"Nearly all voters believe California's looming $14 billion deficit is a serious matter, but
fewer than half think taxes will have to be raised to resolve the problem, according to
a Field Poll released Thursday," writes the Bee's Aurelio Rojas.
"
Voters have much more confidence in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger – 60 percent approve of his overall performance – than in the Legislature to do what's right to fix the deficit, according to the poll.
"The random survey of 1,283 registered voters was conducted Dec. 10-17 – a period during which the governor announced he will declare a 'fiscal emergency' in January to focus on reducing the deficit.
"
Nearly six in 10 respondents said state and local taxes are too high, a margin that has not changed much since the Field Poll last surveyed voters on the issue in 2001 and 2002."
However, a
plurality of voters think that taxes will be part of the solution, writes the U-T's Ed Mendel. "By a narrow margin, voters think taxes will have to be raised to close a state budget shortfall estimated to be $14 billion, according to a new statewide Field Poll.
"But that belief was held by less than a majority, 48 percent to 43 percent.
"In 2003, the last time the state faced a large budget shortfall, the Field Poll found a wider margin of voters thought a tax increase would be needed, 53 percent to 37 percent."
"
Adam Mendelsohn, who helped guide the turnaround of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration after the disastrous 2005 special election,
is leaving his job as Schwarzenegger’s communications director. He will be replaced by Matt David, the deputy communications director for Schwarzenegger’s 2006 reelection campaign," reports Anthony York in Capitol Weekly.
"Administration sources confirmed the planned personnel change Wednesday. David and Mendelsohn are expected to overlap next month, as Mendelsohn helps bring David up to speed in January. Mendelsohn is expected to leave sometime in February.
"Administration sources say Mendelsohn is leaving voluntarily, but not because he has another job lined up. He has a two-year-old daughter at home, and another one on the way this spring. But whatever Mendelsohn does next, he is expected to play a role in the Schwarzenegger political team, as it ramps up to campaign for a health care initiative on the November 2008 ballot."
"A federal judge's ruling Wednesday
invalidating part of San Francisco's landmark attempt to extend health care coverage to all uninsured adult residents cast new doubt on the viability of a statewide program for covering the uninsured that is now pending in the Legislature," reports the Chron's Tom Chorneau.
"State attorneys said Thursday that they are studying the ruling, but critics of the sweeping state overhaul said the state plan could be challenged on the same grounds.
"A controversial
law that requires hotels near Los Angeles International Airport to pay a so-called living wage was upheld by a state appeals court panel Thursday, providing a significant victory for elected officials and the labor interests that have long sought the ordinance," reports Steve Hymon in the Times.
"The 3-0 ruling by a panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles means that the city can now implement a law that would provide salary and benefits equal to $10.64 an hour to workers at a dozen LAX-area hotels. The law had been struck down in May by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
David P. Yaffe, who sided with business interests and ruled that the city had not made sufficient changes from an earlier version of the ordinance.
"The law is groundbreaking because living wage laws in the United States are usually applied to government contractors. The law in Los Angeles went a step further, targeting the hotels because they generate so much business from the city-owned airport."
"Starting next week, Friday-afternoon
commuters on the eastbound 91 Express Lanes will have to dip deeper into their wallets to escape endless congestion on the Riverside Freeway.
The $10 toll is among the highest in the nation and comes nine months after the boost to $9.25. It will be in effect from 3 to 4 p.m," reports the LAT's David Reyes.
"Express lane officials argue that the toll lanes are too popular, which slows travel for paying customers.
"By using so-called congestion pricing, they hope to persuade some commuters to travel during cheaper hours.
"But frequent express-lane commuters are crying foul, saying that as the Inland Empire's population swells, more traffic is added to the daily commute, negating any positive effects from higher rates.
"'I think it's ridiculous. I feel they haven't really validated the rate increase,' said
Richard Bangert, who travels the toll lanes daily from his home in Corona to his job in Orange County. '
Here you have people living in the Inland Empire holding down jobs elsewhere and they can barely afford gasoline and now these increasing rates. I feel they're getting railed.'"
Meanwhile, a LAT reporting team
digs into the odd relationship between OC Sheriff Mike Carona, his wife and his mistress.
Looks like more of you are
picking up beer cans for extra cash.
"Californians recycled more than 6.9 billion beverage containers in the first half of 2007, up nearly 800 million from the same period a year ago, the state's largest recycling-rate increase in the last 15 years, according to a recent study released by the state's Department of Conservation. And officials think they know why.
"In January, the state increased the California Refund Value to a nickel for small beverage containers and a dime for large ones. The respective one- and two-cent hikes, they believe, may have changed a lot of perceptions.
"'If you see four pennies on the ground and you're walking on the street, are you going to bother to pick them up?' asked
Mark Murray, executive director for Californians Against Waste, a statewide environmental organization that focuses on recycling. 'Whereas you see a nickel or dime on the ground, you're likely to pick that up. The same thing goes to just seeing that value in a can and thinking, 'I'm tossing a nickel in the trash.'"
And from our
Rotten Environmentalism Files, "A Hummer owner in Russia's second city St. Petersburg has given antiglobalists the green light to
pelt his oversized vehicle with rotten eggs, Russian news agencies reported on Wednesday.
The antiglobalists said throwing eggs and tomatoes at the Hummer will help draw attention to their cause.
The vehicle's owner said he will then sell it and donate the proceeds to an orphanage."