, with the
California Nurses Association and the University of California reaching a two-year contract. "Under the tentative contract announced Monday, UC hospitals agreed to binding arbitration for disputes over staffing levels and to keep current pension benefits intact for the union's 9,000 nurses.
"CNA, meanwhile, agreed to higher health insurance premiums for its UC members, and to refrain from conducting sympathy strikes with other unions for the duration of the UC contract."
The Chron's Mark Weiss reports that Christian schools have
sued the University of California for its refusal to recognize classes taught by the schools. "In its suit, the [Christian schools] association and its co-plaintiffs objected "to government officials ... dictating and censoring the viewpoints that may and may not be taught ... (in) private schools. ... (They) have rejected textbooks and courses based on a viewpoint of religious faith, for the first time in the University of California's history." The rejections, the suit asserted, 'violate the freedom of speech of Christian schools, students and teachers.'"
"'The university is not telling these schools what they can and can't teach,' [UC Counsel
Christopher] Patti said. 'What the university is doing is simply establishing what is and is not its entrance requirements. It's really a case of the university's ability to set its own admission standards. The university has no quarrel with Christian schools.'"
Robert Tyler, plaintiff lawyer and father of a child at Calvary Chapel, blasts UC. "'
This is all about the changing landscape, the culture wars. I think it's pretty obvious. They've chosen sides.'"
Are you sure you
want your child to go to UC? Just askin'.
From our
Apocalypse Now files: AP reports "Tsunami waves generated by a large offshore earthquake would
threaten at least 1 million coastal residents in California and inundate the nation's largest port complex, according to a new report."
And though we often don't keep tabs on editorials here at the Roundup, here is a link to an op-ed in the Daily Bruin, via our friends at
La Observed in defense of
the right to run around Westwood in your underwear.
It appears that police are cracking down on this week's finals week tradition, known as the "Undie Run," because "some cars got climbed on, windows got broken and inebriated students fell and scraped their knees."
Still the Daily Bruin stands their ground.
"
People are happier with their pants off. It might not be scientifically proven, but the quarterly Undie Run in Westwood is definitely evidence that supports the statement.... Students should appreciate the event for what it is -- a chance to break social norms -- and not as a reason to break car windows and damage property....We need to preserve this tradition so students can enjoy it in years to come -- unlike the previous finals week tradition of Midnight Yell, which was banned due to students' destructive behavior and widespread damage of property."