L.A. Times - California Politics

San Jacinto councilman says his colleagues stonewalled him

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Steve Di Memmo, the only council member to avoid indictment in a corruption probe this week, says the other councilmen shut him out because he 'wouldn't play the game.'

After winning a City Council seat last year on a campaign of transparency and accountability, Steve Di Memmo said he quickly found himself the outsider in a clique of clubby officials who shared long-standing ties and mutual interests.

Protesting truckers snarl traffic on 710 Freeway and in downtown L.A.

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Blasting their horns while driving past City Hall, more than 400 big-rig drivers try to draw attention to new environmental rules that they say threaten their livelihoods.

Hundreds of protesting truck drivers slowed traffic Friday on the 710 Freeway and blasted their horns while driving past Los Angeles City Hall to draw attention to new environmental rules they say threaten their livelihoods.

Schwarzenegger to address policy forum in Jerusalem

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Governor will speak at Saban Center before heading to Iraq, aide says.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is stopping in Jerusalem to participate in a moderated conversation at a Middle East policy conference Sunday before heading to Iraq next week, an aide said Friday.

Schwarzenegger quietly quashed effort to improve commuter rails

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The governor ordered officials to seek federal money only for the proposed bullet train between San Francisco and San Diego. Rail advocates say the commuter line upgrades should take priority.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger quietly spiked an effort last month to win $1.1 billion in federal high-speed rail stimulus funds for 29 projects to improve the safety, speed and capacity of heavily traveled commuter corridors through Southern California.

For many ill with the flu, staying home isn't an option

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Workers without paid sick leave are often penalized for absences. Congress plans to consider legislation next week that would guarantee workers paid sick time.

Glynndana Shevlin awoke Oct. 30 with a runny nose and scratchy throat, worried she might have the flu. But the full-time food and beverage concierge at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim has no paid sick days, and if her absences stack up, she faces discipline.

Governor submits plan to cut prison population

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

But he also disavows the proposed solutions as being illegal.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday gave federal judges a road map to reducing state prison overcrowding by waiving some state laws to allow sentences to be reduced and new private prisons to be built.

The Jerry Brown tapes: Never a dull moment

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Transcripts of phone interviews with reporters show the once-and-possibly-future governor is as outspoken as ever. For a politics columnist, they make for fascinating, if somewhat guilty, reading.

It seemed like eavesdropping on a private conversation -- or reading a rival journalist's notes. But I eagerly did it anyway out of curiosity about Jerry Brown.

California could get up to $700 million in U.S. education funds

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Guidelines for the Race to the Top money for states will be released Thursday. State legislators will have to scurry to make the application deadline.

California could be eligible for up to $700 million in federal education stimulus funds under guidelines scheduled to be released today by the U.S. Department of Education.

San Francisco board overrides mayor's veto of sanctuary expansion

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

It upholds an ordinance barring local authorities from turning juvenile illegal immigrants over to the federal government unless guilty of a felony.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to override a recent veto by Mayor Gavin Newsom and expand the city's controversial sanctuary policy.

Buzz Aldrin named L.A. County's lunar diplomat

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Board of Supervisors declares the astronaut 'Honorary Consul General to the Moon from Los Angeles County.'

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is heading for the final frontier: Space.