Analysis: Governor’s deficit estimate rises to $20 billion
Salinas residents who heard Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger two weeks ago would have good reason to believe the budget deficit is $18 billion dating back to January.
Those who listened to him in Alameda could have walked away thinking the gap is $1 billion less. And local prosecutors who heard him at a Sacramento conference last week might peg the problem at $10 billion starting in July.
Schwarzenegger has been all over the map in his deficit estimates this month. But after offering vague explanations for the governor’s previous calculations, his aides on Tuesday decided to embrace his latest figure: as high as $20.2 billion starting July 1. . .
Thursday declared ‘Taco Truck Night’
Thursday has been declared Taco Truck Night by the founders of a Web site created in response to a new set of regulations for the mobile restaurants recently approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
“To celebrate this year’s May Day we’re announcing Taco Truck Night … Go out, get some carne asada or al pastor and support your hard working taco vendor,” the Web site Saveourtacotrucks.org readers.
The Web site, founded by teachers Aaron Sonderleiter and Chris Rutherford, received national attention when it was mentioned by Time magazine Friday in an article on the dispute over the new county rules. . .
320 complaints of racial profiling and not one had merit, LAPD says
Los Angeles Police Department officials announced Tuesday that they investigated more than 300 complaints of racial profiling against officers last year and found that none had merit—a conclusion that left members of the department’s oversight commission incredulous.
It is at least the sixth consecutive year that all allegations of racial profiling against LAPD officers have been dismissed, according to department documents reviewed by The Times.
In 2007, the LAPD’s Internal Affairs Group closed 320 investigations into allegations that officers stopped, questioned or otherwise confronted someone solely because of the person’s race. Nearly 80% of the time—252 of the cases—the claims were dismissed outright as “unfounded,” according to an annual complaint report presented Tuesday to the civilian Police Commission. In the remaining cases, there was either insufficient evidence to reach a conclusion or no misconduct was uncovered. . .
Federal, state and local governments are hiring new workers at the fastest pace in six years, helping offset job losses in the private sector.
Governments added 76,800 jobs in the first three months of 2008, reports the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That’s the biggest jump in first-quarter hiring since a boom in 2002 that followed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. By contrast, private companies collectively shed 286,000 workers in the first three months of 2008. That job loss has led many economists to declare the country is in a recession. . .
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
IDENTITY CRISIS
Companies in fear of crackdown on illegals.
Fear is spreading among many L.A. companies as the federal government steps up its enforcement of immigration rules, raiding workplaces and issuing audit notices that require businesses to prove their employees are legal.
Companies in industries with high numbers of undocumented workers are re-interviewing workers, firing those who can’t produce adequate documentation and even considering importing workers from other states – all in an effort to head off enforcement actions that can close down a business.
“You look at the apparel, restaurant, construction and agriculture industries, and there’s definitely more fear among employers now,” said Josie Gonzalez, partner at Pasadena-based immigration law firm Gonzalez & Harris LLP and chair of the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s worksite enforcement committee. . .
See the video of CEO Dov Charney in his underwear running around the plant
Schwarzenegger says Calif. faces $20 billion budget deficit
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday that California faces a budget gap that could approach $20 billion through June 2009, a dizzying projection that adds further confusion to the depth of California’s financial crisis.
“Right now, we have approximately, altogether, $20 billion of deficit,” the Republican governor told business leaders in Orange County. “It’s going to be a big challenge.”
The estimated gap for the fiscal year that begins July 1 already has prompted talk in Sacramento of tax increases and spending cuts that could hit classrooms, law enforcement and health care. . .
Exploiting Real Fears With ‘Virtual Kidnappings’
MEXICO CITY — The phone call begins with the cries of an anguished child calling for a parent: “Mama! Papa!” The youngster’s sobs are quickly replaced by a husky male voice that means business.
“We’ve got your child,” he says in rapid-fire Spanish, usually adding an expletive for effect and then rattling off a list of demands that might include cash or jewels dropped off at a certain street corner or a sizable deposit made to a local bank.
The twist is that little Pablo or Teresa is safe and sound at school, not duct-taped to a chair in a rundown flophouse somewhere or stuffed in the back of a pirate taxi. But when the cellphone call comes in, that is not at all clear. . .
L.A. assistant principal charged with molestation of 2 more students
A Los Angeles assistant principal who already faces charges of lewd acts against one student was charged Monday with molesting two others, broadening a case that has caused outrage in the South Los Angeles community in which he worked.
Assistant Principal Stephen T. Rooney was transferred to Markham Middle School in South Los Angeles last year, even though he was accused of engaging in a sexual relationship with a student at a previous school, Foshay Learning Center.
That transfer appears to have violated district policies, which require officials to conduct an independent investigation of abuse allegations before allowing a teacher or an administrator who has been accused of sexual misconduct to return to a school. . .
Monday, April 28th, 2008
Trial by John & Ken
The talk-radio show is no reason to move the corruption case of Orange County’s ex-sheriff Michael Carona.
The idea that some criminal trials are so charged that they must be moved to a new jurisdiction is almost never true, but it seems fine-tuned for the case of Michael S. Carona. For months, the former sheriff of Orange County has seen his upcoming corruption case covered in stunning, lurid, often darkly amusing detail. As the stories pile up—of Cartier watches, a mistress, badges issued to campaign contributors and “pinhole” cameras hidden in the ceiling—you might think the only options available to local jurors would be “guilty” and “especially guilty.”
Yet Carona’s lawyers have selected a particularly unpersuasive argument for changing the trial venue—that a radio station whose main transmission tower in Orange County is currently out of commission has so tainted potential jurors that Carona cannot get a fair day in court. U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guilford is considering a motion for a move to a court somewhere out of the reach of the (seemingly ubiquitous) “John & Ken Show. . .
LAPD practices for May Day protest
On a warm morning earlier this month, about 600 Los Angeles police officers gathered in the empty parking lot at Dodger Stadium for some high-stakes role playing.
Most pretended to be protesters—standing in for the ones expected to converge on downtown Los Angeles on Thursday as part of May Day immigration rallies planned across the country.
As some in the mock crowd threw bottles and acted the part of agitators, officers assigned to undercover “extraction units” quickly and quietly isolated the rabble-rousers and hauled them away. . .
Grant to fund toll experiment on 85 miles of car-pool lanes
Taking the “free” out of freeways, state and Los Angeles officials on Friday received a $213.6 million federal grant to begin an experimental program creating toll roads out of car-pool lanes on three regional freeways.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, joined by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other transit officials said the grant will allow conversion of 85 miles of car-pool lanes into toll lanes by 2010.
“The concept is simple, but the idea is bold: to make L.A an easier place to live, a better place to do business and a cleaner place to raise a family,” Peters said. . .
Friday, April 25th, 2008
Carpool lanes converted to toll lanes
If you’re used to speeding by traffic in the car pool lanes for free, you’re soon going to have to pay up.
Local, state, and federal officials are set to announce stretches of the carpool lanes on the busy 10 and 210 freeways will be converted to toll lanes. How much you would pay to drive in those lanes would depend on the time of day.
It’s a controversial plan is known as congestion pricing. . .
Beaches closed after fatal shark attack in North County
SOLANA BEACH – Several North County beaches were closed Friday morning after a man was killed in a shark attack north of Fletcher Cove, officials said.
The swimmer, 66-year-old David Martin of Solana Beach, was attacked as he was swimming about 150 yards offshore shortly after 7 a.m., officials said.
Beaches from Torrey Pines State Beach to south Carlsbad will be closed to swimming and surfing for 72 hours, with the advisory to be lifted Monday. . .
Kids cussing more than ever, parents believe
Although there’s no absolute proof backing them up, parents swear kids are dropping more F-bombs than ever before – and they’re worried sick about the collateral damage.
Some are even sending their 5-year-olds to psychologists to get them to sound less like drunken sailors and more like kindergartners.
The issue drew national attention recently when a South Pasadena High School student started a No Cuss Club and helped launch a “cuss-free week” in the city. . .
Wright Defends Sermons, Calls Uproar Unfair, Response Political
April 25 (Bloomberg)—Barack Obama’s former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, said passages of his sermons that caused an uproar were taken out of context and the Illinois senator’s denunciation of those statements doesn’t bother him because he understands it’s politics.
``He says what he has to say as a politician. I say what I have to say as a pastor,’’ Wright said in an interview with PBS’s ``Bill Moyers Journal’’ scheduled to air tonight. ``They are two different worlds.’’
Wright, in his first interview since portions of some of his sermons began playing widely on television and over the Internet, said as an activist he’s accustomed to being ``at odds with the establishment.’’ He said the portrayal of his teachings is unfair, unjust and has made him the target of hatred. It’s ``very, very unsettling,’’ Wright said. . .
BABY MAMA
Just because “Saturday Night Live” is something like a hundred years old, doesn’t mean we can’t stop mining it for new movie stars. Hey, Will Ferrell has made some hits, hasn’t he? The success rate isn’t good, and, honestly, who watches that show anymore, but here goes – you may recognize both women though, Amy Poehler is the lady who does the Hillary Clinton impersonation, and Tina Fey stars in the NBC sitcom, “30 Rock”.
Fey is gone from “SNL”, but they team up again for this one, which represents, for me, a perfectly neutral attempt. Meaning, I can’t say too many bad things about it, and I can’t say too many good things either. (more…)
Thursday, April 24th, 2008
Two major US retailers ration rice amid global food crisis
Two major US bulk retailers are rationing the sale of large bags of rice to consumers amid a growing global food crisis marked by skyrocketing prices and heavy pressure on demand.
Sam’s Club, a chain owned by retail giant Wal-Mart, announced Wednesday it was placing a limit of four 20-pound (nine-kilogram) bags per person for imported jasmine, basmati and long grain white rices as a “precautionary step.”
“This temporary cap is intended to ensure there is plenty of rice for all our members,” said Sam’s Club, which has 600 stores across the United States, adding that the measure did not apply to smaller bags of rice. . .
Carona lawyer: Talk show hosts are tainting the jury pool
Attorneys for ex-sheriff Michael Carona want to move his public corruption trial out of Orange County because of inflammatory remarks by the hosts of KFI radio talk show “The John & Ken Show.”
Radio personalities John Kobylt and Ken Chaimpou have made no bones about their beliefs that Carona is guilty, and that they don’t trust the justice system.
“John and Ken … have urged and instructed their listeners to lie to the court in order to be selected as a juror and convict Carona,” writes Jeffrey Rawitz, one of Carona’s lawyers in a brief filed this week. “The prejudicial effect of these talk radio personalities cannot be underscored. John and Ken remain persistent and defiant in their admitted goal to taint the jury pool. . .
U.S. offers L.A. $213 million for toll lane plan
The federal government has offered Los Angeles County $213 million to convert carpool lanes to special, congestion-pricing toll lanes on three freeways, according to county government documents.
The freeways involved first would be short stretches of Interstates 10 and 210 in the San Gabriel Valley, and then, if any money remained, part of the 110 south of downtown Los Angeles.
The federal funding, however, would come to L.A. County only if local and state transportation officials agreed to the changes, which are highly controversial in the region, where most motorists expect “free” freeways. . .
Secret Service Catch Mexican Official Nabbing White House BlackBerries
Whether he was up to no good or simply desperate to play BrickBreaker, a Mexican press attaché was caught on camera by Secret Service pocketing several White House BlackBerries during a recent meeting in New Orleans, FOX News has learned.
Sources with knowledge of the incident said the official, Rafael Quintero Curiel, served as the lead press advance person for the Mexican Delegation and was responsible for handling logistics and guiding the Mexican media around at the conference. He took six or seven of the handheld devices from a table outside a special room in the hotel where the Mexican delegation was meeting with President Bush earlier this week.
Everyone entering the room was required to leave his or her cell phone, BlackBerry and other such devices on the table, a common practice when high-level meetings are held. American officials discovered their missing belongings when they were leaving the session. . .
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
Seizing on Her Primary Win, Clinton Says Tide Is Turning
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today seized on her decisive victory over Senator Barack Obama in Pennsylvania to proclaim “the tide is turning” in the Democratic nominating fight, arguing that her performance on Tuesday proved she was best suited to take on Senator John McCain in the fall because of her capacity to carry key swing states.
“I won the states that we have to win — Ohio, now Pennsylvania,” she said on CNN in one of six appearances on morning news shows Wednesday. “It’s very hard to imagine a Democrat getting to the White House without winning those states.”
Mrs. Clinton won the Pennsylvania popular vote, 55 percent to 45 percent, giving her a critical boost as the she heads into the next nominating contests in North Carolina and Indiana in 13 days. Polls suggest that Mr. Obama is better positioned in those states than he was in Pennsylvania. . .
Lawmaker pushes for expansion of secret license plates
SANTA ANA – Assemblyman Sandre Swanson told the story earlier this month during a public radio show about confidential license plates intended to protect government employees from criminals.
Swanson wants to expand the program, which already shields the home address on record for nearly 1 million cars owned by public employees.
“We’ve had a code enforcement officer who was killed and his family murdered as a result of his information being obtained through DMV records,” Swanson said on AirTalk on KPPC. “and so we’ve already had tragic examples. . .
