Like Lucy pulling the ball back before Charlie Brown could kick it, Santa Clara County officials unexpectedly withheld $30 million in money pledged for a new San Francisco 49ers stadium. Construction began in April and the stadium is set to open in 2014. The 49ers are leaving Candlestick Park, and San Francisco proper, where they’ve played since 1971.   read more

Tax credits worth $100 million, doled out annually to keep filmmakers from leaving California, are a net loss for the state and of questionable effectiveness, the independent Office of the Legislative Analyst told the Senate Governance Finance Committee, which is considering a 5-year extension of the program that began in 2009 under actor-turned-governor-turned-actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.   read more

California’s K-12 schools used to be among the nation’s best, and best supported, despite a diverse and steadily growing state population. But according to the U.S. Census, the state’s spending per pupil slipped to 35th in the nation in 2009-10 from 23rd two years earlier. The Golden State spending fell to $9,375 per pupil, $1,240 less than the national average.   read more

Robert Rizzo, former chief administrative officer for the city of Bell and poster child for abusively large government-funded pension payouts, had his pension cut for a second time when the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) notified him June 6 that he is not entitled to five years’ worth of credit he bought for himself with city funds.   read more

California’s giant pension funds, California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) and California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS), have been putting their money in JPMorgan Chase since 1973 and don’t appear to be in any hurry to alter the relationship in the wake of the investment bank’s recent multi-billion-dollar trading loss.   read more

In what may be a precursor of life with Obamacare minus the individual mandate, a class-action suit has been filed against Blue Shield of California over claims that it is forcing older, sicker policyholders into low-benefit, high-deductible coverage by manipulating the state’s dual-regulator health insurance system.   read more

Texas-based Heritage Pacific Financial is aggressively pursuing more than 1,000 former homeowners who took out second mortgages on their homes, claiming that foreclosure doesn’t let them off the hook   read more