Education and money, two of Gov. Brown's favorite topics, came to together Monday as the governor signed a major funding overhaul.
From the LAT's Anthony York: "Gov. Jerry Brown ushered in the most sweeping changes to the way California funds its public schools in 25 years on Monday, signing into law a new funding formula that was the centerpiece of his legislative agenda for the year."
"Schools that serve low-income students and non-native English speakers will receive more money under the formula, while all school districts will be given new flexibility in how they spend the funds they receive from Sacramento."
"The change will be a boon for large urban districts like the Los Angeles Unified School District, where 86% of the students will qualify for additional spending. Under Brown’s plan, LAUSD would see its per-pupil funding jump from about $7,700 per student per year to $12,750 by the end of the decade."
Whites and Latinos are approaching numerical parity in California, according to the latest numbers from the Department of Finance.
From the AP's Juliet Williams: "State demographers estimate that whites and Latinos are now an equal share of California's population, with Latinos poised to become a plurality by the end of the year."
"Latino leaders planned a modest rally Monday at the state Capitol to mark the milestone, which researchers at the state Department of Finance had previously projected would be achieved mid-year."
"At this point, the numbers are very, very close," said Bill Schooling, head of the demographic research unit of the State Department of Finance. He said officials do not plan to estimate the exact date when Latinos begin overtaking whites, but they are expected to become a majority in early 2014."
Aptly named Death Valley, which must have been quite a place before air conditioning, is hot. Really.
From the LAT's Matt Hamilton: "According to the National Weather Service, Sunday's highest temperature was 129 degrees, making it the hottest June temperature ever recorded in the U.S. The soaring temperature also beat out the park's hottest temperature from last summer by one degree, according to park officials."
"It’s early for us to have these temperatures in June," said park spokeswoman Cheryl Chipman. "We hope getting to 129 this early in the season is not foreboding."
"The National Weather Service’s mercury thermometer had indicated 128 degrees at 4 p.m. Sunday, matching the record for the hottest June day anywhere in the U.S."
About the best you can say for the Monday commute without BART is that it could have been a lot worse.
From the Chronicle's Jaxon Van Derbeken: "The Bay Area's public transit system stretched but didn't break Monday as BART commuters sought other ways to get around - or stayed home entirely - to deal with the launch of the rail system's first worker strike since 1997."
"With much of BART's typical weekday ridership of 400,000 forced to look for a lift, the commute could have been far worse, transit officials said. But this is a holiday week, they noted, when commute loads are typically lighter than usual."
"We're giving the commute about a C-plus," said John Goodwin, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. "It could have been better, and it could have been a lot worse."
Speaking of transportation, California -- the home of a once-vaunted freeway system -- has some of the worst and poorly maintained roads in the nation.
From the Mercury-News' Gary Richards: "California's highways continue to rank among the worst in the nation -- a sorry distinction the state has held for more than a decade."
"The Golden State's highway system is ranked 47th among the 50 states in overall highway performance and efficiency in the latest annual highway report by the Reason Foundation. That is a slight improvement for California, which ranked 48th in the two previous studies and has ranked in the bottom 10 every year since 2000."
"Only Alaska, Rhode Island and Hawaii have worse roads, while North Dakota, Kansas and Wyoming have the best and most cost-effective highways."
And finally from our "Man of Steel" file comes affirmation of something we already knew: That first season Superman on TV was really cool.
"The very first season (1952-53) of TV's Superman with George Reeves was outstanding, including intense film noir elements, such as the deaths of a couple who learned his secret ID in "The Stolen Costume"... he flew them to a mountain cabin where they fell to their deaths trying to climb down (he was definitely responsible for their demise)."
"And, in "The Secret of Superman," a nefarious criminal (Peter Brocco) who learned his ID was conveniently shot to death by the police."
"Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane was very serious, contributing to the drama of each episode. But, she was replaced after that first season by light-hearted Noel Neill (who actually previously had portrayed Lois in two serials)."
It went downhill after Lex Luither popped up....
