Now, here's a shocker. On top of all the good economic news we've been inundated with over the last few months, the
Bee's Jim Sanders now reports that fees will be increasing across state services.
"Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines said he has no blanket objection to fees but that
Democrats often abuse the process to "continue their spending addiction."
"'Those things shouldn't just be done willy-nilly to help balance the budget,' Villines said.
"Others say fee increases are inevitable in a growing
state of 38 million people, and that fees are a fair way to secure
vital funding because they typically are paid by people
who benefit.
"Assembly Speaker
Karen Bass contends that fees and taxes should be part of a much
larger conversation with voters about precisely what
services they want and how to pay for them.
"Assemblyman
John Laird, a Santa Cruz Democrat who chairs the Assembly Budget
Committee, said he wants to avoid deep cuts to vital
programs in bridging the massive budget gap.
"'We're trying to do what needs to be done,' he said of fees. 'This is why a single, broad-based tax (increase) makes more sense than anything else.'
"Tax increases require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature, however, and Republicans
have blocked any hopes of passage."
George Skelton writes that Democrats in the Legislature
should pay attention to their Republican counterparts.
"Give Republicans some sort of budget reform and business
regulatory relief. Toss in more spending cuts. Then
they'd doubtless help close tax loopholes and balance the
budget.
Hey, maybe we could just hammer out the budget deal
at Skelton's lunchtime table at The Broiler...
"The Capitol could use budget discipline, and Republicans
need some wins.
"They're right-wingers, but sometimes they're just plain right."
Dan Walters looks beyond the conventional reasons given for Don Perata's unsuccessful attempt to recall Jeff Denham.
"Another potential motive for the recall surfaced in
several articles in one of Perata's hometown newspapers, the East Bay Express, which
suggested that it was a way for Perata to transfer
hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds
to close friends and campaign aides under the guise
of recall campaign consulting.
"Those transfers did, in fact, occur. But Perata dismisses
the payback scenario, saying it's merely political speculation that "there must be some ulterior motive."
"One reason for the ulterior motive speculation in this
case is that Perata has been the subject of a long-running federal investigation about his ties to those
who have profited from his political activities. Perata
has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on lawyers,
private investigators and other agents of defense,
and no indictment has been issued. He won't talk about that at all."
"California's air board, for years an obscure state agency, will
take center stage this week when it unveils a blueprint for the nation's most aggressive fight against global warming that is expected to affect every resident, industry
and government agency in the state in the coming decade," reports Matthew Yi in the Chron.
"The far-reaching plan, which comes 18 months after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed landmark
legislation to curb greenhouse emissions by one-third by 2020, is likely to encourage consumers to use energy-efficient lightbulbs and replace gas-guzzling cars with fuel-sipping hybrids. It could require industry to reduce
pollution or pay fees based on the amount of carbon
they release.
"Mary Nichols, chairwoman of the California Air Resources
Board, said the draft of the 'scoping plan,' which the agency's staff will present Thursday to the 11-member board, will be a work in progress until the
final version is adopted by the end of the year.
"'We've been clear up until now that the draft plan will
lay out our background information on where the state's emissions come from, how much they need to be reduced,
and lay out a strategy on how to address them sector
by sector,' Nichols said."
The Chron's Victoria Colliver looks at the allegations that health insurers are improperly
denying physician-prescribed treatments.
"Anthem Blue Cross said it follows strict protocols,
relying on medical evidence in determining what is
necessary and appropriate to cover.
"'Even in a dire situation, it is ethically appropriate
to withhold treatment if it's not effective,' said Dr. Michael Belman, medical director of Anthem Blue Cross, who was not
speaking specifically about Isgro's case. Belman said doctors do not always recommend
the best treatments, and cost is never a primary consideration.
"Consumer advocates, however, see the situation differently.
"Health insurers 'are going back to the old strategies of the '90s, when they interrupted care on the front end by denying
or delaying treatment offered by a doctor,' said Jerry Flanagan, health advocate for Consumer Watchdog, a Santa Monica
group. According to him, insurers hope patients will
give up or settle for less, either way saving them
money, a contention the companies dispute."
Meanwhile, the LAT's Nicole Gaouette reports immigration foes are taking their fight to the local
level.
"Just last year, an increasingly powerful grass-roots movement
celebrated its success in killing an effort to legalize
millions of
unlawful immigrants. Its influence spread as a procession
of
presidential candidates proclaimed their support.
"But now there are just two candidates for the nation's top office,
Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.). And both have
taken immigration stands that restrictionist groups
find appalling.
"Instead, groups have begun working to hem in the future
president.
They have pushed for new city and state laws, helping
spur hundreds of
bills around the country in the last three months.
They've held
conferences to educate members nationwide and lobby
local officials.
And they're promoting the election of congressional candidates
who take
a hard line on immigration.
"The strategy is to reshape the national political landscape
to fend off future liberalization proposals."
OK, see if you can follow the logic on this one. The Los Angeles Unified School District faces declining
enrollment, which could lessen the severity of classroom overcrowding,
reports the LAT's Evelyn Larrubia. So, "what do Los Angeles Unified School District officials
plan to do with the empty space? Add to it.
"The district plans to build campuses that will take
hundreds of
students from those schools, further reducing their
enrollment. By the
time the building program is completed in 2012, there will be tens of
thousands of empty seats at dozens of once-crowded schools, a Times
analysis shows.
"The
district will use boundary changes, smaller class sizes
and other
methods to even out enrollment and reduce the surplus.
A decade ago,
the nation's second-largest school system was bursting at the seams,
with campuses so crowded that students sometimes had
no desks. And the
number of students was predicted to keep growing. The
dire situation
persuaded local voters to approve four bonds, which
launched a
$20-billion building and modernization program."
Is California being overrun by Falcons? Enquiring minds want to know, and the Union-Trib's Michael Gardner has some answers.
"The peregrine falcon – one of the first birds to
be protected by California's Endangered Species Act, in 1971 – is
making a comeback. So much so that the state Department
of Fish and
Game is seriously considering taking the peregrine
off the endangered
list in response to a petition filed by a San Bernardino
County
falconer.
“The population has pretty well recovered,” said
Latta, a University of California Santa Cruz field
biologist. “Most of
the historic territories has been reclaimed.”
From our Damned If You Do Files, the U-T's Matthew Hall reports, on government waste of a different kind.
"San Diego City Council members had 384 free tickets for the U.S. Open
at Torrey Pines Golf Course but left at least 112 unused for what some
hailed as the city's most-anticipated and best sporting event ever."
Now, if these tickets had been given away, there would be a story about how
politicians use thigns like tickets to gold tournaments
to cull favor with powerful constituents and interest
groups, right?
"Under a proposal the state Fair Political
Practices Commission is considering, elected officials
would have to
give a more detailed accounting of tickets they receive
and distribute
for city venues. The commission started discussing
the issue as the
tournament began June 12."
"Cody's Books, the legendary
Berkeley bookstore that catered to literati nationwide
for more than
half a century and was firebombed in the 1980s because of its support
of the First Amendment, has closed its doors, the victim of lagging
sales ," reports the Chronicle's Michael Taylor.
"The bookstore, which in recent years had closed its
flagship store
on Telegraph Avenue and its branches in San Francisco
and on Berkeley's
Fourth Street, finally settling in early April in one
store on Shattuck
Avenue, shuttered that store Friday.
"Calling it "a heartbreaking moment," Cody's owner, Hiroshi Kagawa of
the Japanese firm IBC Publishing, said in a statement,
"unfortunately,
my current business is not strong enough or rich enough
to support
Cody's."
And finally, "George Carlin, the Grammy-Award winning standup comedian and actor who
was hailed for his irreverent social commentary, poignant
observations
of the absurdities of everyday life and language, died in
Los Angeles on Sunday , according to his publicist, Jeff Abraham. He
was 71.
"
Carlin began his standup comedy act in the late 1950s and made his
first television solo guest appearance on "The Merv Griffin Show" in
1965. At that time, he was primarily known for his clever
wordplay and
reminiscences of his Irish working-class upbringing in New York.
"But
from the outset there were indications of an anti-establishment edge to
his comedy. Initially, it surfaced in the witty patter
of a host of
offbeat characters like the wacky sportscaster Biff
Barf and the
hippy-dippy weatherman Al Sleet. "The weather was dominated by a large
Canadian low, which is not to be confused with a Mexican
high.
Tonight's forecast . . . dark, continued mostly dark tonight
turning to
widely scattered light in the morning."
So, for those of you without workplace firewalls, and
with
some headphones at your desk, here's a link to Carlin's famous "Seven Words You Can't Say on Television."
