Reporting from Sacramento— Months ago, Gov. Jerry Brown won business and labor backing for an initiative that combined higher taxes on California's top income earners with a half-cent sales tax — a strategy he said would share the pain of addressing the state's budget woes. But on Wednesday, bowing to pressure from liberal activists, the governor modified his proposal, agreeing to cut the sales tax hike in half and place a greater share of the burden on the wealthy. Brown cast the revision as a strategic move to reduce the number of tax proposals voters may face on the November...