Linked stories

Here are components of the water package approved early this morning:

FINANCING
Borrows $11.14 billion to pay for dams, underground water banking, water recycling, Delta restoration and regional projects. Voters must approve the bond at the November 2010 election. It would cost the state about $800 million a year in debt service at its peak.

DELTA OVERSIGHT
Creates a seven-member council charged with adopting a long-range management plan for the environmentally troubled estuary by 2012. The plan would include strategies to boost the reliability of water exports while protecting the ecosystem.

CANAL
Does not authorize a long-envisioned canal to move water around the Delta southward. But the Delta council would incorporate the canal into its plans -- if it meets environmental standards.

CONSERVATION
Calls for a statewide per-capita urban water use reduction of 20 percent by 2020, but not every water district would have to meet that threshold. Agencies that don't meet targets would be ineligible for state grants and loans. Farm water suppliers would not face targets but would have to submit efficiency plans.

GROUNDWATER MONITORING
Requires agencies to report water levels in underground basins. Agencies that don't comply could lose grants.

WATER RIGHTS
Gives state water regulators more powers to police illegal water diversions, although specific penalties would have to be added later by the Legislature.

A nonprofit tolerance center in midtown Sacramento, championed by state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, could get a vital economic boost from an unlikely source: a mammoth $10 billion water bond proposal.

Lawmakers approved a momentous overhaul of California's ailing water system early this morning, but approval came only after Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg agreed to strip a $10 million earmark for a Sacramento project he has championed.

Two influential water districts and several environmental groups said Monday they support key elements of water legislation under negotiation in the Capitol. But the compromise is not good enough for Republican leaders, who said they still have "grave concerns" that the proposals would "create new layers of bureaucracy."

Forget Romeo and Juliet. Anthony and Cleopatra. Brad and Angelina.

State fire officials Monday announced a $10,000 reward for help putting the arsonist who set August's 49 fire behind bars.

Every natural disaster sears us with the same images: Forlorn families sifting through ashes for treasured heirlooms and possessions. Business owners peeling open the charred remnants of payroll records and money bags.

Disaster happens. To minimize your losses and speed up recovery, here are some tips:

Nearly a third of San Luis Obispo County students — 10,078 — were considered truant last year, according to state data. That means they were either absent or late to school without a valid excuse at least three times in the 2008-09 school year — exceeding the state average. Suspensions and expulsions also have grown during the last five years, up 73 percent and 49 percent, respectively. See how student misconduct at your child's school compares to other schools in its district.

Here are additional bills authored by Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, and Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo:

Maldonado’s bills:

Gerald Parsky, chairman of the bipartisan tax reform commission that delivered its recommendations to the Legislature this week, said his panel was asked to be bold, and it delivered.

Business and labor groups oppose it, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has embraced a recommendation to flatten the state income tax, eliminate part of the sales tax and install a new form of consumption tax on most firms.

You’ve probably noticed that SanLuisObispo.com looks a little different today. As part of our ongoing effort to make our Web site easier to use, we’ve moved some things around. Don’t worry, we haven’t gotten rid of anything — we’ve just consolidated the content a bit. That way you don’t have to scroll around so much to find what you’re looking for. Here’s what we’ve changed:

California legislators ended their 2009 regular session early Saturday morning and, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, never have so many labored so late for so little.

Dan and Sherry Jones now have two cell phones: one for family calls and another to deal with insurance assessors, contractors, banks and other agencies as they try to piece together their lives after the 49 fire destroyed their home a week ago.

Placer County officials are sponsoring a meeting Wednesday regarding fire debris removal for residents and business owners who suffered losses from the 49 fire.

Fire officials on Thursday said their investigation into the cause of the devastating 49 fire this week is continuing, with the cause not yet determined.

When a wildfire whips through a neighborhood, it rarely leaves much behind. Chimneys and charred chunks of metal are often the only remnants of a family's life possessions.

A wind-whipped fire Sunday destroyed more than 20 homes and businesses and forced hundreds to head to shelters, as it scorched and hopscotched through wooded neighborhoods at the north edge of Auburn.

A motorcycle run and a barbecue are planned to raise money for people hit hard by the 49 fire in Auburn.

Residents of Auburn's scorched and devastated North Park neighborhood returned to the rubble of their homes, determined to sift through the ashes and rebuild their lives.

For businesses or homeowners dealing with insurance issues who need help, contact the California Department of Insurance consumer hotline, 800-927-HELP

When Placer County Deputy Sheriff Ken Skogen pulled into the residential area north of Auburn during the frantic early moments of Sunday's 49 fire, he noticed two things: fire already consuming dozens of houses, and a man on the street shouting in panic.

As Emma Lujan stood before the charred ruins of her Auburn motorcycle business on Monday, she willed herself to think more of salvation and less about devastation.

As firefighters continued today to douse smoldering ashes and watch for flare-ups two days after fire swept through Auburn neighborhoods, officials say early decisions in the battle helped fend off further destruction.

One of the state's great unappreciated stories of the past 10 years is how much progress California students have made in mastering academic standards that are generally considered the toughest in the nation.

The state released STAR test results for all schools Tuesday, showing overall improvement by the state's public K-12 students. How tough are the tests? Could you pass them? Try these quizzes, each made up of five or six questions from actual prior STAR tests. Most of the questions are at the "basic" or "proficient" difficulty level: They're not the easiest, but they're not the hardest either. Be warned: Your self-esteem may suffer!

Every one of the 118 seventh- and eighth-graders in Mark Freathy and Mary Chung's classes at Elizabeth Pinkerton Middle School in Elk Grove was rated advanced or proficient in Algebra I, according to California Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) scores released Tuesday.

Information from the American Cancer Society Web site, www.cancer.org:

After years of talk, fitful starts and poorly executed campaigns, California is finally in the midst of a serious discussion about the future of its state and local governments.

A panel of three federal judges ordered California officials to cut the state's prison population by 40,591 inmates in the next two years because of chronic overcrowding.

The budget revision approved by the Legislature last week is a travesty for California's cities and blatantly ignores the state constitution. State lawmakers once again resorted to gimmickry to give the appearance of a sound fiscal plan for California instead of making responsible choices to actually balance the budget. It's a budget that would make financial fraudster Bernie Madoff proud – and that's nothing to celebrate.

Like any child, our son, Sam, brings our family lots of joy, but more than his share of hard work. How many 17-year-old boys require 24-hour care, are tube-fed and incontinent?

These are difficult economic times, and crafting a deal to close the budget gap that has emerged since February was no small order, particularly when California's legislators are hamstrung by a two-thirds vote requirement for passing a budget and any tax increase.

The February budget agreement was a huge $12 billion blow to taxpayers. Increases in sales, gas and income taxes put California close to the top, if not at the top, of the most heavily taxed states in America. The new budget plan, with no new taxes and real cuts in spending, is a significant improvement.

As the budget clock ticked, the state's school funding guarantee complicated talks this week due to questions over how much money the state owes education now and in future years.

In his effort to fill the state's massive $26.3 billion budget deficit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is targeting social service programs he says are rife with fraud and abuse.

Once seen as the model of public employee labor sophistication and clout, California's prison officers union is struggling amid the state's financial meltdown and a sour relationship with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

1999 The Legislature passes and Gov. Gray Davis signs Assembly Bill 26 to create a domestic-partnership registry in California. The bill, by then-Assemblywoman Carol Migden, also requires hospitals to give domestic partners visitation rights and allows state and local employers to give spousal health benefits to partners.

Now that the California Supreme Court has upheld Proposition 8's constitutionality, some marriage-equality supporters are ready to begin collecting signatures for a new ballot measure to overturn it in next year's election.

I am concerned about the growing animosity between those who support Proposition 8 and those who oppose it.

Gov. Sarah Palin late Wednesday reappointed Tim Grussendorf to the open state Senate seat in spite of Senate Democrats already rejecting him for the job. The ongoing war between lawmakers and Palin over the seat is now spilling into other areas, including her choice for attorney general.

Palin's selection of Tim Grussendorf to fill a Democratic vacancy in the state Senate was controversial because he'd been registered as a Republican until recently. Wednesday, Senate Democrats rejected the appointment.

Palin appointed Grussendorf, a legislative aide, on Sunday to the seat that opened when Juneau Democrat Kim Elton resigned to take a federal job.

Gov. Sarah Palin said late Thursday she is refusing to accept the Alaska Senate Democrats' rejection of Tim Grussendorf as her appointee to the state Senate. Palin said the rejection isn't legally valid because it happened behind closed doors, and only among Democrats.

Diana Palin, 35, was accused of burglary, theft and trespassing in three break-ins at a Wasilla home. During one of the burglaries she apparently was accompanied by her four-year-old daughter.

Alaska's Gov. Sarah Palin owes more than a half million dollars to an Anchorage law firm that has defended her against ethics complaints, and she may create a legal fund to pay the bill, she said Friday. She blamed the debts on partisan, false and frivolous complaints, starting with "the politically motivated troopergate probe."

Gov. Sarah Palin plans to raise money for the re-election campaign of Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski and hopes to end speculation she might challenge Murkowski in the primary for the U.S. Senate next year.

Alaska Native leaders are angry at Gov. Sarah Palin's appointment of Wayne Anthony Ross to be the state's next attorney general over Ross' work in the 1980s to overturn a state law that gave Alaska's rural residents hunting preferences. The opposition, however, is unlikely to stop his confirmation.

Gov. Sarah Palin, whose youngest child has Down syndrome, on Friday criticized President Barack Obama's gaffe about the Special Olympics, calling his off-handed remark on the Tonight Show "degrading," especially since it was "coming from the most powerful position in the world."

This is one of Gov. Palin's most perplexing moves. Alaska's legislature has to rescue state from Gov. Palin's strange move.