State & Regional Govt & Politics Stories for April 2012
Stories for Sunday, April 29
Bill cuts tuition by closing corporate loophole
Democratic lawmakers are offering a way to help California's middle class families cope with soaring college tuition: close a corporate tax loophole and use the money for scholarships. But the "Middle-Class Scholarship Act," which receives its first committee hearing this week, already is facing several obstacles. Five out-of-state corporations are ...
Stories for Tuesday, April 24
Californians to vote on abolishing death penalty
California voters will soon get a chance to decide whether to replace the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole. A measure to abolish capital punishment in California qualified for the November ballot on Monday, Secretary of State Debra Bowen said. If it passes, the 725 ...
Stories for Monday, April 23
State's prison overhaul would save $1.5B a year
California prison officials released a wide-ranging reorganization plan Monday that calls for halting a $4 billion prison-construction program and bringing back all inmates held out of state. The master plan outlines the department's recommendations for ending years of federal court oversight, overcrowding, poor inmate medical and mental health treatment, and ...
PG&E seeks to avoid paying punitive damages
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. wants to avoid paying punitive damages to survivors of the deadly San Bruno pipeline explosion, saying the blast was an accident rather than the result of mismanagement. PG&E faces more than 100 civil lawsuits for the pipeline explosion, which killed eight and destroyed 38 homes ...
Stories for Tuesday, April 17
UC leader aims to prevent pepper-spray incidents
The chancellor of the University of California, Davis is promising changes to prevent incidents like the widely condemned pepper-spraying of student protesters last fall. Chancellor Linda Katehi said Tuesday she accepts full responsibility for the Nov. 19 confrontation between campus police and students who had set up an Occupy encampment ...
Brown seeks to eliminate 718 unnecessary reports
From kangaroo harvests to tire recycling, Gov. Jerry Brown announced Tuesday that his administration has uncovered more than 700 unnecessary state reports. As part of a cost-cutting review Brown ordered last year, the governor's office released a list of 718 reports it believes are insignificant and outdated, about half of ...
Email from wife's account drawing unwanted attention to Lockyer
California state treasurer Bill Lockyer is used to the public spotlight. Just not like this. After a political career spanning four decades, Lockyer is drawing attention not for his job but for his marital troubles, his wife's substance abuse and her claim that she was roughed up by an ex-boyfriend ...
Stories for Monday, April 16
Assembly bill would punish those who bully online
State lawmakers trying to keep up with evolving trends in online bullying passed a bill Monday that would give schools broader authority to punish students who harass their classmates on social networking sites. AB1732 would allow schools to suspend or expel students who create online profiles impersonating classmates or set ...
Aging transit systems grapple with repair backlog
Driven by high gas prices and an uncertain economy, Americans are turning to trains and buses to get around in greater numbers than ever before. But the aging transit systems they're riding face an $80 billion maintenance backlog that jeopardizes service just when it's most in demand. The boost in ...
Stories for Thursday, April 12
Rail authority passes plan for bullet train
The authority overseeing efforts to build a high-speed rail system in California approved its revised business plan on Thursday, sending the ambitious project to an uncertain fate in the Legislature. The California High-Speed Rail Authority voted 6-0, with two members absent, to approve its latest plan. Two hours of public ...
Stories for Monday, April 9
Bullet train consultant ties questioned
A $400-an-hour consultant who was hired to judge the accuracy of ridership estimates for California's proposed bullet train once worked for the company that prepares them. Frank S. Koppelman worked for Massachusetts-based Cambridge Systematics Inc. on two projects before taking his job with the California High-Speed Rail Authority in 2010, ...
Stories for Monday, April 2
Appeals court upholds state's college admissions affirmative action ban
Affirmative action proponents took a hit Monday as a federal appeals court panel upheld California's ban on using race, ethnicity and gender in admitting students to public colleges and universities. The ruling marked the second time the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turned back a challenge to the state's ...
Anticipation mounts over state release of $68.4 billion high-speed rail plan
California's ambitious plans to build a north-to-south high-speed rail system are expected to get a jumpstart Monday when the authority overseeing the project releases an updated blueprint for construction and financing. The plan was nearly derailed last fall after a draft plan said the project's cost had more than doubled ...
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