Budget and Finance

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Rush to hike health premiums

JUNE 28, 2010 By PATRICK RYAN California health-care insurers are pushing for massive premium hikes before the new federal health-care law — which increases federal- and state-government control over health insurance premiums — kicks in. On June 16 the California

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Study lobbies for more spending

JUNE 28, 2010 By LAURA SUCHESKI A report released Thursday from the left-leaning California Budget Project spells bad news for low- and middle-income Californians. The report, titled “Making Ends Meet: How Much Does It Cost to Raise a Family in

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Follow the (Recycling) Money

JUNE 25, 2010 “It is reprehensible that anyone would use taxpayer money for anything other than its intended purpose.” That’s Aaron McLear, spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, speaking to the Los Angeles Times about its revelation that state-issued welfare debit

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Illegals may get more ed aid

JUNE 23, 2010 By LAURA SUCHESKI The Assembly Higher Education Committee considered the SB1460 California Dream Act this afternoon, a law that would extend the ability to apply for state financial aid to illegal immigrants. AB540, enacted in 2001, extends

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Another economic dip coming?

JUNE 21, 2010 By JOHN SEILER Here’s something Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown should be debating. As the California budget is haggled over by the governor, Legislature and the powerful government unions, one thing everyone assumes is that the California

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Steinberg appeases educators

JUNE 17, 2010 By EVELYN STACEY On June 14, Senator Darrell Steinberg held a press conference at Edward Kemble Elementary, of Sacramento City Unified School District, to offer his support and solutions for schools in the midst of the budget

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Bye-bye budget deadline

June 15, 2010 By LAURA SUCHESKI Boiled down, the state government has one big job: levy taxes and spend the revenues.  But California’s statutory budget deadline passed again today with little notice from Sacramento lawmakers. The Legislature hasn’t met the

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Cal recovery lags USA

JUNE 7, 2010 By JOHN SEILER California’s economy is recovering, but more slowly than that of the rest of America, according to the June 3 forecast of the A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research at Chapman University, which I

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Raise school age to 6

Here’s something the Legislature is considering: The earliest age at which California children could start kindergarten would go up three months under a measure passed by the state Senate on Wednesday. Youngsters would have to turn 5 by Sept. 1

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