Bob Hertzberg, an LA-area Democrat and former Assembly speaker who hugs everybody in sight and is a study in perpetual motion, announced he is running for the state Senate to take the seat of Alex Padilla, who will be running for secretary of state Hertzberg worked the tables last night at the California Roast to spread the word.
From Kevin Roderick's LA Observed: "Former Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg finished out of the money when he ran for mayor in 2005, and despite floating his name a couple of times, has resisted the urge to seek office again. Until now. He made the announcement tonight at a reception in Sacramento that he will run for Alex Padilla's seat in the San Fernando Valley. Padilla is running for Secretary of State and will back Hertzberg..."
"So here is the plan: With the support of the current incumbent, Senator Alex Padilla, who is moving on to seek the California Secretary of State’s office, I will be running in the Primary Election to be held in June 2014 (Hetzberg said). "The General Election will be held in November 2014. I am starting early so I have the time to run a campaign the way I like -- the old fashioned way, face to face, door to door, talking with as many folks as I can possibly meet."
"In the city elections just finished, Hertzberg was a visible backer of Wendy Greuel for mayor. He also endorsed Mike Feuer for city attorney after having headed the transition for Carmen Trutanich four years earlier. One of the offices he talked about seeking recently was the state Senate, but from a district farther west."
The state's track record when it comes to its technology hasn't been exactly stellar -- no small irony, given that California is the home of high tech. The l;atest example is the state controller's computer system.
From Capitol Weekly's Samantha Gallegos: "The need to revamp critical technology is common throughout government, but making it happen for the controller’s office has been especially difficult. Authorities are grappling with decades-old technology as they have struggled to make a transition toward a new payroll management system in an effort dubbed the 21stCentury Project. The project, originally estimated at $373 million, already has cost $262 million, is years overdue and is not near completion."
"The controller is the state’s check writer and keeper of the books and the office’s computer system is at the heart of state government. Among other things, it handles hundreds of thousands of employee paychecks each month. And technology woes are nothing new: The state has had similar issues involving the state’s court system, the statewide welfare system, the Department of Motor Vehicles and the secretary of state’s office."
"Gov. Jerry Brown’s rewritten budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year beginning July 1 calls for $14.5 million to wind down the operation and cover potential litigation between the controller’s office and SAP Public Services Inc., the system vendor that the state terminated in February as the problems mounted, said Jacob Roper, a spokesman for state Controller John Chiang. SAP, hired in 2010, was the second vendor to be cashiered. The year before, the state jettisoned an earlier vendor."
Hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," is grabbing all the headlines, but another technique used in California is damaging to the environment and is drawing only scant attention.
From Reuters' Rory Carroll and Braden Reddall: "As California sets the ground rules for drilling in the Monterey oil formation, a hard-to-reach shale reserve that is the largest in the United States, some environmentalists worry that politicians, regulators and fellow activists are fighting the wrong battle."
"The state regulator is hammering out rules for hydraulic fracturing, while the legislature is debating 10 bills on the practice. The drilling technique known as "fracking" has caused so much concern about environmental problems that it is the subject of a Hollywood movie. But most Monterey drillers employ another technique using acid, and only one bill under consideration would regulate that method."
"... It is an old well completion method that involves pumping chemicals such as hydrofluoric acid into wells to melt rocks and other impediments to oil flow, and companies are not required to report when they do it."
Mewanhile, Democrats in the Legislature want to restore social service and other programs chopped by the governor in his May Revision.
From the Mercury-News' Steve Harmon: "The Democratic-controlled Legislature on Tuesday set up a much-anticipated confrontation with Gov. Jerry Brown by pushing to restore safety net programs and altering his education finance plan."
"Using the Legislative Analyst's Office's forecast, which has the state taking in $3.2 billion more than the Brown administration predicted, the Senate and Assembly proposed more aggressive spending in separate plans that will be hashed out in a conference committee later this week."
"Both chambers are gearing up for final action on the budget as the June 15 deadline looms."
Officials at the San Onofre nuclear power plant were aware of potential design flaws nine years ago but didn't let regulators know -- and now U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer wants an investigation.
From the LAT's Abby Sewell: "U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who released the letter Tuesday, said it showed that Edison misled regulators about the extent of differences between the old and new generators and said she will ask the U.S. Justice Department to investigate."
"The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's office of investigations and office of inspector general are already investigating whether there was any wrongdoing by Edison."
"The plant was shut down more than a year ago after a steam generator tube sprang a leak and released a small amount of radioactive steam. That led to the discovery that the tubes in the generators — installed in 2010 and 2011 — were wearing down at a rapid rate."
And from our "Winds of War" file comes the tale of a teapot that looks like Adlof Hitler. World War II has been over for 68 years, but Der Fuehrer's image still rankles, at least in Culver City.
"Drivers on Interstate 405 near Culver City, Calif., may have noticed something odd recently: a billboard advertising... Adolf Hitler?"
"That's at least what some on Twitter and Reddit have pointed out regarding a new J.C. Penney advertisement alongside the highway. Take a look for yourself; the tea kettle does bear a striking resemblance to the infamous Nazi leader."
"The kettle in question -- the Michael Graves Design Bells and Whistles Stainless Steel Tea Kettle -- also appears on the department store's website."
Your papers, please ....
