Perhaps it's fitting that California lawmakers are honoring something that spends much of its time under water.
The state that has nearly drowned in red ink in recent years may soon have an official marine reptile.
The honor would go to – drum roll, please – the Pacific leatherback sea turtle, under a proposed state law that cleared its final house of the Legislature last week and was sent to Gov. Jerry Brown.
Only Brown's signature stands between leatherbacks and a seagoing turtle celebration that could prove, once and for all, whether the endangered 8-foot-long, 2,000- pound creature really can devour 230 pounds of jellyfish in an hour.
Assembly Bill 1776, by Democratic Assemblyman Paul Fong of Cupertino, also calls for every Oct. 15, beginning in 2013, to be designated as Pacific Leatherback Sea Turtle Conservation Day.
Public schools would be encouraged to incorporate Pacific leatherbacks into their teaching lessons that day, so students can celebrate the flippered foragers that have survived since ancient times.
Jellyfish need not participate.
– Jim Sanders
BY THE NUMBERS
California's realignment program, intended to reduce overcrowding in state prisons, has sharply cut inmate numbers, according to a new report. The Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice in San Francisco found a 39 percent drop in new admissions in the nine months ending June 30, but it suggests that the easy shifts may have already been made.
– Dan Walters
WORTH REPEATING
"I supported Pete Stark for 10 years. But Congress is not a lifetime appointment."
ALBERTO TORRICO, former California Assembly majority leader, reminding Twitter followers Friday that he's backing the 80-year-old incumbent's rival, fellow Democrat Eric Swalwell, in the Bay Area's 15th Congressional District
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.
Order Reprint
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.