How about some non-budget news?
• A conservative student got the Alliance Legal Defense Fund (the same folks who helped out on the legal case to protect Prop 22) to help him sue LA City College for the response from his teachers critical of his speech supporting Prop 8. Apparently several students, and then the teacher, got visibly angry over his public speaking assignment.
• Exactly why did LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa give the headline prayer at the annual prayer breakfast to Pastor Rick Warren this weekend? And why were no other communities of faith but Christians represented? Lisa Derrick at La Figa has more.
• The Meg Whitman for Governor campaign gets a somewhat agnostic review from the LA Times’ Michael Hiltzik. He thinks the jury is out. Well, I suppose an open mind is nice, but during the budget disaster her statement against any tax increases is simply out of touch with reality. She would be even worse of a failure than Arnold Schwarzenegger. In other words EPIC FAIL.
• Here’s a balanced report on Los Angeles’ Measure B, the solar power initiative, from Grist. If I were an LA city voter I honestly don’t know how I’d vote on this – there are valid arguments on both sides.
• California is the leading producer of dairy products in the nation. So, the collapse in milk prices is hitting the state pretty hard. In the short term, a lot of farmers are turning to slaughtering their dairy cows for meat because they cannot afford the feed.
• Speaking of agriculture (or not), Teddy Partridge takes another look at the “Chile option” state break-up plan.
• Ok, this is budget related. Sorry. It looks like one of the items that got chopped was the UC Riverside medical school. The school needs a boost of cash to gets going, but will now have to look to other sources to get started.
• For a lot of reasons, the increased enrollment at Adult Schools is a really good thing. Unfortunately, it is clearly a symptom of the terrible economy, and it will put an additional strain on the budget. The schools were originally intended as a sort of retiree FunEd, but have now become a great system providing GED classes and support, literacy training, and vocational training.
• Finally, I think this story just about sums up California these days: During this weekend’s budget lockdown, Lance Armstrong came to Sacramento to participate in the Tour de California. And then, after the race, his bike was stolen from the truck.
Bonus: Marie Lakin at Ventura County Star’s Making Waves Blog has a good take on the budget disaster vis a vis Grover Norquist.