"At the budget conference committee Monday, Assembly Budget Committeee Chairwoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, vented some of her frustrations at chief deputy finance director Ana Matosantos.

"Noting that the governor had made three separate revisions to his May budget, Evans curtly asked Matosantos "Are we done now?"

Evans’ cross-examination of Matosantos garnered an angry reply from the administration. “We will continue to revise our budget numbers as the situation deteriorates,” Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said. “It is our sincere hope that Assemblywoman Evans will be able to keep up.”

The LAT's Seema Mehta and Gale Holland report, " As the state weighs cutting about $8.1 billion from public schools, colleges and universities, scores of educators, parents, students and others told lawmakers Monday that such reductions would jeopardize student success and safety in the short term and California's prosperity in the long term.

"A bleak picture emerged of the possible aftermath in the state's schools: only three guidance counselors for 3,200 students at Berkeley High School; classes increasing to 43 students per teacher in Los Angeles; students in a Sacramento suburb no longer given access to classes required for college admission; and an estimated 250,000 students pushed out of California community colleges by fee increases and financial aid cuts."

"Proposition 98 and the recession created "a political contest pitting educators against advocates of other spending areas, especially the big-ticket health and welfare programs, and public employee unions" because the state budget is essentially a zero-sum game.

Then-Gov. Pete Wilson acknowledging "clearly there is a competition," jousted with the Legislature on how deeply to cut school and health and welfare spending, as well as how much of the deficit should be covered by taxes.

"Twenty-one years after Proposition 98 was enacted, the state once again is mired in recession, the state's revenue stream is drying up, the gimmicks are no longer working, the state can't borrow any more money and the long-simmering competition between education and health and welfare programs has boiled to the surface again."

Hey, don't forget about the parks! CW reports, "As the red-ink state ponders shutting down four out of every five state parks, authorities are poised to set up caretaker and volunteer groups to maintain the properties until times get better.

"With those groups and maybe a few park rangers that can still be on the payroll and circulate among them," said state parks spokesman Roy Stearns. Stearns said between 1,500 and 2,000 of the state parks system's 2,800 employees face layoffs in order to meet the deficit-reduction projects."

LAT's Steve Chawkins reports, "The State Lands Commission on Monday lashed out at an attempt by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to allow the first new oil drilling in California waters since 1969.

Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, chairman of the three-member panel, called the governor's effort "a naked power grab." At a contentious hearing in Santa Monica, the commission passed a resolution urging legislators not to go along with the plan, which would revive a drilling proposal off the Santa Barbara County coast that the commission killed in January.

"San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom unveiled a $6.6 billion budget Monday for the 2009-10 fiscal year that he said "does a lot of extraordinary things" including bridging a half-billion-dollar deficit without raising taxes or laying off police officers, firefighters or teachers.

"It's not perfect, but it's as close to perfect, under the circumstances, as we could make it," he said.

"Standing in front of a fireplace and a bust of John F. Kennedy, Newsom said he had eliminated 1,603 positions - including 685 typists, nurses and others. He said it was the biggest workforce reduction in 20 years, leaving 26,198 city employees, the lowest number during the mayor's tenure."

"A Los Angeles television reporter is dating Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, about two years after his extramarital affair with another local newscaster led to the breakup of his 20-year marriage.

KTLA-TV Channel 5 reporter Lu Parker, a former Miss U.S.A., has been dating Villaraigosa since March, station officials confirmed Monday. On Sunday, while working as a weekend anchor, Parker announced a story about the likelihood of Villaraigosa running for governor in 2010.

""Now that we're aware of the relationship, she will no longer be covering local politics," said KTLA-TV news director Jason Ball, who defended the journalist's ethics but declined to elaborate. "I have the utmost faith in Lu Parker's abilities."

"Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa isn't going to run for governor - at least not in 2010.

"Our sources in L.A. say Villaraigosa has come to the conclusion that the time is just not right for him to make a state run - given that he hasn't even been sworn in yet to a second term, and that he's facing bloody political fights at home.

"With Villaraigosa out, it's going to be an all-out brawl between San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and California Attorney General Jerry Brown for the Democratic nomination."

“In many ways, the proposition process has worn out its usefulness,” said the former eBay CEO."

Back in Sacramento, rest assured it wasn't all budget news. Dan Walters reports, " The state Senatetoday rejected one of the legislative session's most controversial bills, aimed at encouraging -- or perhaps compelling -- dog and cat owners to have their animals neutered.

"Former Assemblyman Lloyd Levine carried pet sterilization measures for several years but was unable to move them through the Senate. After his departure, Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, took up the cause but his bill, SB 250, died in the Senate, falling five votes short of the 21 required."

And some bad news for motorcycle riders . "The state Senate voted Monday to require large motorcycles to undergo the same biennial smog checks now required of cars, but it's unlikely to be enacted in that form.

"The 22-17 vote was largely along party lines with Democrats joining the author of the bill, Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, in support and Republicans opposed. But to get enough votes for passage, Pavley promised to eliminate mandatory smog checks from the bill and and change it to tighter regulation of motorcyclists who remove their machines' catalytic converters."

And finally, Portsumth, New Hampshire's "Paul Baldwin was arrested for the 153rd time Sunday , a week after he completed a one-year jail sentence for stealing a $1.99 can of beer.

"Baldwin told Judge Sawako Gardner he went to the district court last week to apologize to her for a remark he made during an arraignment a year ago.

“I don’t need a lawyer,” he told the judge in May of 2008. “I’ve been in this court more than you have.”

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