Free Republic

SACRAMENTO - Debate over a bill that would let registered domestic partners file joint state tax returns devolved into a shouting match Wednesday as Assembly members accused each other of intolerance and one Republican said his gay colleagues live a deviant lifestyle. Discussion of the bill began to heat up when Assemblyman Jay La Suer, R-La Mesa, called the measure "part of the homosexual agenda." He said it would negatively affect California's children by teaching them "that this is an acceptable lifestyle." Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Sherman Oaks, countered that "the real homosexual agenda is simple equality and freedom from discrimination."...

If you're looking for a gay candidate to vote for in this fall's California legislative races, there are several out there. But they're more likely to be Republicans than Democrats. GOP voters nominated five openly gay candidates in Assembly races. But all five will face general elections in urban districts with heavy Democratic registration advantages. This group includes William Chan in Sacramento (AD 9), Ralph Denney in northern San Diego (AD 76), Brenda Carol Green in South Central Los Angeles (AD 48), Mark Patrosso in San Jose (AD 23), and Steven Mark Sion in West Hollywood (AD 42). Only Denney...

The state Board of Education on Monday approved options for textbooks to be used in classrooms through 2014, but rejected pleas from bilingual education advocates who wanted to include textbooks that address the needs of English learners while teaching California's curriculum. Critics of the current options for schools - including Assemblywomen Judy Chu, D-Monterey Park, and Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles - wanted the board to also let schools use textbooks they said would help non-English speakers with vocabulary while learning basic subject matter. Instead, the board voted 6-4 to adopt the recommendations of its curriculum committee, leaving English-as-a-second-language instruction separate...

(Get ready for more Gay, Lesbian and Transgender High Schools in Los Angeles!) With Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Roy Romer nearing retirement, the game has begun to find his replacement, and the name bandied about town the loudest and most consistently: Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg. The former school board and City Council member remains coy on the topic, but sources say she has been campaigning hard for months - even before Romer announced his intended early departure - to head up the second-largest school district in the nation. "It's not something I really want to do. However, depending on who they're...

Did you know that in California, child molesters and rapists are a protected class? It's true. Not only are California landlords banned from using the state's Megan's Law database to decline renting their properties to sex offenders, they're not even allowed to warn other tenants that these paroled criminals are now their neighbors. If they do the first, they can be fined $25,000 for housing discrimination. But if they don't do the second, they can be sued for failing to protect tenants against a known danger. Landlords are caught between a rock, a hard place and the California State Assembly's...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - California's public schools, once among the best in the nation, now lag behind almost every other state in student achievement, funding, teacher quality and facilities. The state's urban high schools have become "dropout factories," saddled with some of the lowest graduation rates in the United States. And the pay disparity among California teachers means that the best-paid teachers in 42 of the 50 largest districts work in schools that serve the fewest number of black and Hispanic students. Those are just a few of the findings outlined in several recent reports which together paint a grim...

LOS ANGELES -- More than 40 people were arrested Thursday during supermarket rallies in support of grocery clerks idled by a four-month strike and lockout. The granddaughter of late farmworker union leader Cesar Chavez, state Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles, and an 86-year-old member of the Gray Panthers activist group were among those arrested during civil disobedience rallies involving clerks and about two dozen labor unions and community groups, organizers said. Some protesters linked arms and blocked the entrances at Vons and Pavilions stores. Twenty people were handcuffed and led away from the two stores in mid-city Los Angeles and...