Richard Wills Dichiara Born April 2, 2007 6 pounds, 3 ounces 18 1/2 inches 17 years, 363 days until he registers Republican… Read More

A friend forwarded this memo from the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board which has some tough words for those who dare to send documents to the Board that are not properly hole punched. I kid you not. Check this out for your laugh of the day.… Read More

Today there is a lot of news to cover… GOP PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS The big story is that GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney didn’t just ‘win’ the contest for fundraising over his main rivals Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, he clobbered them. This was an important first step for Romney, who needs to show that he is a viable national candidate. But the big test lies ahead — which is whether Romney can spend his campaign money as effectively as he can raise it. We’ll be looking closely at what Romney does here in California over the coming months. Giuliani and McCain enjoy much more name identification among California GOP voters… I was actually surprised at McCain’s showing on the fundraising front. All three campaigns tried to downplay expectations before the big announcements. Romney hit the home run, of course. Giuliani scored a… Read More

Today there is a lot of news to cover… GOP PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS The big story is that GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney didn’t just ‘win’ the contest for fundraising over his main rivals Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, he clobbered them. This was an important first step for Romney, who needs to show that he is a viable national candidate. But the big test lies ahead — which is whether Romney can spend his campaign money as effectively as he can raise it. We’ll be looking closely at what Romney does here in California over the coming months. Giuliani and McCain enjoy much more name identification among California GOP voters… I was actually surprised at McCain’s showing on the fundraising front. All three campaigns tried to downplay expectations before the big announcements. Romney hit the home run, of course. Giuliani scored a… Read More

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail, our ‘virtual’ FR Correspondent John Fund:

Daddy Warbucks

Why did Senator Dianne Feinstein of California suddenly resign as chair of a powerful military appropriations subcommittee last week? That’s the question much of Washington is asking, and liberal government watchdog groups are apparently not going to give her a pass on the issue. They believe her withdrawal is linked to her subcommittee’s allocation of millions of dollars in defense contracts to companies partly owned by her husband.

The story began two months ago when Metro Newspapers, a group of alternative weeklies in northern California,… Read More

California’s education system is struggling – despite billions of dollars and a never ending parade of Legislative quick-fixes, California students continue to fall behind the national averages in almost every academic area. One of the problems with California’s education system is the missmash of special funding (categorical programs) and the gross inequity created by a convoluted state formula for distribution of education dollars. Some schools accomplish a lot despite the inefficient system, but California’s largest school district (the Los Angeles Unified School District) is not one of them. Recently, LAUSD approved a teacher’s contract that creates a $213 million annual shortfall – and they readily admit they have no idea how to pay for it. This is more than just irresponsible budgeting – it should be criminal. Coincidentally, LA Assemblyman Kevin de Leon recently introduced… Read More

California’s education system is struggling – despite billions of dollars and a never ending parade of Legislative quick-fixes, California students continue to fall behind the national averages in almost every academic area. One of the problems with California’s education system is the missmash of special funding (categorical programs) and the gross inequity created by a convoluted state formula for distribution of education dollars. Some schools accomplish a lot despite the inefficient system, but California’s largest school district (the Los Angeles Unified School District) is not one of them. Recently, LAUSD approved a teacher’s contract that creates a $213 million annual shortfall – and they readily admit they have no idea how to pay for it. This is more than just irresponsible budgeting – it should be criminal. Coincidentally, LA Assemblyman Kevin de Leon recently introduced… Read More

If only it were a reality…you could get on a train high-speed train in Los Angeles and be at Disneyland in less than 30 minutes.

Well the California High-Speed Rail Authority is working on such things and apparently todos beneficiamos (they sent a brochure about some upcoming scoping sessions that are printed in English and Spanish).

If you want to weigh in on the project there are several public meetings in April in LA, Anaheim and Norwalk.

Apparently the the SoCal route could also extend down to Irvine.

If the thing operates over existing rail right-of-ways and doesn’t eliminate any current roads I am all for it assuming I don’t have to pay for it. I probably won’t ever take it but according to their studies they project 100 million passengers a year by 2030.

How will it be financed? Who pays for it? The slick… Read More