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*  CSU Stanislaus continues to withhold information about Sarah Palin’s speaking fee for a fundraiser. They’re exploiting a loophole in state law, which Senator Leland Yee is seeking to close.

*  Meg Whitman wants her policy book to be available at the public library (which she presumably wants to close through further budget cuts). But librarians are balking, since it’s not their job to promote Whitman’s campaign. And they can’t be forced to do so, because of laws forbidding public workers to use public resources to campaign. Whitman has millions of dollars to spend – maybe she should just mail one to every house? I could use a new doorjam.

*  California’s housing market is on the rebound but I’m not confident it’s going to last long if the state continues to slash and burn jobs and public services.

*  RIP, Jaime Escalante.

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*  Chuck DeVore broke with a consultant that was exposed as the guy who expensed an almost-strip club in West Hollywood to the RNC.

*  Jerry Brown was cleared by the FPPC of Meg Whitman specious attacks concerning his requests for support.

*  Some budgets cost more jobs than others. IHSS cuts hit particularly hard.

*  Awww, snap. Oh no, SFO didn’t just lay the smack down on LAX.

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*  The CalPERS probe on possible kickbacks for investment decisions might now be the subject of a federal investigation.

*  Gavin Newsom, who was recently endorsed by Speaker Perez, also picked up the endorsements of a slew of other Assembly members for his LG campaign. Here they are: Hayashi, Hill, Huffman, Ruskin and Swanson.

*  Yippee! Giveaways to the builders.

*  Oh, good, the federal courts reinstated the Prop 9 provision making parole much more difficult. That will help the prison crisis.

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*  The CA State Association of Counties said NO to Prop 16, the PG&E Hidden Agendas Scheme. The law would require a 2/3 vote of the people to allow a community to start a community choice aggregation (CCA) programs.  They’re planning on spending $35 million to pass the measure.

*  Mike Murphy, who has been paid nearly half a million dollars by Meg Whitman since he joined the campaign in November, says $46 million isn’t really that much. Riiiight.

*  The Republicans are standing tall for Medicare Advantage, and they’re going to let everybody know that Barbara Boxer doesn’t. Thing is, Medicare Advantage is basically a program to shovel large amounts of cash into the pockets of insurance companies. It’s a private add-on program that survey after report after study has shown is a boondoggle and waste of money. And often, also something of a racket.

*  The Yes on 14 Campaign, the St. Abel Open primary measure, is in the red by about $90K.

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*  Sen. Pat Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa) is taking a partial leave from the Legislature.

*  A report from the Air Resources Board shows that AB 32 won’t hurt the economy, and could create some new jobs.  Asm. Republican Leader Martin Garrick is outraged about something. Apparently, he doesn’t like when economists mess with these “numbers.”

*  John Myers takes the recent Field Poll numbers and tries to come up with a budget plan. However, it would be worthwhile to roll in some of the PPIC polls that show voters support measures to increase taxes for education and other causes.

*  Clint Reilly takes a stroll through the raging river of campaign cash.

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*  Bill O’Reilly is a moderate. Oh, right, that’s where we’re headed.

*  Mayor Villaraigosa is arguing that if the Council overturns power rate increases by the DWP the City of Los Angeles will be in desperate fiscal straits.

*  Level the Playing Field raised almost a quarter of a million dollars, and will probably get a bunch more to air the Meg-a-Tar ads on TV.

*  CSU is pushing high schools and its own students in the hopes of reducing the need for remediation when they arrive on campus.

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*  Jerry Brown now has $14 million in the bank. This is a really good total, historically it would put him right in the thick of things.  This is a very different year, though. He’ll need to keep on the fundraising trail.

*  CalSTRS, like its big brother, CalPERS, is facing a future shortfall. The investment bubble hit the pension fund hard. Solutions appear to be on the back burner until after the election.

*  The effects of health care reform will be both swift and delayed. But look for some rather big changes in the short-term.

*  Tucked away in the Reconciliation bill last night was a nice little boost for community colleges.

* The State Water Resources Control Board had some hearings today to decide how much water needs to flow through the Delta system to honor the “public trust.”

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*  Sen. Steinberg appointed Sen. Pat Johnston (ret.) to the Delta Stewardship Council created under the new water legislation.  I (Brian) am not totally certain that this body will be all that effective, but I respect Sen. Johnston a lot.

*  The Prof. Engineers and Prof. Scientists are speaking against the legislative pay cuts, saying an additional pay cut would allow only the rich to become legislators.

*  The reporting period ended this week, so we got wind of some big contributions.

*  Some locals are suing the federal government over the Richmond San Pablo casino.

* Just as he’s almost fading from discussion, Steve Poizner is “just getting started”.

* Meg Whitman spoke to a Hispanic business group and didn’t mention immigration. Later told the SJ Merc that she was going to crack down. Funny how that didn’t come up during the discussion.

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*  Steve Poizner apparently decided that he had better credentials than Insurance Commish for his ballot designation. He went with the oh-so-descriptive “businessman.”

*  Apparently one debate was sufficient for Whitman. She declined a second debate with Poizner.

*  Chris Kelly dumped another $2 million into his campaign. Money can’t buy you love, but it buys lots of TV time.

*  Sen. Oropeza’s bill to ban smoking in state parks and beaches was defeated in the Assembly.

* John Wildermuth examines the argument before the FPPC concerning Gavin Newsom’s “double-dipping.”

* Speaker Perez named his leadership team and committee chairs. He included two Republicans as committee chairs for the local government and veterans committees.

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*  The State rejected all the bids for the OC Fairgrounds. The state had predicted they would get $180 million, but ended up with a max bid of $56 million.  Yay for unrealistic budgeting!

*  Jerry Brown tells unions to “attack” Whitman. Whitman calls that cynical, apparently thinking that attempting to buy the race is full of puppies and daffodils.

*  Speaking of cynical, Whitman had, in a previous bid of partisanship grandeur, pledged to only hire Republicans for the top 300 spots in her Administration. She’s now reconsidering that now that it appears she’s kicking Poizner’s butt.

*  President Obama is going to do a fundraiser for Sen. Boxer.

* Environmentalists are once again taking on Richard Pombo.