The state has released its "naughty" list: the top 250 Californians who owe the state taxes. more ›

If you have traffic tickets that you haven't paid since 2008, the state wants to help you wipe the slate clean. Starting in 2012, the state will be offering you a 50 percent discount to pay off tickets that were supposed to be paid off in 2009, according to the Daily Breeze. more ›

Some figures released by California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today indicate that the homicide rate has gone down 9.6% statewide, and is at its lowest since 1966. Further, California saw a 6.4% overall decline in violent crimes. more ›

A week of protests across the state of California began Monday as part of the California Teacher's Association (CTA) $1 million State of Emergency campaign. Thousands of teachers were expected to participate in sit-ins, teach-ins and protests over proposed budget cuts along with the threat of layoffs, larger classes and the elimination of myriad programs. more ›

We're broke at home and in the government's coffers, and we're either on fire or sliding down our muddy hillsides. Surf's up...and so is immigration. All in all, life in California is...kinda so-so. Only 39 per cent of people say that the great state of California is still pretty great, and rank it "one of the best places to live," reports the San Francisco Chronicle. The figure comes from a joint UC Berkeley and Field Poll that aims to explore the perceived "Quality of Life" in the Golden State. more ›

Thanks to its massive air pollution problem, California currently enforces the strictest car emission standards in the country. These stringent practices may be in jeopardy, however, due to the Energy Tax Prevention Act, newly proposed legislation at the federal level, according to SFGate. more ›

UC Chancellor Mark Yudof and CSU Chancellor Charles Reed announced Monday that they will not seek further tuition hikes this year, instead trimming enrollment and services to meet $1.4 billion in proposed cuts. The leaders warned, however, that if voters don’t approve Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax extensions in June, more cuts and fee hikes may be necessary. more ›

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has just released their 20th annual beachwater quality report, which shows that there were 2,904 "beach days"* last year when California's beaches were either closed or under advisory due to water pollution. more ›

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger presented his new state budget, called the "May Revise," yesterday, which includes several "severe cuts" to programs and funding he believes will help solve the budget crisis. more ›

The state is already looking at a $5 to $7 billion budget deficit for this fiscal year. Next year, another $7 billion. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will reveal his solutions in January, but today answered questions from the press, according to the LA Times. “I think there will be across-the-board cuts again. We are not going to go and pick and choose [ between programs]. I think that we always have to go and cut across the board." more ›

Although no strike is reportedly on the immediate horizon, the Service Employees International Union "announced that 74 percent of its membership approved [a] strike authorization in votes counted Saturday," according to abc7.com, and "union leaders will meet in the coming week to decide what steps to take." more ›

Going more in depth into the State Budget deal, local redevelopment projects around town could get hit pretty hard, according to the LA Times. $1.7 billion in redevelopment funds will be taken away from local municipalities, which could mean $72 million less for Los Angeles with a total loss of $360 million in private investment and 2,300 less jobs. Of those projects that could threatened include a shopping center in Reseda and a mixed-used affordable-housing project at Hollywood and Western. more ›

With no state budget solution, Governor Arnold Schwarzegger ordered a third furlough day per month. Today is the one of the three for July, meaning most state offices are closed. more ›

Nothing really happened yesterday in the capitol other than the Democratic plan to fix the budget went nowhere (for those following the possible closure of most all state parks, this means more time to advocate). Now Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg is vowing to work everyday to pass the budget by July 1st. If that date is not met, the state will begin sending IOUs instead of payments to bills. Here's to another day of being $24 billion in the red. more ›

As evident by this picture (and as promised earlier today), state senators are preparing to stay up all night, talk about the girls and boys they like, have pillow fights and just maybe, fix California's budget. more ›

That's how many layoff warnings Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will be sending off tomorrow morning to state employees, save for SEIU members. "In the absence of a budget, the governor has the responsibility to realize savings any way he can," Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said, per the SacBee. The budget standstill could be end if one Republican decides to side with Democrats. It's speculated that tonight's move by the Governor is to pressure Sen. Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks, who was close to voting on the budget, but backed out on Saturday. He represents a majority of said state workers in Sacramento county. more ›

On the heels of President Obama asking the EPA to reverse Bush's clamp-down on state-level fuel efficiency standards comes word that not all job-related news in California is bad news--yes, it's part of that silver lining. more ›

The California State University program, which includes several campuses around the Los Angeles area, will lose $31.3 million in funding in the latest of Sacramento budget cuts. "In response, we made it clear that in order to meet our mission-critical functions, this would have to be a one-time reduction, and not affect our base general fund budget going forward," Charles B. Reed, CSU Chancellor, wrote in a letter to employees. The cuts are from the latest budget approval last month and does not include a possible new budget that could be set later this month after news that California has a worse deficit--$10 billion--than the state anticipated. Educators statewide have been told that they should prepare for $2 to $4 billion in cuts. more ›

"The budget will cut $33 million from Medi-Cal, $8 million from probation camps, $10 million from mental health and $6 million from alcohol and drug programs, according to a memo by county Chief Executive Officer Bill Fujioka... The state budget will also cost the Metropolitan Transportation Authority about $133 million this year" more ›

We all get behind in paying bills every once in awhile. But can you imagine around 80,000 unpaid bills laying around the house? That's what California has because the state budget has still not been finished. Tomorrow, day 85 into the fiscal year, Gov. Schwarzenegger will sign the budget putting to rest the madness that has occurred since July 1. The state will spend about $3.6 billion paying some of those bills within two days of the budget's signing. more ›

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted three things to be in this morning's state budget that finally passed a record breaking 78 days later into the fiscal year. All three regarded provisions over the rainy day fund to be used in fiscal trouble and one of them were not included. Therefore, he " is expected to announce this afternoon that he will veto the state budget passed by the Legislature early this morning, setting the stage for an unprecedented confrontation in California's Capitol, said people familiar with the situation," reported the LA Times. more ›

It only took 77 days into the new fiscal year for California lawmakers to make a deal and pass the state's budget but when all was said and done, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger threatened to veto it. They debated early into the morning but made a plan that reportedly would solve the state's $15.2 billion deficit and would produce a $104.3 billion general fund that the Sacramento Bee says would bring "short-term relief but likely lead to shortfalls in future years." more ›

As the state tries to figure out this year's budget (already two months in), cities are concerned about legislators patching the state's red ink with funding that usually goes towards city services such as public safety and redevelopment funds. Addressing that could-be problem, the state's nine largest cities are sending letters to Gov. Schwarzenegger and the respective Democratic and Republican leaders. Simply said, "Stop balancing the state budget on the backs of cities!" Here's the full letter. more ›

Earlier this month, the FBI raided three local hospitals for alleged Medicare fraud. Then yesterday, the state fined eighteen hospitals $25,000 each "for state health code violations in which patients died from various mishaps such as an improperly inserted tube and a ventilator that wasn't turned on," according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. "Other violations include surgical tools left inside patients after surgery." more ›

How do you fix the state budget? You take away money from two of the most important and already-lacking services in the state: transit and early education programs via voter approved set aside money for those type of projects. Not only that, money for local governments could be taken away too (that means less money to do the dirty work of the city and county such as hospitals). Of course, within his first hour of office in 2003, Governor Schwarzenegger repealed the tripling of the car tax, something that was worth $4 billion to the state. more ›

State of California, Park Rangers: "'The park system we have is not set up to be an answer to social services' but exists as a recreation and vacation venue, [Roy Stearns, a state Department of Parks and Recreation spokesman,] said. He said churches and community centers would be more appropriate as sites for feeding the homeless." more ›

What will Hike The Geek do?!?! more ›

You can't be assured of getting the proper assistance and funding from the unbelievably-not-renamed-since-Katrina Federal Emergency Management Agency (they even faked their press conference while SoCal was burning). But if you live in LA or Orange County and suffered damages in the October wildfires, you have until 6 p.m. to apply for federal and state assistance. FEMA reports that 19,000 requests have been filed to date. more ›