George Skelton

By George Skelton, Capitol Journal
January 23, 2012

It’s the norm in January: After the governor proposes a new budget and delivers his State of the State address, legislators slide into hibernation until spring.

Oh, there’s some rustling around in the dens — a few committee hearings, brief floor sessions — but no strenuous activity, no risk taking until May, when deadlines sprout and the governor revises his budget proposal.

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By Ed Mendel
Monday, January 23, 2012

A new advisory panel, following a move by CalPERS last year, recommends that public pensions take a small step that touches on a big issue: What happens if pension fund earnings fall below the forecast?

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Sunday, January 22, 2012 – 09:45 p.m.

San Manuel Casino boss James Ramos is doing a pretty good job of whoring himself with his Tribe’s dough.

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Sunday, January 22, 2012 – 09:30 p.m.

Upland’s finance are heading in the wrong direction fast.

One major factor?

Legal fees!

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Derry

Saturday, January 21, 2012 – 06:15 p.m.

The highway funding arm of the U.S. Department of Transportation has cleared San Bernardino County Third District Supervisor Neil Derry to resume voting on federally-funded expenditures in his duties as an elected official.

The Federal Highway Administration gave Derry the green light effective Friday.

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Gingrich left. Romney right.

Saturday, January 21, 2012 – 06:00 p.m.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who sported a double-digit lead just ten days ago, has lost the South Carolina Presidential Primary to former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich by double-digits Saturday night.

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San Bernardino County Auditor/Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector Larry Walker

BY IMRAN GHORI
STAFF WRITER
ighori@pe.com

Published: 21 January 2012 05:49 PM

After slashing their own benefits earlier this month, San Bernardino County supervisors on Tuesday will start taking aim at extra compensation for other county-wide elected officials.

The board will vote on a proposal by Supervisors Janice Rutherford and Neil Derry to direct the county administrative and counsel offices to prepare an ordinance that would cut benefit packages for the assessor-recorder, auditor/controller/treasurer-tax collector, district attorney and sheriff. If a majority of supervisors agree, the ordinance will return to the board at a future meeting for a vote.

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Regional transportation planners focus funding, planning on local connections, not bullet train to Nevada

BY DUG BEGLEY
STAFF WRITER
dbegley@pe.com

Published: 21 January 2012 05:24 PM

Transportation planners once dreamed that super-fast trains would whisk Southern Californians at more than 300 mph across the Mojave Desert to Las Vegas.

But the idea of a magnetic levitation train didn’t stick around for long in regional transportation plans developed by the Southern California Association of Governments. Local planners instead are concentrating on connections within Southern California, so that when — and if — bullet trains ever come, conventional trains have a steady and direct route to get to them.

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Sandra Emerson, Staff Writer
Created: 01/21/2012 05:12:56 PM PST

UPLAND – The city may expect another budget deficit in the next fiscal year, with expenditures continuing to grow more quickly than revenues, according to estimates by City Manager Stephen Dunn.

Dunn outlined several of the city’s challenges in 2012 during a special City Council meeting Saturday at the Carnegie Library.

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January 21, 2012 10:13 AM
From Staff Reports

ONTARIO • Prime Healthcare Services, owner and operator of Victorville’s Desert Valley Hospital, was recently named one of the top 15 health systems in the United States by Thomson Reuters.

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By David Siders
dsiders@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
Last Modified: Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012 – 9:59 am

“My father built the water plan. I want to complete it. So, whether it’s high-speed rail or water or education or public safety, I’m going to invest and build for the future, not steal from it.” GOV. JERRY BROWN, son of former Gov. Edmund G. “Pat” Brown

Before leaving Southern California last week, after urging greater infrastructure spending in a “land of dreams,” Gov. Jerry Brown recalled how long he has made that case and how wary of his ideas people can be.

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Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Sunday, January 22, 2012

Sacramento –Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to finally fix California’s finances relies on several dubious assumptions, including that voters approve his proposal to raise taxes in November and that the revenue from those come in at the level the administration projects.

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Dan Walters

By Dan Walters
Published: Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

Jerry Brown evidently does not want to join the nascent movement to overhaul – perhaps radically – California’s dysfunctional political structure.

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A state Assembly plan to continue revamping ex-military bases could be expanded to Inland sites

BY JIM MILLER
SACRAMENTO BUREAU
jmiller@pe.com

Published: 19 January 2012 06:19 PM

SACRAMENTO — Redevelopment agencies focused on bringing new businesses and other projects to decommissioned military bases could keep operating if legislation taking shape in the Capitol becomes law.

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BY IMRAN GHORI
STAFF WRITER
ighori@pe.com

Published: 20 January 2012 10:26 PM

Future retirement benefit increases for San Bernardino County employees could be decided by voters under a proposal that will go before the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

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By Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
Created: 01/20/2012 10:52:09 AM PST

The Inland Empire’s unemployment rate fell to 12.2 percent last month as employers in San Bernardino and Riverside counties added 5,200 non farm jobs, state officials reported Friday.

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BY JACK KATZANEK
STAFF WRITER
jkatzanek@pe.com

Published: 20 January 2012 04:08 PM

December was an excellent month for the job market in Inland Southern California, and the typical seasonal opportunities in stores, restaurants and movie theaters had very little to do with it.

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By Wendy Leung, Staff Writer
Created: 01/20/2012 03:29:05 PM PST

RANCHO CUCAMONGA – As Ontario steps up efforts to gain autonomy of L.A./Ontario International Airport, leaders from neighboring Rancho Cucamonga are joining a growing number of agencies calling for local control.

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January 19, 2012 12:43 PM
Brooke Edwards Staggs, City Editor

VICTORVILLE • A recent default on debt payments triggered one of the top credit rating agencies to downgrade $51 million in Southern California Logistics Airport Authority bonds another two notches, with Moody’s Investor Services predicting the airport won’t catch up on debt payments until 2029.

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LA/Ontario International Airport has has suffered a 32 percent decline in airline passengers since 2007. The airport had once been projected to server 30 million passengers by 2030. (Bulletin file photo)

Liset Márquez, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Created: 01/19/2012 09:15:13 AM PST

ONTARIO – The battle has begun in earnest.

Officials on both sides of the LA/Ontario International Airport dispute this week lashed out at each other for information they say is misleading and a misrepresentation.

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U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer

BY DUG BEGLEY
STAFF WRITER
dbegley@pe.com

Published: 18 January 2012 06:35 PM

Riverside’s Magnolia Avenue underpass served as the backdrop Wednesday for a push by Sen. Barbara Boxer to encourage more federal investment in local projects that create jobs, ease traffic and get trucks and trains to their destinations quicker.

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BY ALICIA ROBINSON
STAFF WRITER
arobinson@pe.com

Published: 19 January 2012 08:06 PM

With a speech that noted his 32 years in public office and was book-ended by standing ovations, Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge laid out policy goals for his final months in office on Thursday.

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Bob Dutton, left. Gary Miller, right.

Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/19/2012 11:19:19 AM PST

The race for the 31st District got more interesting this week with state Sen. Bob Dutton officially tossing his hat in the ring.

Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, will face a field of contenders that includes Rep. Gary Miller, R-Diamond Bar; Renea Wickman, the cofounder of a nonprofit aimed at helping juvenile offenders readjust to society; Justin Kim, an attorney from Loma Linda; and Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar.

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Bank company rakes in $81.7M
Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/19/2012 09:00:39 PM PST

ONTARIO – CVB Financial, parent company of Citizens Business Bank, earned its largest ever reported profit in 2011 – $81.7 million.

The amount signifies an increase from the $62.9 million profit earned in 2010.

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By Sandra Emerson, Staff Writer
Created: 01/19/2012 03:50:38 PM PST

RANCHO CUCAMONGA – G3 Holistic in Upland will be able to remain open.

A West Valley Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the medical marijuana cooperative because the case is under review by the California Supreme Court.

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Canan Tasci, Staff Writer
Created: 01/19/2012 02:19:53 PM PST

CHINO HILLS – It was a celebration of his life rather than mourning for the late Sen. Ruben Ayala during his memorial service on Thursday.

More than 150 gathered in the multi-purpose room of Ruben S. Ayaya High School listening to multiple speakers describe Ayala as an “American first and Democrat second,” someone who lead by example, a citizen’s politician, a man of many accomplishments and “a giant among giants.”

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By David Siders
dsiders@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
Last Modified: Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 – 12:13 am

SAN DIEGO – Gov. Jerry Brown, campaigning for higher taxes and infrastructure spending in the state’s more conservative reaches Thursday, claimed widespread business support for his tax plan and suggested dire consequences should it fail.

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PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
January 19, 2012 | 3:28 pm

Now that Gov. Jerry Brown has unveiled his budget proposal, it’s time for lawmakers to pull out their red pens.

The Senate Budget Committee held its first hearing Thursday, and its Assembly counterpart will do the same Tuesday. Until the governor releases an updated proposal in May, lawmakers will be poking and prodding his budget plan – and spinning it for political purposes.

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Rep. Gary Miller

By PE Politics
January 19, 2012 12:37 PM

Days into his campaign for a new San Bernardino County-based congressional seat, Rep. Gary Miller is touting endorsements from area electeds.

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Ramos

Thursday, January 19, 2012 – 03:00 p.m.

Take two for San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors candidate James Ramos.

Meaning yes, another push poll.

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Thursday, January 19, 2012 – 08:05 a.m.

The latest candidate to jump into the election fray is State Senator Bob Dutton (R-Rancho Cucamonga).

After toying with the prospect of challenging Assemblyman Mike Morell, Dutton will now take on Rep. Gary Miller (R-Diamond Bar) for the 31st Congressional District seat being vacated by Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands).

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Thursday, January 19, 2012 – 07:15 a.m.

The latest results from the circus known as the Iowa Caucuses now has former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum over Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney by 34 votes.

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Thursday, January 19, 2012 – 06:35 a.m.

Texas Governor Rick Perry has dropped out of the race for the republican nomination for President of the United States.

Perry is expected to throw his tepid support behind former Speaker of the  House Newt Gingrich.

Expect Rick Santorum to bow out after Saturday’s South Carolina Primary.

A lower court’s ruling upholding Riverside’s ban has been used as precedent for other cities to control medical marijuana

BY RICHARD K. De ATLEY
STAFF WRITER
rdeatley@pe.com

Published: 18 January 2012 03:51 PM

The California Supreme Court will review a city of Riverside medical marijuana case in which a lower court ruled that cities and counties have the right to ban dispensaries.

Local governments throughout the state have used that decision, issued in November by the Fourth District Court of Appeal, to shut down medical marijuana clinics within their boundaries.

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State Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, has announced he will seek election to the 31st Congressional District.

BY JIM MILLER
SACRAMENTO BUREAU
jmiller@pe.com

Published: 18 January 2012 04:17 PM

SACRAMENTO — State Sen. Bob Dutton declared his candidacy Wednesday for the redrawn 31st Congressional District, setting up a June showdown with veteran Rep. Gary Miller, R-Diamond Bar.

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Retired steelworker and union official Frank A. Gonzales is named to the city’s second position

BY DARRELL R. SANTSCHI
STAFF WRITER
dsantschi@pe.com

Published: 18 January 2012 01:07 PM

Veteran Colton City Councilman Frank A. Gonzales has been named the city’s new mayor pro tem.

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BY IMRAN GHORI
STAFF WRITER
ighori@pe.com

Published: 18 January 2012 07:13 PM

A study of a proposed radio antenna near Wildwood Canyon State Park in Oak Glen states that the project should not have a significant impact on the scenic views of the park — a finding that opponents criticize as flawed.

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January 18, 2012 11:58 AM
Brooke Edwards Staggs

VICTORVILLE • Less than 12 hours after his contract was approved by the City Council, Victorville received notice that the man chosen to serve as deputy city manager overseeing finances had opted not to take the position.

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AV councilman increases 1st District candidate field to six
January 18, 2012 5:46 PM
Brooke Edwards Staggs

Apple Valley Councilman Rick Roelle announced his intentions Wednesday evening to compete for San Bernardino County 1st District Supervisor in the June election.

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Molly Davis, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/18/2012 04:38:10 PM PST

REDLANDS – Historic preservationists cautiously celebrated after receiving word that cinema owner George Krikorian is in default of an agreement with the city that could lead to his purchase of a historic downtown packing house.

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By Michael J. Mishak and Anthony York, Los Angeles Times
January 19, 2012

Reporting from Sacramento — After years of economic pain and deep budget cuts, Gov. Jerry Brown declared California to be “on the mend,” saying the state is emerging from financial turmoil and proclaiming his dedication to a string of ambitious public projects.

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By Sandra Emerson, Staff Writer
Created: 01/18/2012 03:55:17 PM PST

UPLAND – The California Supreme Court decided on Wednesday to review an appeal filed by an Upland medical marijuana cooperative.

Counsel representing G3 Holistic in Upland filed the appeal in December following a decision in November by the Fourth District Appellate Court in Riverside siding with the city’s ban on medical marijuana dispensaries through its zoning code.

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A survey from the city of Ontario asked LA voters what they knew about Ontario International Airport’s control. Los Angeles officials accuse the city of wanting to buy the airport at a “foreclosure” price

BY KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
STAFF WRITER
kpierceall@pe.com

Published: 17 January 2012 09:27 PM

The Los Angeles agency that owns and operates Ontario International Airport fired back Tuesday evening at leaders of the city of Ontario for offering to buy the airport back, “at a foreclosure price,” according to a statement from Los Angeles World Airports.

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Warner

Staff report
Created: 01/17/2012 10:11:29 AM PST

Russ Warner announced Monday he had dropped out of the race for Congressional District 31, and will instead run for State Assembly District 40 against Republican Mike Morrell.

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California Gov. Jerry Brown talks about his budget during a press conference in Sacramento. (Lezlie Sterling//MCT / January 5, 2012)

NEWS ANALYSIS

By Anthony York, Los Angeles Times
January 18, 2012

Reporting from Sacramento— In his State of the State address in Sacramento on Wednesday, Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to attempt a risky balancing act: reconciling his well-crafted image as a penny pincher with one he aspires to as a builder in the mold of his father, former Gov. Pat Brown.

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Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
January 17, 2012

Republican legislative leaders rolled out their response to Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2012 State of the State address Tuesday, slamming the Democratic governor for telling Californians that the”sky will fall” without higher taxes.

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PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
January 17, 2012 | 6:18 pm

The citizens commission that drew California’s new political maps won an important nod Tuesday from the Department of Justice, which signed off on the new congressional, legislative and Board of Equalization districts for four Northern California counties.

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Dan Walters

By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

Some of the California legislators who voted last year to abolish redevelopment agencies and shift their money into schools and other local governments appear to be having executioner’s remorse – creating uncertainty about redevelopment’s future, if any.

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By Capitol Weekly Staff | 01/17/12 12:00 AM PST

Capitol Weekly, California’s only newspaper devoted solely to politics and governance, has suspended its print edition, effective Thursday, Jan. 19.

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Tuesday, January 17, 2012 – 06:00 p.m.

So much for that plea deal way back when!

Anthony Orlando Sanchez, 36, plead not guilty to extortion and bribery charges this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Riverside.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tuesday, January 17, 2012 – 4:00 p.m.

The attempt by the City of Upland to shutter a medical marijuana co-op fell flat last week.

Read the rest of this entry »

Published: Tuesday, 17 Jan 2012 | 7:06 AM ET
By: Reuters

Rating agency Fitch said on Tuesday that Greece would default on its debt, although it said that such a default was likely to take place in an orderly manner.

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January 17, 2012 – 6:38 p.m.
By David Oakley

Portugal is trading in default territory after investors offloaded the country’s bonds this week amid rising fears of contagion. Worries are mounting that the private sector and Greece will fail to agree a restructuring package for Athens’ debt.

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Published: Tuesday, 17 Jan 2012 | 1:05 PM ET
By: AP

The largest banks must show how they would break up their assets if they were in danger of failing, under a rule approved Tuesday.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp voted to require banks with $50 billion or more in assets to submit so-called living wills. Seven banks with more than $250 billion in assets will have to show their plans by July. The other 30 affected by the rule have until 2013.

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Canan Tasci, Staff Writer
Created: 01/17/2012 12:41:37 PM PST

CHINO HILLS – Services have been finalized for former state Sen. Ruben Ayala.

The rosary service has been scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Thursday at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church, 14085 Peyton Drive, Chino Hills.

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BY IMRAN GHORI
STAFF WRITER
ighori@pe.com

Published: 16 January 2012 09:08 PM

San Bernardino County will assume control of its redevelopment projects while beginning to shut down the agency that has overseen the community-improvement efforts.

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BY ALICIA ROBINSON
STAFF WRITER
arobinson@pe.com

Published: 16 January 2012 09:34 PM

At least two of the proposed changes to Riverside’s city charter would curb the city manager’s authority, in one case by eliminating that person’s oversight of certain employees, and in another by giving a board of residents more say.

Read the rest of this entry »

Officials dismiss website as ‘cheap stuff’
Josh Dulaney, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/16/2012 05:28:57 PM PST

SAN BERNARDINO – A business website has ranked the city as the fourth worst-run municipality in the country.

San Bernardino comes in behind Newark, N.J., Detroit and Miami, according to www.247wallst.com, which covers business finance.

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Orme

January 16, 2012 4:27 PM
Natasha Lindstrom, Staff Writer

A former aide to 1st District Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt on Monday announced a bid to replace him in the June election.

Michael Orme, field representative for U.S. Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon and owner of Mavericks Consulting, marks the fifth candidate to join the supervisorial race since Mitzelfelt announced his run for Congress on Thursday.

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Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
January 16, 2012

Gov. Jerry Brown is taking a mulligan, tripped up by a typographical error and forced to re-file his ballot initiative to raise taxes.

Read the rest of this entry »

PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
January 16, 2012 | 4:47 pm

Gov. Jerry Brown doesn’t plan to waste any time selling his vision for California this year.

Hours after his State of the State speech Wednesday morning in Sacramento, he’s scheduled to be in Los Angeles to speak at City Hall. Then he’ll be in a private meeting with teachers at Bret Harte Elementary School in Burbank.

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Former U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman endorsed Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney Monday morning.

Monday, January 16, 2012 – 09:45 a.m.

GOP Presidential candidate and former U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman officially pulled the plug on his foundering campaign Monday morning.

A campaign that never really left the ground.

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Sunday, January 5, 2012 – 11:30 p.m.

A federal fugitive tied to the corruption case involving former Upland Mayor John “J.P.” Pomierski was taken into custody Sunday afternoon.

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BY ALICIA ROBINSON
STAFF WRITER
arobinson@pe.com

Published: 15 January 2012 08:09 PM

Most Inland local governments have determined who will take over the obligations of their redevelopment agencies, but officials said many aspects of what happens next remain unclear.

How and when must they sell property and other assets? Which obligations will be paid? How many redevelopment employees will lose their jobs?

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BY DUANE W. GANG
STAFF WRITER
dgang@pe.com

Published: 15 January 2012 08:45 PM

Since 2008, Riverside County supervisors have doled out more than $11million to hundreds of community groups, but the funding could be in jeopardy as the county continues to face daunting financial challenges.

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Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/15/2012 06:04:05 AM PST

San Bernardino, Highland, Grand Terrace and Loma Linda have began shuttering their redevelopment agencies, prompted by a state Supreme Court decision that is forcing 400 redevelopment agencies statewide to close.

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Liset Marquez, Staff Writer
Created: 01/15/2012 06:03:48 AM PST

MONTCLAIR – The City Council took its first step in dissolving its redevelopment agency, but officials are worried that the move may cause the city to default on a short-term bond it took out several years ago.

In a special meeting on Thursday, the City Council agreed to oversee the winding down of the Montclair Redevelopment Agency, as well as to transfer the agency’s housing assets and functions to the Montclair Housing Authority.

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By Kevin Yamamura
kyamamura@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Jan. 16, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 1A

As unemployed Californians struggle to find work, Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed strict rules for parents on welfare: Get a job in two years or lose nearly half of cash aid along with training and child care.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Ed Mendel
Monday,January 16, 2012

Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign is putting the spotlight on private equity, which public pension funds such as CalPERS and CalSTRS helped flourish and now need for better-than-average earnings.

Romney became wealthy while leading Bain Capital, a private equity firm he said created “tens of thousands of jobs” by buying and then selling troubled or stagnant companies after making them efficient, better managed and able to grow and prosper.

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George Skelton

By George Skelton Capitol Journal
January 16, 2012

From Sacramento– Californians are heading into an intense, critical debate over the level of public service they’re willing to pay for. So it’s time to puncture some myths.

Everyone’s entitled to his own opinion, as the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan used to say, but not his own facts.

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Signs point to Facebook going public in 2012. If Mark Zuckerberg’s social network has a successful IPO, it could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes get pumped into California’s coffers. (David Paul Morris, Bloomberg / September 22, 2011)

By Anthony York, Los Angeles Times
January 15, 2012, 9:42 p.m.

Reporting from Sacramento— The future of California’s public schools, universities and health programs could be linked partly to the fictional town of FarmVille.

The popular virtual world is the creation of Zynga, a San Francisco online game company that raised $1 billion in an initial public stock offering last year. Because California receives much of its income from capital gains taxes, such moves by businesses like Zynga can mean hundreds of millions of dollars for state coffers.

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In this early 1980s photo, Former state Sen. Ruben Ayala, wife Irene Ayala and granddaughter Sarah at the Chino Christmas Parade. (Courtesy Photo)

Canan Tasci, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/14/2012 06:07:45 AM PST

Ruben Ayala was more than just a man who served as a state senator, or a person who has had a park, school and streets named after him – he was a devoted husband, father and a person who loved his community.

Read the rest of this entry »

Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
Created: 01/14/2012 06:12:34 AM PST

Truckers may not even get to use the proposed High Desert Corridor for eight – or more – years, but the transportation officials are proposing the Victorville-to-Palmdale roadway as a solution to the traffic congestion problems of the High Desert and Antelope Valley regions.

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Airport, city separate legal entities but closely bound together
January 15, 2012 6:00 AM
Brooke Edwards Staggs

VICTORVILLE • With the city’s airport authority behind on debt payments, residents are left wondering whether basic city services such as public safety and road maintenance might pay the price.

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Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, January 15, 2012

Sacramento –Gov. Jerry Brown wants to cut state prison spending next fiscal year for the first time in nearly a decade, a departure from the goals of recent administrations, which consistently increased corrections spending and pushed for prison expansion.

Read the rest of this entry »

U.S. Representative Howard “Buck” McKeon

By LARRY MARGASAK
Associated Press
Published: Friday, Jan. 13, 2012 – 7:45 pm
Last Modified: Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012 – 12:50 am

WASHINGTON — Two veteran House Republicans received discounted mortgage loans from the now-defunct Countrywide Financial Corp. under a VIP program, a congressional official said Friday.

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Mitt Romney is the man to beat – but any of his rivals to emerge as a serious challenger will have a tough time playing catch-up to the front-runner’s national campaign operation. (Andy Jacobsohn, MCT / January 15, 2012)

By Michael Finnegan, Los Angeles Times
January 14, 2012, 7:55 p.m.

Reporting from Greenville, S.C.‬— Five Republicans are fighting mightily to deny Mitt Romney a quick coronation as the party’s presidential nominee. But if one of them emerges as his top challenger, a monumental task lies ahead: building a national campaign operation on the fly.‬

‪ Read the rest of this entry »

Dr. Jerry Slater in a treatment room of the gantry at the Proton Treatment Center at Loma Linda University Medical Center on 6/21/06. The university has been a major recipiant of money earmarked by Rep. Jerry Lewis. (kurt miller/ the press enteprise)/KURT MILLER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

BY BEN GOAD
WASHINGTON BUREAU
bgoad@pe.com

Published: 13 January 2012 08:28 PM

Four-year-old Jerry Lewis was standing at the back window of the small San Bernardino house where his family lived. There was water everywhere.

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BY IMRAN GHORI
STAFF WRITER
ighori@pe.com

Published: 13 January 2012 09:24 PM

High Desert voters will see a crowded field seeking to replace San Bernardino County Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt in the 1st District.

Read the rest of this entry »

Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/13/2012 07:42:42 PM PST

When Rep. Jerry Lewis retires, he’ll apparently have at least one admirer on the other side of the aisle.

Rep. Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino, said that they’ve had disagreements over the Dream Act and on immigration issues, but he and Lewis found common ground on many issues that pertain to the area.

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Josh Dulaney, Staff Writer
Created: 01/13/2012 11:29:33 AM PST

SAN BERNARDINO – State Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, teed off on a variety of issues Friday during a legislative breakfast at Shandin Hills Golf Course, but his biggest swing came at the end, when he hinted at a possible run for Congress.

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By Wendy Leung, Staff Writer
Created: 01/13/2012 03:41:57 PM PST

RANCHO CUCAMONGA – Clearly frustrated about the loss of its redevelopment agency, the City Council is contemplating the new year without much of the funding slated for capital improvement and economic development.

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Neil Derry

Barstow, Lucerne Valley now in Derry’s territory
January 13, 2012 4:43 PM
KATIE LUCIA, Staff Writer

BARSTOW • San Bernardino County 3rd District Supervisor Neil Derry said his main focus this year will be getting to know the High Desert communities now in his jurisdiction.

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With the $100-billion project at a critical juncture, the governor puts his people in key positions.

By Ralph Vartabedian and Dan Weikel, Los Angeles Times
January 14, 2012

A surprise shake-up of senior leaders at California’s bullet-train agency this week was partly Gov. Jerry Brown’s response to a growing crisis of confidence and credibility in recent months that has threatened the political viability of the project.

Read the rest of this entry »

By David Siders
dsiders@sacbee.com
Published: Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

When former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tried to repeal a state law requiring animal shelters to keep dogs and cats longer before euthanizing them, outrage from animal lovers was so overwhelming he was forced to drop the idea.

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