[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

For any elected leader who still doesn’t grasp the seriousness of the impact of  budget cuts to schools, today’s article in the Novato Advance, "School lunches pinched by budget," should make it crystal clear -- budget cuts are devastating to California’s students.
 
Many school districts are being forced to scale back on healthy menu items because they are more expensive. The Advance article highlights the terrible decisions forced upon Novato Nutritional Services Director Miguel Villarreal:

"To deal with increased food costs, Villarreal is scaling back on some of the more expensive menu items such as fruit juice."

Villarreal also describes the dilemma he faces as costs increase for basic items -- like milk -- due to higher transport costs from the skyrocketing price of gas:

"Milk is something that has been going up," he said. "A few years ago milk was 15 cents a carton, and now it’s 21 to 22 cents. That’s a significant increase when you multiply that by one million meals."

read more »

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Bill Cavala
A veteran of over 30 years in Sacramento

In today’s San Diego Union Tribune there is a story about the 78th Assembly District primary election – which ends by helpfully telling readers the primary will occur on June 3rd. You know, three days ago.

Tomorrow’s news today? No, Yesterday’s news today.

In the body of the story it is disclosed that Auday Arabo received over $200,000 mostly from “liquor stores and markets”. Although Arabo failed to break 20%, he gets most of the attention in this article. And, knowing he took liquor money might indeed have affected some of his votes. No small matter when only 400 votes separate the two top contenders.

But it’s hard to see how a story describing the contributions of a third place finisher are relevant to November.

It caps the poorest coverage of an election campaign in recent history. The alternative San Diego Reader at least took notice of the Independent Expenditure campaigns of selected interest groups.

By contrast, the Union-Tribune set a precedent by providing a pre-election story in a post election context.

What’s the opposite of a Pulitzer?

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Governor Schwarzenegger says that he will back the state supreme court’s ruling that gay marriage is legal in California,reports the San Francisco Chronicle. However, he clings to his beliefthat “marriage is between a man and a woman.” But wait! He neverthelessvows that he’s also going to help fight the Republican initiative tooverturn the court ruling. The Governor contains multitudes…

Meanwhile, county clerks across the state are gearing up to issue thousands of licenses to new same sex couples,reports the LA Times. However, it could be even longer than 30 daysbefore couples are allowed to wed, depending on if opponents ask forthe case to be reheard (and regardless of whether the court accepts).

Regardless of what happens in November, however, same sex couples who wed now are unlikely to have their marriages invalidated by the ban,reports the San Diego Union-Tribune. Even an attorney for the banagreed…which means that he knows he’s a retrograde moron, right?

by Bob Brigham [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Cutting out the gas tax may actually backfire on consumers, warns the San Diego Union-Tribune.The article also has a brief Q&A explanation of the current highgas prices.

The large number of recalled consumer products last year has prompted Bay Area legislators to push for better regulation. Sen. Carole Migden (D-SF) has introduced the "Toxin-free Toddlers andBabies Act," which would ban bisphenol A from toys and child-careproducts. Sen. Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro) wants to ban agrease-resistant compound found in pizza boxes that can be carcinogenicwhen ingested.

At least someone's happy about the drawn-out Democratic race: Rush Limbaugh, whose calls to Republicans to side with underdog Clinton may have beensuccessful. "Nobody really knows, of course, how influential Limbaughhas actually been, although the promotional publicity for him and hisprogram has been absolutely priceless. Anecdotal evidence suggests manythousands of Republicans did, in fact, cross over to vote for Clinton,which, frankly, is fine with her. She'll take anybody's vote thesedays."

There's more... 

Image courtesy LATimes.com  

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Governor Schwarzenegger has announced that he does not support Proposition 98,which would restrict the government’s use of eminent domain, reportsthe San Diego Union-Tribune. The Governor claims that it would have adetrimental effect on improving California’s water infrastructure.

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan has filed the papers to begin an independent run for Nancy Pelosi’s congressional seat in San Francisco, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. However, she needs upwards of 10,000 signatures first in order to qualify for the ballot.

Congress has finally reached a deal on the five-year farm bill,reports the San Francisco Chronicle. The bill includes increasedfunding for nutritional programs at a time when food prices are rapidlyincreasing.

by DFA Staff [courtesy of Blog for America]

The Associated Press via the San Diego Union-Tribune looks at the Rand Corporation report on the mental health status of veterans of the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan:

Roughly one in every five U.S. troops who have survived the bombs and other dangers of Iraq and Afghanistan now suffers from major depression or post-traumatic stress, an independent study said Thursday. It estimated the toll at 300,000 or more.

Danny
Communications Director