The race to the ballot to change California's tax system got yet another entry, this time from a hedge-fund manager who wants a levy on out-of-state companies to raise $1.1 billion for schools and alternative energy programs.
From the Bee's Kevin Yamamura: "The measure comes as a bipartisan team of political insiders, backed by billionaire Nicolas Berggruen, released a proposal to raise $10 billion each year, largely by charging sales taxes on services, from auto repair to legal work."
"As California wrestles with ongoing budget problems, various well-financed groups are unveiling tax measures they hope to place on the November 2012 ballot. The state Legislative Analyst's Office said last week that California faces a $12.8 billion gap over the next 19 months."
"Proponents are filing because they need to start now to collect enough signatures by June – 807,615 for a constitutional amendment and 504,760 for a new state statute. They also hope to jockey for space on an increasingly crowded ballot, with the pole position reserved for a tax plan by Gov. Jerry Brown and labor unions that remains under wraps."
The half-billion-dollar collapse of Solyndra, the solar-panel builder tha relied heavily on federal subsidies, stemmed from foreign competition, according to a Labor Department ruling. Aaron Glantz in the Bay Citizen has the story.
"The decision, issued Friday after a two-and-a-half-month investigation, means more than 1,000 of Solyndra's former workers will be eligible for up to $14 million worth of additional unemployment, job training and relocation benefits under the federal Trade adjustment Assistance program, which helps workers who have lost their jobs as a result of foreign trade."
"This is great news," said Peter Michael Kohlstadt, a former Solyndra engineer. "A lot of people will definitely need it."
"Critics of Solyndra's loan guarantee, including congressional Republicans, will likely say the ruling means taxpayers are paying twice for the government's failed bet on a risky alternative energy company, losing more than $500 million on Solyndra's loan guarantee and another $14 million to cushion the fall for laid-off workers."
As the pepper spraying of student protesters gathers international attention, UC Davis Chanceller Linda Katehi went onto the campus yesterday to apologize to thousands of students.
From the Chronicle's Kevin Fagan: "It was a scene more reminiscent of UC Berkeley than this normally placid Central Valley campus, which became a national rallying cry for the Occupy movement when campus police pepper-sprayed a dozen protesters Friday who were seated on a pathway, arms linked, protecting a handful of tents."
"The demonstrators were among a few hundred people protesting tuition increases and state cuts in higher education. At first, Chancellor Linda Katehi said police had been surrounded and had to fight their way out with pepper spray - a claim cast into doubt when videos went viral showing an officer calmly walking back and forth, spraying the chemical irritant in the faces of protesters who appeared to pose no threat."
"By Monday, two officers and the campus police chief had been put on leave, UC President Mark Yudof had joined a chorus denouncing the police response, and Katehi found herself waiting in a long line of speakers at a rally on the campus quad to plead her case."
"The chancellor waited about an hour for her turn, listening while speaker after speaker railed to a crowd of as many as 5,000 about her and the police force. Some glared straight at her and called for her to be fired."
People who watch Fox News are less informed about public issues than those who don't watch any news at all, according to a new poll in New Jersey -- a finding that seems to surprise almost nobody except those at Fox News.
From the LA Times' Michael Memoli: "They then asked a series of factual questions about the major events of the last year, from the "Arab Spring" to the Republican race for president.
For example, respondents were first asked whether, to the best of their knowledge, opposition groups in Egypt had been successful in bringing down the Mubarak regime.
Among NPR listeners, 68% correctly said they had been; only 49% of Fox News viewers answered correctly. In fact, the survey found, Fox viewers were 18 percentage points less likely to answer correctly than those who watched no news at all.
"The results show us that there is something about watching Fox News that leads people to do worse on these questions than those who don't watch any news at all," said Dan Cassino, a political science professor at Fairleigh Dickinson.
And from our "Hallowed Public Officials" file comes the tale of tear gas in South Korea's Parliament, an institution that makes even the American Congress look good. Really.
"Shouts filled the National Assembly as lawmakers pushed, shoved and screamed while ruling party lawmakers forced their way onto the parliamentary floor. One opposition lawmaker fired tear gas, reports said. Some lawmakers were seen wiping their eyes after being doused with the chemical."
"Security guards later manhandled that opposition lawmaker out of the chamber as he shouted and tried to resist being thrown out. Opposition members also scuffled with police outside the National Assembly building as they tried to get inside to block the deal's passage."
"The pact is America's biggest free-trade agreement since the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. Two-way trade between South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, and the United States totaled about $90 billion last year, according to the South Korean government."
Another NAFTA? We'd complain, too....
