Capitol Basement

LA story

2013-05-16T15:20:47Z

In the race for mayor in Democrat-rich Los Angeles, contender Wendy Greuel gets smacked in a Spanish-language ad for once being Republican, and a Pete Wilson Republican at that.

From the LAT's Kate Linthicum and Seema Mehta: "The 30-second commercial, which was produced by a "super PAC" backing Greuel's opponent in next week's election, draws links between Greuel and Wilson, the former California governor who pushed a 1994 initiative to block immigrants in the country illegally from accessing state social services."

"The ad splices together photos of Greuel and Wilson and says: "During the anti-immigrant era of Pete Wilson, Wendy Greuel was a Republican."

"The Greuel campaign says the ad is misleading because Greuel, who switched her party affiliation from Republican to Democrat in 1992, "vehemently and publicly opposed" Wilson's initiative."

Among the twists and turns in the governor's budget is a move to have the counties pay for key services from money they save in health care costs.

From the U-T's Michael Gardner: "California’s counties are leery of Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget maneuver to immediately siphon money from local coffers, leaving behind an IOU that would be repaid through savings realized much later..."

"Brown argues that overall counties will save as much as $300 million immediately — and $1.3 billion annually in three years — when thousands of low-income Californians become eligible for subsidized health care starting Jan. 1 under the new federal Affordable Care Act."

"In a complicated move, Brown wants to quickly lower by a like amount state payments to counties for welfare programs, such as CalWORKS and child care. That would force the counties to shift health care savings to pay a bigger share of those programs."

Speaking of the budget, Gov. Brown in unveiling his rewritten budget demanded prudence and restraint, but a number of groups already are challenging him for more money, led by advocates for the poor.

From the Mercury-News' Steve Harmon: "Democratic legislators and liberal advocacy groups signaled Wednesday they are ready to fight to restore safety net programs devastated by years of cuts, a day after Gov. Jerry Brown emphasized a sober economic outlook in a revised budget that leaves little room for improving the lot of the poor."

"Brown vowed to spend within the state's means, proclaiming he is the "backstop" to the "big spending machine" of interest groups and liberal legislators sure to bang on his door for help."

"Brown scaled down hopes with a $96.4 billion budget that was $1.3 billion smaller than he'd proposed in January, saying that federal "sequestration" cuts, lower wages and a hike in Social Security taxes had quelled economic growth."

The state isn't the only one with budget issues: In LA, officials are finding out that they don't know exactly how much money may be tucked away. Sounds like a reprise of the state Parks and Recreation Department.

From KPCC's Alice Walton: "The recent discovery of an extra $43 million in the Department of Transportation's budget shows just how little Los Angeles city leaders know about so-called "special funds," the chair of the Budget and Finance Committee said Wednesday."

"There are between 600 and 700 special revenue funds on the City of L.A.'s books. These funds hold money from grants and taxes that are set aside for specific projects. And in the case of LADOT, sometimes the funds hold city dollars that should be reimbursed back to the General Fund."

"There was a change in management in the Department of Transportation," Councilman Paul Krekorian told KPCC's Take Two. "And there was an early detection around October 2011 that this fund seemed to have more money that it should have in it, so they launched a forensic accounting effort that involved reviewing of 11,000 documents."

As 2014 approaches, it is becoming clearer that the counties are unable to cope with the new influx of patients.

From Alexa Underwood in HealthyCal: "More than one million people in California suffer from mental illness – the largest number of any state. When the final phase of the new federal health care law starts in January of next year, more California residents than ever before will be able to seek help for problems ranging from depression, anxiety, and addiction to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder."

"But mental health providers in the state’s Central Valley are unprepared for an influx of thousands of patients. State and county officials remain in the planning phases, even though new patients will be able to access these services in less than nine months."

"Manuel Jimenez, director of Merced County’s Mental Health and Alcohol and Drug Services, said that they haven’t begun expanding programs just yet."

Finally, on a serious note but reminding ourselves that most political junkies like beer, from our Beer Gardens file comes a tale of complaint from a beer writer who is fed up with hops.

"That’s when I realized that I had a problem. In fact, everyone I know in the craft beer industry has a problem: We’re so addicted to hops that we don’t even notice them anymore."

"Hops are the flowers of the climbing plant Humulus lupulus, a member of the family Cannabaceae (which also includes, yes, cannabis), and they’re a critical ingredient in beer. Beer is made by boiling grain to turn its starches into sugar, which is later converted to alcohol by yeast."

"While the grain is boiling, brewers add hops to tone down the mixture’s sweetness—without hops, beer would taste like Coke. Recipes usually call for only a few grams of hops per gallon of beer produced, but those little flowers pack a big punch. In addition to their bittering properties, hops impart strong piney, spicy, or fruity flavors and aromas. They also contain antimicrobial agents that act as natural preservatives."

Budget, budget

2013-05-15T14:39:23Z

Gov. Brown urged the elimination of a $700 million tax break for "enterprise zones," which were set up decades ago to give employers tax benefits for setting up businesses in depressed areas.

From the LAT's Marc Lifsher: "In his revised budget Tuesday, Brown proposed that 40 enterprise zones be replaced by a sales tax credit for companies that purchase manufacturing or biotech research and development equipment."

"Currently, employers in enterprise zones can get tax credits of up to $37,000 per hired person in an area identified as blighted. Some of the existing zones include portions of Los Feliz, Silver Lake and Venice in Los Angeles, suburban Santa Clarita and the SOMA district of San Francisco — neighborhoods that are far from economically depressed."

"But Brown criticized the tax credit for failing to create new jobs and rewarding employers for moving existing jobs from one place to another within California. Labor groups and a number of studies, such as a 2009 report by the Public Policy Institute of California, have questioned whether enterprise zone credits, which are based on new hires, actually translate into an overall increase in the number of people with new jobs."

Speaking of the budget, the spending plan borrows money raised from California's cap-and-trade auctions and shifts it to the General Fund, the state's main coffer.

From Capitol Weekly's John Howard: "Gov. Brown’s rewritten budget borrows $500 million from California’s cap-and-trade auctions and diverts the money for use in other state programs – a move that drew immediate fire from clean-air advocates."

"The administration said the $500 million represents a one-time loan and will be paid back, with interest. Tapping the money was proper, the administration said, because the state needs more time to set up programs to coordinate the investments of the auction proceeds and nobody can predict how much the auctions will raise in the future."

"The agencies need “further time to design and develop their programs to ensure that when the programs receive funds they will further the purposes of (the law) and maximize long term greenhouse gas reductions,” the administration wrote in paperwork accompanying the revised budget, which was released Tuesday. The budget, which must be approved by the Legislature, reflects income tax revenue collected by the April 15 deadline."

Shifting gears, Gov. Brown says the state should take the point position in expanding Medi-Cal as the federal reforms kick in.

From the Mercury-News' Karen de Sá: "Gov. Jerry Brown's May budget plan backtracks on his January proposal to have counties take the lead on expanding Medi-Cal programs under the federal Affordable Care Act, instead recommending that the state take the lead on the sweeping expansion of health-care coverage Jan. 1."

"But the proposal is contingent on eventually recouping money from county-based safety net services such as the food stamp program, the CalWORKS welfare benefit, and child care linked to cash assistance. The state would see an additional $300 million in revenue in the coming fiscal year under the plan, an amount that would continue to grow over time."

"Health care advocates praised the state for assuming primary responsibility for the rollout of Obamacare in the nation's most populous state, while lamenting that the governor's most recent budget plan continues to cut such things as physician compensation rates under Medi-Cal, and dental care for adults."

With tax revenues outpacing projections and the economy improving, there's money to play with in the budget, but Brown counseled caution in his May Revision.

From the Chronicle's Wyatt Buchanan: "From 2011-12 to 2016-17, school funding will jump by $19 billion from $47.3 billion to $66.5 billion, according to Gov. Jerry Brown, who presented his revised spending plan for the next fiscal year on Tuesday. The plan includes a $2.9 billion increase in the current year."

"But public education is the only area of the state budget that is seeing a significant increase in the revised budget plan. Democrats in the Legislature had anticipated a significant surplus for next year, but Brown said actions by the federal government - including the automatic spending cuts and the increase in the payroll tax - eliminated any such surplus."

"The governor said his budget "is a call for prudence, not exuberance." He credited the passage of Proposition 30 by voters in November as key to stabilizing the budget and providing more money for education, but cautioned, "this is not the time to break out the Champagne."

The death by beating of a man in the custody of Kern County sheriff's deputies has drawn federal investigators, who are looking into the case at the request of the sheriff himself.

From the LAT's Diana Marcum, Paul Pringle and Richard Winton: "The FBI launched an investigation Tuesday into the death of a man beaten by authorities amid questions over how officials handled the case."

"Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said he asked the FBI to get involved after learning that one of two cellphones seized from witnesses had no footage on it."

"Two witnesses told The Times that they watched the videos on each of the phones last week in the wake of David Silva’s death. The case is generating widespread attention because several witnesses have come forward to say deputies ruthlessly beat Silva with batons on the head, even after he was lying motionless on the ground."

“Our credibility is at stake here,” Youngblood said in an interview. He did not dispute the witnesses' accounts about the videos but said he would not draw any conclusions until the investigations were complete. The phones on Tuesday were flown to the FBI’s Sacramento office for analysis."

And from our "Freedom of the Press" file comes a primer on something everyone should know -- how to leak to the media.

"Get a dedicated computer or tablet: the cheapest Windows laptop will do. And pay cash, as our normal laptops have a host of automatic synchronization and similar services. Our personal web browsers also contain all sorts of location-identifying cookies. Even if you’re logged in to but don’t actually visit Facebook’s home page, a subpoena to Facebook can still reveal where you connect and what pages you visit — every “Like” button reports to Facebook that you are visiting that particular page, at a particular time, from a particular IP address.

"Leave your cellphone, your normal computer, and your metro card (like SmarTrip) at home: anything that speaks over a wireless link must stay behind. Then go to a coffee shop that has open Wi-Fi, and once there open a new Gmail account that you will only use to contact the press and only from the dedicated computer. When registering, use no personal information that can identify you or your new account: no phone numbers, no names."

"Don’t forget: if you get anything at the cafe, or take public transit,pay cash. Be prepared to walk a bit, too; you can’t stay close to home for this."

Might be easier to just call ...

Span woes

2013-05-14T15:01:17Z

The feds are stepping into the Bay Bridge construction flap, launching a probe into the integrity of hundreds of huge bolts used in the multibillion-dollar span.

From the Chronicle"s Jaxon Van Derbeken: "The federal government will investigate how Caltrans allowed more than 2,300 suspect steel rods to be installed on the new Bay Bridge eastern span and will review the agency's $10 million fix of more than two dozen that have already failed, officials said Monday."

"The probe will be conducted by the Federal Highway Administration, which agreed to come in at the request of a state-local panel overseeing the $6.4 billion eastern span. The panel, which represents both Caltrans and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, sought an "arm's length" review of the problems with high-strength, galvanized threaded rods installed on the bridge since 2007."

"Problems with the rods have raised questions about whether the span will open to traffic as scheduled on Sept. 3. A spokesman for the federal agency would not speculate on how long its examination might take."

A forest-protection group is taking on Jerry Brown over his policies that they contend allow clear-cut logging across thousands of acres. It's a small buy but it raises questions about the governor's academic credentials -- which is the point.

Froom the Bee's David Siders: "A Northern California environmental group has begun airing advertisements on cable TV stations criticizing Gov. Jerry Brown for allowing clear-cut logging on thousands of acres of forest land."

"Marily Woodhouse, co-founder of the Manton-based Battle Creek Alliance, said today her organization paid $3,000 to air spots this month on CNN, MSNBC and other cable networks in Sacramento."

"The tiny ad buy is part of an ongoing conflict between environmentalists and business interests over the state's management of logging on private land. One ad features a photograph of the Democratic governor in a superimposed pair of sunglasses."

A major point of contention in the governor's revised budgt will be education, as various interests fight over the surge in new revenue.

From EdSource's John Fensterwald: "Democrats in the Legislature may find themselves at odds with Gov. Jerry Brown on two issues that will factor large when Brown reveals his revised state budget Tuesday: how to spend billions in unanticipated revenue and how to reshape Brown’s sweeping plan for funding K-12 education."

"As of now, the state is on target to collect $4.5 billion more than expected in personal income taxes, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office. Democratic leaders in the Legislature have no shortage of ways they’d like to see that money spent, such as expanding mental health care, restoring adult dental care, eliminating fees for preschool that went into effect this year, and providing more state aid for college students."

"The problem for them is that as much as 90 percent of that extra money may be legally bound for K-12 and community colleges. Normally, under Proposition 98 (later modified by Proposition 111), which defines spending minimums for education, school districts and community colleges can count on about 40 cents of every dollar in state revenue. But when times are good, as they are this year, and the state owes districts for past cuts and missed cost-of-living increases, as is the case, then it can rise to 90 cents on a dollar."

Speaking of budget revenue, the governor unveils his latest budget draft for the fiscal year that starts July 5, a document that reflects the income tax revenue collected by the April 15 filing deadline.

From the AP's Juliet Williams: "Administration officials, who provided the information on the condition of anonymity, said Brown would include $1 billion, or about $170 per student, to implement the "common core" standards that California and 43 other states have adopted. They include more rigorous instruction in English and mathematics, literacy standards for history and social studies and higher-order thinking."

"Schools are required to implement the changes but have struggled to do so after years of budget cuts. The state funding will pay for professional development and new technology and instructional materials."

"Brown's school funding formula would channel additional money to schools with higher proportions of English learners, low-income families and foster children. He has framed it as part of the state's obligation to help struggling students, saying "it is controversial, but it is right and it's fair."

Down south, the Los Angeles mayoral battle is proceeding hot and heavy, but the campaign appears to be far from enlightening and educational.

From the Bee's Dan Walters: "The duel between City Councilman Eric Garcetti and City Controller Wendy Greuel has to be California's most vapid, off-putting political contest. You couldn't slip a toothpick between the two in ideology – two more or less liberal, more or less business-friendly, more or less union-allied politicos."

"Nevertheless, they've spent millions of dollars, most of which have paid for mindless personal attacks accusing each other of being a mayoral disaster waiting to happen because of some defect of character."

"One poll in late April had Garcetti ahead, while another last week gave the nod to Greuel. But whether any poll is valid hinges on how many of the huge city's voters actually will cast ballots by next Tuesday. It's assumed that turnout will be very low – it's L.A., the world capital of civic alienation, after all – but how low is uncertain."

And from our "Big Bang" file comes the tale of a woman who was at Starbucks waiting to buy some coffee when she got a big surprise.

"Police say Pamela Beck and Amie Peterson were getting coffee at the Tyrone Square Mall in St. Petersburg when Beck moved to set her bags down in order to pay for her drink."

"Her purse "hit the ground hard," St. Petersburg Police spokesman Mike Puetz told The Huffington Post, and a fully loaded .25 caliber semi-automatic handgun that was in the bottom of the handbag fired, striking Peterson above the knee."

"Beck told investigators that her father had given her the gun about a year ago, and she hadn't intended to bring it out in public. "She had forgotten about it," Puetz said."

Definitely time for a double macchiato...

Nouveau riche

2013-05-13T14:42:41Z

There's more money in the kitty now, but with Democrats holding supermajorities in the Legislature, their watchwords are temperance and caution. Maybe.

From Steve Harmon in the Mercury-News: "Apart from some targeted spending increases, however, lawmakers appear to be sticking to the disciplined approach that Gov. Jerry Brown has championed, even as he plans to announce in his revised budget Tuesday that tax revenues are $4.6 billion more than he predicted in January."

"Indeed, most Democrats seem to be sounding more like their conservative Republican counterparts. Assembly Democrats are even circulating a document titled "Blueprint for a Responsible Budget" that highlights calls for "fiscal responsibility, a stronger middle class and less government red tape."

"Every one of us, those who've been here and were architects of the cuts, would love to see things restored," said Assemblyman Rich Gordon, D-Menlo Park, a member of the budget committee. "But the majority of us in the Democratic Assembly caucus feel we have to be cautious with this money."

With all this talk about changing the California Environmental Quality Act, one would think the debate is over environmental protections. In fact, potential changes to CEQA also would benefit a couple of NBA teams -- the Sacramento Kings and the Golden State Warriors.

From the Chronicle's John Diaz: "It's merely "a happy coincidence" that Sacramento's drive to build a downtown arena to keep the Kings from moving to Seattle would be enhanced by a bill (SB731) that would streamline litigation against urban-infill developments under the California Environmental Quality Act, said state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento."

"I admit I have touted 731 (to NBA owners) to help Sacramento's case," Steinberg said, explaining that the league was very concerned about the perils of building an arena in a hostile regulatory atmosphere. "It's the community I represent. It's not another California city trying to relocate our team, it's the state of Washington. No apologies there."

"But he added: "It has never been about basketball and the NBA, it's about infill development. It's about a billion dollars of private investment in downtown Sacramento."

Speaking of the Kings, there's a new twist in the tug-of-war with Seattle over the ultimate location of the team, an issue that has obsessed Sacramento for four months.

From Bob Condotta in the Seattle Times: "The current owners of the Sacramento Kings have told their fellow NBA owners that they will not sell the team if a deal with a Seattle group to sell and relocate the team is not approved."

"Instead, the Maloof family has reached agreement on a "backup" plan to sell 20 percent of the team to the Seattle group led by Chris Hansen and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, a league source confirmed to The Seattle Times."

"ESPN.com, which first reported the story, said that Hansen has also offered to pay a $115 million relocation fee that would give each of the 29 other owners roughly $4 million apiece. The group that moved the Sonics to Oklahoma City in 2008 paid just $30 million."

Yet another piece of the pension debate: Are the costs exaggerated in order to put a bigger burden on workers?

From Ed Mendel in Calpensions: "A large technical-worker union that plans a strike at five University of California hospitals next week opposes the next phase of a pension reform, arguing that costs have been overstated to get workers to pay more toward their pensions."

"Public pension systems, such as CalPERS and CalSTRS, are often accused by critics of using overly optimistic investment earnings forecast to keep employer costs low and conceal massive “unsustainable” long-term debt."

"In a contrarian view, an actuarial consultant hired by unions contends the other large state pension system, the UC Retirement Plan, uses conservative methods that keep short-term pension costs high to justify employee rate increases."

Live by by the suit, die by the suit: JP Morgan Chase, which sued thousands of people to collect debts, is itself being sued by the state attorney general over its debt-collection practices.

From the Bee's Phillip Reese: "JP Morgan Chase sued thousands of Sacramento-area customers as part of what California Attorney General Kamala Harris calls a barrage of inadequately researched debt collection cases."

"Harris sued the banking giant Thursday, contending that it haphazardly filed about 100,000 debt collection lawsuits between 2008 and 2011 in California."

"(Chase) cut corners in the name of speed, cost savings, and their own convenience, providing only the thinnest veneer of legitimacy to their lawsuits," the state said in its complaint.

And from our "Strange, Very Strange History of World War II" file comes the tale of the only time that Americans and Germans fought on the same side: They were defending a medieval castle against an attack by SS troops.

"The most extraordinary things about this truly incredible tale of World War II are that it hasn’t been told before in English, and that it hasn’t already been made into a blockbuster Hollywood movie."

"Here are the basic facts: on 5 May 1945 — five days after Hitler’s suicide — three Sherman tanks from the 23rd Tank Battalion of the U.S. 12th Armored Division under the command of Capt. John C. ‘Jack’ Lee Jr., liberated an Austrian castle called Schloss Itter in the Tyrol, a special prison that housed various French VIPs, including the ex-prime ministers Paul Reynaud and Eduard Daladier and former commanders-in-chief Generals Maxime Weygand and Paul Gamelin, amongst several others."

"Yet when the units of the veteran 17th Waffen-SS Panzer Grenadier Division arrived to recapture the castle and execute the prisoners, Lee’s beleaguered and outnumbered men were joined by anti-Nazi German soldiers of the Wehrmacht, as well as some of the extremely feisty wives and girlfriends of the (needless-to-say hitherto bickering) French VIPs, and together they fought off some of the best crack troops of the Third Reich."

Definitely, the movie is coming...

Not quite Willie

2013-05-10T14:39:07Z

Abel Maldonado, a Republican and a likely contender for governor, smacked Gov. Brown's prison policies only to find out that the offender he used to prove his point was the wrong man. The 2014 gubernatorial campaign has begun, and so far Willie Horton isn't playing a role.

From the LAT's Paige St. John: "A potential gubernatorial candidate's use of the wrong offender to stir opposition to Gov. Jerry Brown's prison crowding policies drew a sharp rebuke Thursday from an NAACP official who called it "Willie Horton-style racial politics."

"Abel Maldonado, former Republican lieutenant governor, on Wednesday announced a statewide campaign to repeal Brown's program, which required counties to take custody of thousands of felons and parole violators who once served those terms in state prison. Maldonado, who says he probably will run for governor in 2014, says Brown's policy amounts to "early release" in counties where jails lack room for those offenders. Maldonado used as an example Jerome Rogers, a transient accused of murdering an elderly San Bernardino woman, and he stood next to a large poster of the black man's arrest photo during his televised news conference."

"However, The Times reported that Rogers was not affected by Brown's prison policy. Corrections records show he was released from state prison in 2000 and finished parole in 2003."

California's top cop says banking behemoth JPMorgan Chase crossed the line when it sought money from thousands of people with unpaid credit card balances.

From the AP's Don Thompson: "California's attorney general sued one of the nation's largest banks Thursday, alleging that JPMorgan Chase & Co. used illegal tactics in its debt collection efforts against about 100,000 credit card holders."

"The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court says the company filed thousands of debt collection lawsuits each month between 2008 and April 2011 using improper practices that shortcut procedures required by California law."

"JPMorgan Chase spokesman Paul Hartwick said the company had no comment."

If you live in Oakland and your house is burgled, the chances of finding the crook are slim to none.

From the Chronicle's Matthew Kuruvila:The Oakland Police Department has been so ineffectively structured that only one part-time investigator was assigned to handle 10,000 reported burglaries last year, a stunning deficiency revealed Thursday by police consultants hired by the city to develop a crime-fighting plan..."

"The revelation came one day after Howard Jordan abruptly stepped down as Oakland's police chief, citing long-term medical reasons, and as the consultants and city officials released a brief six-page summary of the consultants' crime plan."

"City officials refused to release the full plan Thursday, saying they needed to review it before releasing it on Friday. But sources said the plan had been given to Jordan on Sunday."

Speaking of Oakland, the level of crime in the city -- always high -- is getting worse.

From the Oakland Tribune's MJatthew Artz: "The consultants recommended creating geographically-based investigative units to better respond to burglaries and robberies. They also called for major changes in the city's Compstat process -- a weekly high-level data-crunching session that uses crime mapping to focus top commanders and district leaders on identifying hot spots and responding to crime trends."

"When this is fully implemented, this is going to ... reduce crime in the city," Patrick Harnett, a retired Hartford police chief and longtime Bratton associate, said at a Thursday news conference. Bratton did not attend the event."

"City leaders turned to Bratton and his associates earlier this year after a particularly violent 2012 during which the city recorded 131 homicides and averaged 12 robberies and 33 burglaries a day.'

The state program to put the federal health care reforms into effect is mounting a major outreach effort to educate Californians about the law.

From the Bee's Jim Sanders: "The awarding of two-year grants, from $250,000 to $1 million apiece, will push a nationwide health care program from blackboard planning into a vital new phase of face-to-face contact with families."

"It's one of the most critical components of getting our message out," said Dana Howard,spokesman for Covered California, the state health insurance exchange that is helping to implement the overhaul by creating a marketplace for comparing coverage plans."

"The goal is to create a network of established, trusted groups in communities statewide, not only to promote coverage but to answer questions, discuss options and show how subsidies can cut premiums for families of four earning up to $92,000, according to Howard."

Finally, from our "Glow in the Dark" file comes a tale of simplicity and stupdity from a bygone era, when lots of popular products were, believe it or not, radioactive.

"Before we understood that radiation exposure can be deadly, people thought it was just a fun ingredient to make things glow. Here are some of the amazing, disturbing products from those simpler times. None of these would be deemed even remotely safe today."

Well, at least you find them in the dark ...

Plea

2013-05-09T16:02:23Z

The former top executive of the nation's largest public pension fund, CalPERS, pleaded innocent in federal court to conspiracy charges in connection with a scheme that enabled an associate to pull in millions of dollars.

From the Bee's Dale Kasler: "Buenrostro entered his plea in U.S. District Court in San Francisco almost two months after a grand jury indicted Buenrostro and his friend Alfred Villalobos, who earned tens of millions of dollars in commissions from CalPERS investments."

"Villalobos entered his innocent plea April 9."

"The two were charged with creating phony letters with CalPERS' logo to make sure Villalobos was paid millions in commissions by private equity firm Apollo Global Management. The two also were charged with lying to the FBI and other investigative agencies about the letters."

An array of unions and their Democratic allies -- including the leaders of the two houses of the Legislature -- announced their opposition to any sale of the Los Angeles Times or the Tribune Co. to the Koch brothers, the arch-conservative billionaire activists who finance political causes across the country.

From the LAT's Chris Megerian and Patrick McGreevy: "In a letter dated Tuesday to Bruce Karsh, president of Oaktree Capital Management, the largest shareholder in Tribune Co., and chairman of its Board of Directors, the unions said David andCharles Koch are “anti-labor, anti-environment, anti-public education and anti-immigrant.”

"The unions noted that some Oaktree assets come from public pension funds and warned that a sale to the Koch brothers “would be adverse to the retirement security of public employees whose pension funds you are responsible for managing and investing.”

"The California Public Employee Retirement System is among the funds that invests with Oaktree. It has at least $200 million committed to the firm, according to pension fund records."

A judge has ruled that Ornage County, locked in a bitter dispute with the state over tax revenue, is on the hook for $73 million, and maybe more.

From the Voice of OC's Norberto Santana: "In his decision, Judge Robert Moss ordered Orange County Auditor Controller Jan Grimes to reverse the allocation of property taxes back to the state."

"For the county, the budgetary implications of the ruling are stark. In 2012, supervisors avoided budget cuts, in part, by deciding along with former Auditor-Controller David Sundstrom to not forward the property taxes back to the state."

"County officials argue that Sacramento has erred in how it has allocated property taxes back to the county and should allow the county to keep a greater share. Attorneys for the state, meanwhile, insist that Orange County is trying to achieve in court what it cannot in the Legislature where the dispute belongs."

The PUC, under fire in the Legislature for sins real or imagined that include having too-close ties to utilities, saw its budget compeltely zeroed out -- at least temporarily -- as lawmakers put the powerful regulator on the griddle.

From Steve Harmon in the Mercury News: "Legislators on Wednesday moved to rein in the Public Utilities Commission, taking the highly unusual step of wiping out its $1.4 billion budget to force the regulatory agency to justify how it spends its money."

"The PUC, which one lawmaker called a "fiefdom," would also be stripped of its ability to start nonprofit organizations that generate programs that hike rates without the approval of the Legislature under language approved by the Assembly budget subcommittee on resources and transportation."

"Under fire for its lax attitude toward safety, its cozy relations with utilities it's supposed to be regulating and its sloppy internal budgeting, the PUC has for weeks faced the wrath of legislators seething over its response to the 2010 San Bruno gas pipe explosion that left eight people dead and destroyed dozens of homes."

HOward Jordan, the chief of the Oakland Police Department has stepped down in a decision that caught many by surprise. He cited medical reasons.

From the Chronicle's Matthai Kuruvila, Demian Bulwa and Henry K. Lee: "Jordan, who announced his departure in a morning letter to the rank and file, was a longtime Oakland police veteran who led the force for 19 months, a tumultuous time of Occupy protests, budget cuts and wide alarm over killings and robberies. The department's failure to finish reforms ordered a decade ago after a police abuse scandal prompted a federal judge in March to appoint a compliance director with the power to seek Jordan's firing."

"The chief's announcement stunned many at City Hall, including City Council members who had met with Jordan in closed session Tuesday afternoon and were unaware of any health problems. Mayor Jean Quan, who appointed Jordan to the chief's job, said she "personally was very saddened and surprised."

"Jordan, 47, could not be reached for comment, but said in his letter to officers that he was "on medical leave and taking steps toward medical retirement," a move that will impact his pension and health care. He did not disclose details about his illness."

And from our "Red Planet" file comes word that thousands of people want to be among those who colonize Mars and never return to Earth.

"Huge numbers of people on Earth are keen to leave the planet forever and seek a new life homesteading on Mars."

"About 78,000 people have applied to become Red Planet colonists with the nonprofit organization Mars One since its application process opened on April 22, officials announced Tuesday. Mars One aims to land four people on the Red Planet in 2023 as the vanguard of a permanent colony, with more astronauts arriving every two years thereafter."

"With 78,000 applications in two weeks, this is turning out to be the most desired job in history," Mars One Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Bas Lansdorp said in a statement. "These numbers put us right on track for our goal of half a million applicants."

As Fark noted, most of the return addresses on the applications came from Cleveland ....