June 20, 2009 (San Diego)--People United Against Cuts is a local coalition formed to oppose the Governor’s recent “All Cuts” budget. A press released issued by the group states, “The Governor’s proposed budget will have a catastrophic impact on children, seniors, people with disabilities, low income families, college students and HIV/AIDS patients.

An Editorial By Miriam Raftery
Editor, East County Magazine

June 3, 2009 (San Diego’s East County)—If California ever needed an action hero at the helm, it’s now. Instead, Arnold has taken the “girlie man” way out –balancing the budget on the backs of the poor by proposing to eliminate healthcare for children and welfare-to-work programs. He also wants to close 80% of state parks, release prisoners, and slash school spending.

Granted, a grid-locked Legislature, Republicans who pale at the words “raise revenues,” Democrats who were split on ballot initiatives and fed-up voters who failed to pass the measures have left him few easy choices. But Arnold has one ace left in the hole: star power. Here’s how he can use it to debut the most important road show of his career: “Save Kaleefornia.”

By Miriam Raftery

January 24, 2009 (San Diego's East County)--In the last days of the Bush administration, two federal agencies gave a parting gift to Sempra Energy. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission designated a vast swath of San Diego's East County as a federal energy corridor, paving the way for the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to approve Sempra's controversial Sunrise Powerlink project one day before George W. Bush left office. For construction to commence, however, the U.S. Forest Service (a division of the U.S. Department of Agricultural) must grant approval for the high-voltage power lines to run through Cleveland National Forest, raising the possibility that President Barack Obama's administration could intervene to halt Sempra's plans.

TO SEND AN E-MAIL TO THE OBAMA WHITE HOUSE VOICING YOUR OPINION ON POWERLINK, CLICK http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/. TO E-MAIL THE NEW USDA SECRETARY TOM VILSACK, CLICK HERE: AgSec@usda.gov

January 15, 2009 (Sacramento)--Governor Arnold chwarzenegger refused to deliver a traditional state-of-the-state address today "because the reality is that our state is incapacitated until we resolve the budget crisis," he said during today's address in Sacramento. (Video of speech: http://msmedia.dot.ca.gov/governor/20090115_state.asf;
text of speech: http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/capitolalertlatest/018621.html)