Democrats present plan to tax California’s wealthy

SACRAMENTO — Democratic lawmakers presented a plan late Tuesday night to impose $9.7 billion in new taxes on the wealthy and corporations to avoid the cuts to government services in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget plan.

Republicans, who hold enough votes to block a budget from passing, vowed to fight it.

But a week after the state blew its deadline for enacting a spending plan, the proposal offers the first glimpse at how the Democrats who control the Legislature would go about eliminating a deficit that has soared to $15.2 billion.

Most of the new revenue would come from an income tax hike. . .

Carona doled out Orange County reserve badges to ‘friends’ who donated $1,000, court document says

Former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona gave reserve deputy badges to 86 people on a roster known as the “friends list” in exchange for donations of $1,000 to his first campaign, a key witness in the corruption case against him told federal investigators.

The witness, former Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl, alleged that he reimbursed a portion of these contributors with cash, either directly or through businessmen who worked for him, according to court records.

Haidl told federal agents that Carona’s goal was to sign up 1,000 reserves and collect a $1,000 donation for each badge in an effort to raise $1 million for his campaign war chest. . .

Property tax funds rise as housing market falls

For decades, Proposition 13 has been cast as the bane of cash-strapped local government, limiting property tax revenues even as California’s housing market soared.

But this week, as county assessors reported rising tax bases despite the housing slump, they credited the 30-year-old law — revealing its unexpected role as an economic stabilizer.

Counties across Southern California reported that their overall tax bases grew compared with last year’s. The corresponding revenue increase occurred despite falling home prices and even though assessors have reduced the property values on nearly 600,000 homes in five Southland counties in the last few months because of the real estate downturn. . .

Silver Alerts could help pinpoint missing seniors’ location

Mary Lallucci shudders at the thought of another family experiencing the agony she went through after her mother disappeared from an assisted-living home in Florida last winter.

Lallucci’s mother, Mary Zelter, 86, who had occasional bouts of dementia, left her assisted-living home to go grocery shopping in Largo, Fla., on Feb. 26. A week later, two fishermen found Zelter’s body and car in the Intracoastal Waterway off Clearwater Beach.

“Those seven days were so grueling,” she says. “You just don’t want any other family to go through the terror of that. . .