We’re putting together or own analysis, but here’s the good  links you could want for now:

Calitics

San Francisco Chronicle

Sac Bee

Before you go all tough-on-crime crazy, consider this:  California prisons are operating at 200% capacity.  The court ordered most prisons to operate at somewhere between 125% and 145% of capacity.  It’s still gonna be pretty suqished in there.

Here’s an excerpt from the ruling that succinctly explains the problem:

Evidence offered at trial was overwhelmingly to the effect that overcrowding is the primary cause of the unconstitutional conditions that have been found to exist in the California prisons. There is, for example, uncontroverted evidence that, because of overcrowding, there are not enough clinical facilities or resources to accommodate inmates with medical or mental health needs at the level of care they require. There is also uncontroverted evidence that, because of overcrowding, there are not enough clinical or custodial personnel to ensure that inmates with medical or mental health needs are receiving appropriate treatment, are taking the medications that they need to take, are being escorted to their medical appointments in a timely manner, and are having their medical information recorded and filed properly. Additionally, as the Governor has stated, and as the California appellate court has found, overcrowded conditions – the use of triple bunks in gymnasiums and other areas not intended to be used for housing, for example – have “substantially increased the risk of the transmission of infectious illnesses among inmates and prison staff.”

As anyone who does any work in the California prisons will tell you, a tuberculosis outbreak is at the top of everyone’s mind.  A TB test is required for pretty much anyone who sets foot in there — especially because TB won’t stop at the prison walls.   TB is a much bigger risk to public safety than the early release of a guy caught with a few pounds of weed in his trunk one too many times.

And by the way, that’s exactly who is going to be set free. Inmates slated for release are non-violent offenders, people almost at the end of their sentences, the sick, the elderly.

The final order that details how many prisoners will go free will come after a final hearing.  According to multiple news outlets, the Schwarzenegger administration will appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.   That’s kind of funny considering that Gov. Schwarzenegger used to support the early release of non-violent offenders.  Check out the Real Cost of Prisons blog for more on that.

Here’s the full text of the tentative ruling:

Tentative Ruling

OK fine, the White House didn’t mention the “cash grab” part, but the cash grab can’t be ignored. When a local DEA office executes a search warrant, they are allowed keep a big chunk of the assets they seize — the money is then used for official purposes only, of course.

Here’s what usually happens at one of these raids: The DEA agents storm in and tell the patients/customers to leave, all the staff gets rounded up into one room and “detained.”   After that, the agents take all of the weed and all of the money.  They leave without arresting anyone.  This is not a raid, this is a robbery.

Yeah, the feds have brought some cases against a few dispensary operators, but mostly these  search warrants are “part of an ongoing investigation” which never seems to end.  Last week,  when asked how the feds decide which dispensaries to raid, one agent said “the ones that are targeted are the ones making millions and millions of dollars.”  Duh.

The LA Times reports:

At the heart of the controversy are places like the Beach Center Collective in Playa del Rey, where an employee said DEA officers confiscated so much property Tuesday that it would not be able to reopen.

“They took everything,” said the 32-year-old employee, who asked not to be named out of fear of prosecution.

“You name it, they took it — right down to the television. The computer, patient files, medicine, cash in the register — that’s it, we’re done.”

Before we get to the Obama Administration’s reaction to the latest DEA heists, we want to give a high-five to “The Field” over at Daily Kos for his/her beautifully delusional view of law enforcement culture.  The DEA didn’t inform the Los Angeles Police Department before the raids.  They’re not required to, but usually the feds let local cops know that they’re going to to be in the neighborhood kicking in doors.   “The Field” had an explanation for why it went down this way:

…the DEA was so worried that the LAPD might alert the White House of its plans beforehand and so it bypassed the normal procedure there.

OK, there’s many reasons why the DEA didn’t inform LAPD but we promise you, that is not one of them.  But kudos for proclaiming that the LAPD and the White House make secret phone calls to each other to gossip about the DEA.  No wonder newspapers are finished,  how can they compete with the crack investigative reporting at DailyKos?

And now here’s what the Obama administration had to say, as reported by the Washington Times:

The White House said it expects those kinds of raids to end once Mr. Obama nominates someone to take charge of DEA, which is still run by Bush administration holdovers.

“The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws, and as he continues to appoint senior leadership to fill out the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review their policies with that in mind,” White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said.

Good news indeed.  The next step is consistent enforcement at the state level, but that’s for another day.

31 of California’s 58 counties report double digit unemployment, the population centers where most of the labor force reside are already past 10%, and the state’s exurban and rural areas are in the worst shape of all.  With more layoffs to come, we are weeks away from a statewide average over 10%.

The Jobless Rate in Southern California

Let’s start with Southern California.  Los Angeles County is only at 9.5%, but that’s only because L.A. County’s relatively recession-proof cities  like Beverly Hills (6.6%), Calabassas (4.1%), Manhattan Beach (3.3%) among others keep it below 10%.  The actual city of Los Angeles itself, with a labor force of almost 2 million, is at 10.5% unemployment.  Long Beach, with a workforce of 240,000 is also at 10.5%.

And in an  irony of all ironies, LA County’s city of of Commerce boasts the county’s highest jobless rate at 17.5%.  with the City of Industry not much better at 15.9%.  The good news is that the county has the city of Vernon, the one city in the state with 0% unemployment, of course they have an unfair advantage since they have zero people in their labor force.

As for the rest of the  Southern California Megalopolis — Riverside County has crossed the double digit threshold, they’re at a 10.5% jobless rate and they’re about to have some company — San Bernardino County comes in at  9.7% and  Ventura is at 8.0%.

Orange County looks like its better off at 6.5%, but that’s actually high considering that 21 of the county’s 40 cities have an average household income above $75,000/year; of those 21, 9 are above $100,000/year and 15 above $90,000/year.  More telling is looking where OC’s largest concentrated labor force resides — Santa Ana where the jobless rate clocks in at 10.4%.  Among the Orange County unemployed are 200 recently laid off  public assistance workers who process claims for things like food stamps and other public assistance.  Interesting.

The Exurbs and Rural Areas

Things are much worse  in the Central Valley, the  cities and their surrounding suburbs (known as “Metropolitan Statistical Areas”) paint a grim picture. The Fresno MSA is at 13.2%, Merced MSA at 15.5% , and Bakersfield MSA at 11.2%.

But the grimmest picture comes from Imperial County along the Mexican border, where 22.6% of the labor force are not working. Almost 1 in 4 people are jobless.  How bad is that?  Well…during the Great Depression unemployment in the United States was at 25%.

The Bright Spot

The good news is that this too shall pass.  We’re all in this together.   This is something that all Californians are feeling…unless of course you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, where as usual, they’re living in an alternate reality.    Marin, San Mateo and San Francisco Counties all boast jobless rates below 7%, Marin has the state’s lowest at 5.4%   Which makes sense, since you can’t afford to live there unless you have a job.

Once the Attorney General’s Office gives these ballot props their  “official title and summary”,  each group has 150 days to get enough signature to get their measure on the ballot.   How many signatures do they need? 694,354 signatures of registered voters.   No small feat.

So whose behind these measures?  Today, we look at the Yes! On Equality folks.

Yes! On Equality: Repeals Prop 8

Yes! On Equality  is spearheaded by Sacromentian (Sacramento-ian?) Charles “Chazz” Lowe.  Lowe, who has been involved in local  LGBT issues for a long time, is confident that if the California Supreme Court does not over turn Prop 8 this Spring then voters will overturn it in a 2010 election.

Like many same-sex marriage supporters, Lowe was disappointed by the insular and ineffective No-On-8 campaign, but he refuses to get caught up in the past.  “It’s time to look forward” he says, ” we need to reach out to more people and be inclusive.”    Lowe says that Yes! On Equality will focus its efforts on reaching out to people that the No-On-8 campaign could not connect with.

“I was baptized in the Mormon church” says Lowe, “there are people in the Mormon church and in every religious group who don’t like Prop 8, we need to include those people…we need their help.”   Yes! On Equality also wants to reach out into their own backyard, specifically  the Central Valley, an area that was sorely ignored by the No-On-8 campaign.

All of this sounds great, right? Yes! On Equality has enthusiasm, youth, and are a willingness to reach out to more people– they’re determined not to make the same mistakes.  So what’s the catch?

Money.  Money is the catch. To get 694,354 valid-registered voter signatures, Yes! On Equality will need to collect about a million total signatures.  that takes professional signature gatherers.  And while Yes! On Equality plans to utilize low-cost organizing tools like social networking and whatnot, Lowe is realistic.  When asked if he thinks they can get their measure on the ballot without millions of dollars, Lowe said simply, “No.”

But the money could come.  Equality California, the established and well-funded same sex marriage advocacy group seems to be willing to work with Yes! On Equality.  Lowe says that his group was invited to Equality California’s January 24 “Equality Summit” in Los Angeles, and today’s SacBee reports that Equality California’s Geoff Kors predicts that “gay marriage advocates will ultimately line up behind the best proposals.”

What could be a better proposal than one that simply, clearly and easily repeals Prop 8?

We’ll be following the Yes! On Equality campaign closely.  We like their inclusive, realistic approach and clear-eyed optimism.

Later today or tomorrow we look at the “Registered Domestic Partnership Act.”  Stay tuned

Link:  Yes! On Equality Website

State Controller John Chiang announced today that beginning February 1st a number of tax refunds, welfare payments, college aid, aid to for the disabled, and a whole bunch of other payments will be delayed by at least 30 days. Here’s why (from Controller Chiang’s press release):

With no signs of an economic recovery in sight, it is critical that the Governor and the Legislature enact a sound budget solution that provides much-needed cash by February 1. If not, the State will be $346 million in the red at the end of February, and $5.2 billion in the red in April.

In order to preserve cash for education, debt service and other payments that are deemed by the State Constitution, federal law or court rulings as having first claim to available General Fund cash, the Controller announced he will begin delaying, for 30 days, payments to all other programs that are funded out of the State’s depleted General Fund.

Those payments that will be delayed include thousands of payments to businesses for services and products they provide to the State; to assistance for more than a million aged, blind and disabled Californians that goes to pay their rent, utilities, or put food on their tables; to State agencies that use the payments to fund critical public services, ranging from public safety to health and welfare.

If the budget crisis is not resolved by March 1, then the state may issue IOUs — which may not be any better, especially if banks refuse to accept them.

Read Controller Chiang’s entire statement here.

For a detailed list of all delayed payments by February 1st, click here.

Our question is this — if this isn’t resolved by April 15th, why should we be required to file our state taxes by then?