Here's a hint: If they're using your middle name in a story about you on the evening news, it's probably not a good sign. So it was for
Clarence Ray Allen, who was
executed at San Quentin shortly after midnight this morning. "Allen, who turned 76 Monday, was by far the oldest of the 13 convicts executed in the state since California restored the death penalty in 1977 and the second oldest in the nation."
Allen's execution comes at a time when a group of Asssembly Democrats are calling for a moritorium on the death penalty in California, part of the
"soft-on-crime" ammo Democrats are handing to Republicans this election year, says Dan Walters.
From our
Boycotts Gone Bad Files, the Chron's Carla Marinucci reports Gov.
Schwarzenegger received a warm welcome in San Francisco, where he addressed what was supposed to be a tough crowd on the holiday celebrating
Martin Luther King's birthday.
"Schwarzenegger's smooth sailing at a Democratic breakfast underscored not only an uncanny
knack for avoiding controversy, but his
considerable political skills," she writes.
"Before he took the stage, there had been talk among the audience of a large walkout protest. But when the governor took the stage -- only a boo or two was heard -- and just San Francisco Supervisor
Chris Daly made the lonely gesture of leaving, a departure so low-key, one Democratic observer wondered whether '
maybe he was just going to the bathroom.'"
Then again, the headline writers at the Merc saw it differently. "
Schwarzenegger gets a hostile response," reads the tagline above Laura Kurtzman's story this morning.
"The
cool reception the governor received and the fighting words his presence evoked from fellow speakers
showed how hard it will be for Schwarzenegger to win over Democratic constituencies that fought him so bitterly and successfully last year."
If the real estate bubble bursts, will the governor's budget projections burst along with it? The Chron's Lynda Gledhill reports "as the state's economy rebounds from the technology bust, some are questioning whether Schwarzenegger is venturing down a similar path by using a windfall in tax revenues on more spending when
another key sector of the economy -- the real estate market -- shows signs of softening."
The Oakland Triubune's Rebecca Vesely
checks in on the state's controversial stem cell institute, mired in a series of court cases that have postponed the sale of state bonds to finance the institute. "Beset by legal woes, California's stem cell institute likely won't see voter-approved funds for another 15 months, yet its president said support for scientific research will continue.
The feds' new labor laws are
making it easier for union members to track how their dues are being spent, says Bakersfield Californian columnist Marylee Shrider.
"Thanks to new U.S. Department of Labor rules that kicked in this year, unions that were once able to list costs and expenses under vague categories such as 'contributions' are now required to show in greater detail how they spend their members' money ... Union members are now able to confirm what many have long suspected -- that
a fat chunk of their dues go to support liberal causes that have nothing to do with securing better wages and benefits."
Strong letter to follow.
From our
One More Reason Not to Eat Bacon in Bakersfield Files, "researchers at New York University's medical school have found that diesel soot and other microscopic particles -- pollutants abundant in the Inland area -- significantly
increase the severity of heart disease in mice fed a high-fat diet."
Correction, that's one good reason for
mice not to eat bacon in Bakersfield.
From our
We All Go Down Together Files, the FPPC has filed a claim against
Chad and Cadee Condit, son of Arizona ice cream store owner
Gary Condit, for "illegally diverting PAC funds for personal use."
The complaint claims Condit's two children received $226,000 for "no discernable work." Apparently state law says you have to wait until after you get elected to office before you can be paid for doing no discernable work.