AP Weighs in on Bologna Murders, Still Nothing from L.A. Times

SAN FRANCISCO—The scene repeats itself every day on city streets: A driver gets stuck bumper-to-bumper, blocking the intersection and another car’s ability to complete a left turn.

San Francisco authorities say that was enough to prompt Edwin Ramos to unload an AK47 assault weapon on a man and his two sons, killing all three.

The murders immediately sparked public outrage, which only intensified when authorities revealed that Ramos, 21, is an illegal immigrant who had managed to avoid deportation despite previous brushes with the law. . .

Governor set to slash state workers’ pay

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to sign an executive order next week intended to temporarily reduce pay for 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 per hour to preserve cash until lawmakers reach a budget deal, according to a draft copy of the order obtained by The Bee.

The governor’s order also would terminate about 22,000 retired annuitants, temporary workers and seasonal employees, as well as impose a hard freeze that blocks the hiring of roughly 1,700 new employees per month.

Administration officials said the Republican governor expects to take the action Monday, when the budget will be four weeks late as Democrats and Republicans continue to spar over how to resolve a $15.2 billion shortfall. . .

Why you want this tax hike
By Antonio Villaraigosa

In 2005, I asked Angelenos to join me in re-imagining their city as a dynamic world capital defined by its flexibility and mobility, not by traffic and smog.

I challenged them to imagine communities connected not by bigger, wider highways but by a real network of public transit options—rapid buses, trains and subway lines—connecting every neighborhood in our county’s 88 cities.

I asked them to imagine cleaner and greener neighborhoods where we each pitch in to combat global warming and create a more sustainable city. . .