California politics and education update

Census data shed light on California's housing boom -- and bust

California's Latino population increases, Inland areas boom, U.S. Census finds

More than half of California children Latino, census shows

As recently as 1990, Hispanics were 26 percent of the state's overall population. By the next census in 2000, non-Hispanic whites had already become a minority. As the number of Hispanics has grown, so has their share of the electorate, reaching 22 percent last November. 

That helped California Democrats hold back the national tide that swept Republicans into office. In California, Democrats won every major statewide office. "We looked nothing like the rest of the nation," said Thad Kousser, a political scientist at the University of California at San Diego. "We were a political island." 

Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California, said Republicans face continued problems. 

"The 2010 election is a very accurate foreshadowing of the impact of the Latino vote in statewide elections, unless Republicans figure out a different way to deal with this," he said.

Couple to give record $200-million gift to USC

California Owes Prison Staff $1 Billion

How badly managed is the California state prison system?  We would venture to guess that it is one of the most mis-managed public enterprises in the United States.  

Why do we say that?  Read on: 

California prison guards and their supervisors have racked up 33.2 million hours of vacation, sick and other paid time off - an astounding accumulation that amounts to nearly half a year per worker. 

It also adds up to a $1 billion liability for taxpayers of the deficit-plagued state. 

Poor management at California's prisons has for years allowed workers to stock up on generous amounts of paid time off - a benefit that employees must either use or cash out when they retire. But the numbers swelled when former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger imposed furloughs in 2009, forcing prison guards and their supervisors to take unpaid days off each month to help save state cash.

Gov. Jerry Brown's prophecy isn't pretty