MONDAY, MAY 9, 2011
Volume 10 Issue 153
Santa Monica Daily Press BYE, PHIL SEE PAGE 14
We have you covered
THE THEY WILL RISE AGAIN ISSUE
COMMUNITYPROFILES
LEILA CONNERS
Brandon Wise brandonw@smdp.com CONNERS
Creating media that matters BY KEVIN HERRERA Editor in Chief
DOWNTOWN The film opens with shots of a stark landscape where once thriving communities have now been reduce to rubble. Burned-out factories crumble next to large open fields where homes once stood, the people who lived in them abandoning this urban core in search of opportunity or because they no longer could afford the mortgage.
DANCING DAYS
Brandon Wise brandonw@smdp.com Led by Sweat Spot Dance Space instructors Noel Bajandas (center), Parker Gootkin (left) and Jason Lustina (right), locals learn flash mob choreography on the basketball court during the 20th annual Santa Monica Festival at Cover Park on Saturday.
Higher tax revenue complicates Brown’s tax pitch BY LIEN HOANG
SEE CP PAGE 11
Whale washes ashore ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN PEDRO The battered body of a humpback whale that may have been hit by a ship has washed ashore in San Pedro. The Los Angeles Times reports that authorities discovered the whale’s carcass on SEE WHALE PAGE 12
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO California’s tax revenue is running well ahead of projections, but the governor’s office said Friday that has not simplified the challenge of closing the state’s $15.4 billion deficit. Lawmakers and Gov. Jerry Brown also have to consider possible cost increases involving education, health care and prisons, state Director of Finance Ana Matosantos said. Her statement came a day after the Legislative Analyst’s Office calculated the state has received $2.5 billion more than projected in personal income, corporate and
sales taxes since the fiscal year started July 1. The Democratic governor has proposed a mix of spending cuts and tax extensions to close the budget gap and is expected to present a revision on May 16. The additional revenue could bolster the position of GOP lawmakers, whose opposition to extending tax increases thwarted Brown’s budget proposal earlier this year. The governor wants a special election so voters can decide whether to extend increases to personal income, sales and vehicle taxes for five years. The increases are set to expire by July 1. “Obviously, this takes pressure off the concept of raising taxes,” said Republican
Sen. Bob Huff of Diamond Bar, vice chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. He said the additional tax revenue suggests the California economy is beginning to revive. But the state cannot expect a full recovery if it taxes residents further, he said. Democrats have warned that without tax extensions, the state will have to make devastating cuts to schools, universities and other programs. Brown already signed bills that cut the budget gap from $26.6 billion by shifting some state responsibilities to local governments, transferring money between government accounts and reducing spending on programs for the state’s most vulnerable residents.
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