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November 13 Schwarzenegger portrayed as a villain (L.A. Times Oct. 1, 2008) California Governor Vetoes 35% of the year's bills and calls it collateral damage from late budget! Some legislators call it payback!BS
Ranch Perspective
Looks
like Schwarzenegger is committing Political Suicide!! He is acting on some
promise that he said that he would do, but the cost is at our expense
overwhelmingly, since a lot of the items that are being Vetoed are items that
might do some of the community really good!
The
good that will or might come from these Veto's are that the spending in
California might be coming under control, and with that it might make our
spending crunch done and in control, suddenly California will be back on the way
to a budget that is 'in the black' in stead of 'running in the red!'
BS
Ranch
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-arnold2-2008oct02,0,2767568,full.story
From
the Los Angeles Times
Schwarzenegger portrayed as a villain
NEWS ANALYST Governor vetoes 35% of the year's bills and calls it collateral damage from late budget. Some legislators call it payback.By Nancy Vogel and Patrick McGreevyLos Angeles Times Staff Writers 11:22 PM PDT, October 1, 2008 SACRAMENTO — The way legislators tell it, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is the villain in the saga that has played out in the Capitol in recent months. First he took hostage a year's worth of their work -- about 1,000 pieces of legislation -- threatening to veto the bills until lawmakers sent him a budget. Then, with a spending plan finally in place, he rejected their proposals at a record high rate, 35%, and called it collateral damage. Schwarzenegger infuriated legislators by saying the 85-day budget delay -- also a record -- left him no time to deal with minor legislation. Lawmakers predicted high tension again next year, when the state will face another cash crunch and unresolved fights over healthcare and the water supply. Assemblyman Alberto Torrico (D-Newark) called Schwarzenegger's power play "a total abdication of his responsibility as governor." "I think he's going to have to decide whether he's going to go back to making bad movies or staying in politics," Torrico said. "He's strongly disliked by Democrats and Republicans alike." Others say Schwarzenegger finally flexed his gubernatorial muscle and aggressively used his authority as arbiter of the Legislature's proposed changes to California's law book. "If Schwarzenegger . . . sticks with it," said Tim Hodson, executive director of the Center for California Studies at Cal State Sacramento, "the Legislature is going to have to say, 'OK, we've got somebody who's perfectly willing to veto for reasons unrelated to the legislation, and we're going to have to recalibrate our relationship with him.' " Schwarzenegger told reporters this week that each bill received fair consideration. "We have normally 30 days to sign bills but because of the delay in the budget, we only had 10 this year," he said. "But I can assure you that every bill got full attention." He denied that any vetoes were punitive, saying, "I'm not into that at all." But some legislators said the rejections sure felt like punishment. They included Assemblyman John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), who proposed to save taxpayers about $5 million a year in legal costs by requiring state agencies and the University of California to write boilerplate language for the more than 1,000 service contracts they sign each year rather than start from scratch each time. The bill had no opposition. But Schwarzenegger nixed it, applying the same veto message he issued for about 120 others he rejected: "The historic delay in passing the 2008-2009 state budget has forced me to prioritize the bills sent to my desk at the end of the year's legislative session. Given the delay, I am only signing bills that are the highest priority for California. This bill does not meet that standard and I cannot sign it at this time." Laird, who chairs the Assembly budget committee, fumed. He described the governor's reaction as "a fit of pique" and noted that Schwarzenegger had failed to persuade his fellow Republicans to support his version of a spending plan. "I think the process didn't work because he didn't have very much truck with legislators," said Laird, who will have to leave the Assembly next month because of term limits, "and the way he responded to our bills is going to lessen his ability to have influence with legislators." Even Republicans pleased by the veto of Democratic bills they had voted against were upset by Schwarzenegger's boilerplate rejection of proposals that had been in the works for a year or more. "I think it's a slap to all the voters who send their legislators here to Sacramento to work on the issues they care about," said Assemblyman Doug La Malfa (R-Richvale). Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) was among those angry at having several of her bills vetoed with no explanation. "The governor is clearly playing a game of payback," Romero said. "Playing payback is not the best way to smooth relations and win friends." Schwarzenegger spurned 415 of this year's 1,187 bills, a higher percentage than the 25% veto record set by Gov. Gray Davis in 2000 and above Schwarzenegger's roughly 20% rejection rate in previous years. In plain numbers, though, Schwarzenegger merely nipped at the state record: Former Gov. George Deukmejian killed 436 bills in 1990. Typically, most of the legislation sent to Schwarzenegger involved incremental adjustments to the law, narrow matters in a lawmaker's district or legal changes of interest to small groups of people. Despite his stock veto message, Schwarzenegger gave specific reasons for most rejections, even on obscure bills such as those to capitalize "delta" in state law references to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta; allow a Sacramento Catholic girls' school to use National Guard Armory property as a parking lot; and permit funeral directors to return pacemakers to manufacturers. On more substantial proposals, the governor generally sided with business interests. The California Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday hailed him for rejecting nine of 10 bills they called "job killers." He vetoed bills to outlaw certain mortgage lending practices; impose fees on Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland port cargo; stop health insurers from canceling people's policies after they get sick; and require retailers to better protect their customers' credit card numbers. Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) said she would encourage all members to reintroduce their vetoed legislation next year. She acknowledged being frustrated with Schwarzenegger but said she would not let that spill into next year's policy and budget negotiations. "Even though it was a very difficult year," she said, "it's important not to personalize things." nancy.vogel@latimes.com patrick.mcgreevy @latimes.com Fannie Mae eases Credit to aid Mortage Lending (Washington Post Sept. 30, 1999)September 30,
1999
Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage LendingBy STEVEN A.
HOLMES
In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders. The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring. Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits. In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans. ''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,'' said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.'' Demographic information on these borrowers is sketchy. But at least one study indicates that 18 percent of the loans in the subprime market went to black borrowers, compared to 5 per cent of loans in the conventional loan market. In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's. ''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.'' Under Fannie Mae's pilot program, consumers who qualify can secure a mortgage with an interest rate one percentage point above that of a conventional, 30-year fixed rate mortgage of less than $240,000 -- a rate that currently averages about 7.76 per cent. If the borrower makes his or her monthly payments on time for two years, the one percentage point premium is dropped. Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, does not lend money directly to consumers. Instead, it purchases loans that banks make on what is called the secondary market. By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings. Fannie Mae officials stress that the new mortgages will be extended to all potential borrowers who can qualify for a mortgage. But they add that the move is intended in part to increase the number of minority and low income home owners who tend to have worse credit ratings than non-Hispanic whites. Home ownership has, in fact, exploded among minorities during the economic boom of the 1990's. The number of mortgages extended to Hispanic applicants jumped by 87.2 per cent from 1993 to 1998, according to Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. During that same period the number of African Americans who got mortgages to buy a home increased by 71.9 per cent and the number of Asian Americans by 46.3 per cent. In contrast, the number of non-Hispanic whites who received loans for homes increased by 31.2 per cent. Despite these gains, home ownership rates for minorities continue to lag behind non-Hispanic whites, in part because blacks and Hispanics in particular tend to have on average worse credit ratings. In July, the Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed that by the year 2001, 50 percent of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's portfolio be made up of loans to low and moderate-income borrowers. Last year, 44 percent of the loans Fannie Mae purchased were from these groups. The change in policy also comes at the same time that HUD is investigating allegations of racial discrimination in the automated underwriting systems used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to determine the credit-worthiness of credit applicants. New Hospital for Fontana....will do Open Heart Surgeries!!Kaiser Permanente Fontana Announces Plans for New State-of-the-Art Replacement HospitalFONTANA, CA – Kaiser Permanente today announced plans to build a 482,078 square foot, 314-bed hospital on its Fontana Medical Center campus. The seven-story hospital will be joined by a 55,774 square foot Hospital Support Building and a 32,100 square foot central utility plant. The new facility will be one of the largest and most modern in the Inland Empire, and exemplifies Kaiser Permanente's ongoing commitment to its members and the community. "This new hospital will continue our legacy of innovation and ensure the availability of state-of-the-art medical services to Kaiser Permanente members in San Bernardino County for many generations to come," said David Quam, M.D., Area Medical Director for Kaiser Permanente's Fontana and Ontario Medical Centers. "We are thrilled to begin moving forward toward its construction." The new Fontana Medical Center Hospital will replace the existing hospital on the medical center's campus and meet the new, more rigorous seismic safety standards established by the state of California. These standards require that hospitals not only remain standing, but also operational to serve the needs of the community following an earthquake. "Our new hospital will adhere to seismic standards set for the year 2030, decades ahead of time," said Greg Christian, Executive Director of Kaiser Permanente's Fontana and Ontario Medical Centers. "In addition to meeting seismic standards, our new Fontana hospital is designed to provide a welcoming and supportive environment to help fulfill the physical and emotional needs of our patients and their families." The Fontana Medical Center Hospital, which is expected to open in the fall of 2013, will feature a cardiac center and a 51-bed Emergency Department. The Hospital Support building will house an array of ancillary services including radiology, a pharmacy, and specialty clinics. Kaiser Permanente's new Fontana Medical Center Hospital will be a 'green' facility that not only preserves energy and other natural resources, but also takes advantage of the healing properties of natural light and views of the outdoors. "Our new hospital will incorporate energy efficient lighting, electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems, will be mercury and tobacco free, and ecologically sound," said Christian. The Fontana Medical Center Hospital is part of an aggressive capital plan for the health plan's San Bernardino County members. The plan includes the construction of the 224-bed Kaiser Permanente Ontario Vineyard Medical Center Hospital, begun in January of this year and slated to open in fall 2011, and the 60-clinicians Redlands Medical Office building, which will open in October of this year. Additionally, the health plan is finishing work on a new medical office building in Upland. One of the nation's largest healthcare systems, Kaiser Permanente is proud to
be a part of San Bernardino County's heritage, providing comprehensive and
affordable health care to members in the region for more than 60 years. Kaiser
Permanente's facilities in San Bernardino County include medical offices in
Fontana, Ontario, Chino, Colton, Victorville, Claremont, Rancho Cucamonga, San
Bernardino, Montclair, Redlands and Upland.
About
Kaiser Permanente Rialto Opens Door for Retailer-Wal-Mart & Lowe'sBS Ranch Perspective:The wal Mart will be good for the community, but I feel
that it will be better for the Surrounding businesses to not have to deal with
the now Flailing businesses of the grocery businesses, that have all failed in
Rialto the last twenty Years!! The one at five points, the two or three that
were at Baseline and Riverside Ave. I hope that there isn't any problem for the
people at Stator Bro's the Business that has sustained this City in Groceries
for a great number of years!!
BS Ranch
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HONG KONG (Reuters) - Panic about how the U.S. and European governments have not yet found a solution to the plague sweeping through the global financial system hit Asian stocks again on Tuesday and lifted gold prices.
The South Korean won dropped 5.7 percent to the lowest in more than 7 years against the U.S. dollar as investors focused on the country's relatively high level of debts, despite assurances from the government that Asia's fourth-largest economy was not facing a currency crisis.
The $700 billion U.S. rescue fund, ad hoc measures by European governments and massive injections of funds by central banks around the world have not been able to stop confidence in the financial system from evaporating or growing fears the global economy is on path to recession.
On Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average closed at a 4-year low after dipping below 10,000 points for the first time since October 2004.
The fury with which global equity markets have sold off in recent weeks and the worsening condition of the financial system has made the upcoming Group of Seven rich nations meeting even more important. Investors have begun to anticipate some kind of cooperation among countries to solve the morasse.
"The key issue is coordination of policies, since individual country policies aimed at shoring up confidence of domestic institutions can actually exacerbate systemic risk by altering relative risk between countries," said Ashley Davies, currency strategist with UBS in Singapore. "As such, a coordinated global approach by the major financial powers may be critical to containing the destructive aspects of global deleveraging," he said in a note.
The Nikkei was down 2.8 percent after earlier slipping to its lowest since December 2003. Shares of high-profile exporters Canon Inc and Honda Motor Co were among the biggest drags on the index.
Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index slid 2.1 percent to a 3-year low.
South Korea's KOSPI was down 0.9 percent after closing at the lowest in 21 months on Monday.
The country's regulator said it was considering steps to reduce volatility in the equity market, helping to stem some of the day's losses.
The MSCI All-Country world stocks index closed at a four-year low on Monday, having dropped by a third so far this year.
In other markets, dealers picked up the pieces a day after the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility index, better known as the VIX , vaulted to a record high of 58.24 as investors scrambled to buy protection against plummeting global stock markets.
"At this point, all we can do is to wait and see how effective the U.S. financial rescue plan or any other coordinated government efforts will be in thawing global capital markets," said Lee Kyoung-su, a market analyst at Taurus Investment & Securities in Seoul.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield, which moves in the opposite direction of the price, ticked up to 3.49 percent after dropping to 3.46 percent late on Monday in New York. It was still down sharply from 3.60 percent late last week, reflecting the heavy demand for government debt as a relatively safe haven from market shockwaves.
Japanese 10-year government bond futures were down 0.6 point to 137.90 after rising for three straight days.
Frozen interbank lending markets and bank rescues remained a feature in the United States and Europe. But the bailout of two big European banks and a decision by several European governments to guarantee bank deposits in emergency moves in the last several days have done little to dispel intense waves of fear among investors.
After a massive surge on Monday, the yen edged up against the dollar and the euro but slipped against higher-yielding currencies such as the Australian and New Zealand dollars.
The dollar dipped 0.4 percent against the Japanese currency to 101.44 yen, edging toward a six-month low of 100.22 yen hit on trading platform EBS the previous day.
The European single currency edged up 0.2 percent to $1.3531. The euro struck a 13-month low below $1.3450 on Monday, hit hard by a decision by leaders of Europe's four biggest economies against a coordinated bailout plan.
The euro slipped 0.2 percent to 137.24 yen.
Gold climbed in the spot market, up 0.7 percent to $863.50 an ounce after rocketing nearly 4 percent on Monday on a flight to anything resembling safety.
(Additional reporting by Park Jung-young in SEOUL; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
Copyright 2008 Reuters
West Nile Virus Infection Kills Rialto Man (Press Enterprise - Sept. 05, 2008)
West Nile virus infection kills Rialto man
04:48 PM PDT on Friday, September 5,
2008
A
Rialto man is the first Inland resident to die of the West Nile Virus this year
and the third in the state, health officials said today.
The
48-year-old man, whose name was not released, died Aug. 27.
The
man was in a coma when he was taken to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in
Colton shortly before his death, said Maxwell Ohikhuare, the county health
officer. The man had other medical problems -- massive obesity, sleep apnea,
diabetes and a heart condition -- that increased his susceptibility to West Nile
Virus, Ohikhuare said.
"If
he didn't have all these other medical problems, he probably wouldn't have
succumbed to it," he said.
Deaths
from the virus are rare but do occur, Ohikhuare said.
It's
not known where the man contracted the disease, but Ohikhuare noted that there
has been a lot of mosquito activity in some of the older neighborhoods in
Rialto, especially in areas where pools have been left untended.
West
Nile virus is transmitted to humans and animals through mosquito bites. The
season usually runs from May to October in California, the warmer months when
mosquitoes are most active.
San
Bernardino County has had five other human cases of West Nile Virus this year.
Riverside County has had 23 cases but no deaths. Statewide, the number of cases
is at 155.
The
two other deaths -- a 72-year-old Buena Park woman and a 64-year-old Garden
Grove man -- occurred in Orange County in the last month, said Deanne Thompson,
a spokeswoman for the Orange County Health Care Agency.
The
state has seen fewer human cases this year than at the same time last year, when
there had been 199 cases and 21 deaths. But the number of dead birds and
mosquito samples testing positive has gone up, especially in Southern
California, said Lea Brooks, a spokeswoman with the California Department of
Public Health.
"There
has been a rapid increase in West Nile virus activity in the last month in the
Los Angeles Basin region," she said.
West
Nile Virus activity can be influenced by a number of factors, including the
number and type of mosquitoes and birds, the temperature, protection residents
take against mosquito bites and mosquito control efforts, Brooks said.
Ohikhuare
said the number of cases has been relatively low in San Bernardino County, which
had five deaths in 2004 and one in 2005. He attributed that to successful vector
control measures
Last
year, San Bernardino County reported three human cases and one death. In
Riverside County last year, 16 human cases were diagnosed and three peopled.
Reach
Imran Ghori at 909-806-3061 or ighori@PE.com
Riverside Newspaper Cutting One Hundred Fifty Jobs (Los Angeles Times - September 5, 2008)
BS Ranch Perspective:
It looks like the Economic Crunch is hitting everywhere but there is nowhere more clear now then the Newspaper business. The Riverside Newspaper, The Press Enterprise cut over One Hundred Fifty Jobs, These jobs will be felt through out the community, and with each job that is lost, there will be more and more jobs that are lost more and more every day! I just wish that there was something that I could do for the people that have lost their jobs, But I know that if I were to work to assist others in their down and out situation when they are going to get Money for their loss of work, but I would not receive anything for the loss of other's It seems that the assistance that I would be handing to them would not help much in the long run, with the large number of families that have lost their income, and the little that I make we would all starve!!
I will however keep praying for them to find gainful employment with other Newspapers or similar types of jobs that gives them the same amount of money if not more!!
God Speed to those that have lost their Jobs!!
BS Ranch
Riverside newspaper cutting 150 jobs
More bad news for anyone who loves newspapers -- the Riverside Press-Enterprise has cut 150 positions. The Inland Empire newspaper announced the move on its website today, saying 130 employees took buyouts and another 20 will be laid off. From the story:
A.H. Belo Inc., the Riverside publication's parent, announced on Friday that 120 employees are leaving on voluntary buy-outs, and 30 other workers will get booted between now and the end of October.(Skip)Dallas-based Belo Corp. (NYSE: BLC) -- the head corporation of The Press-Enterprise, numerous TV stations, radio stations and a variety of publications -- saw its non-political advertising revenue drop $22.5 million, or 6.5 percent, from January to June of this year compared to 2007.
The paper follows in the footsteps of two other Inland Empire newspapers. The San Bernardino Sun and the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, owned by Dean Singleton's MediaNews Group Inc., cut scores of workers over the last year. Here at The Times, we're still saying goodbye to the last of 150 journalists who lost their jobs under new owner Sam Zell.
--Veronique de Turenne
Rialto Places liens on unpaid trash bills (Inland Valley Daily Bulletin Aug. 31, 2008)
BS Ranch Perspective:
Rialto places liens on unpaid trash bills
The City Council on Sept. 9 will place liens against more than 2,400 properties where delinquent refuse-collection accounts have piled up to a total of more than $234,600, about $12,000 of which belongs to the city.
City code authorizes the liens on properties more than 90 days delinquent.
The delinquencies range from $89 to $206. Most are single-family residences; others are for businesses and landlords, said Jimmy Gutierrez, attorney for the city. The city receives a $5 administrative fee for each parcel when a lien is collected.
A lien allows for the fees to be collected when a house goes through foreclosure.
Rich Scanlan, director of aviation and waste management for the city, said his office typically receives a call every couple of hours every day from title companies that want to know how much money is owed on an account.
The city sets the liens every quarter.
Scanlan likened the liens to good financial housekeeping.
Those houses that don't go into foreclosure are placed on the county's tax roll for collection, Scanlan said.
Gutierrez said the city recovers about 80 percent of the money through the lien process.
"It's probably the most effective way to collect the money," Gutierrez said. "(Delinquency) puts a burden on the rest of the people who do pay."
The city contracts with Edco Disposal, a private trash
collection company with offices throughout Southern California.
The company advised officials it is seeing a near-doubling of 30-day and
60-day late payments. The company attributes the spike in delinquencies in the
area it serves to the foreclosure mess.
Scanlan, however, said he hasn't seen an uptick in delinquencies in the city
because of foreclosures.
Edco told the city the collections will take up to two fiscal quarters.
Notices have been sent to the affected property owners, officials
said.
Cities try wrangling gangs with civil suits (USA Today September 7, 2008)
| |||||||||||
By
Stefanie Frith, USA TODAY
Law
enforcement agents fed up with increasing gang violence are turning to
lawsuits to help keep gangs from terrorizing neighborhoods.
A growing number of municipalities are seeking injunctions — restraining orders that seek to bar gang members from talking to one another or standing together on public property, said Bruce Riordan, director of gang operations for Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo. More than a dozen gang injunctions have been filed in California cities since March, including Rialto, San Clemente and Orange, say law enforcement officials from around the state. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist signed a bill at the end of June that allows for civil injunctions against any of the state's estimated 1,500 gangs. Massachusetts has a bill pending in the state House Ways and Means committee, said Alexis Finneran, chief of staff for Democratic Rep. Eugene O'Flaherty, the bill's author. FIND MORE STORIES
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Ways | San
Clemente | Desert
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Juan Capistrano | Associations | Civil
Liberties Union of Southern California | Rialto | Suffolk
County District Attorney | Orange
County District Attorney | Susan
Kang Schroeder
The driving force behind the practice is a nationwide rise in gang issues. Between 2002 and 2007, complaints about gangs increased 26% and gang arrests increased 18%, FBI spokeswoman Denise Ballew said. The injunctions are civil suits that seek a court order declaring the gang's public behavior a nuisance in order to ask for limitations on their activity, Riordan said. They establish curfews and block members from wearing gang apparel and flashing gang signs in designated safety zones. "Injunctions (provide) the power to keep gangs from gathering and holding meetings," Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum said. Los Angeles started using gang injunctions in the 1980s to suppress gang violence. The city now has nearly 40 injunctions in place covering about 60 gangs, Riordan said. San Francisco and San Jose also use gang injunctions. The state Supreme Court upheld the practice in 1997. Cities in Texas, Illinois and Minnesota have gang injunction laws in place, interviews with law enforcement officials and a review of state websites showed. Peter Bibring, a staff attorney who specializes in police practices for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said the injunctions place prohibitions on lawful activity, including the right to gather publicly and be out past a certain time of night. For example, two brothers named in an injunction may not be able to eat together in a restaurant, he said. "It criminalizes ordinary daily activity," Bibring said. "It places a huge burden on the basic freedom to live and engage in ordinary life." Some states have been hesitant to introduce them, said Andrew Grascia, vice president of the National Alliance of Gang Investigators' Associations, which represents more than 30 states. There is concern about gang members' civil rights, Grascia said. When used with increased enforcement and prevention, injunctions can decrease crime 25% to 33%, Riordan said. Injunctions in San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano have cut crime in those communities by 33% and 85% since December, respectively, said Susan Kang Schroeder of the Orange County District Attorney's Office. Cathedral City, Calif., Detective Larry Sanfillippo said the Barrio Dream Homes gang has been involved in 21 homicides and hundreds of crimes in the city from 1992 to 2006. Sgt. Earl Moss said his department has seen a 50% decrease in gang-related crime since the injunction was filed. Residents in the Dream Homes neighborhood say they are seeing more families spending time at the park, less graffiti sprayed about, more police and fewer people hanging out at night. "I've seen less walking around," 16-year-old Francisco Alcarez said, looking at a wall recently covered with graffiti. "Nobody's out past 10. More families are going to the park." Injunctions can be filed against either an entire gang or its members or associates, Riordan said. Law enforcement must show proof of a person's involvement through either crimes or self-identification as a gang member before they can be named in the suit, Kang Schroeder said. Javier Pinuelas, 29, who is named in the Barrio Dream Homes injunction, said he served his time and changed his life after a 2004 conviction for receiving stolen property. He wants his name removed from it so he can be free to move about the safety zone at his construction job. "If I am talking to another guy who they say is a gang member, that's not allowed," Pinuelas said. "I don't want to get arrested for some guy walking up to me and saying, 'Hi.' " Jake Wark, spokesman for the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office in Massachusetts, said he is keeping a close eye on his state's proposed injunction bill. "Taking legal action against a person for something they might do is the first step on a slippery slope," Wark said. Frith reports for The (Palm Springs, Calif.) Desert Sun | |||||||||||
Guns move South via Inland Gangs (The Press Enterprise 092808) FEDERAL DATA: The region is a "natrial path" for criminals who supply deadly Mexican drug cartels, ATF officials say.
Guns move south via Inland gangs
FEDERAL DATA: The region is a
"natural path" for criminals who supply deadly Mexican drug cartels, ATF
officials say.
Download
story podcast
10:00 PM PDT on Sunday,
September 28, 2008
By JOHN ASBURY
Illegal guns being funneled into Mexico through Inland Southern California
are arming a violent drug war that could weaken the Mexican government, a top
federal official said.
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Acting Director Michael
Sullivan announced at the bureau's Southern California office in Glendale last
week that stopping the gun trade should be the agency's top priority and an
obligation of U.S. foreign relations.
"If nothing is done, it could severely impact Mexico's ability to maintain a
stable government. We're seeing a record number of (Mexican) law enforcement
agents killed," Sullivan said.
The ATF is zeroing in on shipments of American-made firearms moving across
the border through the southwestern United States.
Increased enforcement of the gun trade could mean greater oversight of gun
retailers and gun shows and more inspections for Americans traveling to Mexico.
ATF officials said they believe the gun trade and drug cartels are
intertwined with Southern California gangs -- including those in San Bernardino
-- said Karl Anglin, ATF Los Angeles assistant special agent in charge.
San Bernardino has ranked in the top three regions in the country for guns
seized by the ATF from criminals and gang members, San Bernardino police Lt.
Brian Boom said. San Bernardino police work in a joint task force with the ATF's
Violent Crime Impact Team, which monitors the gun trade.
"There's firm evidence that independent drug traffickers moving the guns live
in the Inland Empire and a lot of the guns stay here," said ATF Special Agent
Maxwell Muse, based in San Bernardino. "We haven't got the mother lode yet, but
we know it's happening. When these gang members get involved in the drug and gun
trade, it makes for a deadly mix."
ATF estimates that 95 percent of the weapons currently in Mexico are American
made and a portion are moving south of the border through the Inland region. The
gun trade fuels multiple drug cartels that rule the border and help move drugs
between Canada and Colombia.
The majority of guns moved through California come from other states, such as
Arizona and Nevada, where laws are less restrictive than California's 30-day
waiting period and assault rifle ban. The weapons can then be transported south,
but local authorities believe a portion of them remain in Inland cities.
U.S. dealers are able to turn a quick profit of up to about $5,000 per gun
sold in Mexico, Sullivan said. They can either move the guns in exchange for
cash or as part of a deal to bring drugs back into the United States.
"What we have is a relationship between the narcotics trafficking with the
gun trade moving south," Anglin said. "It turned out to be a bigger problem than
we thought. It's all related -- we know drugs are coming north on the same route
where the guns are moving south."
Smuggling Path
Riverside and San Bernardino counties serve as a transfer point for some of
an estimated 7,000 assault rifles and handguns being moved annually and the
bought in Texas, Arizona, Nevada, and elsewhere in California, Anglin said. The
Inland region's freeways are major trafficking routes for the guns, Anglin said.
"The problem we face through the Inland Empire is that it's such a vast
geographic area," Anglin said. "That route is a natural path for criminal
organizations to move the guns southbound."
The guns are purchased by individuals who can legally buy them and then turn
them over to a smuggler. In Mexico, gun purchases are restricted to law
enforcement and the military.
The American guns can be sold at five times what they cost to purchase in the
United States, Sullivan said. Last year in this country, the ATF turned over
1,905 firearms-trafficking cases, involving 3,536 defendants, for prosecution.
Sullivan said guns purchased in the U.S. are carried over the border
sometimes individually or a few at a time, hidden in cars.
The Mexican attorney general announced last week plans for the government
there to begin searching 10 percent of the 230,000 vehicles leaving the U.S.
daily. The previous inspection rate varied. The announcement comes after an
escalation of violence on the Mexican side related to the drug trade and guns
that have been smuggled from the U.S., Sullivan said. "We're seeing government
leaders assassinated and officers killed on the border. The effort is not
limited to Mexican officials. We recognize we should be equally committed and
we're beefing up our division to counter that," Sullivan said.
U.S. officials are working with Mexican authorities to trace serial numbers
and ballistics of guns seized there back to where they were purchased in the
states, and, potentially, to the buyers who sent them to Mexico.
On the Gun Trail
The Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency runs an information network
with ATF and Mexican authorities. The firearms trade can bring some immigration
enforcement efforts to a halt by undermining border operations, said ICE
spokesman Brandon Alvarez-Montgomery, from Washington D.C.
"This is a huge concern because this one thing can throw off everything we're
trying to do," Alvarez-Montgomery said. "We're trying to monitor something like
human smuggling and someone's sending weapons to kill the agents that are
helping us. It's a huge barrier to delay or harm our efforts."
ATF is also increasing inspections of gun retailers and gun shows in the
United States to monitor sales records and specific buyers who may be purchasing
large numbers of weapons.
The increased inspections are not expected to have any greater impact on
consumers already legally able to purchase firearms.
The ATF previously inspected gun retailers every 10 years but has increased
inspections to every six years. The agency's goal is to do inspections every
three to five years to closely monitor buyers who may be moving the guns to
Mexico.
ATF officials work to extradite suspected gun smugglers caught in Mexico back
to the United States to face prosecution, including Mexican citizens.
"Our goal is shutting this operation down," Sullivan said. "Every piece of
the puzzle might take down a single individual or a whole organization."
Cal State San Bernardino criminal justice associate professor Brian Levin
agreed the arms trade and drug trade create a network of crime in local cities
and threatens the Mexican government's democracy.
"This is something that has unfortunately slipped under the radar for the
average American," Levin said. "One of the main elements of drug trafficking is
the threatening use of arms. It shouldn't be any surprise that increasing
violence in Mexico is leading to violence in the U.S."
Reach John Asbury at 951-763-3451 or jasbury@PE.com
The
Press-Enterprise
Police Bust Ontario Street Racing Event (KFI AM640 092908) Hollywood has glamorized the reality of illegal street racing based in the mall parking lots of the Inland Empire.
Hollywood has glamorized the reality of illegal street racing based in the mall parking lots of the Inland Empire.
Police from 12 different agencies, including Azusa, Irwindale, Baldwin Park, West Covina and Riverside, have cracked down on a crowd allegedly gathered for street racing in the Pomona Valley.
A task force of police officers surprised more than 180 people when they converged on the crowd on East Airport Drive who were allegedly gathered to watch illegal street racing.
Officers detained and ticketed 184 people for being spectators, and arrested three alleged racers, including one who acted as a flagger to signal race starts. An estimated total of 74 vehicles were impounded due to the drivers and passengers being detained and cited.
More than a quarter of those detained and cited were under age 18. A total of 47 people were also cited for violating curfew that applies to anyone under age 18 who is out without a parent or legal guardian.
Hollywood has glamorized the lifestyle that is based in part on the reality of illegal street racing in the mall parking lots of the Inland Empire and Ontario International Airport.
The contests often end in the deaths of innocent people.
Criticisms fly in race for Rialto City Clerk (Press Enterprise Oct. 21, 2008)
Criticisms fly in race for Rialto city clerk
10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, October 21,
2008
By DARRELL R. SANTSCHI
RIALTO - City Clerk Barbara McGee says
she has done a good job the past 15 years inside and outside of City Hall.
Businesswoman
Lina Montes says McGee has taken on too much, fallen too far behind in her work
and does not put enough emphasis on customer service.
Rialto
voters will decide Nov. 4 who would do a better job over the next four years.
The clerk's post pays $900 a month.
In
the same election, city Treasurer Edward J. Carrillo is running unopposed.
McGee,
who was appointed to the clerk's job in 1993 and has won re-election three
times, said she has added passport services to the duties her office provides
for the public and has written a grant proposal to promote healthier lifestyles
in Rialto.
"I
bring dedication, hard work, creativity, responsibility and stability" to the
job, she said.
McGee
points to her community work, helping to organize events from the city's largest
social gathering, the International Family Festival, to the Relay for Life.
Montes,
office manager for a pallet company in Fontana, said she would focus on the
primary duties of the city clerk -- including record-keeping and preparation of
meeting agendas and minutes -- and would apply business practices she learned as
a business administration student at the University of Phoenix.
"I
finished my degree this year, so it's a perfect opportunity," she said. "I've
been with my father (who owns G.O. Pallets) for a long time. I don't want to go
into a corporate world and climb a corporate ladder. I'm a people person."
Complaints
She
said McGee is not and contends that proof of that surfaced when Montes picked up
her candidacy nomination packet, obtained the 20 signatures necessary to qualify
for the ballot and then went back to ask McGee for a second signature page to
collect more names in case any of her supporters had failed to register as
voters.
"She
wouldn't give it to me," Montes said. "She told me she already gave me a packet
and that's all I get. I didn't need a whole packet. I told her I would pay for
copies of the (signature) sheet, but she wouldn't give it to me."
It
took the intervention of City Administrator Henry Garcia to get the additional
page, she said.
McGee
said the incident was a misunderstanding.
"She
said she had all these people who wanted to sign her papers," McGee said. "I had
no idea what she was talking about. By law she is only required to have 20
signatures. If she had done her homework, she would have known that."
Montes
said McGee's commitment to a variety of causes takes too much of her time and
contends that employees in the clerk's office defer some decisions when she is
away.
McGee
said she was "a dedicated worker for Rialto even before I became clerk. I've
done things in the community and I will continue to do things in the
community."
Montes
said McGee "has too much on her plate. If she's not there, you can't get
specific paperwork.
"I
know she's behind on some minutes regarding city meetings and commission
meetings. She is a year behind on recording the council meetings. They are never
posted where we can go view them" on the Internet, Montes said.
McGee
said that is true, but that "it would be true in any city clerk's office. That
is a given. It's not a problem. When you have three or four meetings a month,
you are bound to get behind. It all depends on how many meetings we have."
Montes
also blames the clerk for a city Web site that she said is difficult to
navigate.
"I
don't put the Web site together," McGee responded. "I just maintain it."
The
city's information technicians design the site, she said.
"If
she had done the research, she would know that," McGee said of Montes.
Knowing
the intricacies of the job is one of her strengths, McGee said.
Montes
acknowledged that there is much about the clerk's job she does not yet
understand.
"I
don't have that experience, but nobody goes into a new job knowing exactly what
to do," Montes said. "Obviously, I have a lot to learn. I am a fast
learner."
Reach
Darrell R. Santschi at 909-806-3067 or dsantschi@PE.com
The
Press-Enterprise
Rialto Postpones decision to tightening code violations penalties (Press Enterprise Tues. October 28, 2008)
Rialto postpones decision on tightening code violation penalties
10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, October 28,
2008
By DARRELL R. SANTSCHI
RIALTO - The City Council has put off
final approval of an ordinance meant to crack down on code enforcement
scofflaws.
The
decision came Tuesday night after several residents complained that the
ordinance -- which would make all city code violations misdemeanors -- would
give code enforcement officers too much power over violators of minor
offenses.
Three
residents voiced concern that the penalties, including possible jail time, are
too severe for people who don't mow their lawns or for those who sell flowers at
freeway onramps.
City
Attorney Jimmy Gutierrez told the council that presently city ordinance
violations are infractions that carry fines ranging from $25 to $500.
Those
tickets were widely ignored, he said, so last month the city began imposing
administrative fines that give violators 15 days to fix a problem or face fines
beginning at $250 a day. Those penalties have been successful in correcting only
about 60 percent of the 50 cases in which they have been used, Gutierrez
said.
Gutierrez
said that making code violations a misdemeanor will allow the city to file
criminal charges, impose fines of up to $1,000 a day per violation and would
allow a judge to sentence offenders to as long as six months in San Bernardino
County Jail.
"What
if we don't move the basketball net off the street?" asked City Councilwoman
Deborah Robertson, who pressed for a 30-day postponement to allow more residents
to weigh in on the question. In the end, she won a two-week postponement.
Gutierrez
emphasized in response that misdemeanor prosecution would be a last resort.
He
said he had spoken to city code enforcement officers, firefighters and police
about the proposed ordinance.
"I
don't see an overreaching by our staff," he said.
Councilman
Joe Baca Jr. said the ordinance is aimed at out-of-town "slumlords" who would
take advantage of light penalties.
"It
isn't our policy to rule with an iron fist," Baca argued. "We want to work with
residents."
In
a related matter, the council gave preliminary approval to a separate ordinance
toughening requirements that shopkeepers prevent customers from walking off with
and abandoning shopping carts.
Reach
Darrell R. Santschi at 909-806-3067 or dsantschi@PE.com
The
Press-Enterprise
1.6 Million Ballots are Uncounted in California (Contra Costa Times November 5, 2008) In L.A. County, an estimated 566,000 votes have yet to be tallied. In Orange Co., About 239,000 await counting. All ballots must be counted by Dec. 2.
1.6 million ballots are uncounted in California
4:34 PM PST, November 5, 2008
Counties have until Dec. 2 to count the votes, according to the secretary of state's office. Some officials said they have more uncounted ballots than normal because of a surge in voting.
About 239,000 vote-by-mail and provisional ballots were still to be counted in Orange County, 220,000 in San Diego County, about 86,000 in Ventura County and 85,000 in San Bernardino County, officials say.
In Alameda County, election workers reported that about 120,000 provisional ballots and an unknown number of absentee ballots remain uncounted.
Alice Jarboe, assistant to the registrar in Sacramento County, said there were about 140,000 outstanding ballots there.
"Not all of those will count because they have to be verified first," Jarboe said. "We expected a high turnout, and we did get a high turnout. We have all those ballots yet to process."
Bloomekatz is a Times staff writer.
ari.bloomekatz@latimes.com
Times staff writers Joanna Lin, Paloma Esquivel and James Wagner contributed to this report.
Forces in Iraq Round Up Two Dozen Terror Suspects (American Forces Press Services) November 7, 2008
Forces in Iraq Round Up Two Dozen Terror SuspectsAmerican Forces Press Service |
| WASHINGTON, Nov. 7, 2008 - Coalition troops captured 24 suspected
terrorists throughout Iraq today and yesterday, dealing a blow to al-Qaida
in Iraq in multiple locations, military officials reported.
-- In Tikrit, forces captured an alleged terrorist finance
administrator and detained a man assessed to be his associate. |
Governor Vetoes 27 Bills (Sac Bee September 27, 2008)
Governor vetoes 27 bills
By Kevin Yamamura - kyamamura@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PDT Saturday, September 27, 2008
Story appeared in MAIN
NEWS section, Page A3
New fallout from the state's historic budget standoff came Friday in the form of gubernatorial vetoes, as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger blocked 18 bills and blamed his actions on the 85-day budget delay.
The Republican governor signed a uniform veto message for 18 of the 27 bills he vetoed Friday that suggested he did not have enough time to review low-priority bills.
Among the vetoed proposals were requirements that pet stores use humane methods in euthanizing rodents and restrictions on uses of human remains in exhibitions.
"The historic delay in passing the 2008-2009 State Budget has forced me to prioritize the bills sent to my desk at the end of the year's legislative session," Schwarzenegger wrote in his veto message. "Given the delay, I am only signing bills that are the highest priority for California."
Schwarzenegger signed the budget Tuesday, shrinking the usual monthlong period between budget approval and the Sept. 30 bill-signing deadline to one week.
The governor had previously threatened to veto all bills until he received the budget, prompting both houses to wait until this week to send him their bills.
The governor had 875 bills to review, but he told a San Diego radio station Thursday that many are "lousy" and there are only about "300 bills that I have that I'm going to deal with in a responsible way" due to the compressed period, according to a transcript from the Governor's Office.
Since signing the budget Tuesday, Schwarzenegger has spent little time in Sacramento but legislative secretary Chris Kahn has been with him, said spokesman Aaron McLear.
The governor spoke Thursday in Long Beach at a League of California Cities conference and Friday in San Francisco at a Commonwealth Club of California luncheon. He also attended the California Republican Party convention Friday in Anaheim.
The governor said two bills by Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco, were not a high enough priority. Her Assembly Bill 1519 sought to regulate companies that exhibit human remains to ensure that the deceased had given prior consent.
"The governor should look at each of the bills on the merits and how they impact Californians," Ma said.
Schwarzenegger signed legislation Friday authorizing $5 billion in lease-revenue bonds to renovate deteriorating court buildings, accompanied by increases in various traffic and criminal fines and court filing fees.
What You Need to Know About the "Oil Crisis" (Motley Fool Income Invester Special Report) NOV. 07, 2008
What You Need to Know About the "Oil Crisis"
5 "oil crisis" myths debunked -- PLUS 3 U.S. businesses that will profit from high crude prices
As crude oil prices have soared to astronomical levels, the investing world has become awash in myths and misinformation about the causes and potential cures for the global oil crunch.
As usual, politics are at least partly to blame. Rather than hearing from the experts -- geologists and engineers -- we get an earful of political spin from Washington. This leaves investors like us, who want to make smart energy investments, with little factual information we can actually use.
That's why The Motley Fool put together this report. It shows you what you need know about the oil crisis and reveals three U.S. energy companies that have a great shot at profiting from high oil prices in the coming years.
Before we discuss these three businesses and what makes them attractive investment opportunities, let's briefly address the five most common myths about the oil crisis.
Myth No. 1 -- The Saudis can save us
Saudi Arabia has a lot of oil. In fact, it sits on a quarter of the world's entire supply, with close to 260 billion barrels of proven reserves. Yet doubts surround the boundless potential of Saudi oil.
Ever since Houston investment banker Matthew Simmons published Twilight in the Desert, the world has become increasingly skeptical about the Saudis' real producing power. A recent BusinessWeek piece concluded that "Saudi Arabia appears likely to fall well short of the daily production it has targeted in the near term."
Even the country's own officials admit that a ramp up in oil production to meet global demand could damage their existing wells, hurting future production capabilities. In fact, some experts are wondering if Saudi oil production has already peaked.
Wherever the truth lies, it seems less and less likely that the Saudis will be our knights in shining armor. Eventually, we will have to find other sources of energy.
Myth No. 2 -- The free markets will work out the oil crisis
While we believe in the power of free markets, it may be naive to assume that alternative energy will gain a foothold on its own. Oil is not only big business, it's engrained in our way of life. Alternative energy won't likely replace oil and gas any time soon without some sort of government assistance.
Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens, for example, argues for a switch to natural gas as our primary transportation fuel. He may be right, but pure economic incentives for such a massive undertaking are lacking -- at least without government support.
The same holds for solar, wind, biofuels, and other promising alternatives. As a result, they are a long way off from replacing oil -- and the wildly profitable companies that drill, refine, and market it -- as our go-to fuel source. Even Mr. Pickens's famous wind project in West Texas exists only in blueprints.
Point being, oil and natural gas will play a major role for many years to come. That, of course, means we'll need to do everything possible to encourage increased exploration and production.
Myth No. 3 -- Tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) will increase oil supplies
This won't lower oil prices, either. The strategic reserve was set up as an emergency supply of crude -- not as a tool to manipulate prices. Holding slightly more than 700 million barrels of oil, it's only been tapped twice, by both Bush presidencies.
The first was in 1991, when President George H.W. Bush released 34 million barrels of oil from the SPR in advance of Operation Desert Storm. This move combined with quick victories in Iraq coincided with a dramatic one-day 33% decline in the price of oil. The second was in 2005, after Hurricane Katrina, when President George W. Bush authorized the release of oil from the SPR, resulting in a 3.7% drop in the price of oil.
Both moves in oil prices were short-lived. No wonder America consumes 20 million barrels of oil a day. If we used the SPR to control oil prices, the relief would be superficial at best and fleeting. Worse, it would quickly drain crucial oil stores, leaving the nation vulnerable in times of extreme emergency.
Myth No. 4 -- High oil prices are the work of "speculators"
Though it would be convenient to have a single culprit or conspiracy to blame for high oil prices, there is little evidence that anything but old-fashioned supply and demand are driving gas prices.
There are two dangerously diverging trends at work here: First, global demand is way up. China's and India's economies are surging, and their thirst for oil increases every day. Second, many of the world's largest oil fields are aging and aren't capable of producing at past levels.
The effect of speculators on crude prices is small change compared to the global megatrend of industrial growth. Soaring demand and declining supplies are the main drivers of high oil prices.
Myth No. 5 -- The world is simply running out of oil
Record-high oil prices have many wondering if we are running out of oil. In fact, there's plenty of oil left in the world -- close to 2 trillion barrels of black gold sitting in our own backyard right now.
That's right, the U.S. has the largest oil reserves of any country in the world.
Of course, there's a catch. The easy-to-reach crude was pumped out of our domestic wells long ago, meaning that the majority of oil in the U.S. is either encased in rock or trapped deep in existing wells -- requiring expensive, unconventional methods to retrieve it.
But the news isn't all bad. The technology to produce this hard-to-reach oil already exists. It was developed over 60 years ago but has gone largely unutilized because it's a profitable venture only when oil prices are above $30 a barrel.
Today, oil is worth almost 4 times that number
That's why American entrepreneurs are lining up to produce oil from local reserves and turn a profit.
But only a few have the know-how and capability to cash in on American oil today.
Motley Fool analysts have handpicked three companies that are profiting from American oil production and are positioned for future growth -- allowing you to use the oil crisis to your advantage with smart investments in U.S. energy companies with rock-solid businesses.
Because supply is not the problem, it's production. And even as the calls to develop new alternative fuels gain more and more momentum, gasoline and oil still remain the most economical ways to power America.
3 businesses that profit with American oil
Just ahead, you'll read about three different opportunities to profit from the growth of U.S. oil production.
Each company is involved in a different step of the process of U.S. oil production and is expected to see rapid growth over the next decade. So, please read on.
We hope you enjoy this report that will show you how you invest in what could be the "Next American Oil Boom."
Obama plans review of Bush executive orders (Associated Press) November 9, 2008
BS Ranch Perspective:
Obama plans review of Bush executive orders
Associated Press
CHICAGO — President-elect Barack Obama is poised to move swiftly to reverse actions that President Bush took using executive authority, and his transition team is reviewing limits on stem-cell research and the expansion of oil and gas drilling, among other issues, members of the team said Sunday.
While Obama prepared to make his first post-election visit to the White House today, his advisers were compiling a list of policies that could be reversed by the executive powers of the new president. The assessment is under way, aides said, but a full list of policies to be overturned will not be announced by Obama until he confers with new members of his cabinet.
"There's a lot that the president can do using his executive authority without waiting for congressional action, and I think we'll see the president do that," John Podesta, a top transition leader, said Sunday. "He feels like he has a real mandate for change. We need to get off the course that the Bush administration has set."
Throughout his presidency, Bush has made liberal use of his executive authority, using it to put his stamp on a range of hot-button policy issues.
On Sunday, in a sign that the presidential campaign had definitively ended and that the fast-forming administration was suddenly the focal point, the faces of Obama's new team appeared across the spectrum of Sunday talk shows, a changing of the guard more than two months before he officially assumes power.
Obama's new chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, said that the federal government should provide aid to the automobile industry to help the major automakers and their suppliers survive the financial crisis. General Motors, the largest American automaker, said last week that it has been losing more than $2 billion a month from its cash cushion recently and could face bankruptcy.
Emanuel told CBS' "Face the Nation" that the industry was "an essential part of the economy," echoing remarks that Obama made at his first post-election news conference last week.
Podesta, who for months has been planning for the transition, said in an appearance on "Fox News Sunday" that Obama was considering Democrats, Republicans and independents for key Cabinet positions. While previous presidents have not announced such appointments until December, he suggested that officials tasked with the economy, national security, health care and energy portfolios could be named sooner.
"I think he intends to move very quickly," Podesta said. "And you know, he's beaten a lot of records during the course of the campaign."
Obama does not intend to name any Cabinet officials this week, aides said Sunday, but is poised to announce additional White House senior staff decisions as early as Tuesday as he works to begin building his administration from the Oval Office to other positions inside the West Wing and other parts of the government.
The executive orders of the Bush administration are among the many items that are being reviewed by the new Obama team. The transition operation that was set up in August, even before Obama was formally nominated at the Democratic convention, included a plan to scrutinize the policies that could be reversed through the power of an executive order of the new president.
The federal Bureau of Land Management is poised to open about 360,000 acres of public land in Utah to oil and gas drilling, a plan that the Bush administration has argued would not harm the land. Environmentalists have opposed the idea, a sentiment echoed by Podesta on Sunday.
"I think across the board, on stem-cell research, on a number of areas, you see the Bush administration even today moving aggressively to do things that I think are probably not in the interest of the country," Podesta said on "Fox News Sunday." "They want to have oil and gas drilling in some of the most sensitive, fragile lands in Utah that they're going to try to do right as they are walking out the door. I think that's a mistake."
Emanuel said that Congress needed to extend unemployment insurance benefits and offer states a lift in paying for health care bills. When the new Democratic Congress convenes in January, he said, they should tackle a wider economic stimulus package that includes the middle-class tax cut that was a centerpiece of Obama's presidential campaign.
"You cannot have a strong and resilient economy that does not have a strong and resilient middle class," Emanuel said on ABC News' "This Week." "They have been squeezed over the last number of years, and it is essential to have an economic strategy that strengthens them going forward."
Emanuel also said an economic stimulus package in Congress should not be linked to a free-trade agreement with Colombia, as some Republicans have sought to do. Democrats have resisted those efforts, saying it does not provide enough labor protection.
President Bush used his first prime-time address, on August 9, 2001, to announce his decision (technically a policy pronouncement and not an executive order) to permit federal funding for human embryonic stem-cell research, albeit with strict limitations. Scientists and patient advocates have spent years pressing him to loosen the restrictions; Bush has twice vetoed legislation that would do so.
"It will have been eight years that we have been operating in a limited funding environment," said Larry Soler, a board member of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research, an umbrella group representing 100 organizations. "I think everyone in the scientific community and the patient community is geared up and expecting this and excited to make this happen. It's been a long struggle."
It appears with the Hard Financial Times, that the German DHL is closing its Doors in the USA... (LA Times) Nov. 11,2008
DHL to lay off 9,500 workers
The shipping firm's job cuts include 300 at a distribution center in Riverside County.
By Ronald D. White and Dan Weikel
November 11, 2008
Struggling shipper DHL said Monday that it would close its 300-employee West Coast hub in Riverside County as it pulls out of the U.S. domestic shipping business, eliminating 9,500 jobs nationwide and closing most of its DHL Express service centers.
Deutsche Post, the Bonn, Germany-based parent of DHL, blamed the move on heavy competition from United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp. as well as severe financial losses stemming from the weak U.S. economy. It follows 5,400 U.S. job cuts the company had made earlier this year and will leave DHL with 3,000 to 4,000 workers in its U.S. express business.
"We are facing a tough challenge in the U.S. with enormous losses," Deutsche Post Chairman Frank Appel said during a conference call with analysts. "The impact of them has been that we think we have to take even further massive actions."
As of Jan. 30, DHL will focus on its international shipping business, which is "what we are the best at," Appel said.
Because of losses expected to amount to $1.5 billion for its U.S. operations this year, DHL plans to close 18 U.S. airport hubs and shut all but about 100 of its 412 U.S. service centers. The company projected that daily U.S. package volume would drop to about 100,000 from between 1.2 million and 1.5 million.
For the Inland Empire, which once viewed DHL's Southern California hub as an anchor that would help attract businesses and jobs, the news couldn't have come at a worse time.
The cuts include DHL's sophisticated distribution center at March Global Port, which sits on land that was formerly part of March Air Force Base.
Since 2005, DHL cargo planes have made four flights a day into March -- the only commercial flights into that airport. About 300 workers sort through packages and load them onto planes and trucks.
Now, those DHL employees will be added to the jobless ranks at a time when the region is suffering from a 9.1% unemployment rate, which is among the worst in the nation for large urban areas, Inland Empire economist John Husing said.
"One of the principal reasons for that high unemployment rate has been the collapse of the residential home construction industry," Husing said.
"The whole business of cargo distribution has really slowed down, and when there is less of that, it really affects the express-shipping industry," Husing said.
Laid-off employees will also find it hard to find jobs at DHL's toughest competitors, UPS and FedEx, analysts said.
"No one has ever seen anything this bad before," said Nathan Brochmann, an analyst who follows logistics, transportation and business services for William Blair & Co. in Chicago.
Brochmann said the express industry was suffering from steep declines in activity among manufacturers and purchasing managers who deal with the procurement of supplies.
The closure in Riverside County is a setback for efforts to redevelop the military base into a business center and commercial airport.
A coalition of local governments called the March Joint Powers Authority and private investors, including March Global Port, have been coordinating the development of surplus base property.
"We are not happy that DHL is leaving. We like big, yellow airplanes," said Aaron Knox, a partner and co-manager of March Global Port, which has 300 acres at the airport. "But I think we will be OK. Our success is not contingent upon any one tenant."
Knox said the site would retain a number of enticements that should attract business. In addition to about $8.3 million in runway and taxiway improvements, Knox said that private investors had spent more than $100 million on various airport projects, including the Meridian Business Park.
Coalition members said they were taking a long-term approach to developing the base east of Riverside, which has one of the longest runways in the western United States. Their prospects include business parks and operations that cater to corporate jets, commuter aircraft and private pilots.
"Who thought our global economy would go the way that it has?" said Perris City Councilman Mark Yarbrough, incoming chairman of the joint powers authority.
"This is a disappointment, but the good will eventually outweigh the bad."
But not everyone was unhappy.
The news of DHL's departure was greeted with relief by residents who live along the airport's flight paths and by community activists who have battled airport authorities over aircraft noise and other concerns.
"We're saddened about the people who are going to lose their jobs, but as far as the community is concerned, the nightmare is finally going to be over and we will be able to sleep again," said Catherine Barrett-Fischer of the Community Alliance for Riverside's Economy and Environment.
In May, DHL said it was closing one-third of its U.S. branch offices, reducing its workforce and developing an agreement with Atlanta-based UPS, the world's largest package-delivery company, to take over air shipments for DHL, which currently contracts out the work to two air carriers. On Monday, DHL said it was still in talks with UPS.
DHL's other U.S. operations -- global freight forwarding, supply-chain services and global mail -- aren't included in the cuts, the company said. More than 25,000 people work in those divisions.
"We will definitely invest in this business going forward," Appel said. "So the U.S. remains the key market for us. We are just leaving the domestic U.S. express markets."
White and Weikel are Times staff writers.
ron.white@latimes.com
dan.weikel@latimes.com
Fresh-Faced Deputy Sheriff Shoots Dead Six Teenagers in Revenge for 'Break-up With Girlfriend' (Daily Mail May 12, 2008)
Fresh-faced Deputy Sheriff shoots dead six teenagers in revenge for 'break-up with girlfriend'
Last updated at 10:44am on 8th October 2007
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This is the first picture of the fresh-faced policeman who gunned down seven teenagers at a late-night house party in a brutal act apparently motivated by revenge.
Sheriff's deputy Tyler Peterson, 20, "went berserk" after an argument with his girlfriend, according to reports.
Fuelled by anger, he burst into her house in Crandon, Wisconsin, where up to ten teenagers all aged 14 to 20 were enjoying pizza and movies, and opened fire.
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Face of the gunman: Tyler Peterson
Today, six people had been confirmed dead, with one fatality believed to be Peterson's girlfriend, while a seventh was fighting for his life in hospital.
The gunman, who had been at the same school as some of his victims, was eventually brought down by a police sniper after a manhunt.
As news of the shooting filtered through Crandon, which only has 2,000 residents, the community was in shock.
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Shocked: Neighbours comfort each other at the scene
So far, the identity of only one of the dead has been confirmed - 14-year-old Lindsey Stahl.
Armed response: A SWAT team member in action
Her distraught mother Jenny, 39, described how her daughter how phoned her on Saturday night and asked if she could stay at a friend's.
Tragically, her mother agreed.
"I'm waiting for somebody to wake me up right now. This is a bad, bad dream," she said, sobbing.
"All I heard, it was a jealous boyfriend and he went berserk. He took them all out."
Peterson had apparently only been in his job for a week but was not on duty at the time of the shooting.
Crandon police chief John Dennee refused to confirm reports that Peterson was a member of the force's heavily-armed SWAT team.
Describing the bloodbath, neighbour Marci Franz told how he heard shots from the party early on Sunday morning.
He said: "They sounded distant at first and I was wondering if they were gunshots.
"Then I heard another succession of shots and it sounded very close to my house. Then immediately there was the sound of squealing tyres."
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Crandon is such a small community every family in the town expects to be affected by the shooting
Crandon is about 225 miles north of Milwaukee in an area known for logging, and fishing, hunting and snow-mobiling.
Bud Evans, an elder at the Crandon Praise Chapel, said worried relatives had gathered there as they waited for news.
"They're coming and going. There's probably 100 or more here and I'm sure they're gathered at other places in town as well," he said.
"If there's five or six kids or young adults involved in this, I'd know every one - the community's that small and that tight-knit."
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"This has been a very tragic event," said Forest County supervisor Tom Vollmar. "It's affected probably every family in this community.
"Nobody expected anything like this. I guess nobody anywhere does."
The shooting came six months after the worst gun massacre in U.S. history when Cho Seung-hui killed 32 students and staff at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia, before turning the weapon on himself.
The neighbourhood where Peterson burst in on a group of young people and opened fire
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