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California may have to come up with an extra $47.9 billion over the next 30 years to cover health and dental benefits for its retirees and current state employees, Controller John Chiang said Monday. But Chiang said the state could cut that bill to about $31.3 billion if it dropped its pay-as-you-go approach, invested about $1 billion a year to help cover future retiree health costs and used the earnings to ease the impact on the state budget. "Our actuarial report shows that, annually, if we continue on the pay-as-you-go basis, we will accrue a liability of $3.59 billion a...

Personal income tax receipts coming into the state in January fell $1.3 billion below Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's revenue estimates in the spending plan he released last month, the state controller said Tuesday. The lower-than-expected revenue raises questions about whether Schwarzenegger will reach his stated goal of eliminating the state's net operating deficit in the budget year beginning in July. The governor's proposed 2007-2008 budget assumes tax revenue in the current budget year would grow by $1.1 billion, or 1 percent. In the coming fiscal year, Schwarzenegger also assumed a $6.8 billion boost, or 7 percent increase. "Tax payments are down...

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Controller Candidates To Debate Live On CBS5.com * Watch LIVE At 2 p.m. (today)* (CBS 5 / The Chronicle) SAN FRANCISCO The San Francisco Chronicle Editorial board will host a 60-minute debate between state Controller candidates John Chiang (Democrat) and Tony Strickland (Republican) today at 2 p.m. at the CBS 5 studios in San Francisco. The debate will be presented via Live streaming video here on CBS5.com and is the second of several Chronicle Editorial board candidate debates that will be offered via live and tape streams here on CBS5.com.

Dallas Air Traffic Controller Dallas ATC: "Tower to Saudi Air 911 -- You are cleared to land eastbound on runway 9R." Saudi Air: "Thank you Dallas ATC. Acknowledge cleared to land on infidel's runway 9R - Allah be Praised !!" Dallas ATC: "Tower to Iran Air 822 -- You are cleared to land westbound on runway 9R." Iran Air: "Thank you Dallas ATC. We are cleared to land on infidel's runway 9R. - Allah is Great !!" Pause: Static............. Saudi Air: "DALLAS ATC! DALLAS ATC!!!" Dallas ATC: "Go ahead Saudi Air 911?" Saudi Air: "YOU HAVE CLEARED BOTH OUR AIRCRAFT...

Nevada's State Controller Kathy Augustine has died after suffering a massive heart attack. Augustine died Tuesday afternoon surrounded by her family at a hospital in Reno. Augustine, who was 50, had been on a respirator, in critical condition since her heart attack on Saturday. Her husband, Chaz Higgs, found her and administered CPR. Higgs says his wife had no signs or symptoms of heart problems, but says the stress of running for State Treasurer and maintaining a busy schedule took a toll on his wife. Augustine was the only state constitutional officer to be impeached while in office. The Nevada...

7/5/2006 - LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) -- Jennifer Manibusan and her cousin Catherine Balolong have smiles big enough to light up a room. And the two senior airmen have had plenty to smile about since joining the Air Force in December 2002, mostly because they've had the good fortune to have served together since the day they joined. That has helped them adapt to Air Force life. Today, both are air traffic controllers with the 47th Operations Support Squadron at this busy pilot-training base near Del Rio, a town on the Texas-Mexico border. Squadron mates call the inseparable...

Maldonado loses Controller race Strickland unofficial winner of Republican primaryLeslie Griffy and Larissa Van Beurden-Doust With 100 percent of precincts reporting, State Sen. Abel Maldonado has lost to Tony Strickland for the Republican nominaton for state controller. Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, received 37 percent of the vote compared to more than 40 percent for Strickland. They had been in an even tighter race last night. "We knew that this race was going to be very, very close," Maldonado said Tuesday night. "Obviously, we'd love to be on top. I'm proud of the campaign we ran." Local Republican leaders said Maldonado's decision...

Welcome to the live thread for the California Primary Election. Polls are open until 8pm tonight. If you are a registered voter, it is your duty to vote and defend your rights and civil liberties, protect your pocketbook, and vote the bums out where applicable. Feel free to discuss issues key to your local area that others may be interested in. Post your polling place experiences if you like. And post numbers as they come in later tonight.

Field Poll link Lt. Governor (Democratic): In the contested Democratic primary for Lt. Governor, State Senator Jackie Speier has pulled ahead of State Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi and State Senator Liz Figueroa. The current poll finds Speier the choice of 30% of likely Democratic primary voters, with Garamendi at 25% and Figueroa far behind at 8%. More than one in three voters (37%) are undecided. The current findings are a reversal of voter preferences from April when Garamendi held the lead over Speier. • Attorney General (Democratic): Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown continues to hold a comfortable lead over Los Angeles...

Controller race draws a crowd They’re all competing for the key job described by one as ‘the CFO for the sixth-largest economy in the world’ By Bob Cuddy The four candidates running for state controller. What a controller does (PDF) Ask the average Californian what the state controller does, and you’ll likely hear, "What’s that?" says state Sen. Joe Dunn, who wants the job. But Dunn and his opponents know better. "You’re the CFO for the sixth-largest economy in the world," says John Chiang, also a candidate for state controller on the June 6 ballot. Chiang and Dunn are opposing...

SACRAMENTO - Susan Kennedy is nothing if not direct. Just ask Senate Minority Leader Dick Ackerman, who sparred with the 5-foot-2, Democratic chief of staff to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger over the color of the senator's socks. Ackerman, R-Irvine, was among GOP leaders who openly criticized the Republican governor for appointing Kennedy on Nov. 30 to a post tantamount to top confidante. They objected to her political pedigree as a veteran of her state party and one-time key aide to recalled Gov. Gray Davis. (She's no relation to Schwarzenegger's famous in-laws). Some Republican activists stoked the flames by calling on their...

Strickland Files “Public Documents” Request for Reiner Documents “The public has a right to know how their money is being spent” (Sacramento) – Taxpayer Advocate Tony Strickland has filed a request pursuant to the California Public Records Act for all documents surrounding the decision of a California commission to funnel millions in public funds into a television advertising campaign that may have been designed to boost an initiative petition being circulated by a member of the commission. The Sacramento Bee broke the story in December, with a more recent Los Angeles Times story highlighting the fact that more than $23...

Governor Must Immediately Replace Reiner Strickland: “Controller needs to freeze Reiner funding and conduct immediate accountability audit” Sacramento, CA– Taxpayer Advocate Tony Strickland today called upon Governor Schwarzenegger to “immediately replace Rob Reiner on the First 5 California Children and Families Commission. His term has expired and nothing prevents the Governor from selecting an appointee who will restore the transparency and credibility to taxpayers when it comes to how government spends their tax dollars.” The firestorm of controversy has continued unabated since a Los Angeles Times story on Monday exposed a series of abuses orchestrated by Reiner and a small...

AL QAIM, Iraq (Nov. 22, 2005) -- When faced with challenges, Marines are renowned for their ability to adapt and overcome. Staff Sgt. David A. Beaty, Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 369’s day crew maintenance controller in Al Qaim, has overcome countless maintenance and logistical challenges for more than two months. While tackling these challenges, he has kept the Marines’ morale high and continuously ensured the squadron’s AH-1 Cobras and UH-1 Hueys are in the air supporting the Marines on the ground. “I love being out here,” said Beaty, a Picket County, Tenn., native. “It’s a smaller detachment, our unit...

Two people were killed Monday morning when the small plane they were in crashed and burst into flames near Danbury Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The Cessna 182 went down at 11:30 a.m. in a wooded area about four miles north of the airport, FAA spokesman Jim Peters said. The crash site is near both New Fairfield High School and a middle school. Both schools remained in session and no students were injured, school officials said. Sgt. J. Paul Vance, a state police spokesman, said the plane was heading to Long Island from Albany, N.Y. Federal and state authorities...

SACRAMENTO - State Controller Steve Westly said Monday his office will audit another $6.4 million worth of grants passed out by legislators with little guidance or oversight. The eight new audits are in addition to four announced last month, when Westly ordered the return of up to $15 million in unspent money given to groups that sometimes neither needed nor even knew of the grants. Westly ordered a review of four years of the grants after news stories suggested $125,000 may have been illegally sidetracked to the 2002 campaign of Secretary of State Kevin Shelley from a nearly $500,000 grant...

MESSAGE FROM HOWARD KALOOGIAN...and... State Controller Fails to Account for HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of Dollars Dear Friends, We’ve fought a number of battles together to make California and this nation a better place. I am writing to you today about a politician who seems to have forgotten that he works for us – and no, I am not talking about Gray Davis this time. Just like we forced Davis ally, Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, to call the special recall election when he was trying to weasel out of it, we now have to compel another state official to...

Controller Linked To Crash Murdered... Random Act Or Revenge... On Tuesday, an air traffic controller who worked for Skyguide, the Swiss airspace agency, was stabbed to death in his home in Kloten, near Zurich. The victim had been the sole controller on duty in July 2002 when two airplanes collided in Swiss airspace over Lake Constance, killing 71 people, many of them Russian schoolchildren. He was a 36-year-old Danish citizen, a father of three, and was never publicly identified in connection with the crash. Police said a dark-haired man in his 50s rang the doorbell at the controller's home....

<p>State Controller Steve Westly on Monday called on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to consider abolishing or reducing the budgets of state agencies, which he said may add an unnecessary level of government.</p> <p>"Everybody appreciates the need to streamline," Westly said. "It's important to reduce the number of layers in government. ...</p>