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SAN DIEGO – The First District Court of Appeals in San Francisco announced Thursday that it would hear oral arguments Feb. 14 in the case challenging the constitutionality of the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act, known as Proposition 71. Under the California Constitution, the Appeals Court must render a decision in the case within 90 days of the hearing, absent additional briefings required by the court. The plaintiffs in the case – People's Advocate and the National Tax Limitation Foundation (represented by the Life Legal Defense Foundation), and the California Family Bioethics Council – are appealing an April...

IRVINE -- The president of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine resigned his post today, citing "almost entirely personal reasons" for leaving the controversial $3-billion stem-cell research venture created in 2004 by the passage of Proposition 71. Zach W. Hall, at a meeting at UC-Irvine of the agency's governing board, noted that he had recently turned 69. "I find myself looking ahead," he said. Hall and his wife, a recently retired musician, own a home in Wyoming. "We're looking forward to reinventing ourselves," he said. Hall said the institute was in good shape, and that it has $181 million in...

The meeting was almost over when Roman Reed steered his wheelchair to the microphone. On the table before him sat a 149-page book of budget charts and timetables, the first concrete outline of what California's voter-approved stem cell institute plans to accomplish in its 10-year lifespan. "I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart," Reed said to the institute's staff and 29-member oversight board in October. "I promised my son that one day I would be able to walk, stand next to him and go hold my wife's hand. And seeing this road map to cures, I...

SAN FRANCISCO California voters, wooed by an aggressive, multimillion dollar campaign that promised cures to myriad diseases, overwhelmingly approved the nation's most ambitious stem cell research center two years ago. Now, $181 million is set to flow to cash-starved scientists struggling in a field financially and politically hamstrung by Bush administration opposition and lawsuits filed by conservative organizations against the center. The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine managed to push out $14 million in "training grants" for young researchers last year, but much of the money it doles out in 2007 will finally go to senior scientists eager to push...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California officials approved on Monday a $150 million loan offered by the state to fund its stem-cell research institute in San Francisco. In addition to the loan, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has sold $31 million worth of bond anticipation notes to raise money for research into medical applications of stem-cell technology. Many scientists believe stem cells, either adult cells or ones from embryos, may be used to find treatments and cures for serious diseases such as cancer and diabetes. Voters approved the creation of the institute by passing a statewide measure in 2004 that...

A highly publicized $150 million state loan that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger promised California's cash-strapped stem cell agency in July has yet to materialize, a delay apparently caused by red tape and election year politics. Schwarzenegger's announcement on July 21 that "they need the money now" came the day after President Bush vetoed legislation that would have expanded federal funding of stem cell research, which many political conservatives oppose because days-old embryos are destroyed. At an emotional August meeting of the committee that manages the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, members praised Schwarzenegger for his political courage and were told by...

To the dismay of some advocates for the disabled and sick, a draft report issued today by California's $3 billion stem-cell institute says the agency is unlikely to develop cures for diseases or other ailments any time soon. The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine's proposed strategic plan, written by a group that included two Nobel scientists, methodically sets out a detailed blueprint for eventually turning stem cells into treatments for a variety of health problems. But the plan -- which must be approved by the institute's board -- cautions that stem cell science remains in its infancy and that much...

Supposed New Embryonic Stem Cell Research Technique Killed All Embryos by Steven Ertelt LifeNews.com Editor Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A supposedly new method of obtaining embryonic stem cells for research without destroying any human embryos appeared to be untrue. Upon further examination of the research paper making the claims, it appears all of the 16 human embryos Advanced Cell Technology used to come up with the process died during the procedure. The biotech firm made amazing claims that produced a media sensation around the world when it said it had developed a morally ethical method of obtaining the cells. Pro-life...

Biotech company executives in the Bay Area met Tuesday to begin working with California's sputtering stem-cell research institute, which was jump-started last week by the $150 million boost it got from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. ``I feel we are at a very important point in history here,'' said Michael West, chairman and chief scientific officer of Advanced Cell Technology of Alameda. He added that it was essential ``do do everything we possibly can to see that money is well spent.'' Still, the executives who met in San Francisco with officials at the stem-cell institute, created in 2004 when California voters passed...

President Bush's veto of a bill to ease restrictions on federally funded embryonic stem-cell research will hinder California's $3 billion voter-approved effort to turn stem cells into cures, backers of the state-funded research effort said Wednesday. Bush's rejection of the legislation -- his first-ever veto in his 5 1/2 years in office -- shows his continued support for those who oppose, on moral grounds, destroying human embryos to create stem cells in research intended to develop new treatments for grave conditions such as Parkinson's, diabetes and spinal cord injuries. --snip-- The veto was a crushing blow for advocates who hoped...

SACRAMENTO A day after President Bush vetoed a measure that would have expanded federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday authorized a $150 million loan to fund the state's moribund stem cell institute, which has been stalled by lawsuits. The move has distinct political benefits for the governor who is seeking to put as much distance as possible between himself and the deeply unpopular president as he seeks re-election this year. Schwarzenegger said the state cannot afford to wait to fund the critical science associated with stem cells. "I remain committed to advancing stem...

SAN FRANCISCO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday his movie-star celebrity and his boundless enthusiasm for all things California make him a great international salesman for the state's products and services. Speaking to the Commonwealth Club of California at the Herbst Theater, the governor said he will go anywhere to tout California's wares, "to go out there and tell our story" to buyers in any nation. "They want our products, they need our environmental know-how ... and our state-of-the-art technology." Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides' campaign Wednesday issued a pre-emptive memo outlining Schwarzenegger's foreign-trade failures: fewer exports now than in...

Singer and actress Julie Andrews will be in San Francisco Monday along with composer Marvin Hamlisch for a fundraiser for stem cell research. Andrews and Hamlisch will bring along a supporting cast of Broadway performers for "Reach for Tomorrow, Research Today, which will raise money for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. The event begins with a black-tie dinner at San Francisco's City Hall. Tickets range from $1,500 to $10,000. Andrews, 70, is best known for her roles in "The Sound of Music" and "Mary Poppins." She's appeared in recent years on the big screen in "The Princess Diaries." Andrews'...

SAN FRANCISCO - California's $3 billion stem cell research institute won an important victory with a court ruling rejecting challenges to its constitutionality, but the agency's finances remain in limbo while the expected appeals block much of its funding. A state judge ruled Friday that the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine is a legitimate state agency and that two lawsuits challenging it have no merit. The ruling came a month after a four-day trial in which lawyers with connections to anti-abortion groups claimed the country's most ambitious stem cell research agency violated California law because it wasn't a true state...

San Francisco -- California's novel, $3 billion stem cell research institute is a legitimate state agency and two lawsuits challenging its constitutionality have no merit, a state judge ruled Friday. The ruling came a month after a four-day trial in which lawyers with connections to anti-abortion groups claimed the country's most ambitious stem cell research agency violated California law because it wasn't a true state agency and its managers had a host of conflicts of interest. But Alameda County Superior Court Judge Bonnie Lewman Sabraw handed the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine an unambiguous victory, writing that the lawsuits failed...

How to spend $3 billion for stem cell research is proving to be a monumental and sometimes divisive task for California's Institute for Regenerative Medicine. What's the low hanging fruit in stem cell research that could move the science forward? Should funding priority be given to research that could help the largest number of people, or should it be directed to orphan diseases that affect a small segment of society and aren't of interest to big pharmaceutical companies? How much money should be spent inventing tools that could help scientists involved in stem cell research? As the stem cell institute...

The fate of the nation's most ambitious stem cell research agency will soon rest in the hands of a California judge as the weeklong trial challenging the institute's legality neared conclusion Wednesday. Three taxpayer groups have alleged in two lawsuits that the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine lacks the proper state government oversight to dole out $3 billion in stem cell grants over the next 10 years. They also accused the board that oversees the agency as being rife with conflict of interests and wrongly exempting itself from the state's open-meeting law. The trial was expected to end Thursday after...

Actor-director Rob Reiner is taking a lot of well-deserved media and political heat - from politicians in both parties, for a change - over a lavish promotional program for preschool education financed by tobacco tax money that is controlled by a commission he heads. Although Reiner and the First 5 California Children and Families Commission insist that he didn't play a direct role, it's perfectly clear that the commission was using public money to boost a Reiner initiative to tax the wealthy for preschool programs. Reiner temporarily stepped down from the chairmanship last week as political and media criticism mounted,...

HAYWARD — On the second day of the trial challenging the constitutionality of California's $3 billion stem cell institute, attorneys for the state defended the agency's track record through a key witness. Robert Klein, chairman of the board overseeing the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, took the stand for most of the day, answering questions from both sides about the structure and content of the agency. Klein was the chief architect of Proposition 71, the ballot initiative approved by 59 percent of voters in November 2004 establishing the stem cell agency and authorizing the state to issue $300 million in...

Actor-director Rob Reiner is taking a lot of well deserved media and political heat--from politicians in both parties, for a change--over a lavish promotional program for preschool education financed by tobacco tax money controlled by a commission he heads. Although Reiner and the First 5 California Children and Families Commission insist that he didn't play a direct role, it's perfectly clear that the commission was using public money to boost a Reiner initiative to tax the wealthy for preschool programs. (snip) The bigger issue is the emerging syndrome of wealthy Californians pursuing their pet causes through the initiative process, spending...