A county in the heart of California, the area seen as ground zero of the proposed $99 billion bullet train, has sued in court to block the high-speed rail project. Kings County, in effect, says the bullet-train costs too much.
From Mike Rosenberg in the Mercury News: "Proving again just how big a challenge the state faces in building a $99 billion high-speed train project, the Central Valley county where the railroad construction is to start sued to block the plan Monday."
"Kings County says California can't legally spend $2.7 billion in voter-approved state bond funds to start building the bullet train line in their rural district, arguing it's not the same project voters approved in 2008. Since then, the cost has tripled and funding sources have dried to such an extent that the state can only afford to build an initial stretch of track so small that it won't support any service."
"The board of supervisors for the small county between Fresno and Bakersfield and two community activists hired a Peninsula attorney to file the suit in hopes of preventing California leaders from starting construction on the bullet train line next year."
"The 10-page suit filed in Sacramento is the latest legal challenge from angry communities, led by the Peninsula, that want to stop the project. The cities fear the elevated rail line will destroy properties along its path, lower home and business values, divide the community and create blight. The state's main problem is finding the 90 percent of funding still needed to build the full line between the Bay Area and Southern California, but the community opposition has slowed down the planning and threatened to increase project costs, delay the plan or even kill it."
The mayor of San Diego, a Republican, and Gov. Brown, a Democrat, and the mayor of San Francisco, another Democrat, have urged Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, the 12-year-old law that denies marital benefits to same-sex spouses.
From Tony Perry in the Los Angeles Times: "San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, a Republican whose decision in 2007 to drop his opposition to same-sex marriage put him at odds with the GOP, has joined Gov. Brown and the mayors of Los Angeles and San Francisco -- all Democrats -- in urging Congress to overturn a law denying recognition of such marriages."
"Sanders, Brown, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaragoisa and San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee signed a letter urging members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to advance legislation that would overturn the so-called Defense of Marriage Act."
"The federal government should not be in the business of picking which marriages it likes and which it does not," said the letter."
"In 2007, on the eve of his reelection bid, Sanders dropped his previous opposition to same-sex marriage. In a tearful news conference, Sanders said he could not accept the idea that his daughter Lisa is less worthy of forming a lasting relationship because she is a lesbian."
Turnout under the controversial ranked-choice voting system was dismal during last week's mayoral election in San Francisco, and critics are talking about scuttling the system in entirely.
From Lance Williams at California Watch: "Now in use in four California cities, this new voting system was supposed to increase voter turnout, stanch the flow of special interest money and encourage high-minded, positive campaigns."
"But it didn’t play out that way in the biggest ranked-choice election yet – the 2011 San Francisco mayoral race."
"Turnout was down, the worst in a competitive race in about 35 years, as the San Francisco Chronicle noted."
"Independent soft money committees, financed by big corporations and labor unions, spent heavily, ducking the city's tough donation limits."
The Occupy movement seems to be occupying the minds of the UC Regents: They've canceled their planned meeting this week amid concerns about violence and strife. The Chronicle's Nanette Asimov has the story.
"UC leaders said Monday that university police told them "rogue elements intent on violence and confrontation with UC public safety officers were planning to attach themselves to peaceful demonstrations expected to occur at the meeting," set for Wednesday and Thursday at the Mission Bay campus."
"As the Occupy movement grows across California and UC, protesters had called for a massive demonstration at the Wednesday meeting, claiming that regents with ties to banking "are the 1 percent" responsible for astronomical fee hikes and budget cuts."
"At least four regents have such ties, they said: Monica Lozano serves on the board of Bank of America, Dick Blum is head of Blum Capital Partners, Leslie Tang Schilling is an adviser at the Union Square Investment Company and Paul Wachter is CEO of Main Street Advisors."
A Republican-led plan to overturn the state Senate maps approved by an independent, voter-approved commission has turned in some 711,000 signatures on petititons to place the referendum on next June's ballot.
From Jim Miller in the Press Enterprise: "The petition deadline was Sunday. Organizers need 504,760 valid voter signatures to qualify a ballot measure to scrap the Senate plan crafted by the voter-approved Citizens Redistricting Commission."
"That would suspend the maps and trigger the California Supreme Court’s involvement, with a possible redraw in time for the 2012 elections."
"About 31,600 of the signatures came from Riverside County voters and 48,000 came from San Bernardino County, according to county elections officials, citing figures from the Fairness and Accountability in Redistricting campaign."
“It was a tight deadline. We collected as many signatures as we could,” said Andre Levesque, a campaign spokesman. “We’re confident we’ll get there on a full count.”
