• Nearly all of them are gonna be making minimum wage until a budget’s set. The governor is basing the move on a 2003 state Supreme Court decision, White v. Davis, which says that employees without a budget that sets aside an allocation for salaries will get minimum wage until said budget is set, at which point they’ll get the back salary covered. At $7.25 an hour – in California – this seems a tad cruel. Look, we know that California politics are tough, but there’s no reason to use state employees as pawns in a political game. source

• $1.8 million in funds were pulled out at casino ATMs source

• This initiative sponsored by greedy Texas oil companies would cripple California’s fastest-growing economic sector, reverse our renewable energy policy and decimate our environmental progress for the benefit of these oil companies’ profit margins. … I will not allow this to happen on my watch.
• California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger • Reacting with disgust about the addition of a ballot initiative which would limit a global warming bill from getting enacted until the unemployment rate, currently at 12 percent in the state, was at 5.5 percent for at least a year. Which is total crap, because the bill’s designed to create new kinds of jobs. Who’s behind the initative? Texas oil giants Valero Energy Inc. and Tesoro Corp. That’s right. Big oil is trying to make a global warming initiative go away. They’ve spent $3 million on it and have painted it as an “energy tax.” Which isn’t what the bill is at all. Unbelievable. source

• A final decision will be coming in a few weeks. A lot of people are watching California’s gay marriage trial, and it’s one that should have a lot of fireworks. In the closing arguments, Judge Vaughn Walker is looking to see if gay marriage threatens the institution of marriage, if being gay is a choice, and if California voters were justified in banning gay marriage. Today could change everything. source

• 3:1 the ratio which the birther lady lost by (O RLY?) source

• yes Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas survived a Democratic primary runoff against Lt. Gov.  Bill Halter to stay in the race in the fall.
• no South Carolina gubernatorial candidate Nikki “scandal target” Haley didn’t get enough votes to prevent a runoff – but she almost did.
• yes Meg Whitman easily won the Republican primary in the California governor’s race. If you can call easily spending lots of your own money. source

• » Still on deck: Carly Fiorina’s the likely favorite to win the Republican primary for the Senate in California, but it’s still to early to call that race. And Nevada’s Republican Senate primary – a.k.a. the fight to win Harry Reid’s seat – hasn’t been decided yet.

• $500,000 amount she spends daily

The result all that money creates

• 51% the tally the former eBay chairman has going into the GOP primary
• 25% the tally her challenger, Steve Poizner, has in the poll
• 24%haven’t made up their minds or plan to go for a minor candidate source

• $86M
  the possible size of the total settlement, based on underpaid wages and vacation time
• 232k
  the number of former workers that could benefit from the class-action suit
• $370 the amount that would net each employee, on average, which isn’t that much source

• $500 million yearly from illegal pot manufacturing source