Free Republic

SACRAMENTO -- The state Department of Finance reportedly has increased the estimate of the state budget shortfall to $14 billion over the next 18 months, up from a $10 billion estimate by the Legislative Analyst last month. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is briefing legislative leaders on the new calculation made by Finance as the administration works on a proposed budget for the new fiscal year beginning on July 1. "I am not confirming or denying anything," said H.D. Palmer, the Finance spokesman. "We are not going to comment until the governor has had the opportunity to brief legislative leaders and hear...

WASHINGTON - Congressional Republicans pushed back Monday against President Bush's decision to deploy additional troops in Iraq, some voicing opposition while others called for the administration and Iraqi government to be held accountable. In the Senate, three GOP lawmakers joined one Democrat in unveiling nonbinding legislation expressing disagreement with Bush's plan and urging him to "consider all options and alternatives" to the planned increase of 21,500 troops. In the House, members of the leadership drafted a series of what they called "strategic benchmarks," and said the White House should submit monthly reports to Congress measuring progress toward meeting them. The...

CAIRO, Egypt - When terrorists blew themselves up in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula this week, the radical Palestinian group Hamas quickly joined Arab governments and Western leaders in condemning a "criminal attack against all human values." Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood called the bombings "aggression on human souls created by God." The denunciations were unexpectedly harsh from the Islamic fundamentalist groups — Hamas has killed hundreds of Israeli civilians in suicide bombings, and the Brotherhood is determined to impose an Islamic government — but experts agree that radical Muslim organizations want to distance themselves from al-Qaida. The widening rift largely has not...

WASHINGTON - State tax receipts jumped nearly 10 percent last year as a strong national economy increased individual earnings and corporate profits. Most states showed increases without raising tax rates, meaning the gains were caused primarily by an expanding economy, said Corina Eckl, fiscal program director for the National Conference of State Legislatures. "It's absolutely attributable to an improving national economy," Eckl said. "Very few, very modest tax changes happened last year." Nationally, states collected a total of $649 billion in taxes in the 2005 budget year, which ended in June for most states, according to a report Thursday by...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The public has become deeply pessimistic that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature can work together since a massive public works plan failed to make the June ballot, according to a new poll. The Legislature's approval rating has fallen to 25 percent — its lowest point since 2000 — the survey released Thursday by the Public Policy Institute of California shows, while the governor's popularity has changed little since January, with 37 percent giving him a positive rating. In January, Schwarzenegger proposed a $222 billion, 10-year plan to improve the state's highways, levees, schools and public transit...

MIAMI (March 17) - A growing scandal over teachers who paid to get credit for courses they never took has cost nearly three dozen educators their jobs, and hundreds of others were being investigated. The Miami-Dade County School Board voted 5-4 on Wednesday to fire six teachers and accept resignations from 26 others. The punishments stem from a scam run by former high school teacher William McCoggle, who claimed to offer continuing-education classes through a private company. McCoggle pleaded guilty to fraud in November, admitting he did little more than sell transcripts, requiring no tests, homework or other academic work....

With the number of whites shrinking as immigrant populations soar, a "racial generation gap" is opening in Los Angeles and cities nationwide, a study released today says. The report by The Brookings Institution said Los Angeles led all metropolitan areas and Riverside-San Bernardino ranked second in population gains by Latinos, Asians and blacks - increases attributed to higher birth rates among immigrants. In addition, 30 percent of Latinos nationwide live in Los Angeles and New York, the study said. And metropolitan Los Angeles, which includes Long Beach and Santa Ana, has 5.6 million Latinos, about 43 percent of its total...

A wildfire that extended from Mexico into Southern Arizona had grown to about 1,000 acres by Monday night, officials said. Montezuma One is burning along the border west of the Coronado National Monument, close to Montezuma Pass in Cochise County. The larger part of the fire is burning across the border in Mexico, said Teresa Ann Ciapusci, acting public affairs officer with the Coronado National Forest. The fire is south of Sierra Vista and Fort Huachuca. It's the largest wildfire this year in the national forest, although officials Monday did not have ...

STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) - Giant windmills are popping up on farms, scenic mountain ridges, prairie grass and now an Indian reservation, dramatically changing the nation's landscape and spinning a debate about where they belong. Wind power grew rapidly in 2005, becoming more competitive as natural gas prices jumped and crude oil prices reached record highs. Improved technology, a federal tax credit and pressure on utilities to use clean energy sources helped fuel the growth from coast to coast. Officials in Atlantic City, N.J., in December dedicated the nation's first coastal wind farm. And last week, General Electric Co. announced a...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 30, 2005 – Burgeoning reconstruction activity is now evident in and around Baghdad while terrorist attacks in the Iraqi capital city have weakened since the Dec. 15 elections, a senior U.S. military officer in Baghdad told reporters here today. "When I fly around Baghdad these days, I see the city expanding in large numbers of houses being built on the edges of the city in nearly every direction," Army Maj. Gen. William G. Webster Jr., commander of Multinational Division Baghdad, told Pentagon reporters during a satellite news conference broadcast from Iraq. This activity, Webster said, indicates Baghdad's residents...

The county pension fund's debt has ballooned from $1.2 billion to nearly $1.4 billion in the past year, according to a new report that goes to the county retirement board today. County officials are downplaying the increase, noting that the retirement system's assets could still cover 80 percent of what is owed if all its bills came due. By contrast, the city of San Diego has a deficit of at least $1.4 billion, but a funded ratio of just 65 percent. At least one man says the county system's worsening condition is directly attributable to a 2002 decision that raised...

BAGHDAD, Nov. 18, 2005 – After receiving a tip from a local resident, soldiers from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, uncovered what turned out to be a large weapons cache west of Baghdad. The unit initially found a small cache consisting of two rocket-propelled grenades and an AK-47 assault rifle Nov. 14. But after uncovering this weapons cache, the soldiers of 1st Squadron, 75th Cavalry Regiment, expanded the search of the area, resulting in one of the largest of 17 weapons cache discoveries the team has made to date. After receiving the informant's tip, the soldiers started their...

The FBI is investigating the possibility that six other Lodi-area men attended terrorist training camps in Pakistan in addition to Hamid Hayat, the initial suspect arrested in the government's ongoing probe of al-Qaida connections in the San Joaquin city. According to federal court documents obtained by The Bee, Hamid Hayat and his father, Umer, claimed the suspected Lodi jihadists reported to Muhammed Adil Khan and Shabbir Ahmed, two imams they say came to the Lodi Muslim Mosque from Pakistan to groom students for terrorist training camps. Khan and Ahmed are being held for allegedly violating immigration laws, and through their...

Fear of Old Testament-style revenge grows among Arabs in 'village of traitors' By Tim Butcher in Dahaniya (Filed: 07/05/2005) The village of Dahaniya is protected round the clock by the Israeli army but the 350 residents are not Israelis living in fear of a suicide bomber. They are Arabs grouped together in what is known in the Gaza Strip as "the village of traitors". Inside the security fence that shields the villagers from the vengeance of their neighbours, fear is growing as the date of the Israeli army's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip approaches. Abed Shtiwe, a 37-year-old farm...

California employers paid 38 percent more for workers' compensation insurance this year than those in the second most expensive state, Alaska, a new study shows. The nationwide survey said the gap between California and the rest of the country widened further in the past two years. In 2002, the state's employers, while still facing the highest rates in the nation, paid 16 percent more than the No. 2 state of Florida. On average, employers in January 2004 paid an average of $6.08 per $100 of payroll for premiums - $1.69 more than Alaska companies, according to a biennial survey of...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has a history of using alternatives to mainstream media to get his message out - but he's now breaking new ground by writing a monthly column for exclusive distribution by ethnic news organizations. The column is translated into multiple languages by New California Media, an association of more than 700 ethnic news outlets that is holding its sixth annual awards banquet in Sacramento tonight. In a statement accompanying his debut column, the former international movie star and self-proclaimed marketing whiz said he looked "forward to communicating with California's many vibrant ethnic groups." The Austrian-born governor sounded familiar...

French fury grows over Iraq 'bribes' By Colin Randall in Paris (Filed: 27/10/2004) France has angrily stepped up its attack on an official American report that French public figures and companies took bribes worth millions of pounds from Saddam Hussein to help his bid to have United Nations sanctions lifted. The French foreign ministry denounced as "inaccurate and unfounded" allegations from the Iraq Survey Group (ISG), the US weapons inspectorate, that French interests took financial benefits in the form of cashable oil vouchers in a rampant abuse of the UN oil-for-food programme. Saddam was reported to have syphoned off £7...

The state budget impasse has taken a toll on support for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's $103 billion spending plan, with Democrats and Republicans rethinking their approval of his strategy for erasing a $15 billion deficit without raising taxes. After struggling to reach agreements with Democrats, who hold overwhelming majorities in both the Senate and Assembly, the rookie governor now faces a full-blown mutiny from within the ranks of his fellow Republicans as well as opposition among Democrats. "I was prepared to vote for the governor's budget as modified by his May revision," said Sen. Ross Johnson, R-Irvine, vice chairman of the...

Laura Bush Grows Into Star Role WASHINGTON, June 24, 2004 (CBS) For the Republican faithful, she is the political equivalent of a rock star. And like the most easily digestible pop song, her appeal is simple, straightforward and to the heart. "The thing I get the most from her is how much she loves her husband and loves her country. And her strength, it just inspires me," said Bush supporter Susan Boring at a recent appearance by first lady Laura Bush. "Well, of course I'm passionate about my husband," says Mrs. Bush. "I mean, that's why I'm here, because I...

Danger money for expats as the Saudi exodus grows Extra £1,000 a month for staff willing to stay on Ewen MacAskill in Jeddah Thursday June 24, 2004 The Guardian (UK) Western firms are offering substantial sums of "danger money" to expatriate staff in Saudi Arabia to stem a panic-driven exodus from the kingdom in the wake of al-Qaida attacks. The Guardian has learned that one of the biggest firms in the country, the British-owned defence company BAE Systems, is offering each of its 2,400 expatriate staff an extra £1,000 a month to stay. A BAE Systems source in Riyadh said...

<p>Democratic leaders, trying to nudge the sputtering talks about reforming workers' compensation, announced a new plan Monday to deal with a major sticking point - regulation of the insurance rates.</p> <p>But the new plan was quickly criticized by Republicans and insurance companies, raising doubts about whether lawmakers will pass legislation before an initiative backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is scheduled to be submitted for qualification next week.</p>

Iraqis vow revenge as hatred of US grows By Alan Philps in Falluja (Filed: 02/05/2003) Hatred of the Americans is boiling on the streets of Falluja, where Iraqis lobbed grenades into the US military compound yesterday, wounding seven and damaging vehicles. All over the town were banners calling on the Americans to go, while local people shook their fists at foreigners, vowing to take revenge. Outside the mayor's office, which is next to the American compound, staff had hung an uncompromising banner: "Sooner or later, US killers, we will kick you out." According to the mayor, Taha Bedeiwi, who is...

Fear grows in the company compounds of Riyadh after British worker is shot dead By Francis Field 22 February 2003 For many British expatriates in Saudi Arabia, the war on terrorism and the impending allied action against Iraq have had little effect on day-to-day life. But the fatal shooting on Thursday of Robert Dent, who worked in the capital, Riyadh, for BAE Systems, has caused widespread fear among expats. Although the Saudi authorities immediately arrested the alleged murderer, panic spread through British communities. "This changes everything," said a British worker in Jeddah. "We have had several warnings from the British...