While tech companies clamor for more high-skilled immigration and Americans bemoan the poor job done educating our youth, California community colleges are shutting out hundreds of thousands of applicants every year for lack of funding. A report from the Public Policy Institute of California outlines the effects of $1.5 billion in budget cuts between fiscal years 2007-08 and 2011-12, a decline of 24%.   read more

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced Friday that 149 airport towers, 11 in California, would begin closing next month. The sequester, which slices most agency budgets in the federal government, is forcing the FAA to cut $637 million by September 30. That is mostly being accomplished by periodic furloughs of its 47,000-person workforce and closure of towers at small airports.   read more

Employment has edged up 1.7% to 81.1% for men 25 to 54 the past two years, while women have seen a 0.8% decline to 64.5%. Women make up more than two-thirds of the 300,000 drop in community college enrollment since 2007-08 and have seen their options limited by steep reductions in state support of child care and preschool.   read more

Success! Solo drivers in Los Angeles who can afford to pay extra for access to carpool lanes have seen their speeds increase 10 mph, while those less fortunate are going between 3.6 and 8 mph slower. The 11 miles of High-Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes were activated last November and a second 14-mile stretch on the I-10 Freeway heading east from downtown opened February 23. The Los Angeles Times reported that the Harbor Freeway HOT lanes have already brought in $3.2 million.   read more

Using Southern California Edison’s own numbers, an independent analysis estimates that restarting the San Onofre Nuclear Power Generating Station this summer would cost customers three times as much money as keeping it shut and buying energy elsewhere. The analysis, conducted by M.Cubed of San Francisco for the Friends of the Earth, was filed with the state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) as part of an emergency motion contesting Edison’s request for a partial restart of the reactors.   read more

A little-noticed judicial fee tucked into Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed budget threatens to limit public access to documents and make it far more difficult for journalists to review critical files. A $10 fee would be imposed on anyone requesting a court file, a seemingly small amount until one considers that journalists covering the courts routinely request access to 10 or more documents in the course of a day. That adds up in a hurry.   read more

California Treasurer Bill Lockyer has asked Attorney General Kamala Harris to issue a formal opinion on whether school districts are illegally contracting with bond underwriting firms for pre-election campaign services in exchange for exclusive contracts to market the bonds later. “It's troubling,” Lockyer told the Voice of San Diego Tuesday. “I think it may well violate current law that limits quid-pro-quo transactions.”   read more

Like many Americans, Peter Dietrich took a pay cut last year after his employer encountered some financial setbacks. In fact, they shuttered the facility he oversaw in January 2012. Dietrich, chief nuclear officer for Southern California Edison (SCE) since 2010, oversees the beleaguered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station where his compensation last year was $1.9 million, according to Securities and Exchange Commission documents reviewed by the Associated Press.   read more

Two Californians accused of directing the fraudulent notarization of mortgage foreclosure documents had their case thrown out by the judge, who objected to prosecutors characterizing it as forgery and introducing "irrelevant and highly inflammatory evidence" about how the evictions affected the homeowners.   read more

Bankrupt San Bernardino doesn’t want to give the state $528.9 million it says it is owed, but it’s not necessarily because the city is, you know, bankrupt. City officials say the state is wrong in pursuing millions from its now-defunct redevelopment agency, claiming that the assets reside in forms and in places that can’t be touched. State Controller John Chiang wants the money.   read more

While state and federal governments increasingly opt for austerity measures over infrastructure investments to cope with the never-ending 2008 economic downturn, California streets and roads are crumbling A just–released report, sponsored by the League of California Cities, California State Association of Counties and other transportation entities, calls the situation a “crisis” and says it will take more than $82 billion over 10 years to bring California streets and roads up to par.   read more

No state’s residents are worse than Californians when it comes to claiming food stamp benefits from the federal government. Fifty-five percent of eligible Californians decline to apply for federally-funded nutrition benefits on a yearly basis, according to California Food Policy Advocates (CFPA), leaving $4.7 billion in Washington.   read more

Right now, sequester means we have a lot more stories in the press about what sequester might mean. But if Congress fails to enact meaningful, long-term measures soon the budget-slashing process it put in place nearly two years ago will take some luster off the Golden State.   read more

Now that the $1 billion computer system that was going to link California’s judiciary has been mothballed (with half the money spent), the 58 trial courts that offered fairly uniform resistance to the effort are starting over on their own.   read more

Clear Channel Outdoor wants its lucrative digital billboards scattered all over Los Angeles, and it’s not taking “no” as an answer from the California Courts. In an 11-page letter to the city, lawyers for the communications company threatened to sue Los Angeles for more than $100 million if the city doesn’t get over its judicial victory in December and strike a new, favorable deal with the company.   read more

Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed 2013-14 budget earmarks $192 million for various proposals, financed by a surcharge on investor-owned utility electricity bills. The independent Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) said in a recent review of the budget that it might not be a good idea to count on that money because the Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) never received authorization from the Legislature to collect the surcharge, which it has been diligently doing since January 2012.   read more