"The state budget impasse that has lingered for more than a month
is holding up $1 billion in payments to California's 785 state-funded child-care agencies, putting at risk 500,000 low-income children who could lose services, state Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said Tuesday," reports Carla Rivera in the Times.
"O'Connell said thousands of licensed child-care programs served by the agencies are on the brink of closing, with many issuing IOUs to employees or taking out costly lines of credit that could mean future reductions in services. The ripple effect if programs cannot weather the budget delay could be devastating, he said, putting in jeopardy the jobs of parents who depend on child care as well as the state's 24,000 child-care workers.
"'
Many of the most vulnerable and helpless Californians are in fear of losing important services,' O'Connell said during a news conference at the Emerson Children's Center in Burbank. 'The programs provide developmentally appropriate instruction for students from the day they're born to 12 years old. The programs also provide meals, and for many children they are the most nutritious they will receive all day.'"
Meanwhile, Jeff Denham
responds to an editorial in the Modesto Bee which called on the senator to cast the deciding vote in favor of the budget. "Stop playing 'Chicken Little,'" writes Denham. "The governor and his Cabinet members are running around saying 'The sky is falling!' because we don't have a budget. Nonsense.
The state has gone through this before and we will survive. Instead of photo-ops and theatrics by the governor and the Democrats, he should call a special session to force the Senate and Assembly back into session."
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, lawmakers of both parties and government watchdog groups
say the state should take time after the deadlock is resolved to find a better way to pass the annual spending plan.
"'
When you get out of Sacramento, you really realize that people want us to get our budget done on time,' said Assembly Minority Leader
Mike Villines, a Republican from the Fresno suburb of Clovis."
Particularly those people in Europe...
"'
I think the public looks at us and says, 'Why aren't you getting the budget done on time, and why don't you have a budget that lives within our means? That's what we do.' I think it hurts our credibility.'
"Villines has had a lot of time to think about the stalled budget since he returned to his Central Valley district at the beginning of the Legislature's scheduled summer recess July 20. The Assembly passed the $145 billion spending plan, but it has stalled in the Senate.
"The deadlock has revealed several fundamental problems in the budget process that lawmakers and Schwarzenegger say they are eager to address once this year's budget is finally approved.
"They include the state's chronic imbalance between revenue and spending, past lawsuits and voter-approved initiatives that direct where much of the state's money goes, and aspects of the budget process that do not work effectively.
"'
We are really governing ourselves like a Third World country,' Senate President Pro Tem
Don Perata, D-Oakland, said Tuesday."
Meanwhile, officials in Yemen announced they had passed their budget on time, and took offense at Perata's comparison...
"The legislative leaders and Schwarzenegger say they have an informal agreement to discuss what could be sweeping changes once the legislative session ends this fall."
That'll be right after health care is reformed and before the "year of education."
And pigs flying is on that list somewhere.
"'There are shelves in this building that are just full of recommendations,' Perata said from his Capitol office. 'It's just a matter of political will.'"
"At the request of Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday
ordered a California Highway Patrol anti-gang task force into Oakland, which has been plagued by a surge of murders and the assassination of a reporter," report Steve Geissinger and Matthew Cooper in the Oakland Tribune.
"Officials kept secret the size of the force of the unusual deployment, which they said will be used to patrol streets in troubled neighborhoods.
"'With the recent spike in homicides, Dellums asked the governor for additional resources to support his comprehensive public safety strategies, which include beefed up law enforcement, prevention' and other sustainable methods, said Dellums' Chief of Staff
David Chai.
"The Tribune has learned Dellums is also expected to announce several key initiates around public safety within the next day or so.
"Officials said the force will include
'a substantial number' of CHP officers joining Oakland police and Alameda County sheriff's deputies on the streets. But authorities refused to further detail the operation."
When reached for comment, Ponch said that he can't wait to tackle Oakland's problems and
return to the dance floor.
"A Florida company
has filed a claim against the state corrections department and federal receiver Robert Sillen over a disputed deal to shuttle inmates to out-of-prison medical visits," writes Andy Furillo in the Bee.
"Medical Development International of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., has already failed in federal court to get relief for the $3.6 million it says it is owed. The action it filed July 26 with the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board is a precursor to a lawsuit in state court.
"If the claim proceeds that far, it would represent the first such action filed against Sillen, who was appointed last year by U.S. District Court Judge
Thelton Henderson to oversee medical care in California prisons. Sillen has promised to use the power of the federal courts to supersede state contracting and other laws in an effort to bring prison medical care into constitutional compliance."
"Better-than-expected investment performance
has allowed the University of California to postpone the restart of pension contributions for more than 120,000 employees.
"Since 1990, UC employees have not had to pay into their $48 billion pension fund. Employees were scheduled to resume contributions last month. UC officials announced yesterday that the restart date can be delayed at least until July because of a 19.1 percent return on investments in the past fiscal year.
"Some union members said yesterday they are pleased by the news but believe the university should allow employees to share in the governance of their pension."
Meanwhile, "Secretary of State
Debra Bowen yesterday
cleared the way for signature gathering for measures aimed at overturning four lucrative Indian gaming compacts, including agreements signed by Sycuan of El Cajon and Pechanga of Temecula.
"Racetracks and a powerful labor union representing casino workers have until Oct. 8 to collect 434,000 signatures of registered voters on each referendum targeted for the Feb. 5 presidential primary ballot. Supporters must qualify separate measures to overturn each of the four compacts.
"The racetracks are trying to guard against the further loss of gambling dollars and the union is angry that the tribes did not yield to labor demands."
Meanwhile, things
are getting a little stinky in the high desert. "Despite the 95-degree heat this week,
Elsie Wenger has shut off her evaporative cooler, stopped flushing her toilets and forgone showers," writes the LAT's Sara Lin.
"Wenger, 86, and others who live in remote high desert patches started saving water in a panic Friday
after state health officials and the California Highway Patrol impounded several water trucks that supplied these far-flung homesteads with the precious resource.
"Authorities said the trucks were delivering non-potable water. But some customers said they didn't mind -- the water was cheap.
"'There's nothing wrong with the water. We got it tested years ago and it's good, clean water,' Wenger said, her voice shaking. 'All of us who live out of town depend on these water trucks. I don't know what to do.'
"The California Department of Public Health stopped three water trucks during a three-day sting, issuing three citations for unlicensed and unsanitary vehicles."
Now, we all know there are problems in the news biz. But maybe journalists themselves are part of the problem. Take this new memo from KOCE-TV news director
Michael Taylor, courtesy of LA Observed. "
During an interview, which will air tonight, with Register reporter John Gittelsohn another Register employee walked over to the interview area, intentionally stood behind John, faced the camera, picked his nose, and wiped it on his shirt."
"I've spoken with Register Broadcast Engineer
Don Nebel about this individual. Don has stated that
when the lights for the camera go on and we begin interview segments, this individual makes it a point to be loud, disruptive, and perform antics for the camera. Don has "waived him off" on numerous occasions, however he continues to disrupt our segments and has now escalated his attempts to embarrass both KOCE and the Register."
What we want to know is, how did Irwin Nowick get into the studio in the first place?
