Why CA is so screwed up, in a nutshell

March 31, 2013 By Chris Reed So CalPERS’ actuary, in a fit of unusual honesty, says the pension giant’s finances are in bad shape in the long run and need to be firmed up. But Alan Milligan realizes that asking

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Did Gov. Brown really cut staff costs?

March 31, 2013 By Wayne Lusvardi  Gov. Jerry Brown has received a lot of media attention lately with his news release that he cut his personal staff budget by about 50 percent compared to his predecessor, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.   In

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Politicians seek special enviro deal on arena

This is Part One of a two-part series. March 30, 2013 By Katy Grimes SACRAMENTO — The unusually speedy approval of a new NBA arena for the Kings basketball team in the heart of downtown Sacramento leaves many details and

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Why is state gov so inefficient? Duh. Job preservation.

March 30, 2013 By Chris Reed The Sacramento Bee’s Jon Ortiz had a piece Thursday about the grotesque mess that is California state government that had lots of interesting details about the extent of the dysfunction: “Last year, Gov. Jerry

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AB 245 would shine light on cap-and-trade auctions

March 29, 2013 By Warren Duffy AB 245 is a bill that would reverse the secrecy that currently exists around the cap-and-trade auctions of the California Air Resources Board. As CalWatchdog.com reported last August, the Legislature “nixed” proposals to mandate accountability under Sections

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Auditor: California $127 billion in the red

March 29, 2013 By John Seiler It’s official: California is broke. According to a new report by state Auditor Elaine Howle: “unrestricted net assets totaled a negative $127.2 billion. Restricted net assets are dedicated for specified uses and are not available

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Redevelopment 2.0 keeps flaws of the old redevelopment

This is Part Two of a two-part series. Part One is here. March 29, 2013 By Wayne Lusvardi Los Angeles-based redevelopment expert Larry Kosmont is marketing his Redevelopment 2.0 idea as a way to compete with other states that currently are

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Bond betrayal: Did college district dupe OC Tax on PLA?

March 29, 2013 By John Hrabe When Orange County voters approved $698 million in new borrowing for the Coast Community College District last fall, they received reassurances from the county’s preeminent taxpayer organization that the measure took a responsible approach

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Unionized workers reject their own UAW contract!

March 29, 2013 By Katy Grimes In an bizarre twist on reality, the United Auto Workers union found itself bargaining as an employer, but got a taste of their own medicine when 74 of the union’s own workers at the UAW-General Motors Center

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