Gov. Brown's actions on hundreds of bills have refocused attention on his basic political beliefs -- is he liberal, conservative, moderate or all of the above? The answer, looking at his signings and vetoes, is all of the above.
From the Bee's David Siders: "When the dust settled Monday, leaders of both the California Chamber of Commerce and California Labor Federation – two groups that often lobby at cross-purposes – issued statements commending Brown."
"The labor federation's Art Pulaski said Brown "moved the state in the right direction by signing into law a number of critical bills that address our deep jobs crisis and other challenges facing workers."
"Chamber President Allan Zaremberg said Brown's "commitment to 'do no more harm' to California's economy will send a strong message that eliminating economic uncertainty is the first element of any program to make California more competitive."
Nothing like waking up to bad news: Revenues for the first quarter of the fiscal year came in more than $700 million below projections and more than $300 million shy in September alone. The dubious numbers mean that the possibility of the budget "trigger" getting pulled is on the rise.
From the Bee's Kevin Yamamura: "The gap is roughly equivalent to the July through September share of the $4 billion revenue spike that Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic lawmakers used to close the budget in June."
"That optimistic projection has drawn skepticism ever since the budget was signed. Brown has defended the assumption by pointing to as much as $2.5 billion in "trigger" cuts to schools and social services that would occur if that money never materializes."
"September's revenues alone do not guarantee that triggers will be pulled," Chiang said in a statement. "But as the largest revenue month before December, these numbers do not paint a hopeful picture."
Online poker is not legal -- at least not yet -- but a consortium of gaming tribes is putting up a free online site for what it was intended to serve instructional and educational purposes only. Jim Miller in the Press Enterprise has the story.
"Monday, the California Online Poker Association launched CalShark.com, a free poker site that describes itself as being for “educational and instructional purposes only.”
“CalShark.com is a great example of what online poker could look like if it was legalized in California,” association spokesman Ryan Hightower said."
The association’s dominant members are the Morongo Band of Mission Indians near Banning and the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians near San Bernardino.
Taking away the car pool-lane privileges of solo drivers in hybrid, fuel-efficient cars has had exactly the opposite effect of what was intended when the new policy went into effect on July 1 -- it has slowed traffic down.
From the LAT's Ronald D. White: "If you're like many California motorists, you probably looked on with envy or perhaps some stronger emotion when those single-occupant hybrids zipped by in the carpool lane. Others who had gone to the trouble of coordinating schedules and establishing real carpool relationships probably weren't too happy with their solitary HOV brethren either."
"Surely, fairness was restored over the summer when the interlopers lost their HOV rights; the real carpoolers have seen their speeds increase, right? Wrong."
"A UC Berkeley study released Monday says banishing those lone hybrid drivers from carpool lanes is making traffic slower for everyone. As an example, they cited a four-mile stretch of carpool lane on Interstate 880 in Hayward, which has seen a 15% reduction in speed since single-occupant hybrids were expelled since July 1."
Speaking of cars, let's look into our "On the Road" file to peek at Steve Jobs' Mercedes sedan -- which he drove for years without a license plate and never got a ticket. You try driving a car without a plate and see what happens to you.
"For years, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs drove around Silicon Valley in a a silver 2007 Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG without a license plate."
"Paula Skier, the digital marketing executive at automotive data and consulting firm R.L. Polk & Co., reports that Jobs, who passed away last week, got away with a clear violation of California state law -- we suspect for security reasons. Can you imagine how many people would have liked to have swiped the tech guru’s license plate?"
"Skier wanted to know how Jobs could drive a plateless car for four years without ever getting ticketed for the infraction."
“A search of traffic records confirms that he successfully avoided plate-related fines. Again, theories abound, but I think it's just a matter of playing the odds,” Skier said."
