Schwarzenegger's new budget plan has some ifs and buts

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest $40 billion budget solution relies on ballot-box contingencies and a borrowing plan that might not be paid off until after he leaves office.

In a rare New Year's Eve budget release that lacked pomp, circumstance and the governor himself, Schwarzenegger finance aides unveiled a 2009-10 spending package that adds ideas to the budget-balancing moves already on the negotiating table.

The problem looms so large that Schwarzenegger is proposing to let children attend school five fewer days each year. He wants to permanently reduce tax credits such that taxpayers receive $210 less per child or elder dependent. And he plans to borrow $4.7 billion on the hope the state can pay it back by June 2011, after his tenure as governor has ended…

It's the law: California patients can have an interpreter at their side

Millions of Californians with limited English proficiency now have the right to an interpreter from their commercial health and dental plans – made possible by a first-in-the-nation law aimed at dismantling the language barriers that get in the way of good medicine.

The new regulation – implemented New Year's Day after five years of hearings, delays and wrangling among insurance companies, regulators and consumer advocates – is widely hailed as a milestone in reducing mistakes because of miscommunication.

"This is really huge, especially in California where we're getting more and more diverse," said Martin Martinez, policy director for the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network. "Even if you speak English well, it's really hard to understand what your doctor is saying…"

Madoff investor found dead of suicide

NEW YORK – The founder of an investment fund that lost $1.4 billion with Bernard Madoff was discovered dead Tuesday after committing suicide at his Madison Avenue office, marking a grim turn in a scandal that has left investors around the world in financial ruin.

Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet was found sitting at his desk at about 8 a.m. with both wrists slashed, New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said. A box cutter was found on the floor along with a bottle of sleeping pills on his desk. No suicide note was found.

De la Villehuchet was one of several fund managers to be hit hard in Madoff's alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme. Investment funds that lost big to Madoff are also facing backlash and investor lawsuits for not protecting their clients from the alleged fraud…

Bush pardons 19, commutes 1 prison term

WASHINGTON — Before leaving for the holidays, President Bush today commuted the prison sentence of a drug offender and granted 19 pardons, including one to a man who helped the Jewish resistance in the 1940s.

With this latest batch, which includes forgiveness for convictions ranging from gun and drug violations to bank and mail fraud, Bush has granted a total of 191 pardons and nine commutations. That's fewer than half as many as Presidents Clinton or Reagan issued during their two terms.

Included in the latest list is Charles Winters, who is considered a hero in Israel…

School cyberbullying law takes effect Jan. 1

A new law aimed at deterring the proliferation of cyberbullying at public schools goes into effect Jan. 1, bolstering educators' ability to tackle the problem head-on.

The law gives school administrators the leverage to suspend or expel students for bullying other students by means of an electronic device such as a mobile phone or on an Internet social networking site like MySpace or Facebook; the law, however, only applies to bullying that occurs during school hours or during a school-related activity.

The new law also incorporates the term "cyberbullying" into the lexicon of the California Education Code, which better equips school and law enforcement officials to educate students and parents on the issue…

LAWYER: HE'S NO PUPPY KILLER

The Los Angeles County Assistant Fire Chief charged with animal cruelty in Riverside County said Monday he’s innocent and would never harm an animal that wasn’t a threat to him.

Glynn D. Johnson, 45, appeared at his criminal defense attorney’s Beverly Hills law office with his wife and photos of the injuries he said were caused by his neighbor’s dog November 3.

“The picture of me that has been painted in the media is simply not true,” Johnson began, reading from a statement prepared by his lawyer, Kevin Sweeney…