"Having already forced many campaigns to rethink their strategies, California made it official Thursday: The
state's presidential primary will advance to Feb. 5," report Nancy Vogel and Mark Barabak in the Times.
"The shift, signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, vaults California ahead of most other states in the national scramble to choose candidates. It has sent ripples across the country, pushing other states to follow and setting up Feb. 5 as a de facto national primary.
"But many analysts say that won't diminish the importance of the two traditional proving grounds, Iowa and New Hampshire. In fact, the experts say, the need to build early momentum could make the two leadoff states more important than ever.
"Still, there was a celebratory air here surrounding California's move, intended to increase the state's clout in the nominating process now that it will no longer be nearly the last to vote. 'We're shaking things up,' said Democratic strategist
Darry Sragow, 'and we'll see what happens.'"
The AP reports: "The primary ballot
also could feature a package of political reforms that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is trying to craft with Democrats in the state Legislature.
"Schwarzenegger wants to take away the Legislature's power to draw California's political map and give it to an independent panel. He also wants to ban fundraising during the months when most of the state's major business is done.
"It would cover the period from mid-May until the budget is passed, the final month of the legislative session and the following month when the governor decides whether to sign or veto the hundreds of bills that have passed.
"In turn, Democratic leaders are hoping to gain the governor's support -- or at least his neutrality -- on a ballot measure to modify term limits for state lawmakers.
"That measure would increase the number of years lawmakers could spend in one house, while shortening the total time they could serve in office. It would allow legislators to serve for as many as 12 years, in either the Assembly or the Senate. Currently, they are limited to six years in the Assembly and eight years in the Senate, for a total of 14 years."
"The state's
schools need at least 40 percent more money than they are currently getting to boost student achievement to acceptable levels, according to a report released Thursday," writes Clea Benson in the Bee.
"That would amount to an additional $25 billion a year on top of the more than $54 billion that currently goes to schools.
"The estimate came on the second day of a rollout of 23 separate reports on education intended to give lawmakers a road map for overhauling the state's troubled schools."
Dan Walters
reports on the response to the studies. "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other "requesters" are trumpeting the studies, overseen by Stanford University, as the launching pad for serious policymaking. Schwarzenegger noted that his own Committee on Education Excellence will digest the research and give him specific recommendations later this year, and declared that 2008 would be the 'year of education reform.'
"Will the research, however, really change the state's long-standing gridlock on education policy? The papers, as noted earlier, largely confirm what informed observers already knew -- that the Capitol has habitually disregarded reality and logic on substantive issues. When it comes to schools, the competing political positions are well-entrenched, as the dynamics of the unveiling underscored.
"Schwarzenegger reflected a common Republican position, stressing reform over new financing, which would run afoul of his pledge not to raise taxes, and saying, 'We need to focus on critical school reform before any discussion about more resources.' But Democratic legislative leaders and state schools Superintendent
Jack O'Connell, echoing the education community's long-held position, insisted that more money must accompany structural change. 'Both reform and resources are essential,' said Assembly Speaker
Fabian Núñez, who nonetheless refused to talk about raising taxes."
"An Oakland man
was ordered to stay away from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his family for 10 years after pleading no contest to misdemeanor stalking."
"
Jeffrey Miller, 45, has been jailed in Alameda County since June after making repeated threats to kill Schwarzenegger and first lady
Maria Shriver, said Deputy District Attorney
Stuart Hing.
"The California Highway Patrol, which provides security for the governor, considered Miller "near the top of their list" of people who posed a danger to Schwarzenegger, Hing said.
"Miller, who suffers from mental illness and methamphetamine addiction, came to the attention of authorities in December 2005 when he showed up at a police station in Amador County and reported that he had gotten lost on his way to Sacramento to kill the governor, according to Hing."
"Hing said Miller told authorities that the reason he wanted to kill Schwarzenegger wasn't over political issues but
because he believed that the governor has supercomputers that control him."
The LAT's Robert Salladay reports, "Lt. Gov.
John Garamendi issued a statement [Thursday] calling the fee hikes at the University of California and Cal State University system '
an unfair tax on California's youth, and a dangerously shortsighted move.' California, he said, has a 'moral obligation to invest in our future generations.'"
Yet Garamendi "skipped a vote [Wednesday] by the UC Board of Regents that raised college fees 7%, and he missed the Cal State University trustee meeting that hiked fees 10%."
"In fact, not a single elected official with a vote showed up yesterday at the UC meeting in Westwood and the Cal State meeting in Long Beach. Garamendi and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Assembly Speaker
Fabian Nunez and schools chief
Jack O'Connell were elsewhere. All four serve as voting ex officio members of the two boards."
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's reorganization of the state prison system
has contributed to confusion over management and responsibilities within the troubled agency, a top corrections official said Thursday," reports the Associated Press.
"Schwarzenegger promised increased efficiency when he persuaded state lawmakers to combine the former Department of Corrections, the California Youth Authority, and the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency into a single department.
"The reorganization, which resulted in the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, took effect in July 2005.
"But since then, it has blurred management roles, Corrections Undersecretary
Kingston Prunty told a Senate oversight committee Thursday.
"That is true not only at the department's headquarters but also for prison wardens who used to function largely autonomously, like mayors of small cities, he said.
"'There are tremendous adjustments that need to be made,' Prunty told the committee. 'We have struggled with it.'"
From our
Good News, Bad News Files, the good news for comedian
Sinbad --
he's not dead. The bad news, his career still is. The AP explains.
"Condolences flowed for U.S. comedian Sinbad after the online encyclopaedia
Wikipedia announced his death on Thursday, but it turned out the grieving was premature and the comic was alive and well.
"The hoax entry said the 50-year-old entertainer, who appeared in several television series and starred in films including "Houseguest," and "Jingle All the Way," had died of a heart attack on the morning of March 14."
In related news, Francisco Franco is still dead.
