"Addressing concerns of a federal judge, Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger laid out a plan Monday to bring California's lethal injection process in line with constitutional standards guarding against cruel and unusual punishment," reports Andy Furillo in the Bee.
"Schwarzenegger's proposed five-point lethal injection protocol came in response to Friday's ruling by U.S. District Judge
Jeremy Fogel in San Jose that the state hadn't been properly anesthetizing condemned inmates who were being put to death."
"The Republican governor's new review plan calls for better screening and training of "execution team" members and requiring them to better familiarize themselves with the death drugs they administer."
"'I respect Judge Fogel's decision,' Schwarzenegger said in Los Angeles on Monday. '(He) ... has made it very clear we should make the system, we should make the procedure constitutional. So I instructed my office and my team to do that, to work hard on it. We had meetings on that issue and we are going to comply with the judge.'"
Wonder where
Jerry Brown is on all of this...
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday that
his plan for reforming California's health care system will not include new taxes,
but he did not rule out considering legislative proposals that do," writes the Bee's Clea Benson.
"'I'm not telling you now what I would or would not consider,' the Republican governor told reporters at a Los Angeles hospital when he was asked whether he would approve a solution that included a tax increase."
"The governor is scheduled to release a plan for dealing with the 6.5 million Californians who do not have health insurance when he makes his State of the State speech Jan. 9."
On the possibility of taxes for health care, Dan Walters
writes: "It would be no small irony were Schwarzenegger to embrace, even partially, the concept that his campaign used as a weapon against Angelides. Even more ironically, employer health care mandates would drive a wedge between him and small business just a few months after he garnered employers' support based largely on his implicit pledge to protect them from such burdens."
"What goes around comes around, as they say in Capitol corridors."
"
Pension and retiree health-care reform isn't likely any time soon in Sacramento," reports the Desert Sun's Keith Murphy.
"It wasn't always so. Sweeping pension reform was proposed in late 2004, after California state employees' pensions went from costing $160 million annually to more than $2 billion just four years later."
"A state constitutional amendment was introduced to transition new state employees away from traditional pensions to 401(k)-type plans. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger touted such reform in his January 2005 State of the State address."
"But before that year was half over, pension reform had all but vanished as an issue, beaten back in a firestorm of political opposition."
The U-T's Terri Sommers checks in with the
progress of stem-cell research funding. "Two years after voters approved the $3 billion bond measure, the stem cell institute – formally known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine – is just now preparing to award its first round of research grants, with money lent by the state and philanthropists.
Lawsuits challenging the stem cell institute's legality have thwarted the state's $300 million-a-year grants program, by preventing the state from issuing the bonds to fund it."
"While San Diego's large stem cell research community has been waiting to tap the state funding,
the Harvard University area – supported largely by philanthropists – has become the U.S. science cluster best known internationally for embryonic stem cell research."
"Also pushing ahead have been the governments of Singapore, China, Japan and several European nations, which have supported their embryonic stem cell scientists with money and favorable policies."
"Orange County donors have
contributed at least $110,000 to help pay for Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's glitzy inauguration ceremonies," writes Brian Joseph in the Register.
"The governor has raised at least $640,000 for a series of galas capped by his invitation-only swearing-in Jan. 5."
"Among the top five "Gold Sponsors" that each gave at least $50,000 is Anaheim metal recycler Adams Steel."
"Four other Orange County donors are among the "Silver Sponsors" that gave at least $15,000: The Irvine Co., Newport Beach-based Pacific Life Insurance Co., Seal Beach natural gas producer Clean Energy and retired media executive John Herklotz of Laguna Hills."
Meanwhile, "Cemex, which has locked horns with the city over a proposed 56.1-million-ton aggregate mine planned on the outskirts of town,
has contributed $15,000 to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's inaugural," reports Judy O'Rourke in the Daily News.
"The news comes weeks after Santa Clarita lobbied the governor to help defeat Cemex plans to mine in Soledad Canyon."
"Assemblywoman
Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, has
thrown her hat into the ring for [
Don Perata's senate] seat. Although the Hancock for Senate 2008 committee hasn't accepted any contributions yet, her 2006 Assembly committee still has about $85,000 which could be transferred," reports Josh Richman in the Oakland Tribune.
"But even with the June 2008 primary still more than 18 months away, she isn't first in line. Former Assemblywoman
Wilma Chan, D-Oakland, has been raising money for this race for years — she had almost $338,000 banked by June 30 — and is launching a campaign Web site that trumpets dozens of prominent Democrats' endorsements."
"'The great thing about democracy is that everyone can decide if they want to run,' Chan said via e-mail Monday. "I am looking forward to a lively campaign."
"Meanwhile, former Assemblyman
Johan Klehs, D-San Leandro, who this summer also formed a committee to seek Perata's seat in 2008,
said Monday he's shutting it down."
And finally, "
Joseph Barbera, who, with his longtime partner
William "Bill" Hanna, created such beloved cartoon characters as Tom and Jerry, the Flintstones, the Jetsons, Yogi Bear, Scooby-Doo, Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw and Jonny Quest,
died of natural causes Monday at his Studio City home. He was 95."
"When Barbera and Hanna received the Governors' Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in 1988, Barbera explained how their 60-year collaboration had functioned."
"'We never mix socially. It isn't deliberate; it just happened that way,' he said. 'Bill likes the great outdoors — he goes fishing, boating and on camping trips with sleeping bags. I hate boating, I hate fishing, I hate camping. While Bill is up north at his ranch, I go to Palm Springs.'"