Today's the day the govenror presents his prison plan toa federal judicial
panel .
Michael Rothfeld reports, "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger fought against having to
give federal judges
a plan to reduce state prison overcrowding, but he
lost. The proposal
his administration must present by today's court-ordered deadline is
likely to reflect a reluctance to take direction from
the court.
"In recent weeks the governor advocated in vain for
lawmakers to ratify
a plan that would have helped reduce the state budget
and cut the
prison population by nearly 40,000 within two years, as a panel of
three federal judges has demanded. The judges have
acknowledged that
the plan would have come close to meeting their requirements.
"But with substantial pieces of the budget plan rejected
by lawmakers,
aides indicated that Schwarzenegger plans today to
offer the judges a
combination of old ideas and a few things with which
the Legislature
has already agreed."
The Bee's Yamamura and Walsh report, "The federal judges last month ordered the state to reduce its
prison population by 40,000 inmates over the next two years in response
to lawsuits alleging that overcrowding has led to unconstitutional
and
inadequate levels of medical and mental health care.
"Schwarzenegger's
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation intends
to file an inmate
reduction plan with the court today, but the state's proposal will be
well shy of the judges' inmate target, according to a legislative memo.
"The plan will incorporate the package approved last
week
by the Legislature to cut the population by 16,000 inmates, as well as
proposals to send 2,500 inmates out of state and 1,000 inmates to
private prisons. It also will propose constructing
new buildings on
existing prison sites to house an additional 7,600 inmates.
"California houses 150,655 inmates in its 33 adult prisons, according to corrections spokesman
Oscar Hidalgo."
Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Gavin Newsom is cracking down on "the new tobacco" -- soda . "Calling soda the new tobacco, San Francisco Mayor Gavin
Newsom will
introduce legislation this fall that would charge a fee to retailers
that sell sugary beverages.
"Newsom would need voter approval to tax individual
cans of soda and
sugary juice, but only needs approval from the Board
of Supervisors to
levy a fee on retailers. His legislation would charge
grocery stores
like Safeway and big-box stores, but would not affect restaurants that
serve sodas.
"Newsom wouldn't say how much the stores would have to pay or how
the
city would spend the fees. When he first floated the
idea in 2007, he
said the money would go to his Shape Up San Francisco
exercise program
and for media campaigns to discourage soda drinking.
"The mayor said the city attorney's office has warned him the city
would probably be sued over the matter, but he said
it is worth the
risk to try to curb a leading cause of obesity and
diabetes."
Newsom supporter Alex Padilla wants to bring the same fight to Sacramento.
Paul Rogers reports on the fight over state park closures , which may be announced as early as today.
"California
taxpayers could be on the hook for millions of dollars in damages
if
the Schwarzenegger administration moves ahead with
plans to close as
many as 100 state parks, according to an internal memo drafted
by the
state parks department's attorneys.
"It is likely that state
parks would be liable for breach of contract" with the 188 agreements
the state has signed with private companies that provide
concession
services, from restaurants to boat rentals to gift
shops in parks, the
memo concluded. Those concessions generated $89 million in gross sales last year.
Further,
if people enter closed parks and are injured or start
fires, the state
"can be held responsible for dangerous conditions," the attorneys
added, even if the parkgoers were trespassing."
That's why we're just going to have to blow them up.
And finally, since recess isn't going to last as long as we all had hoped, it's time to get some good procrastinating in while there's still time. And so, we bring you T-Bone's Alcohol and Ammo challenge.
Enjoy.
.
