Go out and shop before the sales taxes go up tomorrow! Buy a car! Buy a rocket ship, whatever floats your boat, just buy!! And with that, back to our regular linky program:

• Oops! The Dept. of Corrections (and Rehabilitation…hahaha) paid unemployment for workers fired for cause to the tune of $1.3 million. If the Dept. had properly filed paperwork and represented their case, much of that would not have been paid out.
• The SacBee is claiming encouraging early signs for the federal stimulus.  That can’t come soon enough, particularly to the Central Valley Depression.  In Yuba County, nearly 78% of the mortgage debt is tied to underwater houses.  That is an insane number, meaning that 60% of ALL homeowners are underwater.
• We learned yesterday that the proceeds from the state’s bond sale will immediately go toward restarting public works projects that had to be canceled in the wake of the cash crunch.  Which is great, but we will eventually have to pay off all that debt –  and yes, contra George Skelton our crappy bond rating DOES reflect the reality that the state budget is fragile and unpredictable.  FWIW, John Chiang says that we have enough money to get through July.  Yay!
• Wanna buy San Quentin? The state auditor wants to sell it off.  Honestly, I don't know why they haven't done this a while ago. That land would have fetched quite a handsome price had they sold 3 years ago, but it still is quite valuable.
• Here’s an article in Newsweek about the revival of Compton.  The evidence for this is that homicides are down and there’s a TGI Friday’s now.  Unemployment in Compton remains twice the national average.  So there’s work to be done.  But there are some successes; it’s worth a read.
• Carrie Lopez, the Consumer Affairs chief, is the second Schwarzenegger Administration official to resign due to questionable expense accounts.  Arnold’s culture of corruption continues.  Wonder if anyone will notice.
• Well, it's looking like EFCA might get bogged down in the Senate. But, here in California, we have SB 789 that would allow card check for agricultural workers. Arnold isn't the biggest labor supporter, but it should be a priority for Democrats in the coming years. Agricultural workers need the protection of a union, with the dangers of their job.
• Gottschalks, a Central Valley department store, will be liquidated shortly. It's the end of an era.