Library may open to debate over cuts, San Jose Mercury News
San Jose's new Martin Luther King Jr. Library will open in downtown this summer with all the pomp and circumstance befitting the eight-story, state-of-the-art structure. About the same time, most of the city's aging and cramped neighborhood branch libraries will meet a different fate: 13 of 17 of them are scheduled to close an extra day a week, victims of a proposal to chip away at the city's largest budget deficit in decades.

Jury gets Fresno State eco tape, Fresno Bee
A February conference at Fresno State on revolutionary environmentalism, which drew passionate debate on and off campus, continues generating conflict as a point of interest in a federal grand jury investigation.

Poly students digging deep as fees soar, San Luis Obispo Tribune
These Cal Poly students said their pocketbooks would suffer if California State University trustees vote to increase undergraduate tuition this fall by $132 per quarter due to the state's budget crisis. It would be the largest tuition increase in CSU history, based on dollar amount.

Cal State grad new U.S. marshall, San Bernardino Sun
A tip of the bonnet to Cal State San Bernardino and Colton High grad Adam N. Torres, the new U.S. Marshal for the Central Judicial District of California.

Obit: Professor a campus mentor, advocate, Long Beach Press-Telegram
Before he earned his reputation as a mentor to students and a strong advocate for fellow faculty members at Cal State Stanislaus, Long Beach native Thomas James Young was told he couldn't teach high school because of his disability.

UC-Merced Plans "Green" Campus, Oakland Tribune/AP
It's been 15 years in the making -- a vision of the 10th University of California campus, a revolutionary design plan where students will learn not only in classrooms, but also from them. School officials say the future UC-Merced campus will incorporate environmentally sensitive buildings and the latest in sustainable architecture and technology.

Texan joins panel advising feds on nuclear labs, San Francisco Chronicle
A former University of Texas administrator who led the school's bid to run a nuclear weapons lab has been named to a new commission that could help determine whether the University of California continues to manage the nation's two top nuclear weapons labs.

Budget crisis snares UC Merced, Modesto Bee
Members of a state Senate budget subcommittee Monday questioned the wisdom of opening UC Merced when the state is facing a $35 billion budget deficit.

CalTech Plans to buy vacant hospital, Los Angeles Times
The California Institute of Technology has announced it will buy St. Luke Medical Center in northeast Pasadena, which closed last year, and use the space for research.

Latino-issues think tank moving to USC, San Gabriel Valley Tribune
After 17 years at the Claremont Graduate University, the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute is moving to USC.

L.A. Reaches Compromise on Special Ed, Los Angeles Times
A sweeping federal court order aimed at improving special education in the Los Angeles Unified School District would be revamped to give the district more latitude in how it integrates about 33,000 disabled students into regular classrooms, under a proposal to be voted on today by the school board.

Drug and Alcohol Arrests Increased on Campuses in 2001, Chronicle of Higher Education
Drug arrests at the nation's colleges increased for the 10th consecutive year, rising by 5.5 percent in 2001. The number of liquor arrests also increased in 2001, rising 4.7 percent.

Embracing Performance Pay, Chronicle of Higher Education
The development office at Florida is one of a small group of fund-raising operations in higher education that are bucking the field's longtime aversion to performance pay. The programs' particulars differ, but their central element -- linking fund raisers' compensation to the institution's bottom line -- is the same.

Critics of Graduation Exam Threaten Boycott in Florida, New York Times
A small group of minority politicians and prominent religious leaders in Florida is threatening a boycott of some of the state's largest industries in the hope of forcing the suspension of an achievement test that thousands of high school seniors recently failed.

Proposed Amendment Could Sharply Reduce Tax Deduction for Donating Intellectual Property to Colleges, Chronicle of Higher Education
A proposed amendment to President Bush's tax plan could sharply reduce the tax deduction that corporations and private individuals can claim when they donate intellectual property to colleges and universities.

 

Mr. Unpopular Can Only Persist, Los Angeles Times
Friends often approach First Lady Sharon Davis these days with a demeanor that suggests there's been a death in the family. In hushed tones, they ask how she and her unpopular husband are doing.

CALPERS' Health Program in Flux, Sacramento Bee
The California Public Employees' Retirement System plans a major overhaul of its health program that could reduce fees for state workers by increasing fees paid by city, county and school district employees in Northern California.

Opinion: Daniel Weintraub: Davis recall is like the crazy aunt that just won't go away, Sacramento Bee
Supporters of the drive to recall Gov. Gray Davis from office announced that they had collected the first 100,000 signatures of about 1 million needed to place the question on the ballot.

A tribute to both Horns,Long Beach Press-Telegram
It should be no surprise that an important building on the campus of California State University at Long Beach will be named for Steve Horn. But naming it for both Steve and Nini Horn is a delight. And appropriate.

On-campus advertising being aimed more often at women, San Diego Union Tribune
Gone are the days when companies could expect to build brand loyalty and sell more products to college students with the old-fashioned booth and simple freebies such as coffee mugs or key chains.

Opinion: Improving public education, USA Today
Teacher testing is a key part of President Bush's education-reform bill signed into law in January 2002. Under one provision, every public school student must be assigned a "highly qualified" teacher by September 2005. But the No Child Left Behind Act does not require that states demonstrate a correlation between these two near-universally accepted goals — it just requires tests.

Editorial: No on Proposition AA, Los Angeles Times
Hasn't the Los Angeles Community College District ever heard of the goose that laid the golden eggs? Local taxpayers were willing to be generous two years ago, passing a $1.2-billion bond measure to repair and expand campus facilities. Now, before even a fraction of that money is spent here's the district coming back to voters with Proposition AA, which asks for $980 million for essentially the same purposes.

Opinion: Make 'Balanced Budget' Myth a Reality for State, Los Angeles Times
There is no balanced budget requirement, and these are not the only choices to keep the state running. Indeed, there is an even more toxic option — borrowing money to finance deficit spending — and it is being proposed in this year's budget debate.

Editorial: Exit Exam, San Bernardino Sun
Teachers and students have had ample warning to gear up for test of knowledge learned.
In 1999, schools were warned that as of 2004 this year's high school juniors students would be required to pass an exit exam to graduate. Yet a recent state study indicates that as many as 1 in 5 students will not pass the test an awfully high number.

Letters: San Marcos Loop, Community Colleges, North County Times

Editorial: Borrowing as last resort, Daily Breeze
On Wednesday, Gov. Gray Davis will submit to the Legislature his revised spending plan, which almost certainly will rely on heavy borrowing and another half-cent increase in the sales tax to help bail California out of its budget crisis.

Assembly Advances State Worker Pay Bill, Contra Costa Times/AP
Legislation aimed at protecting California's 300,000 state workers from taking a pay hit if lawmakers can't approve a budget on time is speeding toward the state Assembly floor.

GOP proposes bond to ease state deficit, San Diego Union Tribune
Conservative Republicans often oppose issuing state bonds for school construction and other purposes, arguing that using cash is much cheaper than paying interest on bonds.

Davis to seek sales tax boost, Sacramento Bee
Gov. Gray Davis is set to unveil a major overhaul of his budget plan Wednesday that will rely on borrowing to roll part of the state's massive deficit into future years and raising the sales tax a half-cent to repay the debt

Many states in deep fiscal holes, Ventura County Star
Likely bracing Californians for another jolt of bad financial news later this week, aides to Gov. Gray Davis on Monday joined with national experts to stress that, as far as state finances are concerned, times are tough all over.

Davis' Revised Budget to Add Car Tax Increase of $4 Billion, Los Angeles Times
When Gov. Gray Davis unveils his revised state budget Wednesday, it will include a $4-billion increase in the license fee required of California drivers and continued support for a program to help students get more attention from their teachers.

State not alone with budget problems, North County Times
While California staggers under the weight of a budget shortfall estimated at between $26 billion and $35 billion, the Golden State can take at least some comfort in knowing it is not alone.

Region prepares for budget, Daily Bulletin
To compromise, or not to compromise? That is the question scheduled to be put before legislators on Wednesday, when Gov. Gray Davis unveils the May revision of his 2003-04 state budget proposal.