Today, once again, is prisons day in the state Assembly.
But this time, with a dramatically scaled-back version of the bill scheduled to be before the
house, it looks like the votes are there.
Among the Democrats ready to vote for the modified
proposal is Attorney General candidate Alberto Torrico ,
D-Fremont. In an op-ed in Capitol Weekly, Torrico writes, "I
am proud to say that the package the Assembly will
vote on this Monday
is one that I have worked closely with the Speaker,
district attorneys,
sheriffs, police chiefs and others to help craft and
improve. This
improved prison reform plan will save hundreds of millions
of dollars,
reduce parole officer caseloads, redirect focus to
dangerous parolees,
modernize our penal code and provide incentives for
reducing recidivism.
Specifically,
the amended bill eliminates the practice of returning
parolees to
prison for technical violations, provides sentencing
credits to
encourage inmates to participate in programs that reduce
recidivism,
lowers the target parolee supervision levels from 70:1 to 45:1 and
provides federal money to counties to develop recidivism
reduction
programs."
The LA Times reports today promises to be a rough one in the battle of Man
vs. Fire .
"The massive Station fire, which has burned more than 42,000 acres
and caused the deaths of two firefighters, grew overnight, and
firefighters predicted another dangerous day.
"More neighborhoods were evacuated overnight as the
fire pushed in
three directions. Officials said the blaze had not
yet burned to the
top of Mt. Wilson, where critical communications centers
are located,
but they said that area remains highly vulnerable.
"The fire destroyed at least 18 structures in the Angeles National
Forest, and officials said several homes were destroyed overnight
south
of Acton. They said the fire could double in size again today."
LA Observed IDs the two firefighters killed fighting the blaze. "The two firefighters killed in a vehicle accident Sunday
on Mount
Gleason above Acton were identified by the Los Angeles
County Fire
Department. Tedmund Hall, who lived in San Bernardino
County, had been
with the department for 26 years. Specialist Arnaldo Quinones, of
Palmdale, had been with the department for eight years. Their vehicle
was "overrun by a fast-moving fire which approached Fire Camp 16 on the
Station Fire incident,'' said a statement from L.A. County fire.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
George Skelton ruminates on 70 years of Frank Fat's.
"The heyday for Frank Fat's restaurant, Kevin says, was when "people
made relationships by talking face to face, not by
e-mail, not by
texting."
Skelton says the anniversary is"a chance
to reflect back on an era when legislators tended to
become bipartisan
pals and pragmatic producers of good public policy.
"Fat's -- and other Capitol watering holes -- provided the political equivalent of campfire camaraderie.It
wasn't always pretty from a reformer's perspective. Lobbyists usually sprang for drinks
and dinner."
Hey, maybe lobbyists can buy again when all the Legislators
are part-timers...
"Former state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, who wants to be Oakland's next mayor, has been quietly undergoing treatment for prostate cancer, " Matier and Ross report.
"Like a lot of people over 50, I had a PSA test, and it found a tumor in the early
stages, so we dealt with it," Perata said.
Perata got the diagnosis in May - about two weeks after the FBI finally cleared him
in a 5-year corruption investigation."Trust me, the FBI was a lot tougher to handle with
than this. At
least with cancer I knew what I was dealing with," Perata said.
Cathleen Decker looks at the age gap in the Democratic gubernatorial primary .
"Elections are often defined by those schisms, most
recently in the 2008
presidential campaign when Barack Obama defeated two
older and far more
experienced opponents, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John
McCain, in part
by sailing the winds of change. And that is also the
subtext of the
Democratic campaign for governor of California in 2010.
The young and unlined one, in this case, is Gavin Newsom,
the mayor of
San Francisco, who is 41. His expected opponent is Jerry Brown,
California's attorney general. At one time the young and unlined
one,
he is now 71, and the hair he has left is silver.
The competition is not yet official; Brown, the governor from 1975 to
1983, has yet to formally announce his intentions. But
he broadcast
them yet again last week when he sent out a "campaign update" calling
attention to a poll that had him, in the race for governor,
17 points
ahead of Newsom in San Francisco."
Meanwhile, Senate wannabe Carly Fiorina is being dogged by questions about Iran, reports Mike Zapler.
"Over the
past dozen years, Hewlett-Packard has sold hundreds of millions of
dollars worth of printers and other products to Iran
through a Middle
East distributor, sidestepping a U.S. ban on trade
with the country.
"Now
the person who headed HP for much of that time, Carly
Fiorina, is
ramping up to run for U.S. Senate. And questions are
emerging about
what Fiorina knew about HP's growing presence in Iran during her
six-year tenure at the Silicon Valley firm from 1999 to 2005."
Cue the Chuck DeVore press release...
And finally, if you're feeling lonely as summer ends, you can always get
yourself a pillow. AP explains, "
Lonely Japanese men (and a few women) with rich imaginations have
created a thriving subculture ("otaku") in which they have
all-consuming relationships with figurines that are based
on popular
anime characters.
"The less extreme," reported a New York Times writer
in July, obsessively collect the dolls. The hardcore
otaku "actually
believes that a lumpy pillow with a drawing of a (teenage character) is
his girlfriend," and takes her out in public on romantic dates. "She
has really changed my life," said "Nisan," 37, referring to his gal,
Nemutan.
Disturbing...
