08:10 PM PDT on Tuesday, August 31, 2010

By KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
The Press-Enterprise

By today, management of San Bernardino International Airport was supposed to shift to AFCO/AvPorts, a Virginia-based operator of several other airports and terminals including one at Newark International.

In effect, it has — 23 employees who used to report to the San Bernardino International Airport Authority now work for San Bernardino Airport Management LLC instead and AvPorts employee Rick Lamport is the airport manager.

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10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, August 31, 2010

By DUANE W. GANG
The Press-Enterprise

The politics of pension reform took center stage among Riverside County supervisors Tuesday.

An invitation mailed last week to raise money to oppose the Riverside Sheriff’s Association-backed Measure L on the November ballot included the names and signatures of all five supervisors.

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10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, August 31, 2010

By IMRAN GHORI
The Press-Enterprise

Former San Bernardino County Administrative Officer Mark Uffer said he’s been offered a job as CEO of the Colorado River Medical Center in Needles.

Uffer, who is suing the county over his November firing by a majority of the county Board of Supervisors, said he’s working out the details of his contract with the hospital and plans to accept the position at the 25-bed hospital.

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10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, August 31, 2010

By IMRAN GHORI
The Press-Enterprise

A former top aide to San Bernardino County Supervisor Paul Biane who alleged he was harassed for cooperating with a corruption investigation has dropped his complaint as part of a settlement agreement.

The county agreed to pay Matt Brown, former chief of staff to Biane, $25,000 for his attorney costs, according to a news release Monday.

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Pacheco                    Zellerbach

10:02 PM PDT on Tuesday, August 31, 2010

By DUANE W. GANG
The Press-Enterprise

PDF: Read DA-elect Paul Zellerbach’s letter to supervisors

Riverside County supervisors ordered an investigation Tuesday into claims by district attorney-elect Paul Zellerbach that current District Attorney Rod Pacheco is hiring and promoting liberally during his last months in office, despite a $9 million budget reduction.

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Negrete-McLeod

By PE Politics
on September 1, 2010 12:45 AM

Inland state Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod ensured late Tuesday’s passage of legislation that would prohibit people from openly carrying unloaded handguns in certain public places.

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Carter

By PE Politics
on September 1, 2010 7:09 AM

For much of Monday evening, Inland Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter was a “yes” vote for legislation that would give a chance of parole to prison inmates who were younger than 18 when they committed crimes for which they were later sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.

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10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, August 31, 2010

By PAUL LAROCCO
The Press-Enterprise

Riverside’s political elite received a scare this week when the office of a noted fundraiser was burglarized — though police say there’s no evidence he was targeted because of his work.

At 2 a.m. Sunday, someone smashed a window at The Michael Williams Co. at Arlington and Brockton avenues and attempted to break into an adjacent dentist’s office. A nail salon and Williams’ former office, located in the same complex, were not damaged.

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Baca

Wesley G. Hughes, Staff Writer
Posted: 08/31/2010 10:19:19 PM PDT

Rep. Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino, underwent out-patient surgery on his left knee Monday morning at Loma Linda University Medical Center.

The cartilage surgery is called OATS – short for osteoarticular transfer system. It was performed by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Christopher Jobe of Loma Linda Orthopedic Medical Group in San Bernardino. A spokesman for the congressman described Jobe as one of the nation’s top experts in sports-related orthopedic medicine.

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Calvert

06:28 PM PDT on Tuesday, August 31, 2010

By BEN GOAD
Washington Bureau

Inland Rep. Ken Calvert was hospitalized briefly Tuesday, and was released after a “minor procedure,” a spokesman for the Corona Republican said.

Calvert, 57, had attended a pair of events early Tuesday and was feeling poorly, Jason Gagnon said. After developing a fever, he was taken to Corona Regional Medical Center, where doctors treated him for an unspecified infection before releasing him a short time later Gagnon said.

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Staff and Wire Reports
Posted: 08/31/2010 06:08:31 PM PDT

SAN BERNARDINO – A conservative legal group hoping to force Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown to defend California’s gay marriage ban filed suit Monday on behalf of a local minister.

The Pacific Justice Institute petitioned the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento on behalf of Pastor Joshua Beckley of San Bernardino’s Ecclesia Christian Fellowship.

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Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
Posted: 08/31/2010 10:19:19 PM PDT

SAN BERNARDINO – Former mayors, a well-known pastor and other prominent figures have signed ballot arguments for and against Measure C, the move to change the City Charter, which is likely to dominate city politics until November.

“I think it’s going to get a lot warmer than it is today,” said former Mayor Evlyn Wilcox, who signed the argument against Measure C.

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Board action ripped

Monica Rodriguez, Staff Writer
Created: 08/31/2010 10:21:14 PM PDT

A San Dimas resident contends the Pomona Unified School District board violated the state’s open-meeting law during closed-door sessions that led to placing a parcel tax on the November ballot.

Gil Aguirre told school board members in a letter dated Aug. 16 that they violated the Brown Act when they discussed and made decisions to pursue a parcel tax in closed session on several occasions between May and August.

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Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
August 31, 2010

The first and only U.S. Senate debate scheduled so far between Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer and her Republican challenger Carly Fiorina is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday night at St. Mary’s College in Moraga.

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PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
September 1, 2010 | 12:56 am

It was an ugly ending. Lawmakers closed out their lackluster two-year legislative session by shouting, pointing fingers and casting votes on a bill that was written out of public view in the middle of the night.

The proposal, AB 1012, seemed to suddenly emerge into bill form out of nowhere and was rushed through an Assembly vote and into the Senate. It promised to be a boon to certain green power companies, allowing them to bypass environmental restrictions when building plants. Or at least that was the buzz in the Capitol hallways. It was such a rush job that the average bystander had no way of knowing what was in the thing.

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Boxer

By Maeve Reston, Los Angeles Times

September 1, 2010

Reporting from San Francisco —

On the eve of her first debate with Republican Carly Fiorina, Sen. Barbara Boxer outlined her rationale for reelection Tuesday, vowing to hold President Obama accountable for bringing troops home from Afghanistan, defending California’s efforts to regulate emissions and reiterating her five-point plan to boost the nation’s economic recovery.

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By Patrick McGreevy and Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times

September 1, 2010

Reporting from Sacramento —
California lawmakers passed wide-ranging public compensation reforms inspired by the Bell municipal salary scandal in the waning hours of the 2010 legislative session, but a closely watched, first-in-the-nation ban on plastic grocery bags was defeated Tuesday night.

That measure, AB 1998, passed the Assembly in June and had the support of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, but faced a withering and well-financed advertising and lobbying campaign from the plastic bag manufacturing industry.

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Villalobos

By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Sep. 1, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 8B

RENO – Throwing confusion into California’s case against former CalPERS board member Alfred Villalobos, a bankruptcy judge indicated Tuesday he would block the state’s lawsuit accusing Villalobos of bribing officials with the pension fund.

Although U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Peterson won’t make a formal ruling for a couple of weeks, he suggested at an hourlong hearing that Villalobos’ Chapter 11 bankruptcy case trumps the California lawsuit.

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Shimada

By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Sep. 1, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 8B

Kurato Shimada, a veteran CalPERS board member whose name surfaced in the investigation into corruption at the pension fund, resigned Tuesday. Shimada left to “focus on personal matters,” CalPERS announced. Shimada declined to comment.

A retired school administrator from San Jose, the 73-year-old Shimada hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing in the pension fund’s bribery scandal. But he has ties to former board member Alfred Villalobos, who is accused in a lawsuit filed by the state of bribing three CalPERS officials to influence investment decisions.

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August 31st, 2010, 6:38 pm · posted by Kimberly Edds, Staff Writer

Ousted Assistant District Attorney Todd Spitzer claims Susan Kang Schroeder, the district attorney’s chief of staff, colluded with her boss Tony Rackauckas to get him fired in the hopes of derailing Spitzer’s plans to be the next Orange County District Attorney – and to move Schroeder herself a step closer to getting the job.

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Capitol and California – Dan Walters

dwalters@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee
Published: Wednesday, Sep. 1, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

Both legislative houses voted Tuesday on competing versions of the long-stalemated state budget after hours of flowery debate. The net result was zero, as everyone knew in advance that neither could muster the required votes.

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By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Sep. 1, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
Last Modified: Wednesday, Sep. 1, 2010 – 12:08 am

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has issued a message to top officials in his administration: Stop hiring.

The governor summoned agency secretaries and department directors after The Bee reported Monday that the size of the state work force overall remained essentially flat from January 2009 through June of this year.

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August 31st, 2010, 4:12 pm · posted by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer

As the Bell scandal and the debate over government transparency rages, we ask you to consider these revealing numbers from our friends at the U.S. Census Bureau:

In the five years between 2002 and 2007, the number of full-time equivalent employees in all state and local governments in California grew just three percent, while the cost of paying those folks grew 26 percent.

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Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
August 31, 2010

Heavily debated legislation that would gradually roll back the cutoff date for children to be old enough to enter kindergarten won Assembly approval Tuesday and appeared headed to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk.

Senate Bill 1381 by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, still needed a final vote in the Senate on the last night of the 2009-10 legislative session. The Senate approved an earlier version of the bill in June. Tuesday’s Assembly vote was 41-13.

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Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
August 31, 2010

Parents who habitually allow their children to skip school could face criminal charges under legislation receiving final legislative approval today.

Senate Bill 1317 by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, would apply just to children in grades K-8.

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State regulators have quietly given insurers permission to raise maximum premiums for most of the 20,000 who depend on the coverage of last resort. Some are paying an extra $7,500 this year.

By Duke Helfand Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

As state leaders blast giant health insurers for raising rates, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration has quietly allowed hefty increases for thousands of sick or jobless Californians who must rely on expensive safety-net coverage — if they want insurance at all.

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