Happy iPhone Day. Whether you're waiting in line for the newest Apple gizmo or to get your Golden One loan (or both!), we bring you Friday reading material.
"State Controller John Chiang delivered more grim evidence of the state's budget meltdown Thursday," reports the Bee's Judy Lin.
"Chiang's office released cash figures showing that California
overspent by $3.9 billion in the fiscal year just ended.
"General fund expenditures for the 2007-08 fiscal year that ended June 30 totaled $107.3 billion, while total receipts were $103.4 billion.
"Receipts would have been even lower had the governor
and Legislature not borrowed $3.3 billion earlier this year.
"'Without counting bond proceeds, the gap between last
year's revenues and expenditures was more than $7 billion,' Chiang said in a statement. 'Without a spending plan in place, the state will run
out of cash at the end of September and be forced to
engage in costly borrowing to cover its bills.'"
Good news can be found in the revenue numbers, as cash came in $743 million above projections for the month of June. Personal income, sales and corporate taxes all significantly outpaced the May Revise estimates.
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sen. Dianne Feinstein
unveiled a sweeping $9.3 billion bond proposal on Thursday to overhaul California's ailing water infrastructure by expanding water storage, protecting the fragile
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and promoting conservation
projects across the state," reports Matthew Yi in the Chron.
"The proposal, which is planned to be on the November
ballot, was put together after Democrats in the state
Legislature balked last year at the governor's proposal for a $9 billon overhaul of the state water system that focused
primarily on building three dams.
"But administration officials say Schwarzenegger believes
the new proposal contains enough significant changes
to garner the two-thirds majority in both houses of the Democrat-controlled Legislature necessary to send it to voters.
"The new plan includes money for water storage, but
the amount is $3 billion rather than the $5.1 billion the governor had in his earlier plan. And
the money wouldn't necessarily be used for dam projects - it could be spent for other projects, including groundwater
storage.
"The plan also includes funds to help preserve the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta by fixing levees; to make seismic retrofits of the water infrastructure; to protect and restore native fish and wildlife in
the area; and to pay for projects to cut greenhouse gas emissions
from exposed delta soils."
"California veterans returning from Afghanistan and
Iraq would become eligible for loans to purchase homes and
farms through a $900-million bond act that state lawmakers are asking voters to approve
in November," report Jordan Rau and Nancy Vogel in the Times.
"If signed as expected by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger,
whose administration proposed the measure, the bond
would become the 12th item on the Nov. 4 ballot. In a season of great political discord in
Sacramento over how to solve a $15.2-billion shortfall, the bond measure, SB 1572 offered by Sen. Mark Wyland (R-Escondido), passed both chambers of the Legislature unanimously."
"A Sacramento federal jury will continue its deliberations today in the trial
of a San Francisco political activist charged with mail fraud and attempted witness tampering
in connection with her use of state grant money," writes the Bee's Denny Walsh.
"In his closing argument Thursday, a prosecutor was
scornful of Julie Lee's defense and said it was proved "beyond all possible doubt that the defendant misspent
the money."
"A lawyer for Lee countered in her closing argument,
'There is no federal crime here.'"
"The 61-year-old Lee, for years a powerful presence in San Francisco's sizable Chinese American community, is accused of
laundering $125,000 of grant funds through intermediaries into Kevin Shelley's successful 2002 campaign for secretary of state.
"Assistant U.S. Attorney John Vincent assured the jury Thursday there is 'no evidence Shelley had any knowledge or part in the
scheme.'"
"A former Los Angeles deputy mayor testified Thursday
that ex-city commissioner Leland Wong gave him Lakers tickets and paid for massages that
included sexual favors while pressuring him to help a Taiwanese shipping
firm obtain a lucrative city port lease," writes Victoria Kim in the Times.
Now, the Lakers meltdown against the Celtics. That was a federal crime.
"But Troy Edwards, one of former Mayor James K. Hahn's top aides, said he did not know that Wong was on
the payroll of the shipping conglomerate Evergreen
and believed that the former airport commissioner was
acting only in his capacity as a city official.
"'He was a commissioner for us and he was on our team,' Edwards said.
"The statements marked key testimony in the prosecution's bribery case against Wong, who is the only city official
to face charges stemming from the "pay to play" scandals that dogged Hahn's final year as mayor.
"Prosecutors say that while Wong was serving as airport
commissioner and later on the Water and Power Commission,
he received $100,000 from Evergreen through his Hong Kong bank account
in exchange for exerting influence on the company's behalf at City Hall."
"The massive data security breach at the Department of Consumer
Affairs last month could cost taxpayers as much as
$122,000, state officials said Thursday," writes Andrew McIntosh in the Bee.
"That's how much the department may have to spend to provide
identity theft protection services to more than 5,000 employees whose private information was compromised,
department spokesman Russ Heimerich said.
"Consumer Affairs workers affected are being provided
free credit monitoring, fraud insurance and toll-free access to identity theft restoration agents if
their identities are misused over the next year, an
internal memo to affected staff says.
"CSIdentity of Austin, Texas, was awarded a contract
to provide the services after the June 9 breach. Consumer Affairs workers must enroll to get
the services, and the company's final fee will depend on how many sign up.
"But state officials on Thursday urged all employees
affected to sign up and review their credit reports
for the next year and report irregularities to police.
None has been reported so far."
Democrat Rick Jacobs sent out an e-mail to his progressive Democratic list asking, rhetroically we assume, "have you had enough of Dianne Feinstein?"
At issue was Feinstein's vote for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which expands the federal government's spying powers. "Yesterday, Senator Dianne Feinstein failed Californians. Again. The big question is: What are you going to do about it?"
California's other Senator, Barbara Boxer, stood strong against retroactive immunity for telecoms and the Bush Administration, voting the right way twice -- against the FISA bill and for the Dodd/Feingold amendment. She also had this to say on the floor of the Senate:
"We appreciate the courage and conviction of Barbara Boxer. On issue after issue, she is a shining light representing our progressive state."
With such a penchant for attacking those who are not ideologically pure, Jacobs sounds like he could be a Republican...
Some people head to Washington hoping to break through gridlock. New Rep. Jackie Speier wants to slow things down.
The Chron's Zach Coile reports, "Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, in her first bill as a member of Congress, is proposing a national speed limit of 60 mph for freeways in urban areas and 65 mph in less populated areas."
Funny, seems like traffic never lets us go faster than 35 mph through her district.
"It's a throwback to the 1970s, when Congress and President Richard Nixon imposed a 55 mph national speed limit in response to the Arab oil embargo. While supporters say the law saved lives and fuel, it was unpopular with many drivers and some states balked at enforcing it. Congress repealed it in 1995."
And there you have perhaps the first ever comparison of Speier and Nixon...
And if you're going to Beijing to escape the bad Sacramento air and take in the Olympics, be sure to BYOD. Because it looks like dog is off the menu.
"Dog meat has been struck from the menus of officially designated Olympic restaurants, and Beijing tourism officials are telling other outlets to discourage consumers from ordering dishes made from dogs, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday.
Waiters and waitresses should "patiently" suggest other options to diners who order dog, it said, quoting city tourism bureau Vice Director Xiong Yumei.
"Dog, known in Chinese as "xiangrou," or "fragrant meat," is eaten by some Chinese for its purported health-giving qualities.
Beijing isn't the first Olympic host to slap a ban on the dish.
"South Korea banned dog meat during the 1988 Seoul Olympics by invoking a law prohibiting the sale of "foods deemed unsightly." After the Olympics, the ban was not strictly enforced."