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\u2022 A while back, a former UCLA chancellor named Charles Young filed a suit to reverse the 30 year-old 2\/3 requirement for tax increases, claiming that its enactment as part of Prop. 13 violated the single subject rule. The State Supreme Court today dismissed the suit without comment<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2022 Oh noes! I (Brian) think I might agree with Abel Maldonado. The GOP is thinking about barring Decline to State voters from their primaries<\/a>. In sheer electoral terms, that would be some colossal stupid. So, GOP, go for it.<\/p>\n \u2022 Dan Walters has a perceptive column<\/a> today, arguing that tying teacher evaluations with student performance “could evolve into simplistic fingerpointing unless it’s done fairly and contextually.” There are so many variables with student performance – in particular (but not limited to) the expanding class sizes, rise in state poverty and the slashing of the social safety net – that such data must be carefully circumscribed. The Obama\/Duncan plan for education reform has multiple blind spots.<\/p>\n \u2022 The Cal Fire Chief was arrested on DUI charges<\/a>. He did apologize, however.<\/p>\n \u2022 Timm Herdt points out<\/a> to the legislators that the federal court isn’t really kidding. You really have to reduce prison population, and it has to be sooner rather than later. Playing the same old ToughOnCrime Games isn’t going to work this time.<\/p>\n \u2022 Federal judges are not pinpointing the state prison system, either; the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today<\/a> that the Federal Bureau of Prisons cannot exclude violent criminals from sentence reductions for completing rehabilitation programs, mainly because officials have given no rationale for such a policy.<\/p>\n \u2022 CalBuzz makes some funnies<\/a> in their “Dr. Hackenflack” column.<\/p>\n \u2022 The BART labor strife is finally over as the last union approved the contract<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Links: <\/p>\n \u2022 A while back, a former UCLA chancellor named Charles Young filed a suit to reverse the 30 year-old 2\/3 requirement for tax increases, claiming that its enactment as part of Prop. 13 violated the single subject rule. The State Supreme Court today dismissed the suit without comment<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2022 Oh noes! I (Brian) think I might agree with Abel Maldonado. The GOP is thinking about barring Decline to State voters from their primaries<\/a>. In sheer electoral terms, that would be some colossal stupid. So, GOP, go for it.<\/p>\n \u2022 Dan Walters has a perceptive column<\/a> today, arguing that tying teacher evaluations with student performance “could evolve into simplistic fingerpointing unless it’s done fairly and contextually.” There are so many variables with student performance – in particular (but not limited to) the expanding class sizes, rise in state poverty and the slashing of the social safety net – that such data must be carefully circumscribed. The Obama\/Duncan plan for education reform has multiple blind spots.<\/p>\n \u2022 The Cal Fire Chief was arrested on DUI charges<\/a>. He did apologize, however.<\/p>\n \u2022 Timm Herdt points out<\/a> to the legislators that the federal court isn’t really kidding. You really have to reduce prison population, and it has to be sooner rather than later. Playing the same old ToughOnCrime Games isn’t going to work this time.<\/p>\n \u2022 Federal judges are not pinpointing the state prison system, either; the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today<\/a> that the Federal Bureau of Prisons cannot exclude violent criminals from sentence reductions for completing rehabilitation programs, mainly because officials have given no rationale for such a policy.<\/p>\n \u2022 CalBuzz makes some funnies<\/a> in their “Dr. Hackenflack” column.<\/p>\n