Free Republic

Schools in the progressive haven of San Francisco are facing a major budget crunch. Things are so dire that the district may have to actually close some schools. It’s amazing that these schools are having cash flow problems when you consider the taxes people pay to live there. Officials from the school district recently met with some financial experts who gave them some tough love. ... Late last week, two fiscal experts — appointed a few years ago to give guidance to the district — were authorized to suspend or reverse financial decisions made by the superintendent or school board....

The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California is scheduled to shutter its office in San Jose next week. But officials say the organization will maintain a local role in advocating for police accountability. Both employees who have been working at the office at 111 N. Market St. are being laid off. The ACLU, which works to protect constitutional liberties, decided to close the office, opened in 2006, due to budget cuts, according to associate director Kelli Evans. "San Jose and Santa Clara County are critical regions for ACLU work in Northern California,'' said Evans, a former civil rights trial...

A state lawmaker wants to see the Kansas death penalty abolished to help close the state’s projected budget shortfall of $199 million. State Sen. Caroline McGinn introduced the bill, saying lawmakers “need to be thinking out of the box” to save money. The Sedgwick Republican said the death penalty hasn’t proven to be a deterrent to crime, and there’s always the risk of executing an innocent person. The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled hearings Feb. 26-27 on the bill that says nobody could be sentenced to death after July 1. Death penalty foes on Thursday said that given the current...

Wait Listed by Jail "The recession is driving America's city governments into an epic fiscal storm. Unlike earlier downturns, all three big revenue sources--income, property and sales taxes--are falling together. Cumulative budget shortfalls are already in the tens of billions of dollars. ... This recession seems sure to be so serious, say urban finance experts, that many cities will be forced to go well beyond their familiar tight-times reductions in park and library budgets. A growing possibility: to cut into that historially inviolate sector--police officers and firefighters. ... How to do it? There's an oft-neglected candidate: corrections. Because of politically...

The Capitol was in a celebratory mood Thursday as Karen Bass was ratified as the next speaker of the state Assembly and the first African American woman to hold such a position in California and national history. It is, after all, generally considered to be California's second most powerful political position, albeit not as potent as it was before term limits, and Democrats were happy that they didn't suffer the embarrassment of a prolonged battle royal for the speakership. Bass should savor the moment while she can because it won't last very long – she'll be forced out of the...

Pentagon's flying raygun zips into budget battle By Jim Wolf Thu Jun 21, 4:41 PM ET "Peace Through Light." That's the slogan of a Boeing Co. jumbo jet built to zap ballistic missiles shortly after they lift off, using laser rayguns. U.S. decisionmakers were invited Thursday to inspect the bottle-nosed, silver-gray, modified 747 freighter on its first trip to the Washington area -- a 24-hour lightning tour that backers hope will help restore big budget cuts. The Airborne Laser, or ABL as the $3.8 billion program is known, has shaped up as one of the biggest losers so far as...

Lawmakers will need to make about $2 billion in spending cuts in next year's state budget to avoid running up the deficit, the Legislature's nonpartisan budget adviser projected in a report released Wednesday. A sharp decline in the real estate market and soaring energy prices have dampened the state's economic boom, Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill said. Last year, that boom in personal incomes poured a $9 billion unexpected windfall into state coffers, cushioning this year's $131 billion spending plan from cuts. But while energy prices have been falling and tax revenue is still running slightly ahead of projections, Hill's report...

(1010 WINS) (NEW YORK) It appears the New York City budget crunch has police writing tickets for things that are moving and not moving. A Bronx man tells the Daily News he was given a ticket for sitting on a milk crate outside the hair salon where he works on the Grand Councourse. The ticket says "unauthorized use of a milk crate." The fine was not immediately known. But 19-year-old Jesse Taveras told the News he was flabbergasted when the police officer handed him the ticket Sunday afternoon. Taveras says the cop told him to "Blame Bloomberg." Owning a stolen...

<p>JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Republican-led legislatures in five states believe they've found a way to ease the budget crunch - eliminate the costly 2004 presidential primaries.</p> <p>President Bush is unlikely to face any serious opposition in the Republican run-up to the election so any budget-driven change to the primary would affect the growing field of Democratic candidates.</p>