The Sacramento Bee Company

Orange County Register Wildfire Coverage Has a Huge Hole in It: Media Watchdog

Orange County fire officials recently held a press conference to go over their strategies and, more importantly, warn the public about an ever-earlier fire season. The Orange County Register covered this, as it did Southern California's recent wildfires, but a media watchdog saw a huge hole in the c ... More >>

Dan Walters, Dean of State Political Reporters, v. Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of UCI Law School

The dean of California political reporters, Dan Walters, didn't like the idea of UC Irvine opening a law school six years ago and, in his syndicated column Monday, expressed vindication for that view thanks to a Los Angeles Times story that reports several law school graduates can't find jobs while ... More >>

Bill Lockyer and Nadia Maria Davis Lockyer, California Democratic Power Couple, Split Up

State Treasurer Bill Lockyer has reportedly filed for divorce from his wife Nadia Maria Davis Lockyer, formerly an Alameda County supervisor, Santa Ana Unified School District trustee and rising star in the California Democratic Party.The veteran 71-year-old politician cited "irreconcilable differen ... More >>

[UPDATED with State Senator's Rewrite:] Tom Harman Thinks Like a Democrat on California's Bullet Train

UPDATE, MAY 22, 10:23 A.M.: State Senator Tom Harman (R-Huntington Beach) has contacted yours truly with proof that the veteran Orange County politician can take a place in the long line of folks who just don't share my sense of humor. This is evident in his emailed rewrite of the jokey headline to ... More >>

Sacramento v. Anaheim Battle for NBA's Kings Becomes a Paper War

Some believe the split between Sacramento leaders and the owners of the NBA's Kings happened in March, when attorneys for the Maloof brothers filed a massive request under the Public Records Act for communications between the city and 53 other parties.Now, a former Sacramento city councilman is givi ... More >>

Maloof Brothers Again Play Anaheim Card in Talks to Keep NBA's Kings in Sacramento

​Once again holding Anaheim up as their pawn, the Maloof brothers reportedly say they are not convinced the city of Sacramento can build a new arena for their NBA Kings by a 2015 deadline and that the Honda Center is still in play.This deja vu moment is even more deja vu-ier: the NBA is coming to ... More >>

Poets and Politicians: Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera and Governor Jerry Brown

​Governor Jerry Brown named Juan Felipe Rivera, UC Riverside poetry professor of Chair of Creative Writing, as California Poet Laureate on Wednesday, but he's just getting to know the wordsmith. The appointment is a first ever for a Latino in the state and the poet's writings articulate the life e ... More >>

Gov. Jerry Brown Funded By OC Unions For 2014; Loretta Sanchez Nabs Dentist Support

Pay to play​Gov. Jerry Brown's trip to Orange County last month for a speech to Democrats nabbed $30,000 mostly from local organized labor unions, according to a report this week in the Sacramento Bee.Among those contributing were the Orange County Employees Association, which organized "a small, ... More >>

[UPDATED with Ruling:] A Ban on a Circumcision Ban in California?

UPDATE, JULY 28, 4:04 P.M.: ​Snip away. A Superior Court judge has ruled that the measure to criminalize circumcision in San Francisco violates both the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of religious freedom, and a California law that makes regulating medical procedures solely a state matter, not a fu ... More >>

[UPDATED with Team Staying Put a Year:] Sacramento Kings in Serious Talks to Move to Anaheim

​UPDATE, MAY 2, 1:10 P.M.: We just had a royal wedding. Now comes a Royals funeral.After months of negotiations, seemingly done deals and obviously un-done deals, the NBA's Kings are staying in Sacramento at least one more season, dashing hopes of regular season home games by the renamed Anaheim R ... More >>

Lou Correa, The Inquisitor?

Grrrrrrr!​There are probably several descriptions you could give Orange County state Senator Lou Correa, but who knew one would be watchdog?According to a Sacramento Bee article today, at a Tuesday hearing, Correa (D-Anaheim) grilled California National Guard officials about lingering and widespr ... More >>

[UPDATED] Sacramento Kings in Serious Talks to Move to Anaheim: NBA Commissioner

​UPDATE, FEB. 25, 3:39 P.M.: Although Phil Jackson is the only one to go public with his opposition to the Sacramento Kings moving to Anaheim (scroll down to last post), there has been a lot of talk about the Los Angeles Lakers franchise working behind the scenes to stop a SoCal relocation to prot ... More >>

Election 2010: Moxley Watches The OC Republicans

Jonathan Ho / OC WeeklyTran: Not time to concede. ​1:00 a.m.: Van Tran Remains HopefulInside the converted Garden Grove Blockbuster store, Van Tran continues to hold onto his dream of defeating Loretta Sanchez. Tran is trailing by more than 5,000 votes--and the gap seems to be getting larger. But ... More >>

Governor Loretta Sanchez?

Is Sacramento ready for Loretta?​Never underestimate Loretta Sanchez.Yesterday, the Sacramento Bee reported that the veteran Orange County congresswoman opened a bank account for a 2014 campaign to become California's governor.But is Sanchez, OC's lone congressional Democrat, serious about a race ... More >>

Today on the High-Speed Rail Seesaw...

​Are the current plans for a $40-billion high-speed train meant to connect Fresno and San Francisco with Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Diego brilliant or reckless? Everytime you start to form an opinion, something comes the other way down the tracks. Take, for example, the past 24 hours:

Lou Correa Refuses His State Senate Per Diem

​State Sen. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) is not accepting his $142-per-day subsidies for living expenses (called per diem), retroactive to July 1, when this session's budget impasse began.Correa joins three other legislators refusing their per diem, while a fifth has vowed to donate to a nonprofit fu ... More >>

State Bill Would Knock Possession of Less Than an Ounce of Marijuana to an Infraction

​While all eyes, red and otherwise, are on November's vote on marijuana legalization in California, the state Senate narrowly voted this week to reclassify possession of less than an ounce of weed as an infraction with a penalty of $100 rather than its current status as a misdemeanor with the s ... More >>

The Solution to Online Media's Advertising Revenue Conundrum

​So, I'm a couple paragraphs into this Dan Walters' column on a coalition of education groups filing suit in Alameda County to declare California's public school system unconstitutional when my laptop screen goes dark.I thought I accidentally pulled the plug out of the outlet. Again.Nope, for a sp ... More >>

Governor Candidates, Humboldt County Pot Growers Agree: No on Legalization!

Jerry Brown: "I've already indicated that that's not a provision I am likely to support."​The Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 was certified for November's ballot this week after backers turned in signatures from hundreds of thousands of California voters, but the three top candid ... More >>

As Snow Falls, Legislation Rises

​Three to 6 inches of new snow are expected in the next few hours to start falling in the local mountains--including Big Bear, where 5 feet of white stuff dumped during the last round of storms. Mammoth Mountain got 7 inches of fresh snow in the last 24 to add to its 8- to 12-feet base of packed p ... More >>

Statewide Trans Fat Ban Starts Friday

​Beginning New Years Day, California will be the first state to ban trans fat from restaurants.  The measure was signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger in 2008, but according to the Sacramento Bee, there was a one-year adjustment period. However, bakeries don't need to comply until January of 201 ... More >>

State Crushing Beverage Recycling Program?

​You know things are bad in Sacramento when the programs making California money are on the verge of collapse.Take the state's state-of-the-art beverage container recycling program, which could be getting crushed like a used soda can.

Mimi Walters Neglects to Tell Full Story on School Funds

Mimi Walters writes off $7.9 billion.State Sen. Mimi Walters (R-Laguna Niguel) spouts off in today's Sacramento Bee about a Democratic proposal to commit $7.9 billion to schools--even though California voters last month shot down Prop. 1B, which would have sent educators that exact same amount. &nbs ... More >>

From Scrooge McDuck to Ebenezer Scrooge for Chuck DeVore

Photo by John GilhooleyAs California burns, DeVore tweets.Perhaps you missed it in our recent flurry of online and old-timey print coverage of Chuck DeVore--the Republican assemblyman out of Irvine making noise about running for Democrat Barbara Boxer's U.S. Senate seat in 2010--but at one point Chu ... More >>

Cruel and Unusual Punishment for Child Molester Who Worked For Dana Rohrabacher?

Singing & Dancing in Prison?At least twice a month, someone asks me: Where is Jeffrey Ray Nielsen, the Orange County conservative activist who worked for years as a Washington, D.C. aide to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) and is now a convicted serial child molester?Answer: McFarland, ... More >>

As State OK's Tough Global Warming Rules Should Diesel Be Next?

As expected, the state this afternoon put teeth in its landmark regulations enacted in 2006 to combat global warming, adopting the nation's most comprehensive plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Such emissions must be cut 30 percent by 2020. But that is not enough for the editorial board ... More >>

OC Reg Will Outsource to New Delhi

Late yesterday the AP confirmed news that Nick Schou broke last week right here on our blog: the paper has taken the layoff model to another level and will now outsource some of its editing and layout duties to a "global media" company near New Delhi. With the last round of layoffs knocking 90 pe ... More >>

Schwarzenegger Fragged by Lieutenant

Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi has just fragged Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger over the 241 (Foothill-South) toll road. The road, proposed by the Irvine-based Transportation Corridor Agencies, would cut through the Donna O'Neill Land Conservancy, itself mitigation for the Talega development, and ... More >>

General Vang Pao Free on Bail!

After a month in jail, Westminster resident and former CIA-backed Laotian Secret Army General Vang Pao is heading home. Yesterday, a federal judge in Sacramento granted a request by lawyers for Vang, 77, and 10 other defendants the government claims tried to overthrow the Lao People's Democratic Rep ... More >>

Wednesday's Headlines & Surprises

Build It & Hope They Come: The Register reports that Irvine has approved a 5-mile, $280 million street car/bus plan that will link the future Great Park to the Irvine Spectrum and a train station by 2012. City officials, untrustworthy in the past, claim that each day 5,000 people will abandon their ... More >>

OC Weekly Wins National Award

Judges at the Missouri School of Journalism considered more than 1,200 entries and yesterday awarded OC Weekly second place nationally for General Excellence in our circulation category among both daily and alternative newspapers. The judges had this to say: "The Weekly contains all the usual alte ... More >>

One Funny Step Ahead of the Fuzz

It's only Monday evening, and yet we've found the best product of the week: Photoblocker spray for the license plate on your vehicle! Yes, you folks who fear photo tickets for running yellow or red lights or blowing through toll-road sensors can now relax. A company has developed an invisible spray ... More >>

Them That's Got

If you belong to one of the groups targeted for a good squeezin' called on to sacrifice in the governor's budget plan-- college students, public school teachers, families on welfare-- rest assured that the truly needy will still be well taken care of. Kate Folmar reports in the San Jose Mercury New ... More >>

Arnold Speaks

Nixon may have inspired him to become a Republican, but Arnold Schwarzenegger completely lacks The Pride of Yorba Linda's flair when it comes to taped conversations. Consider, for example, this lecture on history captured by the Oval Office taping system. Nixon explains why the Soviet Union is sup ... More >>

Numbers, Numbers (and a semi-Nun)

First for some numbers that aren't as big as you might think, or others might want you to think. If California were a separate country, it would have the world's sixth-largest economy, one hears time and time again. The governor even repeated the We're Number 6 bleat in his State of the State spee ... More >>

Healthy Skepticism

The first thing to notice about Governor Schwarzenegger's plan, which is being billed as a universal healthcare plan, is that it isn't a universal healthcare plan. It's a mandatory health insurance plan. It will not make sure a sick person gets the treatment he or she needs-- the treatments, drugs ... More >>

The Leafy Green

There are now 171 cases of people sickened by E. coli tainted spinach from Salinas Valley. But don't worry, the Schwarzenegger administration has a plan. True, the source of the infection hasn't been identified yet, though the Sacramento Bee reported last week, The spinach-packaging company in the ... More >>

Two Shades of Green

Perhaps it's only logical that in a state which has a man still trading on his movie role as a killer cyborg from the future as governor, politics would grow closer to comic books. Or perhaps it isn't. Either way, it's California. At last weekend's state GOP convention, the San Francisco Chronicl ... More >>

Smart Kids, Not So Smart Adults, and DNA for Dinner

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau, "School-age children from Spanish-speaking households in San Diego County and throughout California are gaining English fluency at record rates". While this is excellent news, the news for adults is a little ... More >>

SpongeTodd: Mr. Spitzer masters the freebie

Proving once again that the driest of bureaucratic documents often contain the most interesting things, Judy Lin of the Sacramento Bee digs through the disclosure forms that state lawmakers are required to file and discovers: ... from January 2005 to June 30, 2006, groups with business at the Capito ... More >>

Backing or Backpedaling?

Governor Schwarzenegger took a stand on cutting greenhouse gases yesterday. His stand? Going on the commonly held theory that most readers never get beyond the headline and first paragraph of a newspaper story, unless they have some compelling interest in the story, his stand depends on what city yo ... More >>

Coming Attractions

Cast your mind back to one of the grimmer spectacles of the grim days of 2004: the Bush/Cheney reelection campaign. If you recall, it was impossible to tell the difference that year between the official functions of President Bush and the fearmongering and pandering of Candidate Bush. Every official ... More >>

Of Swallows, Schwarzenegger, and Swift Boats

The faithful of Orange County have traditionally been willing to pretend to believe in miracles, even when they know better. Consider the swallows of San Juan Capistrano. Anyone in San Juan Cap with eyes to see, or a freshly washed car to be shat on, knows the birds return March-ishly each year, and ... More >>

Does a Bear Shit in the LA Times?

If you read Monday's Los Angeles "By God" Times Business section (and why would you?), you might've choked on your French Roast when you came on C3's three-quarter page advert announcing the California Bear is missing from the state flag. The gloomy gray gus informed that the Grizzly "grew tired of ... More >>

Body Politic

Diary of a Mad County

Diary of a Mad County

OC Hillbillies

Death Trap

Full Metal House