Capitol Alert - by The Sacramento Bee

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California by the Numbers by Dan Walters

DAN WALTERS

State budget scenario darkens

Published 11:00 am PDT Monday, October 15, 2007

With shrinking reserves and revenues and rising expenditures, the state's budget faces an increasingly grim scenario, a new report by the Legislature's budget analyst says....(more)

Work comp reform cuts costs sharply

Published 1:28 pm PDT Thursday, October 11, 2007

The overhaul of California's workers' compensation system that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and employers pushed through the Legislature in 2004 is working much better - or worse - than originally thought, an exhaustive and authoritative new appraisal concludes....(more)

A new study on school spending

Published 3:12 pm PDT Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Few topics generate more heated political debate in California than spending - or the lack thereof - on public education.The argument may heat up next year because Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other politicians have said they'll make school reform their prime topic....(more)

Changes in college student makeup

Published 3:09 pm PDT Wednesday, October 3, 2007

White, African American and American Indian students are declining as a share of California's college students while Latinos and Asian Americans are increasing, a new report by the California Postsecondary Education Commission concludes....(more)

Inland Empire ranks high in economic study

Published 3:28 pm PDT Monday, October 1, 2007

The Milken Institute may be based in California but just one California region - the Inland Empire of Riverside and San Bernardino counties - is included in the institute's list of the nation's best areas for economic development....(more)

Does housing really pay its way?

Published 9:59 am PDT Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Ever since voters passed Proposition 13, the famous - or infamous - property tax limitation measure in 1978, there's been a debate over whether construction of new housing is a net winner or net loser for state and local governments in terms of taxes, given the cost of police, fire and other services that must be supplied to residents of new developments....(more)

State's economy shows softness

Published 9:41 am PDT Monday, September 24, 2007

The softness in California's economy is evident in the latest round of data and it will have some effect on the state's tax revenue stream, but how much is still unclear....(more)

Oakland the state murder capital

Published 2:03 pm PDT Monday, September 17, 2007

Oakland, it would appear, is the homicide capital of California and is getting worse - so much so that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has dispatched Highway Patrol officers to help local police establish a stronger presence....(more)

LAX at risk, study warns

Published 12:16 pm PDT Thursday, September 13, 2007

There's an ongoing political battle in Los Angeles over whether Los Angeles International, the state's largest airport, should be expanded to increase its flight capacity or whether traffic should be shifted to outlying airports at Ontario or Palmdale....(more)

State leads in lower worker comp costs

Published 3:41 pm PDT Friday, September 7, 2007

California saw the nation's second largest drop in worker's compensation benefit payments and the highest decline in medical payments in 2005, thanks to the highly controversial reforms that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pushed through the Legislature as one of his first major acts, a new study shows....(more)

 

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