One chapter ends, another set to open, San Jose Mercury News
The new library, a joint facility between the city and San Jose State University, will be eight stories high with 475,000 square feet of space.

Japanese garden grows at Cal Poly, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Take a walk through Cal Poly Pomona's new Japanese Garden and you might find inner peace amid the soothing sounds of a cascading waterfall or a gentle breeze underneath a majestic pine tree.

Community colleges to stay afloat despite frozen state funds, North County Times
When state lawmakers missed their deadline Monday to agree on a budget for 2003-04, they froze a river of funding to community colleges.

State extends its hiring freeze, Sacramento Bee
The move, paired with a purge of vacant jobs, may save $550 million.

GOP Files Challenge to Tripling of Car Tax, Los Angeles Times
As California entered the new fiscal year without a budget or any plan to climb out of its multibillion-dollar budget hole, Republican legislators went to court Tuesday to dismantle the tripling of the car tax ordered by the Davis administration and set to take effect in October.

Mood in the Capitol: Desperate, Los Angeles Times
They woke Tuesday to a new fiscal year that for California lawmakers was nothing to celebrate: angry constituents, testy colleagues, uncompromising party leaders and a pile of warnings from clinics and community colleges edging toward the brink.

Davis upbeat about stalemate, Oakland Tribune/AP
Governor hopes budget will be passed by end of next week.

Davis urged to follow Nevada's lead, Oakland Tribune
Neighboring governor asks court to break a budget deadlock similar to California's.

Bid to resolve state budget stalemate: tax flip-flop, San Francisco Chronicle
Davis, lawmakers consider revenue swap to avert tax boost.

10 Years Later, Chicano Studies Are in the Mainstream, Los Angeles Times
A decade after a hunger strike at UCLA, courses are proliferating, interest is strong, and departmental status may be granted soon.

Many 2-year colleges using reserves during stalemate, San Bernardino Sun
If the state takes much longer to pass its budget, community colleges may run out of cash. A California Supreme Court ruling last May keeps the state from funding community colleges and some other programs before the state budget is passed.

Colleges aren’t affected — yet, Daily Breeze
Threats to cut off community college funding amid a stalled state budget have not yet ruffled El Camino or Los Angeles Harbor colleges, where summer classes got under way this week and registration lines were packed with incoming students.

Federal Appeals Court to Reconsider Student-Newspaper Case, Chronicle of Higher Education
A federal appeals court will reconsider an April ruling that college newspapers have far greater free-speech rights than high-school newspapers do.

Hearing Delayed in Oracle Lawsuit, Los Angeles Times
The company alleges that PeopleSoft's board breached fiduciary duty by resisting a hostile takeover offer.

The story behind dropout rates, Christian Science Monitor
When it comes to high school graduation rates, should the nation be celebrating, or looking more deeply into some worrisome trends?

Pride and paradox, Christian Science Monitor
Black colleges connect students to a past rich with civil rights activism. But their traditional mission has become diluted in an integrated world.

The face of the American teacher, USA Today
Minority students account for four in 10 public school kids. One in five speaks a language other than English at home, and one in four comes from a single-parent household. But wait: There's still a white, middle-aged woman at the head of the class.

Finding That Today's Students Are Bright, Eager and Willing to Cheat, New York Times
More than 100 promising young scientists, journalists and stage actors were interviewed by Harvard researchers in a study of how young professionals perform and think about their work.

Even at the Bottom, the Menu Is Rich, New York Times
Even here, at the supposed bottom of America's far too frequently maligned public education system, there was plenty of opportunity.

Cuts Outweigh Gains in State Spending on Higher Education in 2003-4, Survey Shows, Chronicle of Higher Education
A new nationwide survey of state spending on higher education confirms the fears of college officials: A worsening fiscal crisis has forced most states to make big cuts for the 2004 fiscal year, which began Tuesday in many states.

PeopleSoft workers go on attack, Contra Costa Times
PeopleSoft workers have united in a grassroots campaign to show solidarity with the head honchos in fending off the famously ruthless Oracle chairman's $6.3 billion hostile grab.

Editorial: Teacher Liberation, Wall St. Journal
The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) is unhappy, so the Bush Administration must be doing something right when it comes to education reform.

Letters: CSU not most attractive, San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Some politicians may have their hearts in the right place. Others may be reaching for issues to bring them greater publicity. State Sen. Richard Alarcon's recent indictment of the California State University System regarding diversity of its faculty may be somewhere in between.

Peter Schrag: Breaking political gridlock -- the 55% solution, Sacramento Bee
Most people will give you two quick reasons for the mess: term limits and partisan gerrymandering. Both immunize legislators from any serious accountability to voters.

Editorial: Who's to blame?, Sacramento Bee
System failure leaves state without budget.

Dan Walters: Car tax arbitrary, irrational; reinstating it makes perfect sense, Sacramento Bee
Taxation is, almost by definition, an arbitrary and wholly political act. Politicians decide what's to be taxed and what's not and much of tax policy is, therefore, nonsensical -- such as the disparate sales tax treatment of hot and cold foods.

Editorial: Students will get relief from too many exams, San Jose Mercury-News
California's ballooning budget deficit carries a silver lining for public school students. Partly for lack of money, next year there's likely to be fewer standardized tests to take.

Editorial: Short-sighted budget ideas, Ventura County Star
Education drives the economy.

Letters: Minorities, Long Beach Press-Telegram
Re: the AP story about minority representation among CSU faculty (June 26).

Identity theft is target of new laws, Sacramento Bee
One measure requires state agencies and firms to disclose security breaches.

Actor seeks `total recall' with eye on top office, San Jose Mercury-News
While Gov. Gray Davis squirms under threat of fiscal collapse and the drive to oust him from office, Arnold Schwarzenegger preens on national TV, pumping up today's release of ``Terminator 3'' and stoking talk of a run for governor.

Recall chief held twice on illegal gun charges, San Francisco Chronicle
Issa convicted in '70s on misdemeanor count.