In an odd twist that raises the hackles of open-government advocates, lawmakers have sent to Gov. Brown a bill that excludes the public from attending certain meetings that include the governor and county officials.
From the LAT's Patrick McGreeevy: "The state Senate sent to Gov. Jerry Brown's desk a measure created in reaction to a legal opinion by a county prosecutor. The official said a private 2011 meeting between Brown and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors violated the public's right to see government business being conducted."
"At that closed-door meeting, Brown and the supervisors discussed his controversial plan, dubbed "realignment," to begin holding nonviolent felons and certain other low-level offenders in county jails rather than send them to state lockups. The plan followed federal court orders to reduce prison crowding."
"Such conversations would be permitted behind closed doors under the new legislation."
Randy "Duke" Cunningham, the former Navy hero and congressman who was imprisoned for corruption, is being released from federal custody.
From the AP's Elliot Spagat:"Cunningham, 71, is due to be released Tuesday. He told a federal judge last year that he planned to live near his mother and brother in a remote part of Arkansas, writing books in a small cabin. But in a brief interview with The Associated Press in April, he said he might settle with military friends in Florida, where he would write his memoirs."
"I'm like a tenderfoot in the forest," he said. "I'm just unsure where to find a branch to sit on."
"Cunningham, an eight-term Republican congressman from San Diego, was sentenced to eight years, four months in prison in March 2006 after pleading guilty to accepting bribes from companies in exchange for steering government contracts their way. The bribes included a luxury house, yacht, Rolls-Royce, travel, lavish meals, $40,000 Persian rugs and antique furniture."
State Treasurer Bill Lockyer, the former attorney general, Senate leader and Assembly member, says he's retiring and won't run next year for controller, as he had planned.
From Capitol Weekly's Greg Lucas: "I need to do something different that’s challenging and interesting,” Lockyer told Capitol Weekly in announcing he won’t seek the job of controller in 2014 for which he’s raised $2.2 million as of January, state campaign reports show."
"His departure boosts the chances of State Board of Equalization Member Betty Yee, the other declared Democrat in the controller’s race. It does the same for a higher profile Democrat who might choose to run with Lockyer out..."
"As an East Bay Assemblyman for 10 years, a senator for 15 years -- the Senate’s leader for four of them -- attorney general for eight years and treasurer for seven years, the restless and obsessively inquisitive Lockyer has been a thoughtful policy maker, zealous protector of First Amendment rights and an artful negotiator with a gift for finding common ground."
Billionaire Tom Steyer, an environmentalists and the architect of a successful ballot initiaitve last year to close a major corporate tax loophole, told President Obama in an open letter that the president faces a political backlash if he approves the Keystone XL pipeline.
From the Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin: "Steyer, who has targeted Keystone supporters through his NextGen Action political action committee, says in the letter the president and his deputies now have no excuse for approving the project, which would transport the carbon-intense crude from Alberta to Gulf Coast refineries."
There has been growing unrest among many of Obama’s supporters, who are upset that Organizing for Action–the advocacy group affiliated with the president–is not taking a position on the pipeline. The State Department is in the midst of conducting an environmental review of Keystone XL, after which it must determine whether the project serves the national interest."
"The president is only required to weigh in on TransCanada’s request for a permit if one federal agency challenges the State Department’s final decision."
The state Parks and Recreation Department, which came under fire after a newspaper report disclosed that officials there were sitting on a stash of unused cash, is up for an overhaul.
From The Bee's Matt Weiser: "Called Parks Forward, the effort is required by the California State Parks Stewardship Act, passed last year in the wake of a financial scandal that upended the leadership ranks at state parks headquarters."
"The system has been under scrutiny since The Bee revealed last year that top officials at theDepartment of Parks and Recreation hid $20 million in "surplus" money even as they set about closing 70 parks due to budget cuts."
"Among its other troubles, the department has a deferred maintenance backlog at its 280 parks that exceeds $1 billion."
And from our "Tales of Finland" file comes the story of the Baby Box, a tradition in Finland since 1938.
"With the mattress in the bottom, the box becomes a baby's first bed. Many children, from all social backgrounds, have their first naps within the safety of the box's four cardboard walls."
"Mothers have a choice between taking the box, or a cash grant, currently set at 140 euros, but 95% opt for the box as it's worth much more. The tradition dates back to 1938. To begin with, the scheme was only available to families on low incomes, but that changed in 1949."
"Not only was it offered to all mothers-to-be but new legislation meant in order to get the grant, or maternity box, they had to visit a doctor or municipal pre-natal clinic before their fourth month of pregnancy," says Heidi Liesivesi, who works at Kela - the Social Insurance Institution of Finland."
