From the Voice of OC:

Although Santa Ana city officials and union leaders are saying they can work together to pare down the city’s $30-million budget deficit, the word bankruptcy is being whispered more often these days in the corridors of City Hall.

And it is clear, as the city and unions enter the early stages of negotiations, that if the two sides don’t agree to drastic cost-saving measures, the prospect of bankruptcy will go from a persistent rumor to a distinct possibility.

Yet because there are so few cases of municipal bankruptcy, there is no clear understanding of what bankruptcy would ultimately mean for the city. Labor contracts may or may not be scrapped. The city’s credit rating could be left scarred, or it could easily bounce back. Long-term pension obligations have never been tested in bankruptcy court.

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From the San Deigo Union-Tribune:

San Diego school officials have sounded early warnings about potential midyear budget cuts in the most drastic terms, raising the specter of fiscal insolvency that could force the state to assume control of its second-largest district.

Superintendent Bill Kowba said San Diego Unified School District could not weather $30 million in midyear cuts, the worst scenario under triggers in the state budget.

“Barely one month after school has opened we are at the edge of the cliff, looking over and down at insolvency,” Kowba told the school board Tuesday night. “We are facing the reality of midyear budget cuts that could be the starting point on the road to insolvency and state takeover.”

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From the Daily Beast:

Cinderella Palin is not going to the ball. Dream date Christie is out. Meanwhile, the Cain Train is chugging along—and gaining steam.

That nonpolitician Herman Cain is gaining ground in national GOP presidential polling may come as a surprise to the established and elite, but it’s not that big a leap for enthusiastic conservatives already aboard the Cain Train. The former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza wins support with his passion, personal appeal, and his ability to cut through with clear, concise messages that make perfect sound bites. His 9-9-9 economic plan—a 9 percent business tax, 9 percent individual tax, and 9 percent national sales tax—is far easier to digest than Mitt Romney’s 59-point plan.

And at a time when trust in politicians is low, Cain reeks of authenticity. So much so, he sometimes stumbles rhetorically. He’s had to backtrack on statements about Muslim Americans serving in his administration and for accusing Texas Gov. Rick Perry of racial insensitivity before he was aware of all the facts in “Stonegate.”

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From the SF Chronicle:

SAN FRANCISCO — Frustrated by Gov. Jerry Brown’s veto, a Bay Area lawmaker says it will be at least another year before he can try again to require police to get a search warrant before looking at the contents of cell phones they seize from people they arrest.

Legislative rules prohibit reintroducing the bill in 2012, the second year of the current two-year session, Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, said Monday. Despite rebuffs from the governor and the courts, he said, the issue isn’t going away.

Leno’s SB914 would have largely overturned a state Supreme Court ruling in January that let police open and examine the cell phones of people they arrest without a warrant.

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From the SJ Mercury News:

As states such as Alabama and Georgia make waves with a hard-line approach to illegal immigration, California took a leap in the other direction this weekend when Gov. Jerry Brown signed a host of bills that make the nation’s biggest state one of the most accepting of immigrants living here illegally.

Some saw the flurry of new laws, especially the California Dream Act, as a rejection of the political fervor against illegal immigration in other parts of the country.

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From the Sac Bee:

With just one day left to circulate petitions, organizers of an effort to repeal a new law requiring that California students learn about the historical contributions of gay and lesbian individuals have told supporters that they “would need a miracle to qualify this referendum.”

The Pacific Justice Institute and an arm of Capitol Resource Institute have been leading an effort to overturn Senate Bill 48, which requires public school instruction to include the role and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals, people with disabilities and members of different cultural groups. They face a Wednesday deadline for submitting to election officials the roughly 505,000 valid voter signatures needed to place a referendum of the law on the ballot.

Despite days of emails calling for a final push in the signature gathering campaign, referendum organizers told supporters in an early morning email that “it is doubtful we will get the number of signatures we need to qualify” the proposed referendum.

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From the Sac Bee:

WASHINGTON — United against Barack Obama, Senate Republicans voted Tuesday night to kill the jobs package the president had spent weeks campaigning for across the country, a stinging loss at the hands of lawmakers opposed to stimulus-style spending and a tax increase on the very wealthy.

The $447 billion plan died on a 50-49 tally that garnered a majority of the 100-member Senate but fell well short of the 60 votes needed to keep the bill alive. The tally had been 51-48, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., switched his vote to “nay” so that he could force a future revote.

The demise of Obama’s jobs package was expected, despite his campaign-style efforts to swing the public behind it. The White House and leaders in Congress were already moving on to alternative ways to address the nation’s painful 9.1 percent unemployment, including breaking the legislation into smaller, more digestible pieces and approving long-stalled trade bills.

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From the LA Times:

Just one week after announcing he would not run for president, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is endorsing Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination, sources confirm.

Christie will attend Tuesday night’s Republican debate in New Hampshire as Romney’s guest. The Romney campaign had announced the former Massachusetts governor would address supporters this afternoon with a “special guest.”

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From the Bay Citizen:

Hours after Gov. Jerry Brown announced he had signed a bill to prohibit Californians from openly carrying unloaded handguns, law enforcement officials and Bay Area activists on both sides of the issue were divided about the newly passed legislation.

AB 144 bans the open carrying of handguns in public places or in vehicles, and makes the act a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison or a maximum $1,000 fine.

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