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Israel Rains Fire on Gaza, Vows No Let-Up in Assault

SACRAMENTO (AP) - More than $3.8 million in federal election money was spent improperly or without required documentation by former Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, federal auditors said in a report released Wednesday. The audit, commissioned by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, confirms an earlier state audit of Shelley's handling of money given to California under the Help America Vote Act. It examined spending through 2004. Auditors said about $3 million in spending lacked documentation, such as paying salaries for people who didn't submit time sheets, or was improperly awarded to consultants through no-bid contracts. The audit, conducted by the...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Changing the bureaucracy of California's troubled youth and adult prison system would again make the state a national leader in imprisoning criminals and then rehabilitating them, representatives of the Schwarzenegger administration said Thursday. The corrections plan is the leading edge of Schwarzenegger's larger proposal to reorganize state government. Lawmakers, union leaders and inmate advocates said the proposal merely shuffles organizational chart boxes, and particularly objected to more closely affiliating the California Youth Authority with the adult Corrections Department. But the plan won general praise from members of the watchdog Little Hoover Commission. The prison plan and a...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The son of a San Francisco supporter suspected of illegally steering state grant funds to Secretary of State Kevin Shelley's 2002 campaign treasury was improperly hired by Shelley's office after an application period that lasted only six hours, the state Personnel Board said in a report released Tuesday. The hiring practice, revealed in a damaging new 50-page report on Shelley's hiring style and personal conduct at work, has been referred to the state Attorney General's office and could put his 450-employee office on probation when the personnel board meets next month. "I'd be surprised if anyone in...