Governor Jerry Brown isn't kidding on getting California's spending under control. On the chopping block today: All those thingamajigs and doo-dads and logo-covered crappola that gets given away for free and is purchased with taxpayer's dollars. Among the "Stuff We All Get," aka "S.W.A.G." that has been slashed from the books include flashlights, pens, hats, shirts, coffee mugs, keychains, squeeze toys, and ashtrays, according to Brown's office. more ›

Human waste is a part of life; we all generate it, we all need to dispose of it. Some of us abide by the clever rhyming adage "if it's yellow, mellow, if it's brown, flush it down" but with the state's increasingly perilous water levels on most minds, it's increasingly harder to even just take a seat on the old porcelain throne without worrying about the environment. more ›