Marisa Lagos looks at howthe oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has changed the governor's view on T-Ridge.
"Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday withdrew his support for a plan he championed to allow new offshore oil drilling off Santa Barbara County, citing the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Schwarzenegger, whose administration as recently as Friday defended the proposed Tranquillon Ridge offshore drilling project, said images of the spill in the gulf changed his mind.
"All of you have seen, when you turn on the television, the devastation in the gulf, and I'm sure that they also were assured that it was safe to drill," he said at a news conference Monday. "I see on TV the birds drenched in oil, the fishermen out of work, the massive oil spill and oil slick destroying our precious ecosystem. That will not happen here in California, and this is why I am withdrawing my support for the T-Ridge project."
That sound you hear is Abel Maldonado exhaling.
Shane Goldmacher takes a look at how incumbents are using legislative performances to stage events that boost their election chances.
"Assemblyman Dave Jones leaned in toward his microphone, hands punctuating nearly every word, as he scolded two insurance executives for premium hikes affecting hundreds of thousands of Californians.
"Have you no shame?" asked an indignant Jones, who chairs the Assembly's health committee.
"The Sacramento Democrat wasn't playing only to the audience at the hearing, which he had called. He also was performing for his own camera crew. Staff from his campaign to be California's next insurance commissioner was there to film the exchange — perhaps to cut it later into a TV ad."
Pot, meet kettle.
"Political grandstanding comes with the territory in Sacramento. Generations of legislators have called hearings to probe alleged wrongdoing, puffing themselves up in the process. But the line between government service and career advancement is ever blurrier in a capital where term limits force legislators to begin eyeing their next political landing spot the moment they arrive."
Could Sunday night's debate be a turning point in the race for governor? Steve Harmon examines.
"Poizner eviscerates Whitman for her attempt to dismiss her 15-month tenure on Goldman Sachs’ board of directors as an uneventful and trivial period in her life.
Her comment, that she “fired” the board (quit) because she didn’t “like the culture” or “didn’t like the management” gave Poizner a pretty wide point of entry.
Meanwhile, opponents of the state's gloal warming law are ready for November.
The LAT reports, "Backers of a measure to suspend implementation of the state's greenhouse gas law until unemployment drops to 5.5% have submitted more than 800,000 signed petitions to qualify the measure for the November ballot.
"A coalition of anti-tax and small business groups, with funding from out-of-state oil companies, held a news conference in Sacramento before handing in the petitions.
"Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., said the measure is an effort to "return California's economy to some semblance of sanity." Coupal said the measure would cost the state more than 1 million jobs, far outpacing any potential job gains from new, "green-tech" jobs.
And finally, still wondering what to get the special Muslim in your life? How about the home pork detector? Reuters reports, "Scientists in mainly Muslim Kazakhstan have come up with an instant test for the presence of pork in food, a popular newspaper reported on Monday.
"The plastic-stick test detects food molecules that are found only in pork, which is forbidden by Islam but is easily found in the Central Asian state, Megapolis weekly said.
"It's no secret that some chefs cheat and add pork to beef to make the dish cheaper," the newspaper wrote on Monday, saying the practice was widespread in Kazakhstan.
"When you get your beef patty, cut off a couple of small pieces and drop them in a glass of water. Stir, shake, put the test stick in ... In a minute or two you will see the result."