The Buzz

As California's legislators stare at a forced 18 percent pay cut next month, one legislator who volunteered for a 5 percent reduction last July rescinded her decision.

Westlands Irrigation District wields major clout in California water wars

Fresno Bee

The most powerful voices in the state's recent $11 billion water talks might have been two water districts – one speaking for half the state's population and the other for just 600 San Joaquin Valley farmers.

UC campuses still seethe over fee hikes

phecht@sacbee.com

Furious over fee increases and emotionally charged by the arrests of 53 fellow students, a few hundred UC Davis students demanded action – and accountability – Friday from administrators and the campus police chief.

6C21RECALL

South state recall drive fizzles

sferriss@sacbee.com

An anti-tax recall movement against Assemblyman Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia, has failed to gather enough valid signatures to go to the ballot, the California secretary of state's office announced Friday.

California University Fees

UC Berkeley students holed up in campus building

University of California Berkeley students protesting a 32 percent increase in student fees have barricaded themselves in part of a campus building.

U.S. agency ordered to provide same-sex benefits

dwalsh@sacbee.com

Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Thursday ordered the U.S. Office of Personnel Management to quit interfering with health care benefits for federal judicial employees just because they are married to a person of the same sex.

Top state elected officials' pay to be cut 18%

jsanders@sacbee.com

Pay for California's top elected officials will be slashed by 18 percent next month, one year earlier than expected, to abide by an opinion issued Thursday from Attorney General Jerry Brown.

The Buzz

Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina must be sharing speechwriters, maybe someone from their tech pasts.

5W20STUDENT

Amid protests, UC OKs 32% fee hike

LOS ANGELES – The governing board of the University of California approved a $2,500 student fee increase Thursday after two days of tense campus protests across the state.

Dan Walters: Newest state budget clash will be bloody

dwalters@sacbee.com

When Mac Taylor, the Legislature's chief budget adviser, declared this week that the state budget enacted just four months ago is already billions of dollars upside down, no one in the Capitol should have been surprised.

5W20SCULLY

California, Sacramento County to probe in-home care

sferriss@sacbee.com

California teamed with Sacramento County officials Thursday to launch a first-in-the-state multi-agency task force to investigate fraud in In-Home Supportive Services.

New Sacramento County task force tackles fraud in in-home care

Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully today unveiled a new multi-agency task force to investigate fraud in In-Home Supportive Services and serve as a potential model for other California counties to follow.

Brown OKs early pay cuts for lawmakers

SACRAMENTO -- Pay for California's top elected officials will be slashed by 18% next month, one year earlier than expected, to abide by an opinion Thursday from Attorney General Jerry Brown.

4M19AMBASSADOR

Area developer likely headed to Hungary as ambassador

rhotakainen@mcclatchydc.com

Sacramento real estate developer and philanthropist Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis appears headed for confirmation as the next ambassador to the Republic of Hungary after winning strong backing from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday.

CalPERS chief weighs public reprimands

dkasler@sacbee.com

CalPERS' president, promising to clean up an influence-peddling scandal at the big pension fund, raised the prospect Wednesday of publicly reprimanding board members and employees who violate ethical standards.

4W19UC1

UC regents face outcry, prepare to hike fees 32%

lrosenhall@sacbee.com

Amid rowdy protests, a committee of the University of California regents voted to raise student fees by 32 percent in two steps over the next year, bringing the annual cost of a UC education above $10,000 not including room, board or books.

California needs $20.7 billion more to balance next budget

kyamamura@sacbee.com

California once again will look under sofa cushions and scour every sector of state government to find another $20.7 billion to balance its budget over the next 19 months.

Judge rules same-sex couple must be repaid after denial of benefits

dwalsh@sacbee.com

A judge ruled Wednesday an assistant federal public defender's spouse must be compensated for health care benefits withheld since July 2008 because the couple are gay.

4C19OVERLINE

The Buzz: Assembly returning to vote for a shot at education stimulus funds

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, is planning to bring the lower house back into session next month to vote on legislation she hopes will allow California schools to compete for a piece of $4.3 billion in federal “Race to the Top” stimulus funds.

4W19ARNOLD

A return to his roots

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, with friends Franz Hoermann and Peter Urdl, visits his former home in Thal, Austria, on Wednesday.

The State Worker: Budget forecast shows things could go from bad to worse

jortiz@sacbee.com

More grim news for state workers: California's general fund faces a $21 billion deficit through the middle of 2011. The red ink could flow for years, according to a forecast by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office.

Officials link 2 inmates' deaths to swine flu

atong@sacbee.com

Two California prison system inmates have died from possible H1N1-related complications, officials said Wednesday.

US NEWS AMBASSADOR 1 ABA

Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis breezes through Senate confirmation hearing

rhotakainen@mcclatchydc.com

Winning strong backing from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sacramento real estate developer and philanthropist Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis promised today to focus on economic and energy issues if she's confirmed as President Barack Obama's ambassador to the Republic of Hungary.

John Muir letters available online

A trove of some 6,500 letters to and from renowned California conservationist John Muir is now available on the Internet.

Years of budget deficits predicted for California

California faces annual budget deficits of $20 billion even while assuming state employees would receive no salary increases through 2014-15, according to a forecast issued today by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office.

California University Fees

UC regents approve fee hikes

A panel of University of California regents has approved a plan to raise student fees 32 percent over the next year, bringing annual cost of a UC education to more than $10,000 - not including room, board and books.

3C18OVERLINE

The Buzz

A big chunk of the money that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger collected last year to finance a redistricting ballot measure came from a Florida man now being accused of running a massive Ponzi-style fraud in Florida.

California's caregiver wage cut 'cruel,' says disabled ex-teacher

sferriss@sacbee.com

Sylvia Zedlar's left leg was nearly severed when a car struck her in south Sacramento County in 2002. Now, because of state budget cuts, she is among about 9,000 frail and mostly elderly Californians who must pay, on average, $200 to $250 more each month for care.

Analyst expected to project $21 billion state budget deficit

smith@sacbee.com

Despite revenue projections that are holding relatively firm, California faces a $21 billion state budget shortfall over the next year and half, according to sources who have been briefed on a projection from the Legislature's budget analyst.

3C18TREE

Special delivery

The holiday season begins at the Capitol with the precarious arrival of the official state Christmas tree Tuesday on the west lawn.

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