While fire crews appeared to turn the tide on the spreading wildfires,
President Bush comes to take a tour today, and the governor is receiving high marks on bringing his action hero persona to California's real-life crisis.
"Crisscrossing the region on foot and by air to handle the most overwhelming challenge of his administration, Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger this week has been the optimistic and omnipresent face of the wildfire response: consoler to the evacuees, debriefer to the media, cheerleader to the firefighters and personal liaison to the federal government," reports Michael Rothfeld in the Times.
"On Tuesday, he went to the fire lines at Lake Arrowhead, led Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff on an aerial tour over San Diego, visited burned-out residents at Qualcomm Stadium, held a briefing in Santa Clarita and invited
President Bush to California. Wednesday brought five more news conferences, including in Los Alamitos and Spring Valley.
Today he is slated to chaperon Bush's visit to the state."
At every turn, he has drawn an unspoken contrast between his on-the-spot presence and the failures following Hurricane Katrina -- emphasizing that the state has done everything in its power to help -- and making public his letters and personal entreaties to Bush.
"Commanding the fire effort has played to Schwarzenegger's old strength as a world-famous celebrity thriving in the limelight and to his political preference for decisive action with immediate results, those who know him say.
"'It's real-life drama,' said
Rob Stutzman, Schwarzenegger's former government communications director. '
There's a difference between what's pretend and what's real, but all of the performing and the bodybuilding and the movies prepared him to feel very comfortable performing in real-life dramas.'"
Dan Weintraub
also gives the governor a qualified approval. "All California governors, if they serve long enough, seem to be tested by natural disasters. Floods, fires and earthquakes are almost commonplace here, even if we never quite get used to them. It was Schwarzenegger's lot this week to be tested by fire.
"So far, at least, he seems to be passing the exam."
Next week, the
governor's health care proposal will be placed on the examining table. The Stockton Record's Hank Shaw writes: "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is learning just how difficult it is to craft legislation that overhauls California's health care system.
"Since the governor released details two weeks ago of his proposal to cover all Californians - including illegal immigrants - he has been pilloried by labor and consumer groups frustrated that the substance of his Health Care Security and Cost Reduction Act has changed little in 10 months of talks.
"Now those groups are expected to take center stage during an Assembly hearing on the proposal Wednesday that is expected to be a very long, very detailed dismemberment of Schwarzenegger's plan.
"But even his critics hope that the meeting will, paradoxically, kick-start negotiations among the governor, Assembly Speaker
Fabian Nuñez and the array of interest groups with a stake in the deal."
"Los Angeles County
lacks the type of automatic emergency telephone system that San Diego authorities used this week to deliver evacuation orders to nearly 600,00 households and businesses threatened by fast-moving wildfires," write Steve Hymon and Duke Helfand in the Times.
"Several local cities have installed such systems -- including Los Angeles, Long Beach, Inglewood and Beverly Hills. But officials in the nation's most populous county say they are only now preparing an overarching emergency structure that could potentially send a recorded message to every residential and business telephone. Officials said they did not expect it to be ready before spring.
"County officials say their planned system faces numerous obstacles, including the enormous size of the 4,084-square-mile county, its many unincorporated and isolated pockets, and the dozens of languages spoken by its 10 million residents."
The LAT's Jordan Rau reports: "Although Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration has improved its readiness for big blazes since the last major round of wildfires hit California in 2003,
the state still confronted this week's infernos without all the equipment its experts had advised."
"A special panel appointed by Schwarzenegger recommended in 2004 that California buy 150 more firetrucks for emergencies. So far only 19 have been ordered. They are scheduled to arrive in time for next year's fire season.
"The state has not replaced its Vietnam-era helicopters, although the Blue Ribbon Fire Commission had warned that many were nearing the end of their operational lives and that the availability of replacements "is diminishing and will soon be exhausted."
"All told, 'in some areas they have moved forward, but there's still a long way to go," said
Mark Ghilarducci, a former emergency services official under Gov.
Gray Davis who heads the Western office of James Lee Witt Associates, a crisis consulting firm."
Meanwhile, "The
case that started the federal court's growing influence on California's prison system looks like it's about to be gaveled into history," reports Andy Furillo in the Bee.
"In a court filing, special master
John Hagar said the state has largely fixed the problems that led to the 1990 lawsuit about officer abuse of inmates and other violations at Pelican Bay State Prison. Hagar said he "may be in a position" in January to recommend that the Madrid case be terminated.
"If U.S. District Court Judge
Thelton Henderson puts Madrid to rest, it would bring an end to a landmark case that forced the resignation of the state's top prison official and challenged Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's commitment to fixing California's correctional system."
"The
firm hold former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani had on California Republican presidential primary voters is slipping, according to a new Field Poll released Wednesday," reports Dan Smith in the Bee.
"Giuliani's support among likely voters in the Feb. 5 primary has eroded to 25 percent, a 10-point slide since Field's last survey just two months ago.
"He still holds a nearly 2-to-1 lead over his closest competitors, however. Support for former Massachusetts Gov.
Mitt Romney and former Tennessee Sen.
Fred Thompson remained virtually stagnant from the August poll at 13 percent and 12 percent, respectively. Arizona Sen.
John McCain moved from 9 percent to 12 percent, and second-tier hopefuls – former Arkansas Gov.
Mike Huckabee and Rep.
Ron Paul of Texas – went from 1 percent each to 4 percent. Nearly a quarter of GOP voters remain undecided."
"The state Department of Education
will check to make sure school districts have policies and procedures in place to address reports of bias-related discrimination and harassment -- something many California districts do not have," reports Eric Louie in the Merc News.
"Several advocacy groups -- the Asian Law Caucus, American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and the Council on American-Islamic Relations among them -- held a news conference Tuesday to announce Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Oct. 12 signing of AB394.
"Sponsored by
Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, AB394 notes that the 2004-06 California Healthy Kids Survey shows that 27 percent to 30 percent of middle and high school students have reported being harassed because of their race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation or disability."
"Legislation to give some children of illegal immigrants a path toward legality
failed a crucial Senate vote Wednesday, probably dooming any chance of major changes to the immigration system this year," writes Jesse Holland in the Chron.
After the governor's recent veto of SB 1 (Cedillo), advocates in California had hopes for a bailout from Washington.
"Supporters needed 60 votes to advance the proposal, but the tally was 52-44. The measure would have allowed illegal immigrants who plan to attend college or join the military, and who came to the United States with their families before they turned 16, to move toward legality."
While it's been a tough week for the southern part of the state
at least San Diegans are not ugly. "Philadelphia is home to the least attractive people in the United States, a survey of visitors and residents showed on Friday.
"The city of more than 1.5 million people was also found to be among the least stylish, least active, least friendly and least worldly, according to the "America's Favorite Cities" survey by Travel & Leisure magazine and CNN Headline News.
"About 60,000 people responded to the online survey -- at www.travelandleisure.com -- which ranked 25 cities in categories including shopping, food, culture, and cityscape, said
Amy Farley, senior editor at the magazine.
"For unattractiveness, Philadelphia just beat out Washington DC and Dallas/Fort Worth for the bottom spot.
Miami and San Diego are home to the most attractive people, the poll found."
