Free Republic

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has refused to bail out Los Angeles, which is facing a $1 billion deficit, in his latest budget proposal, as the state itself faces a massive $12 billion deficit. The Los Angeles Times reports: Deeper in the budget proposal, no salvation was found for L.A. And at a news conference Wednesday, Newsom said flatly that he did not plan to provide cash to help dig the city out of its budget hole. The city is facing a $1-billion shortfall due to inflated personnel costs, higher than ever liability lawsuit payouts and below-expected revenues. “The state’s...

More than half of Britons cannot cope on their current salaries with one in five forced to borrow money to buy groceries and other household essentials because of the soaring cost of living, a new survey revealed today. One in four people revealed they've had to use their savings to buy food or other daily essentials while one in five have gone into debt to do this. Another 10 per cent said they could envisage needing to borrow buy food in the future. Only 43 per cent currently feel they can afford to live on their current income while 36

There are 4 million people in the city of Los Angeles and who knows how many dogs. Of its canine residents, the city is sure only of this: About 120,000 are licensed -- as required by law -- and a lot of others are not. "Nobody has ever done a census. It's anyone's guess how many are out there," said Kathy Davis, general manager of L.A.'s Department of Animal Services, who declined to pick a number. "But we certainly don't assume we have all of them licensed." In this time of budget cuts, that spells opportunity for revenue. Dogs don't...

City taxpayers could be socked with millions more in Democratic National Convention costs as the bill for security soars past $40 million - a pricetag shocker just now being revealed. Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who has repeatedly declined to discuss how much the four-day party next July will cost taxpayers, last night acknowledged that security costs are spiking. The security price tag for the convention was originally sold to the public at a hefty $10 million. Factoring in federal reimbursements, the city will face a $5 million additional cost on security alone as Menino faces decreasing state aid and new...