By By JEANNINE AVERSA -- The U.S. economic recovery will remain slow deep into next year, held back by shoppers reluctant to spend and employers hesitant to hire, according to an Associated Press survey of leading economists.

The latest quarterly AP Economy Survey shows economists have turned gloomier in the past three months. They foresee weaker growth and higher unemployment than they did before. As a result, the economists think the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates near zero until at least next spring.

Yet despite their expectation of slower growth, a majority of the 42 economists surveyed believe the recovery remains on track, raising hopes that the economy can avoid falling back into a "double-dip" recession. ...more

2010/7/29 10:57

By By FREDERIC J. FROMMER -- In 1969, Sen. Gaylord Nelson was so moved after seeing the devastation of an oil spill off the California coast near Santa Barbara that he called for a national teach-in on the environment. The resulting "Earth Day" the following year kick-started the modern environmental movement and shaped the way Americans thought about their air, water and soil.

Forty years later, the magnitude of the Gulf oil spill far exceeds Santa Barbara's spill of up to 100,000 barrels, but there hasn't been a comparable societal transformation.

Last week, legislation imploded in the Senate to reduce greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, derailing environmentalists' top goal, and no national consensus has emerged to move America off oil and other fossil fuels into clean energy. ...more

2010/7/29 10:23

By Bob Cuddy -- County voters will have their first chance to see all four candidates for a vacant state Senate seat together during a Friday evening public forum Aug. 6 in Arroyo Grande.

Republican Sam Blakeslee, Democrat John Laird, Libertarian Mark Hinkle, and Independent Jim Fitzgerald will attend the event, scheduled from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the South County Regional Center, 800 West Branch St.

The four are running in a special election Aug. 17 to fill the 15th District state Senate seat vacated in May when Abel Maldonado resigned to accept Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s appointment to the lieutenant governorship. ...more

2010/7/28 19:07

San Jose police are investigating a July 6 incident they think may have involved a man later arrested on suspicion of impersonating a police officer.

An 18-year-old San Jose woman was driving back from a friend’s residence in the Morgan Hill area about 2:30 a.m. July 6, when, she says, a car began following her, according to police.

Upon arriving at her home, she got out of her car in her driveway, and the vehicle following her stopped on the street. She says a spotlight was used and she was questioned about her driving before the car drove away. ...more

2010/7/28 17:50

Less than one month after ending furloughs for about 200,000 state workers, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this morning brought back a scaled-down version of the policy, effective Sunday.

The governor made the decision this week after Controller John Chiang said that unless lawmakers enacted a budget soon, the state's cash would go into the red by October. Chiang said he'll start issuing IOUs in August or September to conserve funds as long as possible.

"We have a fiscal crisis," Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said this morning as he explained the new furlough order. "We're doing what we have to do to conserve cash." ...more

2010/7/28 14:22

By Associated Press -- A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the most controversial parts of Arizona’s immigration law from taking effect, delivering a last-minute victory to opponents of the crackdown.

The overall law will still take effect Thursday, but without the provisions that angered opponents — including sections that required officers to check a person’s immigration status while enforcing other laws.

The judge also put on hold parts of the law that required immigrants to carry their papers at all times, and made it illegal for undocumented workers to solicit employment in public places. ...more

2010/7/28 12:16

By Tonya Strickland -- What caused the death of a 20-year-old woman found in Sherwood Park early Sunday morning won't be known for at least two weeks.

A preliminary autopsy is scheduled for today on Erica Lopez of Paso Robles, authorities said, but the San Luis Obispo County coroner won't be releasing the results until the toxicology report comes in.

That could take at least two weeks, officials said. The coroner won't release preliminary results because they are not as accurate as releasing them with toxicology results, according to authorities. ...more

2010/7/27 18:12

By Bob Cuddy -- The county has named Jason Giffen, land use chief for San Diego County, as its new director of Planning and Building.

County Counsel Warren Jensen made the announcement Tuesday afternoon after an executive session.

Giffen was one of four finalists. The others were Kami Griffin, acting director; Chuck Stevenson, manager of the county's Long Range Planning Division; and Greg Fuz, planning director for the city of Pleasant Hill in the Bay Area. ...more

2010/7/27 16:00

California's lieutenant governor has settled a tax bill with the federal government.

The Los Angeles Times on Monday reported that a family business of Abel Maldonado, California's second-highest ranking public official, has paid more than $110,000 in back taxes to the Internal Revenue Service.

The government claims Maldonado's 6,000-acre farm in Santa Barbara County owed $111,146 for underpaying certain taxes following a dispute centered on how several pickup trucks were being used. ...more

2010/7/27 10:14

By Jack Dolan and Shane Goldmacher Los Angeles Times -- A business owned by California Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado and his family owes the federal government more than $100,000 in taxes, according to a lien filed against the property by the Internal Revenue Service earlier this year.

It is the ninth time since 1992 that federal, state or local tax collectors have resorted to liens against the Santa Maria Republican’s family farm in an effort to compel payments totaling more than $240,000, public records show.

Federal officials filed the lien April 13, two weeks before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger swore in Maldonado as the state’s second highest-ranking public official. ...more

2010/7/26 17:34