The chairman of the Orange County GOP, Scott Baugh, is under fire from some Republicans for publicly condemning an email sent around by a central committee member that depicted President Obama as a chimp. The entire episode is yet one more reason why O.C. Republicans are a breed apart.
From Martin Wisckol in the Register: "Deborah Pauly,
the first vice chairman of the Republican Party of Orange County, said the
controversial email sent by another elected member of the county GOP’s
governing Central Committee was a matter that should have not been handled in
the public eye."
"County GOP Chairman Scott Baugh publicly called on the sender,Marilyn Davenport, to resign
and Monday
ordered the committee to launch an ethics review. The accompanying
negative publicity could have been avoided, Pauly said."
“It should have been handled internally,” Pauly said.
“What Scott should have done is pick up the phone and talked to Marilyn.” Pauly also criticized the Central Committee members who
forwarded the email to former California GOP Chairman Mike
Schroeder, who alerted the press and attacked the email as
racist."
Among the biggest casualties in an all-cuts budget would be public education, which would face 40 cents on every dollar in the reductions. Cabinet Report's Allen Young tells the tale.
"Without new revenues, public schools can expect to
shoulder at least 40 percent of the cuts needed to close the state’s $12
billion deficit, lawmakers have warned school superintendents."
"The list of programs that would be targeted for drastic
reduction or outright elimination would likely include funding to keep class
sizes for kindergarten through third grade at 20 students or fewer, support for
school bus services and imposing sooner a new cut-off date for kindergarten."
"At a hearing late last week before the Senate budget
committee, school officials were admonished for not developing budget plans
based on a worst-case scenario even at the risk of upsetting their communities."
The United Farm Workers, which grabbed national and international headlines under Cesar Chavez during the 1960s, has been losing members for years.But they believe a new bill requiring "card check" elections will give them a boost.
From the AP's Gosia Wozniaka: "The bill would
allow majority signup elections, also known as card-check. Workers away from
the fields would sign and turn in state-issued representation cards. If state
labor officials determined the cards had been signed by a majority of workers,
they would certify the union without holding an on-site election."
"Introduced by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell
Steinberg, D-Sacramento, the bill is awaiting a vote in the state Assembly.
Labor officials say it could become a national model as the first card-check
process to cover a large group of private employees especially as hope for a
national majority signup election law has waned."
"Experts also say such a system would boost the
union's membership, which has fallen from more than 70,000 in the 1970s to what
officials say is about 27,000 today. That's based on the number of people who
work under union contract at least one day a year. However, the union has
reported only about 5,000 members to the U.S. Department of Labor in each of
the past eight Decembers, an admittedly slow month for farming."
Environmentalists have gone to court against the Obama administration over the leatherback sea turtle, which they say federal officials are failing to protect. The Chronicle's Bob Egelko has the story.
"The National Marine Fisheries Service settled an earlier
lawsuit by proposing in January 2010 to designate 70,600 square miles of
offshore waters, from Southern California to northern Washington, as a safety
zone for the leatherbacks and the jellyfish they consume, the groups said in
U.S. District Court in San Francisco."
"The agency was required to publish a final rule a year
later but failed to do so, the suit said."
"Leatherbacks are the largest sea turtles, growing up to 8
feet long and weighing as much as a ton. They also have the longest migration,
12,000 miles each summer and fall from nesting grounds in Indonesia to the West
Coast of the United States."
"They were placed on the endangered species list in 1970,
but their numbers have continued to plummet because of accidental deaths caused
by commercial fishing operations as well as water pollution, according to
government reports. Conservation groups said the Pacific population has
declined more than 95 percent since 1980, with only 2,000 adult females
remaining."
Santa Clara officialsl have approved bond financing that could help fund a stadium there for the 49ers. Mike Rosenberg in the Mercury News has the story.
"The Santa Clara City Council voted unanimously Tuesday
night to sell up to $25 million in bonds to refurbish public buildings in the
Bayshore area, and possibly up to an additional $10 million to help fund a new
49ers stadium."
"The amount of bonds sold by the city will depend on the
financial market, and officials are not overly optimistic that they will have
takers for the full $35 million offer."
"The first $25 million in bond proceeds will be spent on maintaining
several city buildings in the Bayshore North area, including the Santa Clara
Convention Center and its parking garage."
"The funds will also help upkeep on fire stations 10 and
6, the Santa Clara Youth Soccer Park, the David's of Santa Clara Banquet and
Meeting Facility, the Martinson Day Care Center, the new North Bayshore Library
and a new parking garage."
Sleepy air traffic controllers seem to be in the news lately, but here's a miscue that didn't involve anyone nodding off. It did, however, involve Michelle Obama.
"A White House plane carrying Michelle Obama came
dangerously close to a 200-ton military cargo jet and had to abort its landing
at Andrews Air Force Base on Monday as the result of an air traffic
controller’s mistake, according to federal officials familiar with the
incident."
"Ultimately, controllers at Andrews feared that the cargo
jet was not moving quickly enough to clear the runway in time for the White
House plane to land, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity
because they are not authorized to speak for their agencies."
"Officials with the Federal
Aviation Administrationconfirmed Tuesday that the first lady was
aboard the plane and said that “the aircraft were never in any danger.” The
White House referred all questions to the FAA."
"The FAA, already
dealing with a series of controversiesinvolving controllers
sleeping and watching a movie on the job, sent a team of
investigators Tuesday to theWarrenton
radar control center, where the mistake was made."
