Devereaux

Sunday, August 5, 2012 – 10:30 a.m.

One has to hand it to San Bernardino County Chief Executive Officer Greg Devereaux.

The man single-handedly tubed county pension reform last week.

A seemingly easy task to accomplish.

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Published: 04 August 2012 04:57 PM

Even after the explosive growth in Latino residents in the 2000s brought the Inland area to the cusp of becoming majority Hispanic, low voter registration means Latinos’ political influence in elections continues to lag far behind their population.

To read story by DAVID OLSON in the Press-Enterprise click here.

Emmerson

Point of View

Sen. Bill Emmerson
Posted: 08/04/2012 07:16:41 AM PDT

It’s been almost 10 months since Gov. Jerry Brown revealed his 12-point pension plan, and Californians are still waiting on the Legislature to pass public employee pension reform. While legislative Democrats continue to assert that they’re serious about enacting reforms to address our unsustainable pension system, their actions tell a different story.

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Canan Tasci, Staff Writer
Posted: 08/04/2012 01:07:07 PM PDT

It may be a new school year, but not much has changed for the California State University system and its students.

Once again the lack of state funding is causing a budget deficit in the CSU system’s 2012-13 academic year, this time of about $510 million, and students are again facing tuition increases. Last fall, full-time undergraduate tuition was $5,472 per year. Students this year will be paying $5,970.

Things could get worse.

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Canan Tasci, Staff Writer
Posted: 08/04/2012 07:12:41 AM PDT

Budget cuts alone won’t help the California State University System make ends meet.

With budget reductions year after year and a potential additional $250 million trigger cut on the horizon, only 10 CSU campuses will be accepting new student applications for the spring semester.

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Dan Walters

By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

The Legislature reconvenes this week for what promises to be a typically hectic end-of-session maelstrom of power politics, horse-trading and deal-making – all in the guise of serving the public good, of course.

Hundreds of bills are still pending from a session that began 20 months ago. How many reach Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk – and more important, what they will contain – by Aug. 31 is anyone’s guess.

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(Click on image to enlarge)

By Laurel Rosenhall
lrosenhall@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012 – 12:00 am

Lobbying firm revenue for the first half of the year is down ever so slightly compared with the same period last year, with Sacramento firms taking in $85.5 million so far this year.

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Dan Morain

By Dan Morain
dmorain@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 1E

William Tolson exercised his fundamental constitutional right by downing Chick-n-Minis at the Chick-fil-A restaurant in Elk Grove the other day, and then brought mor chikin home for his wife and three kids.

Throngs of anti-boycotters like Tolson flocked to Chick-fil-A franchises last week in a show of support for Dan Cathy, the once obscure president of the fast food chain who ran afoul of gay rights advocates by declaring his fidelity to “the biblical definition of the family unit,” and donating millions to groups that oppose same-sex marriage.

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