That softball pitched to Jerry Brown by the Legislature was hammered out of the park Thursday, as Brown got an opportunity to spank state lawmakers in public. Jim Sanders reports, "Pay for California's top elected officials will be slashed by 18 percent next month, one year earlier than expected, to abide by an opinion issued Thursday from Attorney General Jerry Brown.
"Just in time for the holiday season, lawmakers will have their salaries cut by $20,917 annually while California's 12 top state officials will see reductions of at least $28,644 apiece.
"There are legal scholars that might quibble, but I think the vast majority of Californians would give Jerry Brown a standing ovation," said John J. Pitney Jr., professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, through a spokesman, applauded the cuts.
"The governor doesn't take a salary, and everyone in his administration has taken a 14 percent pay cut," said press secretary Aaron McLear. "He believes the Legislature, just like everyone else in state government, ought to be cutting back."
It looks like PERS isn't the only pension fund with problems.
"An appointee of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa voted two years ago to direct millions in public pension dollars to a company that invested in his own private equity fund, according to documents obtained by The Times," David Zanhiser reports.
Now that the dust has settled a bit, it sounds like Lois Wolk is still pretty miffed at her leader . Kevin Parrish reports, "Wolk remains dumbfounded by the role of Sacramento Democrat Darrell Steinberg, president pro tem of the state Senate. Despite representing a county bordering the Delta, Steinberg pushed Schwarzenegger's water package through the Legislature. She called his role "disturbing."
Steinberg threw Northern California Democrats "under the bus," Wolk said.
In the end, Wolk believes the bills, including an $11.1 billion bond requiring voter approval, were a step backward."
Tell us how you really feel, Senator...
Danielle Gaines reports on the vote to boost student fees at the University of California. "Amid scenes that resembled 1960s antiwar and civil rights demonstrations, the University of California Regents approved a two-step 32 percent increase in student fees Thursday.
"The increase will first hit students over winter break, with a 15 percent hike for undergraduate students and a 2.6 percent increase for graduate academic students. The second increase, also 15 percent, will come at the start of the summer semester and will apply to all the system's students."
Regents also approved a plan that will reopen a major hospital in Los Angeles .
"In a unanimous vote that sparked cheers of "thank you" from the audience, University of California regents on Thursday approved a partnership with Los Angeles County that clears the way to reopen the Martin Luther King Jr. medical facility in Willowbrook, possibly by 2013."
On the student fee vote, there were also cheers of a two-word phrase that ends in "you," but with a slightly different meaning...
"The regents, some expressing concern about potential pitfalls, said they acted out of a moral imperative to aid the South L.A. community for which the hospital was once a point of pride. But many hurdles remain."
Hugo Martin looks at how the recession is affecting tribal casinos . "This is what a recession looks like at Southern California's tribal
casinos: Nearly every seat at the 25-cent slot machines is filled.
Gamblers wait three deep around the cheapest blackjack
tables. The
reels on the penny slot machines spin almost without
interruption.
"The
Saturday night crowd at the San Manuel Indian Bingo
and Casino in San
Bernardino County reflects what gaming operators say
is the new reality
of tribal casinos: The visitors are still streaming in, but they have
cut way back on spending.
"We have the same amount of people and
they come in as frequently, but they are just spending
less," said Mike
Hiles, a tribal information officer for the Soboba
Band of Luiseño
Indians, which operates a casino with 2,000 slot machines, 20 gaming
tables and two restaurants in San Jacinto."
And there's finally a verdict in the case of cop versus clown.
"A federal jury has ruled that New York City police didn't use excessive force when they arrested a professional clown who left a suspicious device that turned out to be a balloon inflator inside a coffee shop.
"Alexander Alhovsky sued following his 2006 arrest, which stemmed from an investigation of a report of a suspicious package with tubes and wiring at a Manhattan Starbucks. The bomb squad determined it was harmless, but set up surveillance.
"Alhovsky went to the Starbucks the next day and was arrested after officers saw he had a similar device. He said he was a clown and used it to inflate balloons. The arrest was voided when a police search of Alhovsky's home found nothing suspicious, but he claimed that he suffered physical and mental injuries."
Of that we have little doubt, clown, but those injuries happened long before the cops were involved...