"More than four in five California voters support giving legal residence to illegal immigrants, according to a statewide public opinion poll to be released today," reports the Chron's Tyler Hendricks.
"By wide margins, the state's voters also favor creating a temporary worker program to allow future immigrants to enter legally, increasing the border patrol and imposing stiff penalties on employers who hire unauthorized immigrants, the Field Poll found."
You can download the entire poll
here.
The Bee's Judy Lin reports on yesterday's press conference by Senate Democrats
unveiling their Delta plan. "Amid judicial threats to shut down water pumps to protect endangered fish, Senate Democrats on Monday unveiled legislation that would set a deadline for consensus for how California should maintain its largest source of fresh water -- the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
"'
The Delta is going to hell in a handbasket,' said Sen.
Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, one of the authors of Senate Bill 27. 'There are 23 million Californians who were understandably worried about water quality and water security, which they depend on. And Northern Californians who have traditionally thought of it as 'their water' continue to be anxious about how much of that water would flow to other parts of the state.'"
Three former governors have announced their intention to
support Gov. Schwarzenegger's plan to ship prisoners out of state.
"Former California Govs.
Gray Davis, Pete Wilson and George Deukmejian gave notice Monday that they would like to file a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of their successor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, in his plan to transfer thousands of prison inmates out of state."
What, no Jerry Brown?"Attorney
Richard D. Martland sent the letter on behalf of the former governors to the state's 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento, asking for permission to file the amicus curiae brief. Schwarzenegger filed an appeal last week to block a Sacramento Superior Court ruling that the governor's transfer plan was "unlawful" and that there was an improper basis to his declaration of a prison overcrowding emergency that set the stage for the transfers."
"Following an all-day public hearing that drew hundreds of opponents, a state commission voted Monday to
reject the environmental impact report on a proposed $800-million floating liquefied natural gas terminal off the Ventura County coast — an action that could effectively kill the project," reports the Times' Gary Polakovic.
"The state Lands Commission voted 2 to 1 to reject the environmental study and not issue a lease for the BHP Billiton project. Democratic Lt. Gov.
John Garamendi and state Controller
John Chiang, both commissioners, voted against the project."
Garamendi was seen as the commission's swing vote, and wound up siding with environmentalists who are opposed to the project. "Garamendi challenged whether the energy company had done enough to reduce emissions that contribute to smog and haze as well as global warming. He questioned whether alternatives to the project — including energy conservation, greater reliance on wind and solar power, and a bigger natural gas plant under construction in Baja California, Mexico — were adequately considered. And he questioned the cost-effectiveness of extracting natural gas in Australia, chilling it and shipping it in tankers across the Pacific Ocean."
ABC News reports, "Governor
Schwarzenegger's not taking a position on the fuel terminal proposed for the Malibu coast that was dealt a setback yesterday by the State Lands Commission, but says he's all for liquefied natural gas. He says the fuel 'should be a part of California's energy portfolio.'"
From our
It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp Files, Kate Folmar reports, " Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is hooking up with the MTV reality show "Pimp My Ride" for a special Earth Day episode that he hopes will
boost the street cred of low-emission cars.
"Typically, the program features everyday people who have their trashed rides tricked out into bling-mobiles with built-in espresso machines or lava lamps. But for this episode, the crew will
transform a 1965 Chevy Impala into a clean, green biodiesel machine.
"Efforts to reduce global warming and build a hydrogen highway helped parlay Schwarzenegger to an easy re-election last fall. But putt down the 405 Freeway in a Prius? That's not how the gov rolls.
"
The April 22 episode of "Pimp My Ride" will show that "biofuel is not like some wimpy, feminine car, like a hybrid," Schwarzenegger said in the current Newsweek cover article. "Because the muscle guys, they have this thing: `I don't want to be seen in the little feminine car.'"
The LAT's Robert Salladay reports on
Schwarzenegger's continuing fundraising juggernaut. "News Corp. honcho
Rupert Murdoch and his wife, Wendi, are hosting a fundraiser Thursday night in New York for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Media giant News Corp., which operates Fox News, 20th Century Fox and the N.Y. Post, has been a generous donor to the governor in the past.
Schwarzenegger travels to Washington D.C. on Wednesday to give a speech on global warming, then heads to Manhattan.
"The Murdoch dinner is one of a dozen money-raising events planned by the governor's central fundraiser, Renee Croce, through June. Most of the receptions and dinners are scheduled for private homes, including at Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver's Brentwood estate on April 25 and June 6 for high-dollar donors."
The Times' Francisco Vara-Orta takes a look at a bill by
Jared Huffman that would
create rules concerning genetically-altered crops in California. "The growing battle over genetically engineered plants is slowly taking root in California, most recently with a proposed Assembly bill that would allow farmers to sue bio-crop manufacturers for cross-contamination of organic and traditionally grown plants, which could hurt their marketability.
"Freshman Assemblyman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) introduced AB 541 in February, saying it would establish the state's only law related to genetically altered plants, or bio-crops.
"The Assembly Judiciary Committee will discuss the bill, also known as the Food and Farm Protection Act, at its meeting today.
"Huffman's bill would allow anyone whose property annually incurs $3,500 or more in damages from cross-contamination to sue the bio-crop manufacturer responsible, but not necessarily the farmer planting the bio-crops.
"'
There is no ban in this bill,' said Huffman, who said he does not oppose bio-crop research. 'The fact is that genetic engineering is with us and will be for a long time.'"
And from our
Amateur Denistry Files, Federal agents are investigating reports that a college student tried to illegally hammer off the teeth of a rare sperm whale that washed ashore dead Sunday on a beach in Isla Vista near UC Santa Barbara," reports the Times' Kenneth Weiss.
"'
I arrived and this guy had a hammer and was hammering away on the teeth," said Shane Anderson, supervisor of marine operations at the UC Santa Barbara Marine Laboratory. 'I explained to him that there was a federal law against doing that and that the specimen was important for science. He didn't want to hear it.'"
"The teeth of the whale have been badly damaged, which could compromise the scientific value of removing the jaw ... The student wasn't very careful in trying to extract the teeth.
"'
This kid was busting them all up with a hammer," Anderson said. 'I guess he wanted them really bad.'"