Get your map out: The first leg of California's high-speed rail system is poised to be built between Borden
and
Corcoran in the Central Valley, and a lot of people are upset -- including Rep. Dennis Cardoza. Mike Rosenberg and Gary Richards at the Mercury News
have the story.
"But last week's proposal from authority CEO Roelof
van Ark to
start with the two tiny burgs caught U.S. Rep. Dennis
Cardoza, D-Merced, and
other officials off guard. Corcoran is perhaps best
known for the state prison
where Charles Manson is locked up. Borden, meanwhile,
is an unincorporated
community for which the U.S. Census Bureau doesn't
even keep official
population estimates."
"Cardoza sent a two-page letter Tuesday to the heads of the
Department of Transportation and Federal Railroad Administration
calling the
idea a "gross misuse" of taxpayer funds."
California's nascent redistricting panel met for the first time as they begin the task of drawing
new political boundaries for the 2012 elections, and the pressure already is intensifying, reports
the L.A. Times' Patrick McGreevy.
"The first action of the panel Tuesday was to elect
Claremont City Councilman Peter Yao, a Republican and
retired engineer, as the
panel’s temporary chairman. It elected as temporary vice
chairwoman Cynthia
Dai, a Democrat and chief executive of a San Francisco
marketing firm..."
"The panel was advised by staff members that it needs
to
make its selections of the final members with an eye
toward the diversity,
impartiality and analytical skills of contenders."
Meanwhile, in the real world, a half-million California job-seekers are preparing to lose their unemployment benefits, following action in the U.S. Senate. The Mercury
News' Dana Hull and Patrick May tell the tale.
"An estimated 454,000 California job seekers are among
about 2 million nationwide who will be cut off from weekly
unemployment
benefits by the end of the year if the federal Emergency
Unemployment
Compensation program is allowed to lapse."
"California's 12.4 percent unemployment rate is the
third-highest in the nation, after Nevada and Michigan, and
the federal
benefits have been a lifeline for long-term unemployed workers struggling to
pay for basic expenses. In California, the average
unemployment check is $297 a
week."
Fiscal pain also looms in the Capitol, where Draconian budget cuts appear to be a certainty.
From Shane Goldmacher in the Los Angeles Times: "But his press secretary, Aaron McLear, gave a hint
on
Tuesday: "You can expect ugly cuts."
"The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office has said
the
state faces a $25.4-billion deficit through June 2012, including about $6
billion in the current budget. The governor's finance department is making its own
calculations of the current-year shortfall, which the governor will seek to
close."
Kamala Harris, who just declared victory in the campaign
for state attorney general, is rapidly emerging as a political star, not only in California but across the country. From
the Chronicle's Matier and Ross.
"She is going to have an incredibly long
reach," said former state party Chairman Art Torres. "Her
office will be in the forefront of everything from
civil rights to the
environment to consumer issues."
"She will certainly have no problem making national
impact," Torres said. Judging by her victory speech Tuesday, Harris is already
thinking big."
And now we turn to our "It's About Time File" to find that the law -- finally! -- has caught up with Lando Calrissian. The last time
I saw him he was helping Han Solo fly through the galaxy.
Oh, wait...
"After nearly five years on the run, a Saginaw man
who
shares a name with a Star Wars character was arrested
in connection with the
shooting of a Freeland teen.
Lando Calrissian Young, 24, was arrested Monday by state
police troopers in connection with the Jan. 3 shooting of Jordan Crampton."
"State police learned that he was living at a home
on Wood in Saginaw and they pulled him over driving
a family member’s vehicle, said state police Detective Sgt. Dave Simon."
Where's Ben when you need him?
