Results tagged “diannefeinstein”

Senator Dianne Feinstein has long been a champion of environmental causes, but now she may find herself pitted against one major faction of the movement as she launches a fight to designate a large portion of Southern California's desert as a national monument.

"My position has consistently been that I believe the agency is best served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time," California Senator Dianne Feinstein said about President-Elect Barack Obama's pick of Leon Panetta to head the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta, known as a good manager who can to work through government bureaucracy, was the former White House Chief of Staff for Bill Clinton, an eight-term member of Congress, co-founder of California State University, Monterey Bay and a public policy institute within that college. He once wrote that the United States "must not use torture under any circumstances."

A new ad revealed today shows Senators Barack Obama (D) and Dianne Feinstein (D) together with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) asking people to vote "No" on Proposition 8, which seeks to eliminate same-sex marriage.

Daniel Abrahamson, co-author of Proposition 5 and Director of Legal Affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance Network, publicly called out California Attorney General and former governor Jerry Brown on his motives behind opposing Proposition 5, the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act. No on Prop 5 is heavily financed by California's prison guard union, who is in turn supporting Brown's bid for Governor in 2010. Interestingly, US Senator Dianne Feinstein, another prominent opponent of Prop 5 (and another hawkish Democrat) is also considering a bid for Governor in 2010. It all gets a little sticky. LAist has more on Prop 5.

In the wake of the deadly Chatsworth train crash where a Metrolink commuter train and Union Pacific freight train crashed head on killing 25 and injuring 135, technology called positive train control that detects and shut down trains heading towards each other will be installed by 2012, three years before federal law will require them to do so, Bottleneck Blog reports after a hearing today in Van Nuys.

       

At the corner of Melrose and Highland last night, a group gathered to protest President George Bush's bailout of Wall Street plan. The group may have been small, but represented many. Senator Dianne Feinstein has received so many e-mails, letters and calls (39,180 they say) that they've had to double staffing. Congressman Brad Sherman's office says phone calls are running 300 to 2 against bailout. And of course, more local protests are planned. Photos by LAist Photographer Tom Andrews from last night's protest are below...

The Federal Railroad Safety Improvement Act of 2007 (H.R. 2095) passed out of the differences committee (that's where senators and representatives work out differences in the versions of the bill each chamber approved and before it goes to the President) tonight in Washington D.C. "House and Senate negotiators have reached a deal on a major railroad safety reform bill that will require new technology to prevent crashes and limit hours engineers can work," the Associated Press reported.

"As a state, I believe we should uphold the ability of our friends, neighbors and co-workers who are gay and lesbian to enter into the contract of marriage," said California Sen. Dianne Feinstein in a statement about Proposition 8, that November ballot initiative that seeks to ban gay marriage in California.

Not only are there Props 7 and 10, which are environmentally intentioned with heavy opposition from businesses and eco-groups alike, there is also a possible prop being pushed around by Governor Schwarzenegger and Senator Dianne Feinstein. It would be a $9.3 billion water bond, mainly for water surface storage.

That's what the Sacramento Bee is asking today after a private poll came out showing that the U.S. Senator would beat Governor contender Attorney General Jerry Brown by 26%. In other polls, Brown is shown beating San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, LA Mayor Villaraigosa and Lt. Gov. John Garamendi. "If she does get in, it's over, at least on the Democratic side. Everybody, and I mean everybody, else steps out," former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown wrote on Sunday in the SF Chronicle.

After reports that 10 members of congress, including California Senator Dianne Feinstein, received letters and photos in the mail that possibly claimed responsibility for yesterday's bombing in Times Square, the FBI did the obvious thing: go to the man's house who was listed on the return address. Nothing turned up when they questioned the man. "We're continuing to investigate, but right now there is no evidence linking the individual being questioned to the incident in New York or the letters themselves," Eimiller said to KNBC.

Defamer: The Reno 911 men slipped on their shorts and offered their support to the striking writers today EatingLA: Everyone's favorite unbalanced chef Gordon Ramsay is going to have "a conversation" at the Paley Center in Beverly Hills on the 20th. Bite me. Sean Bonner: points us to a gift for the man or woman who has everything and would like less (and no it's not a Mike Huckabee mask, but close) Luke Ford:...

Protest over national vs. regional chains, the never-ending debate over the place of cars and bicycles in our metropolises, professional sports scandals, remembering a solemn day, and being issued a search warrant - it all happened across our sites this week!

I know this is hardly a controversial opinion. A few years ago, I had the “pleasure” of seeing Ted Nugent open for Kiss. The show was raw, sweaty, and blissfully loud. As the Motor City Madman powered through hit after hit, I was amazed at how much I was enjoying his brand of gloriously primitive bonehead rock. The massive crowd cheered, pumped their fists, and banged their collective heads to the seemingly endless stream...

Not letting the bedbugs bite is getting harder than ever these days. Deeming it "troubling" and "unacceptable," Mayor Tony is urging federal officials to take steps to prevent a repeat of this weekend's Customs and Border Protection computer glitch that stranded some 20,000 travelers. The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag warning - signifying a higher risk of wildfires - for the L.A. County mountains that will remain in effect until Wednesday...

As just the latest of high-profile California lawmakers to endorse her presidential bid, Senator Dianne Feinstein should add a bit more West Coast mojo to Hillary Clinton's already momentous campaign. The latest poll figures have her up 49% to 24% over Barack Obama in California, and she is leading the field in most other early primary states — though not in the fund-raising department, where Obama is kicking some serious tush. Her latest California...

A press release from the Council on American-Islamic Relations thanks Democrats Jane Harman and Dianne Feinstein for assisting to secure Mahboob's release, but the U.S. government has made no statements about this subject thus far. CAIR is an Islamic civil liberties organization. According to the San Jose Mercury News, Mahboob says he was beaten and that he recieved no explanation for why he was arrested or jailed. LAist wonders whether we'll see either Egypt or our own government shed some light on the causes for this incident.