"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced this afternoon that
the Interstate 80 to Interstate 880 connector will be "fully open" in a week to 10 days. That's due, in great part, because engineers determined that the connector can be repaired and not entirely rebuilt from scratch."
"'Progress on repairing the collapsed freeway connectors is moving at lightning speed,' Schwarzenegger said. '
By creating immediate action and cutting the red tape, traffic will flow sooner, so we can move goods and people and protect California's economic power. I thank all of the state agencies and local partners for their quick response and I also appreciate the patience of Bay Area motorists during the repairs."
"Even before qualifying for the ballot, a proposed initiative to alter California's term limits
sparked a lawsuit Wednesday claiming that voters are being deceived," reports Jim Sanders in the Bee.
"U.S. Term Limits sued in Sacramento Superior Court, charging that the
title and summary being used in a drive to place the measure on the Feb. 5 ballot are unfair and misleading.
"The suit seeks to force Attorney
General Jerry Brown to prepare a new title and summary, which would force proponents to relaunch a campaign to collect 695,000 voter signatures by early September.
"Opponents claim the current title and summary, designed to provide an impartial synopsis of the measure, would push voters to support it.
"'It's biased, misleading and slanted to the wishes of the legislative leaders,' said attorney
Eric Grant of U.S. Term Limits."
Capitol Weekly says there may be more than meets the eye in
the race to replace Juanita Millender-McDonald -- and it could effect the fate of five gaming compacts moving through the Legislature.
The upcoming congressional race between Sen.
Jenny Oropeza and Assemblywoman Laura Richardson has no shortage of subplots. There is an ethnic component: Richardson is African-American, Oropeza is Latino. Then there's the inherent Senate vs. Assembly rivalry. But the race may also become a proxy in the battle between labor unions and Indian tribes over new gaming compacts pending in the state Legislature.
The fight over ratifying five major new gaming compacts is threatening to spill over into the state's upcoming congressional election in Long Beach. Two sitting legislators are squaring off in the race to replace the late Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald. But their votes on the compacts could translate into key political endorsements from interests who have been engaged in a brawl over the compacts in the Legislature.
"Oropeza, D-Long Beach, has long been a champion of organized labor. But earlier this year, she voted against labor, and with Senate leadership, to support the compacts on the floor of the state Senate.
Soon after the vote, a group of labor leaders, including
Maria Elena Durazo, the powerful head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, met with Oropeza to express their displeasure. '
There were a lot of folks who were unhappy,' says Mary Gutierrez, the organization's spokeswoman."
CW's John Howard reports on
a brewing Capitol fight involving rent control advocates and mobile home parks.
"Two of California's most enduring, contentious political issues--rent control and mobile home owners' rights--are on a collision course in the Capitol. A squeeze play is afoot--but who is getting squeezed?
"'Mobile home park owners across the state are converting their properties into condos' to get around rent-control restrictions, says Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa. 'This is driving out seniors and working families from low-income rentals.'
The LAT's Duke Helfand writes that
Antonio Villaraigosa is under criticism for traveling to El Salvador during the May Day immigration protests, which turned violent in a city park.
"On Wednesday, he defended his decision to start the mission May 1, the anniversary of the 2006 May Day immigration protests that drew more than 500,000 people to the streets of Los Angeles. He and his aides had considered catching a red-eye to San Salvador after the demonstrations concluded, but decided to leave as scheduled on a midmorning flight, believing the protests would unfold peacefully, as they had last year.
"'From the beginning, we knew this was going to be a very small crowd in comparison to last year,' he said in an interview. 'We purposely decided not to change this itinerary. When there was a disturbance and clearly a need to investigate this matter with all seriousness, I asked the chief to stay.'"
"Orange County Supervisor
Janet Nguyen has turned to the county's GOP establishment to help pay off roughly $100,000 in debts stemming from her election to the Board of Supervisors and a protracted legal battle to keep the seat," writes the LAT's Christian Berthelson.
"The county's party chairman,
Scott Baugh, will hold a fundraiser for her at his Irvine law office May 10, seeking donations of $250 per person, or $1,600 to be considered an "event sponsor."
"Among those underwriting the event are lobbyists and trade groups with regular business before the county, including representatives of builders, hospitals and doctors.
"The event is significant because Nguyen was something of an outsider in the Feb. 6 special election: The party did not officially endorse a candidate, and most key players aligned behind Santa Ana Councilman
Carlos Bustamante or Nguyen's chief rival, Garden Grove schools trustee
Trung Nguyen."
George Skelton recalls the
visit by Black Panthers to the Capitol forty years ago. "Half a dozen black men wearing leather jackets and carrying loaded guns burst through the massive doors of the California Assembly chamber. Twenty brothers in arms waited outside in the hall.
"The Assembly was in session, approaching lunchtime. Some lawmakers dived under their desks. Others darted for a side door. Most simply froze and stared in disbelief.
"Ostensibly, they were at the Capitol to protest — get this! — a Republican-sponsored gun control bill. The Assembly GOP caucus chairman,
Don Mulford of Piedmont, was pushing legislation to ban the carrying of loaded firearms within any city.
"'We have a constitutional right to bear arms,' the Panthers shouted as they roamed the Capitol. Panther co-founder
Bobby Seale read a statement to reporters claiming that the bill was 'aimed at keeping the black people disarmed and powerless.'"
Willie "Brown, one of five black Assembly members, produced 'the funniest moment I remember,' [Sergeant at Arms
Tony] Beard says. 'He was standing to the Panthers' right, looking at some papers.
He looked over at them, they look over at him. He kind of shrugged and said, 'I'm with you guys.' Then looked back at his papers."
"'That's when I learned how smart Willie was.'"
Meanwhile, Carla Marinucci previews tonight's
Ronald Reagan sound alike contest in Simi Valley. "
"The 10 Republican candidates will gather for their first official debate of the campaign, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, a week after the Democratic field debated in South Carolina.
"California Republican Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was born in Austria and cannot run for president, will be in the audience, as will former first lady
Nancy Reagan, 83. She said earlier this year that "
Ronnie always hoped the library would be a place where policymakers will debate the future. This presidential debate provides the opportunity to fulfill his wishes."
"If this debate were a drinking game, and you had to imbibe every time you hear the word 'Reagan,' you would pass out before the closing remarks,'' predicted Bill Whalen, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. What do you mean
if, Bill?
And the winner of our Headline of the Day Contest is the Reuters Johannesberg bureau which reports,
Naked man superglued to exercise bike during heist.
"A gang stripped a South African man before supergluing him to an exercise bicycle while they ransacked his house, according to a report on Thursday. SAPA news agency said the attackers, dressed in suits, hijacked a man in his 50s and forced him at gunpoint to take them to his home in Johannesburg.
"'
The victim was then forced to strip, after which he was superglued to the seat of an exercise bicycle, his hands were superglued, as were his feet and then his mouth was superglued shut,' SAPA quoted Mark Stokoe, a spokesman for emergency services Netcare 911, as saying."
Ouch.
