Politics, Government & Business in California's Inland Empire
10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, March 15, 2011
By DUANE W. GANG
The Press-Enterprise
Riverside County will hold three community meetings next month to gather input from residents on how officials should redraw supervisorial district boundaries.
06:32 AM PDT on Wednesday, March 16, 2011
By JIM MILLER
Sacramento Bureau
SACRAMENTO – Most California voters share Gov. Jerry Brown’s approach to solving the state’s budget mess, backing his call to extend higher taxes in a special election, according to a new poll.
Firefighters agree to pay for own benefits
Ryan Hagen, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/15/2011 07:55:59 PM PDT
COLTON – Firefighters’ take-home pay will decrease by 9 percent as they begin paying their share of retirement benefits under a package of concessions the City Council approved Tuesday evening.
Wurl
Less than a year spent on the job
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/15/2011 06:34:00 PM PDT
San Bernardino County Fire Chief Dan Wurl will retire at the end of the month after serving less than a year as the county’s top firefighter.
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/15/2011 04:54:09 PM PDT
The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved an option to enter into a long-term lease agreement with a Costa Mesa-based power company to develop a solar plant at the Victorville Sanitary Landfill.
GOP lawmakers stand firm in opposition
James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Created: 03/15/2011 05:02:04 PM PDT
State lawmakers will vote on a budget package today, though legislators of both parties agree it won’t pass.
Republicans say it’s a drill, an exercise aimed to pressure them or make them look like they’re holding up the process.
Stone
REGION: County supervisor says union campaigning against him
DAVE DOWNEY
ddowney@californian.com North County Times
The Californian | Posted: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 10:53 pm
Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone accused a law enforcement employees union Tuesday of orchestrating a telephone campaign to plant negative impressions of him in advance of his 2012 re-election bid.
Escobar
Will Bigham, Staff Writer
Created: 03/15/2011 02:57:20 PM PDT
POMONA – A councilwoman’s theft charge for allegedly stealing a campaign sign has been reduced from a misdemeanor to an infraction.
With the charge reduced, Pomona Councilwoman Ginna Escobar faces a maximum penalty of a $250 fine.
Mitzelfelt
1st District may have to give up 60,000 residents
March 15, 2011 5:33 PM
Brooke Edwards
With the Victor Valley’s rapid growth over the last decade, local leaders now represent some of the most populated territories in the state — a distinction that will make them prime targets for redistricting.
10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, March 15, 2011
By JEFF HORSEMAN
The Press-Enterprise
Residents may soon have more time to speak their mind to Temecula’s City Council.
The council on Tuesday is expected to consider granting a third minute for speakers at council meetings who want to talk about topics that are not on the agenda or part of the consent calendar, a collection of agenda items passed by the council with one vote.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Mar. 16, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
With CalPERS wrapping up the in-house investigation into its bribery scandal, the pension fund began bracing Tuesday for the next phase: criminal prosecutions.
By Norberto Santana, Jr.
Posted: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 3:54 pm | Updated: 6:41 pm, Tue Mar 15, 2011.
Ever since he was elected last summer, Orange County Supervisor Shawn Nelson has been trying to get rid of pensions for local elected officials.
It hasn’t been easy.
Five Republicans whose votes are crucial to passage of Gov. Jerry Brown’s spending proposal demand sweeping changes in the California Environmental Quality Act. Environmentalists are outraged.
By Shane Goldmacher and Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times
March 16, 2011
The handful of Republican lawmakers most likely to provide crucial votes for Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget plan are threatening to withhold their support without a dramatic rewriting of state environmental law.
PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
March 15, 2011 | 3:40 pm
State lawmakers have scheduled a Wednesday vote on Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed budget package, though there remains no agreement with Republicans to ensure its passage.
PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
March 15, 2011 | 6:44 pm
California moved a step closer Tuesday to pushing its 2012 presidential primary back from February to June.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Mar. 16, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 8B
For months, CalPERS has been leaning toward reducing its forecast of annual investment returns – a move that would have forced state and local governments to pour millions more into the troubled pension fund.
Now CalPERS is backing away from the idea.
By John Howard | 03/15/11 2:00 AM PST
As the debate intensifies over the fate of California’s redevelopment agencies, competing proposals swirled through the Capitol, including a new plan from the agencies themselves in which they would voluntarily suspend putting money set aside for housing and shift those funds instead to schools.
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Mar. 16, 2011 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
After years without a contract, the union that represents California’s prison officers and parole agents has a new labor deal.
If approved by union members and lawmakers, the tentative agreement would end the furloughs for the 32,000 members of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association that have cut their pay by roughly 15 percent.