It was too good to be true: The first BART strike earlier this month was not wildly disruptive, as many had feared. A second BART strike looms, and this time it might not be so easy.
From the Chronicle's Michael Cabanatuan: "A week remains before BART's two largest unions could go on strike - for the second time since July 1 - shutting down the spine of the Bay Area's regional transit network and forcing hundreds of thousands of commuters to find other ways to get to work - or not."
"As in early July, and every other negotiation in recent BART history, bargaining is ongoing and probably will continue right up to, or slightly past, the 11:59 p.m. deadline on Aug. 4. Since negotiators on both sides have agreed to state mediators' request to keep the details of the talks confidential, it's not known how much - if any - progress is being made. Sources on both sides, however, have intimated that they're not close to reaching a deal."
"There is little mystery, however, about the impact of a strike. The gridlock, the lines for buses and ferries, and the frustration would all be worse in an August strike than they were in July."
The governor has drawn a parallel between his refusal to defend Proposition 8 in court and his father's crusade for housing rights in the 1960s, but at least one noted pundit called it "hogwash" and says nothing could be further from the truth.
From the LAT's George Skelton: "But even if Brown did think Prop. 8 was poor public policy — as I did — he owed its 7 million supporters their day in court. As attorney general and later governor, Brown could — and should — have authorized an independent counsel to officially represent the electorate. Same with former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and current Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, who also left the voters stranded."
"The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Prop. 8's legal team didn't have "standing" because it wasn't representing the state and couldn't prove a "tangible harm" if same-sex couples were allowed to marry. So the justices left in place a lower court ruling that Prop. 8 was unconstitutional."
"A half century ago, there was no question of standing. Realtors apparently could show harm from the Rumford Act. Don't ask me how. Many things have improved since then, including the outlawing of racial discrimination. But the voters' access to the judicial system is worse off."
The amount of official state documents that California generates -- some 5.9 million cubic feet annually -- needs to be stored, protected and organized as part of the state's historical record. And it's no easy task.
From Capitol Weekly's Greg Lucas: "Faced with exponentially growing electronically created information and the potential for a “digital Dark Age,” California is poised to change how it preserves the mountains of government documents generated since statehood --163 years ago."
"Up until 50 years ago, responsibility for protecting California’s historic records rested solely with the Secretary of State where it had been since the Legislature established the State Archives in the first bill of the then 52–member body’s first session in 1849."
"When the Department of General Services was created in 1963 it received the job of setting the rules regarding retention – and destruction -- of the reams of regulations, memorandums, studies, reports and files created each year by the state’s executive branch."
Gov. Brown has led the push for major changes in redevelopment, realignment and workers' compensation insurance. Now, he's going after the way jobless benefits are funded.
From the LAT's Marc Lifsher: "Now he is taking on another big challenge: He wants to fix the state's financially ailing unemployment insurance program, which pays jobless Californians up to $450 a week."
"With one of the nation's highest unemployment rates for several years, the state has had to borrow money from the feds to keep the program going. Now that the jobless rate has fallen to 8.5%, Brown would like to start paying down a $10-billion debt."
"His administration is circulating a draft bill that would put the system on an even keel by raising payroll taxes paid by employers. The goal is to win approval before the Legislature finishes work for the year Sept. 13."
Students' use of electronic gadgets in the classroom, once banned as an impediment to learning, are getting a second look from educators.
From the Cabinet Report's Kimberly Beltran: "Now, as districts move to a new era of technology in the classroom, not only are policies prohibiting these devices being repealed as state officials and K-12 administrators contemplate rules that not only allow – but even encourage – use of student-owned electronics as tools for learning."
“It becomes less about what the device is and more about what you want kids to do with it,” Patrick Larkin, assistant superintendent for learning at Burlington Public Schools in Massachusetts, said during a webinar on the issue last week. “It’s really important to start with the ‘why’ question – why do you want to get devices? It shouldn’t be what apps or what computers should I buy. The question we want to ask is ‘How can this improve our learning outcomes?’ ”
"Like Massachusetts, California and some 43 other states are in varying stages of restructuring their learning environments to meet the challenge of teaching and testing new common core state standards."
And from our "The Rock" file comes something we know you've all been waiting for: The menu at Alcatraz prison during a week in 1946. Looks pretty good, too, except for that puree Mongole.
"That promotion is all well and good, but we thought we’d take the opportunity to run a very cool menu from Alcatraz. Pictured below is a copy of the weekly Alcatraz menu from September 2 to September 8, 1946."
"And oddly, it doesn’t look half bad. There are three solid meals a day, each mostly different from the day before; that’s more than most restaurants can say. Breakfast dishes include daily coffee, cereals and/or canned fruits; Thursday washot griddle cake day. Later in the day, a daily changing soup was available alongside things like roast pork shoulder with sage dressing, chili con carne, corned beef with cabbage, and bacon jambalaya. They even had desserts like apricot pie (!), layer cakes, orange Jello and cupcakes."
"Compare that to San Quentin’s modern day culinary offering, which one Yelper described as such: “foods [sic] crappy except for friday which is chicken on the bone day..and sunday morning is the microwavable-like grand slam breakfast.” (Yes, San Quentin has a Yelp page for some reason; three nonsensical stars)"
Bon apetit ...
