After booting deadlines and finally submitting a hastily-crafted application, California stands to lose out on millions of federal dollars from the "No Child Left Behind" act.
From the AP's Christina Hoag: "State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said U.S. Department of Education officials informed him last week that they were prepared to deny the state's waiver application, although the rejection has not yet been formally issued..."
"After missing two waiver deadlines, California in June submitted a last-minute, customized exemption from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or No Child Left Behind. The state said even though it did not comply with the specifics of some waiver requirements, it was adhering to them in principle. U.S. education officials did not return a request for comment Wednesday."
"If a waiver is not obtained and Congress does not revise the law, Torlakson has said that more than half of California's low-income schools would be labeled as "failing." That could lead to radical reforms such as state takeovers and charter conversions, and affect hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding."
Speaking of testy feds, regulators have submitted a new round of questions to operators of the troubled San Onofre nuclear power plant to help decide on restart issues.
From the LAT's Abby Sewell: "The plant, which once supplied enough power for about 1.4 million homes, has been out of service for close to a year because of unusual wear on steam generator tubes that carry radioactive water."
"Edison has requested permission to restart one of two reactor units at the plant and run it at 70% capacity for five months. The company provided analysis to show that the lower power level would alleviate the conditions that caused the tubes to vibrate excessively and knock against support structures and adjacent tubes."
"In questions submitted Wednesday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission asked Edison to provide additional analysis showing what the extent of the tube-to-tube wear would be and whether the plant would meet standards for tube integrity if the unit were operated at 100% of its licensed power."
Transportation authorities are looking at private money to upgrade the most traffic-clogged highway in the nation, the 405 through the Sepulveda Pass in LA. Ultimately, private money means tolls.
From the Daily News' Christina Villacorte: "A public-private partnership could result in the project being built several decades earlier than expected -- but drivers who use it may end up having to pay a toll."
"The Sepulveda Pass Corridor is intended to add another connection between the San Fernando Valley and the Westside. For now, Metro has not decided whether to merely add lanes on the 405 Freeway for a rapid bus transit system, or build a nearly 60-foot diameter tunnel beneath the Sepulveda Pass that could fit a highway, a railway, or both."
"Metro's chief for real property and new business development, Roger Moliere, said the difference in cost between adding a rapid bus transit system and a rail transit system is "vast" but said the latter would be more effective in reducing the congestion in that area."
A widespread shortage of drugs has had a direct negative impact on cancer patients, according to a disturbing report.
From the Chronicle's Victoria Oliver: "A drug given to lymphoma patients as a substitute for a chemotherapy medication that is in short supply has been linked in a study to an early recurrence of the cancer, according to a report released Wednesday that provides the first actual evidence of patient harm caused by a national shortage of drugs."
"The shortage specifically includes older, generic medications needed for a wide range of uses such as cancer, surgery and pain management, say authors of the report, which involved Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto."
"These are drugs that have gone off patent a long time ago. They are drugs that are all generic and they are quite cheap, so there's not much incentive for the manufacturers to make them," said Dr. Michael Link, professor of pediatrics at Stanford's School of Medicine and senior author of the report."
Hundreds of people turned their guns over to law enforcement officials in Los Angeles as part of the city's move to get weapons off the street.
From the LAT's Wesley Lowery and Adolfo Flores: "More than 575 guns had been collected by mid-day Wednesday in L.A.'s gun buyback, as people waited for up to two hours to turn over firearms -- no questions asked -- in exchange for gift cards..."
"By noon, authorities had distributed about half of the $100,000 in gift cards allocated for the buyback, Smith said. Many of those turning in guns in Van Nuys came bearing more than one. Officers pulled 22 pistols from the trunk of one white Honda, a haul that earned the driver $1,000."
"Many of the drivers said they were turning in their guns because they rarely use them, and were eager to snag grocery cards."
