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California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has said that he may return to the big screen with the latest Terminator film, which will be released next month. The former Hollywood action star, known for his roles in previous Terminator movies, told a webcast interview on Tuesday that he had agreed to be in the new movie as long as he didn't have to perform. Hollywood studio Warner Bros., which will release Terminator Salvation May 21, is exploring whether it can insert images of Schwarzenegger from the original Terminator movie into the new film starring Christian Bale. Schwarzenegger told Twitter blogger Bill Bradley...

You have got to believe that the California Republican base is dispirited when a delegate at this weekend's state party convention is circulating a resolution to apologize to former Democratic Gov. Gray Davis for recalling him from office. But that is exactly what party delegate Alex Burrola is suggesting. The resolution, underscoring some party activists' seething displeasure with "post-partisan" GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, reads as follows: "Whereas, in 2003 a grassroots effort was begun to recall then-Governor Gray Davis from office on grounds which included gross mismanagement of the budget and finances of the State of California; "...Whereas, candidate Arnold...

Reporting from Yuba City -- Five years ago, Donnette Shaffer was one of nearly 5 million Californians who did something unprecedented: she voted to fire Gray Davis, just months after he had been reelected governor. Now she wonders why she bothered. "I was thinking that we needed to do something before the ship totally sank," the 35-year-old postal carrier said last week as she ended her shift at Yuba City's downtown post office. A Republican, Shaffer voted to recall Democrat Davis and replace him with actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. For a time, she was pleased with the new GOP governor, who...

SACRAMENTO -- -- The state's ethics agency announced fines Monday against former state Sen. Martha Escutia of Whittier for failing to properly disclose at least $340,000 in payments made by 17 special-interest firms and campaigns to her then-husband's political consulting firm. The state Fair Political Practices Commission also announced fines against former Gov. Gray Davis, related to the campaign fund he used to fight the 2003 recall that removed him from office. He failed to fully disclose $187,381 in unpaid expenses and a late contribution, and he did not keep some records required for donors who gave $5,000 or more,...

What has changed since Golden State voters ousted Gov. Gray Davis and cast their lot with Arnold Schwarzenegger's star power? Not much -- except for $41 billion in new spending, says Investor's Business Daily (IBD). At a point when most state lawmakers and chief executives have put their budgets to bed, neatly balanced, and taken off for some R&R, the Legislature and governor of California are still wrangling over a budget that is roughly $15 billion out of balance. This is nothing new. We've been hearing about these budget gaps, delays and political standoffs since before the current governor took...

California: What has changed since Golden State voters ousted Gray Davis and cast their lot with Arnold Schwarzenegger's star power? Not much — except for $41 billion in new spending.What's big, blue and red all over? The great, Democrat-dominated and profligate state government of California. At a point when most state lawmakers and chief executives have put their budgets to bed, neatly balanced, and taken off for some R&R, the Legislature and governor of California are still wrangling over a budget that is roughly $15 billion out of balance. This is nothing new. We've been hearing about these budget gaps,...

An appeals court says an inmate can't sue former Gov. Gray Davis even though he wrongly denied the prisoner parole for three years. The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals says governors are shielded from private lawsuits because they are essentially acting as judges and that erroneous decisions can be corrected on appeal. But the court did agreed that Davis had no authority to reverse the decision by the California Board of Prison Terms to parole Donald Miller, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. Governors can only review parole decisions on murder convictions.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sidestepped the superdelegate controversy as she opened the California Democratic Party convention tonight in San Jose, instead taking aim at likely Republican presidential nominee, John McCain. Pelosi noted that McCain campaigned alongside Governor Schwarzenegger during the polarizing special election the governor called in 2005. Schwarzenegger tried to pass ballot measures aimed at weakening the power of public employee unions, changing teacher tenure rules and clamping down on state spending. Californians rejected those reforms and she predicted they'd reject McCain as well. The gathering at the San Jose Convention Center continues through...

Arnold Schwarzenegger stormed into office during California's last budget crisis, promising to "end the crazy deficit spending" so the state would never go over the financial cliff again. But four years later, California is back in the same spot. The cooling economy has opened up a projected $14.5 billion deficit over the next 18 months, and the governor proposed this week to cut school spending, release 22,000 prisoners early and shut dozens of state parks. The irony is rich: He is facing a repeat of the financial crisis that undid Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, the man Schwarzenegger ousted in a...

The State Capitol is hemorrhaging red ink. The non-partisan legislative analyst's office (LAO) has released a report showing that the revenue shortfall from the budget just passed in August could exceed $10 billion. Fortunately, the governor and the Legislature established a modest $4 billion reserve or the deficit would be much higher. How did we get into this mess? If this seems like déjà vu all over again, you're right. It's been just seven years since then Governor Gray Davis, who inherited a budget surplus, began to run up massive state deficits which were largely responsible for his being recalled....

Ousted unceremoniously by Arnold Schwarzenegger on the triumphant governor's first day in office, the former head of the Department of Motor Vehicles has waged a four-year campaign against his former employer. His mission: to collect unemployment benefits. It's not that Steven Gourley needs the $5,000 he believes he has coming for six weeks when he was out of work. He's now a lawyer in private practice who figures he's spent more than $5,000 just on filing fees in his unemployment case. Rather, Gourley is trying to make a point. The point involves rather arcane arguments about procedural matters at the...

In hindsight, it's only fitting that Arnold Schwarzenegger swept into office by recalling Gray Davis. Because the way things are going these days, we find ourselves recalling Davis all the time. Davis, you might, er, recall, was given the boot for allowing California to run up a massive budget deficit. Under his watch, Sacramento locked itself into outrageous spending patterns based on the assumption that the dot-com boom would last forever. It didn't, Gray got dumped, and along came Arnold, who has proved to be little more than a Davis sequel. Although Schwarzenegger proposed strong spending restraints in 2005, they...

SACRAMENTO – State spending under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been growing faster than it did under former Gov. Gray Davis, who was ousted in a historic recall election driven mainly by a huge budget gap. The new state budget proposed by Schwarzenegger would spend $103.8 billion in the general fund, which pays for most programs – an increase of more than 30 percent since he took office, about the same as the boost under Davis. But it took Davis five years to raise spending by about one-third. Schwarzenegger, who was elected in the fall 2003 recall, has done the same...

Terrorists Spoke of Attack More Devastating Than September 11 A series of intercepted telephone conversations between suspected members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'ida network prompted George Bush's decision to order a general terror alert for the United States on Monday, reports said yesterday. The calls indicated an attack against America that would be even more devastating than the 11 September assaults. The CIA and the FBI presented the information to President Bush and his national security team on Monday morning. While the intelligence from the telephone calls was chilling, officials wrangled for hours over whether the public should hear about ...

The last time California passed a major health reform law, Gray Davis was governor. And in just more than a year, both he and the law were gone. Now, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who won office when voters ousted Davis in 2003 and played a role in overturning his health care law, is trying another health expansion. The question is whether his reform will meet the same fate. Just like the law Davis signed, Schwarzenegger's plan has support from Democrats but not Republicans and upsets some business interests. But the Davis law had the backing of unions, doctors, hospitals and some...

SACRAMENTO An arbitrator has ruled that state officials miscalculated wages and benefits for corrections employees, a mistake that will cost California taxpayers an estimated $440 million over two years and force cuts to other state departments. The ruling, made public Friday, means the state will pay $200 million for back pay and health benefits to about 30,000 prison guards, probation officers and other correctional employees, retroactive to July 1, 2005. In addition, the employees are due a 3.1 percent pay increase retroactive to the start of the year under a provision that ties their wages to those of other law...

SACRAMENTO — He was booted out of the Capitol three years ago, but when former Gov. Gray Davis returns today to watch the man who replaced him sworn in for a second term, he'll find an eerie resemblance to what he left behind. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has entrusted onetime Davis aides with his administration's success, appointing them to top jobs. He has embraced policies that Davis favored and settled into a similar governing style. The Republican incumbent is even beginning to sound a bit like his Democratic predecessor. --snip-- "If you look at where I come down on issues and...

OAKLAND — Political and social activists, historians and educators from the United States and around the world are gathering in the Bay Area this weekend to discuss reparations for slavery of African people and colonialism in Africa. "The wealth of the West is built on slavery of African people," said Penny Hess, chairwoman of the African People Solidarity Committee. "White people need to recognize it and support (reparations)." Hess is one of nine speakers during the two-day event set for Saturday in Oakland and Sunday in San Francisco. The event celebrates African People Solidarity Day and calls for the white...

Remember the old adage about not wishing for something too much, because you might get it and regret it later? California politics are full of reminders about decisions that ignore long-term consequences. As the energy crisis was unfolding in 2000 and 2001, the state's politicians overspent a one-time windfall of income tax revenue, creating a chronic budget deficit whose multibillion-dollar effects also will be felt for years. Democrat Gray Davis undermined his governorship by botching the energy and budget crises, driving his popularity so low that in 2003 conservative activists launched a recall campaign that ousted Davis and elected Republican...

Locked up in a state prison cell in Tracy, Alan Mann was so excited he had to put down his newspaper when he got word that Gov. Gray Davis had been tossed from office in the historic 2003 recall election. As a convicted felon serving a life sentence for killing his best buddy in a San Jose field in 1980, Mann couldn't vote. But he had more than a passing interest in seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger replace Davis -- ... snip ... For Mann and the 29,000 state inmates serving life sentences for murder and other serious crimes, there was virtually...