No brightening of Chico State budget picture, Chico Enterprise-Record
Re-playing a now familiar version of the Chico State University budgetary blues, President Paul Zingg Wednesday told a campus committee the coming fiscal year is going to be somewhere between "dreadful" and "devastating."

Getting real with Dr. Phil, Bakersfield Californian Getting real with Dr. Phil
Teen receives hope, guidance, and best of all, CSUB admission, on TV show.

CSUSM appoints arts, sciences dean, North County Times
Cal State San Marcos announced the appointment of political science professor Vicki Golich as the dean of the university's largest college, the College of Arts and Sciences, on Tuesday.

Produce to the people, San Luis Obispo Tribune
The Cal Poly Organic Farm is offering an expanded season for its annual Community Supported Agriculture Program, which provides fresh, organically grown fruits, vegetables and herbs to subscribers each week.

Solar power system produces big windfall, San Francisco Chronicle
California State University Hayward earned a record-setting $3.4 million rebate from Pacific Gas and Electric Co. on Wednesday because the school installed a large solar electricity generation system.

SDSU vote seen as crucial for survival of D-I athletics, San Diego Union Tribune
This week, in a referendum supported by nearly every major campus influence, students will be asked to pay more to attend SDSU.

Aquatics center also up for vote at SDSU, San Diego Union Tribune
Being sold as a deserved convenience for athletics as well as a benefit to the entire student body, a referendum before students this week asks them to pay $16 a semester to fund an aquatics center.

Comments sought on HSU's draft of Diversity Action Plan, Eureka Times-Standard
Humboldt State University revealed the draft of its Diversity Action Plan on Wednesday, and will be seeking comments for further consideration.

UC Merced campus on track to open in 2005, Fresno Bee
The half-built University of California at Merced campus should open as planned next year despite state budget woes that threaten higher-education funding, a budget committee chairman indicated Wednesday.

'Gender' generates a buzz, Orange County Register
Westminster conflict raises questions of money and morality in public schools.

Vallejo schools seek $60 million, Contra Costa Times
In the second-largest school bailout in California history, the Vallejo school district has asked state lawmakers for a $60 million emergency loan to save it from a snowballing fiscal crisis.

East Bay teens fight for bridge to universities, Daily Review
Planned cuts of $110 million to outreach programs spur protest in Sacramento.

Colleges Fear That Agencies' Surveillance Request Will Require Expensive Network Changes, Chronicle of Higher Education
If federal law-enforcement officials get their way, colleges may have to spend millions of dollars to re-engineer their networks so federal agents can eavesdrop on Internet-based voice conversations, higher-education officials say.

New York's Small Schools Uneasy Inside Big Ones, New York Times
At Bronx Aerospace Academy High School, all 161 students wear blue uniforms and well-shined black shoes. They have 13 laptop computers and, thanks to private money, a $40,000 flight simulator to spice up lessons. But the tiny Bronx Aerospace is inside the vast Evander Childs High School, population 3,100, recently named one of the city's most unruly schools.

NCAA president says tougher academic standards on the way, Bakersfield Californian
Myles Brand outlines plan for Division I schools while speaking Tuesday at CSUB.

Federal Database to Track Foreign Students Is Not Being Used as Promised at U.S. Borders, Chronicle of Higher Education
Government officials confirmed on Wednesday what international-student officials at many colleges have long feared: Customs officers at ports of entry into the United States frequently do not consult the federal database that tracks foreign students.

Opinion: Schools lose out in lotteries, USA Today
Forty years ago, New Hampshire introduced the nation to a way to supposedly generate revenue for education without taxation. Since then, 39 other states and the District of Columbia have approved state-run lotteries — and more are in the works.

Opinion: Higher education review aims to improve quality of life, San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Higher education has long served as the key engine driving California's economic growth and quality of life. Clearly, the economic and social benefits our community colleges and universities provide far outweigh the costs to taxpayers.

Weintraub: Locals convert tax dollars into a political fund, Sacramento Bee
The mayors, county supervisors and appointed city officials have converted public tax dollars into their own private assets to build a political organization designed to sway the voters to their point of view.

Schrag: California 2004 -- Who will be the new visionaries?, Sacramento Bee
For the ever-ebullient Kevin Starr, who retired two weeks ago as California's state librarian, optimism about his native state is second nature, the view almost as grand as it was a decade ago when he took the job.

Skelton: How Workers' Comp Gets Fixed Is Not as Important as When, Los Angeles Times
A reader put the workers' comp issue in perspective, I suspect, for most California employers. He wrote me: "I don't give a rat's ear how they get it reformed as long as we see a cut in our premiums."

Next test for California: fixing business climate, Christian Science Monitor
Reforms to the controversial workers' compensation laws constitute Schwarzenegger's next major challenge.

Workers' Comp Bill Fails to Satisfy Business or Labor, Los Angeles Times
Employers fear they won't get enough relief. Unions decry the loss of a cap on premiums.

Workers' comp deal made, Sacramento Bee
After months of political wrangling and last-minute hitches, legislative leaders and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger agreed Wednesday on a sweeping plan to overhaul California's beleaguered workers' compensation system.

Gov. Uses Muscle on Ballot Measures, Los Angeles
Tax increase supporters back off. Local officials' item is next target.

Freeze cuts work force, but thousands hired, The Sacramento Bee
Though the state work force has shrunk, the California government has employed more than 4,000 new workers since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced he would clamp down on state hiring in November.

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