"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday that the United States and other countries
should enter into a new international greenhouse gas reduction pact similar to the Kyoto Protocol, which President Bush has opposed and the United States has never ratified," writes Kevin Yamamura in the Bee.
"Schwarzenegger, speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, said he supports an idea by British Prime Minister
Tony Blair to bring all the Kyoto holdouts into a new worldwide agreement to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
"'I think the problem is getting so serious now that those countries have to participate, everyone has to participate,' Schwarzenegger said. 'Including China, including India, the United States.'"
"'
The federal government is falling behind with the action here. I mean, I believe very strongly that if the federal government does what California does, which is to make a commitment to roll back the greenhouse gases or to come up with carbon fuel standards the way we have done ... a lot of things can happen, and we can be a great inspiration to the rest of the world."
"
Asked about whether environmentally minded politicians should be held accountable for the large cars and private planes they use, Schwarzenegger suggested those details should be of little consequence if the politicians are working toward a larger good."
With that, the guv took off in his private plane with the "Think Locally, Act Globally" bumper sticker.
As the governor receives more national and international attention as an environmental leader, advocacy organizations in California are
beginning to question his credentials, reports Peter Nicholas in the Times.
"The governor has taken more than $1 million in campaign money from the oil industry, whose products contribute to the greenhouse gas buildup that Schwarzenegger says he wants to roll back. And he is not reliable in using his bill-signing powers to protect the environment, activists say.
"Each year, the California League of Conservation Voters puts out an annual scorecard that rates the governor on a scale of 0 to 100, based on the environmental bills he has signed or vetoed. Last year, Schwarzenegger's grade was 50, down from the previous two years when he logged a 58.
"
Gray Davis, the governor Schwarzenegger ousted in the 2003 recall, scored 75 in 2002 and 85 the year before that.
"'
Despite the governor's public embrace of the environment, his record on signing good environmental bills into law remains mediocre,' the league said in its annual report card."
"An Australian energy company's proposal to build a liquefied natural gas terminal off the Southern California coast suffered its second and possibly fatal setback of the week Thursday as the state Coastal Commission
voted unanimously to deny the project," reports the Chron's Mark Martin.
"After a daylong meeting in Santa Barbara, the 12-member commission's vote concluded that the project did not meet coastal standards set up by state law, with commissioners voicing complaints about the project ranging from its potential to create local air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions to its effect on marine mammals. The commission is comprised of four gubernatorial appointees and eight legislative appointees.
"The vote came three days after BHP Billiton's proposal also was rejected by the three-person State Lands Commission. The company has proposed shipping liquefied natural gas from Australia to California, converting it to gas form at a terminal 14 miles offshore near Oxnard (Ventura County) and Malibu and sending it into the state's natural-gas pipelines."
"Ending a five-year legal battle, the state Supreme Count
awarded a major victory to private engineering firms Thursday by affirming California's right to outsource potentially billions of dollars in public works projects," writes the Bee's Peter Hecht.
"In a unanimous ruling, the court upheld Proposition 35, an initiative approved by voters in 2000 that allowed private engineers and architects to work on state infrastructure projects.
"The court ruling also rejected a 2002 lawsuit and subsequent appeals by the 10,000-member Professional Engineers in California Government. The public engineers group had argued that Proposition 35 didn't repeal state civil service restrictions against private contracting."
"The state Senate's point man on the prison budget
ripped the Schwarzenegger administration's $10.9 billion corrections expansion plan Thursday as 'incomplete, inadequate and unacceptable,' reports Andy Furillo in the Bee.
"State Sen.
Mike Machado, D-Linden, made his remarks while presiding over the budget subcommittee that oversees corrections spending.
"He picked apart two key components of the governor's plan -- the addition of 16,000 "infill" beds at existing prisons and the creation of "re-entry" facilities that would house 7,000 short-term convicts. He held back both items in his committee, along with most of the rest of the prison package that the committee reviewed Thursday, saying they didn't contain enough detail for him to lend his approval.
"'We don't need specifics of a blueprint, but it's not unreasonable for us to expect a road map,' Machado told representatives of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, during the first legislative hearing on the administration's prison proposals."
"Democratic lawmakers carrying bills that would launch a massive expansion of Indian gambling in California
have benefited from $1.6 million in tribal donations in recent years, according to an Associated Press review of campaign-finance reports," reports the AP's Aaron Davis.
"The contributions helped Democratic senators' campaigns and political causes, either directly or through donations to independent committees that supported them.
"The AP review of tribal donations comes as the Legislature is considering a series of gambling-expansion bills similar to ones that died last year when they had Republican sponsors. The bills returned this year with new sponsors, all members of the Legislature's majority party."
The Register's Brian Joseph looks at the
Legislature's highest-paid employee, Nuņez chief of staff Dan Eaton.
"As chief of staff to Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, Eaton oversees the spending of 80 lawmakers and 50 committees, guides the speaker's robust policy agenda, and generally manages the Assembly and its hundreds of employees.
"For his trouble,
Eaton is the only legislative staffer making more than $200,000 a year.
His $200,004 salary is more than any legislator's ($113,098 to $130,062), the attorney general's ($175,525) and roughly $6,500 below the governor's ($206,500, except that multi-millionaire Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn't take it).
"Eaton, I found, also is the only personal staffer to a lawmaker who has his own state car, a benefit typically reserved for lawmakers themselves.
Eaton, 56, drives a $40,000, 2006 Toyota Highlander, paid for entirely by taxpayers.
"Nunez, D-Los Angles, told me Eaton's compensation was necessary to attract someone of his talent and experience.
"
The guy's been here a long time," he said. "I value him as much as you value somebody who has the length of stay that he does. The guy has institutional knowledge."
The Chron's Pia Sarkar reports on
legislation to crack down on the use of shopping bags to circumvent store security systems.
"It's not just any shopping bag, but one lined with aluminium foil and duct tape that prevent tags on stolen items from setting off security alarms. Known as booster bags, they allow shoplifters to load up on high-priced goods that can easily be resold at flea markets or on the Internet.
"Retailers have long contended with the problem of booster bags, which have been around almost as long as store security alarms. But the issue has gotten new attention because of a bill sponsored by state Sen. Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto, that would make it a crime to use, manufacture or possess booster bags.
"'As advanced as technology is and as well as it's worked, the thieves are smart individuals who figure a way around it,' Cogdill said. 'I think it is incumbent on us to keep pace with them.'"
Finally, we bring you a story of
Fluffy vs. Nibbles, a classic
elephant seal vs. pit bull showdown that took place in the town of Jenner over the weekend.
"Nibbles the elephant seal is defying his tame nickname by killing smaller seals, menacing a kayaker and chomping on a surfer and a dog on the northern California coast.
"The 2,000-pound lone male is seen frequently at the Russian River outlet to the Pacific, and local marine recreational outlets are warning the public about the seal's aggression.
"
On Easter Sunday, the seal grabbed an 80-pound pit bull and only let her go after he was attacked by the dog's owner."
"I was throwing a stick in the water for the dog,"
Angel Garcia said. The dog "started to shake when this torpedo thing launched itself out of the water and grabbed her."
