County Supervisors Reach Deadlock on 2005-2006 Budget
The Board of Supervisors reached a rare deadlock Tuesday over approval of Los Angeles County’s proposed budget for 2005-2006, delaying a possible decision until next week, Copley News Service reported. With one board member absent, the supervisors voted 2-2 after disagreeing on proposed funding for the Sheriff’s Department and Department of Health Services. The board must adopt a budget by July 1. Under the proposed $18.5 billion budget, which was unveiled Monday, the Sheriff’s Department would receive $87.7 million to hire more deputies, reopen jails and restore Community-Oriented Policing Services in unincorporated areas.
County Falls 12 Spots in Ranking
The Los Angeles area remains one of the worst places in America to do business while the neighboring Inland Empire, with a friendlier government attitude and lots of land, rates as one of the best, according to a survey in the May issue of Inc. Magazine. The county fell 12 positions to 153 in this year’s ranking. The Inland Empire region, encompassing San Bernardino and Riverside counties, is the nation’s sixth-best place for business, one spot better than in the initial survey last year, the Daily News of Los Angeles reported. Two of the top five regions No. 1 Reno and No. 5 Medford, Ore. are singled out as top business centers close to California’s border. The survey was based on U.S. Department of Labor data from September 1994 to September 2004.
Hahn Wants Schools Say-So
Citing a “crisis in our schools,” Mayor James Hahn said Tuesday that his office should have greater authority over the Los Angeles Unified School District, including appointing three members to the school board, the Daily News of Los Angeles reported. After meeting with parents at the Animo South Los Angeles Charter High School, Hahn said he would support a City Charter amendment that would allow the Mayor’s Office to appoint school board members, create charter schools and give merit pay to teachers at low-performing campuses. Hahn’s proposal caught LAUSD officials by surprise, as he had said before the primary election that he would work with the district to make improvements.
CBS May Seek Signal Fee
Faced with an exodus of viewers to cable and the possibility of eroding advertising revenue, CBS Television is seeking a new cash fee from cable operators that run its programming, the Los Angeles Times reported. Leslie Moonves, co-president of CBS’ parent company, Viacom Inc., said during an earnings announcement Tuesday that there was “a possibility” that CBS-owned stations could begin charging cable and satellite operators in exchange for the right to air the CBS signal. Currently, the broadcast networks do not collect cash fees from the pay-TV operators that make their signals available to subscribers.
CalPERS Adds Nations to Its Investing List
After a three-year snub, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System has added Thailand and Sri Lanka to a list of Asian emerging markets where the fund might invest, the Associated Press reported. Argentina and Turkey also passed the requirements, bringing to 19 the number of emerging markets CalPERS can invest in globally. Asian markets that have yet to make it in the list reviewed annually since 2002 are China, Indonesia and Pakistan.
Justices Raise the Bar on Stock Fraud Cases
The Supreme Court made it harder Tuesday for investors and pension funds to sue and win back the money they lost after the bursting of the stock market bubble of the late 1990s, ruling that the nation’s antifraud laws were not “insurance against market losses.” The justices used a failed suit against a small San Diego pharmaceutical company to issue a warning against open-ended lawsuits claiming stock fraud, the Los Angeles Times reported. The 9-0 ruling set a strict standard for bringing into court lawsuits claiming stock fraud. It applied the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, a measure designed to curb lawsuits that alleged stock fraud.
