In the battle over redevelopment, Gov. Brown has urged
abolishing the local agencies to free up money for
schools. One would think the schools' response would
be aggressively favorable. But that's not the case, at least in one area. The Voice of San Diego's Emily Alpert and Liam Dillon
have the story.
"In his effort to eliminate redevelopment in California,
Gov. Jerry Brown has pitted developers against schools.
He's argued that the
state doesn't have enough money to subsidize both,
and as it stands, his plan directs
billions of would-be redevelopment dollars to education.”
"Yet few local school districts have rallied for
redevelopment's demise. Ask school systems from San
Diego to Coronado to Los
Angeles about the idea and they tend to be cautious
or silent — hardly the
reaction you might expect for one key part of a plan
to lessen budget cuts at
schools statewide."
Stop the presses: Republicans want concessions in return for supporting
Brown's budget efforts. No duh. The Journal's Vauhini Vara reports.
"Some members of the group met with the governor Monday
evening, these people said. The senators, who include
Tom Berryhill, Bill
Emmerson and Sam Blakeslee, are seeking changes to
the public-pension system, a
cap on state spending, changes to regulations that
would be favorable to
businesses and tax modifications."
"The governor has had an open-door policy since he
introduced his budget and continues to meet with legislators
on both sides of
the aisle to reach a balanced and bipartisan budget
plan," said Mr.
Brown's spokesman, Evan Westrup, who declined to give
details of or
participants in any specific talks."
Jerry Brown and Diana Dooley, his Health and Human
Services Secretary, go back a long way, notes the LAT's Anthony York.
"In Dooley, who spent her time between Brown administrations
as a law student, attorney, fire chief and children's health advocate, he has a trusted confidant to oversee one
of the largest and most important agencies of the state
while he focuses on the budget."
"As one of three former senior Brown appointees to
hold high-level positions in the new administration, Dooley heads
an agency with a budget of $83.5 billion, roughly the size of the state's general fund.
It is a bureaucracy in the midst of two simultaneous
transformations: She'll be slashing billions of dollars from healthcare
and welfare services for the poor while rushing to
implement the 2010 federal healthcare overhaul to provide medical insurance
for an estimated 8 million Californians who have no coverage."
Indian gambling revenues in California were down slightly
during 2009, the latest year figures were available, reports Capitol
Weekly's Malcolm Maclachlan.
"Nationwide, Indian gaming revenues fell from $26.7 billion in 2008 to $26.4 billion in 2009, the latest year for which figures are available.
Non-gaming revenue — often from casino-related businesses such as hotels, restaurants and
gas stations - fell from $3.3 billion to $3.2 billion. The overall Indian gaming universe includes
237 tribes operating 446 casinos in 28 states."
"The drop-off was steeper in California, from $7.3 billion in revenues in 2008 to $6.9 billion in 2009. California is still by far the biggest Indian gaming
market, representing more than a quarter of all Indian
gaming business."
And now we turn to our "I'll Never Ride Again in a Minivan" file to learn about a wife's ordeal on the freeway
between Manteca and Pleasanton. Happily, she's okay,
and equally happily the husband is in the slammer.
"The woman desperately gripped a windshield wiper blade,
her body splayed across the hood of the minivan as
it raced down a Northern
California freeway in the middle of the night, reaching
100 mph, witnesses
said."
"With the temperature hovering in the
low 30s, Christopher Michael Carroll drove 35 miles from Manteca to nearby
Pleasanton on Saturday with his wife clinging to the
hood, prompting 911 calls
from at least two alarmed witnesses, police said."
"Carroll, 36, was being held without
bail Wednesday at the San Joaquin County Jail on charges
of attempted murder,
kidnapping and domestic assault, according to sheriff's
department records."
