"As the latest effort to resolve the state's monthlong budget standoff collapsed Thursday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
tried to heighten pressure for a quick resolution, warning lawmakers that a continued impasse would jeopardize critical state services such as fighting wildfires," reports Jordan Rau in the Times.
"'
Now is the time to come to agreement and have a budget,' Schwarzenegger said at a news conference, his first devoted to the state budget since legislators missed their June 30 deadline to enact a spending plan.
"'Transportation projects will come to a grinding halt if we don't pass a budget right now,' he said. 'Republicans will have projects in their neighborhoods that will came to a halt. And Democrats will have projects in their neighborhoods, and the people will get upset about it.'
"After weeks of wrangling, the California Senate had scheduled a debate for Thursday morning in which the Republican minority, which has been holding out for more cuts to the bipartisan $145-billion plan approved by the Assembly, was supposed to present its alternative plan for a Senate vote.
"
But with both sides knowing that exercise had no chance of winning Democratic support, leaders canceled the session and agreed to continue negotiations into the weekend and ratchet down the hostile rhetoric."
The Bee's Kevin Yamamura
writes: "The governor has tried to negotiate with some Republicans, but none has broken party ranks and provided the two GOP votes necessary in the Senate to pass the budget.
"'This has not been a high point in relations between the governor and Republican legislators, and I think they've gotten his attention,' said
John J. Pitney Jr., a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College.
"Perata said the dispute lies between the governor and Republican lawmakers. He urged Schwarzenegger to keep the situation from escalating into name calling, as it did Wednesday with Perata accusing Republicans of 'fiscal terrorism' for demanding more cuts.
"'It's really got to stop here,' Perata said. '
And it's really got to stop with the governor. I mean, the governor is the guy that I'm looking to now for the leadership to get everybody to calm down.'"
Where's all that red wine Dick Ackerman was talking about last week?"California's diesel-powered bulldozers, scrapers and other heavy construction equipment
must be retrofitted or replaced over the next 13 years to reduce the air pollution that sickens tens of thousands of residents every year, state regulators decided Thursday," writes Margot Roosevelt in the Times.
"Under tough new rules adopted by the Air Resources Board, California is the first state to make construction companies fix existing diesel-powered machines. Heavy equipment can last 30 years or more, so without the new mandate, it would take decades for fleets to upgrade to cleaner equipment.
"Although the fumes are most often associated with big trucks and buses, 20% of California's diesel pollution comes from the construction industry. Building, mining and airport vehicles are responsible for an estimated 1,100 premature deaths statewide every year and more than 1,000 hospitalizations for heart and lung disease, along with tens of thousands of asthma attacks, scientists say.
"The air board's new rules will slash diesel soot — also known as particulate matter — from construction equipment by 92% over 2000 levels. Smog-forming nitrogen oxides will be cut by more than a third. And greenhouse gases, byproduct of fuel burning, also will drop as a result of a ban on idling equipment."
As if the newly-politicized air board was about to make any other decision..."A sharply divided state Supreme Court
ruled Thursday that cities can no longer seize automobiles whose drivers are arrested for allegedly buying drugs or soliciting prostitutes," writes the AP's Paul Elias.
"The ruling overturns the laws of more than two dozen cities from Oakland to Los Angeles that allowed police to seize an automobile immediately after the driver's arrest.
"The 4-3 ruling said only state law can mete out punishment for drug and prostitution offenses and that without authorization from the California Legislature, cities can't pass seizure ordinances that are harsher than state and federal laws. Even drivers suspected of buying a small amount of marijuana, which is a low-level crime punishable by a $100 fine, faced seizures in many of the cities with the ordinances."
Cue a Republican bill introduction in five, four, three ..."The Medical Board of California
voted Thursday to abolish its drug and alcohol diversion program for doctors, which several audits have faulted for being poorly administered and imperiling patients," reports Aurelio Rojas in the Bee.
"At its quarterly meeting in South San Francisco, the panel that licenses the state's physicians voted unanimously to phase out the diversion program as soon as possible, but no later than June 2008.
"The board also directed its staff to stop admitting doctors to the program and to develop a transition plan."
And from our
Life Immitiating San Francisco Files, looks like
an LA Supervisor has a residency issue of her own. "Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke, who was elected to represent some of the county's poorest neighborhoods, is living in a gated Brentwood home, despite laws requiring her to reside in the predominantly South Los Angeles district she serves.
"In an interview with The Times two weeks ago, Burke said it was only on weekends and special occasions that she used her Brentwood home — a 4,000-square-foot residence with a swimming pool and tennis court that she and her husband have long owned. She said she lived at a 1,200-square-foot townhouse in Mar Vista, on a busy street just inside the border of her district.
"
But over a three-week period in which she was observed by Times reporters, Burke spent every weekday evening at her Brentwood house, in the district of Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. When confronted by reporters Wednesday, Burke changed her story and acknowledged that she has rarely slept in the Mar Vista townhouse, which she has declared as her primary residence since she purchased it more than a year ago."
Sure, he may not ever be President Schwarzenegger, except in the new
Simpson's movie, but today, Gov. Schwarzenegger is scheduled to meet with
a man who's job he is eligible to hold some day, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "Ban was scheduled to meet with Schwarzenegger on Friday and tour a Silicon Valley company that develops technology to help businesses conserve energy."
And it loos like yet another dental assistant has fallen for the old
fake boar tusks in the mouth routine.
"An oral surgeon who played a practical joke on his assistant, and got sued for it, ended up getting the last laugh Thursday.
Dr.
Robert Woo, of Auburn, temporarily implanted fake boar tusks in his employee's mouth while she was under anesthesia and took photos that later made the rounds. The employee felt humiliated and quit, later suing her boss.
"When Woo's insurance company wouldn't deal with the lawsuit, Woo settled out of court for $250,000 — and sued the insurers. A King County Superior Court jury agreed with him and awarded him $750,000 dollars.'"
