Im Works, an entertainment-industry advocate organization, recently launched an online petition asking California’s film and TV enthusiasts to lobby lawmakers to create greater incentives for production to stay within state borders.
While operating costs in California have grown more expensive over the past decade, other states and countries have established film tax credits in an effort to bring production to their territory.
From 2005 to 2013, California’s share of the one-hour TV series market declined from 64 percent to 28 percent, resulting in the loss of an estimated 8,500 jobs, the Film Works petition notes.
According to a report conducted by the San Francisco Film Commission, these job losses not only impact those who were formerly employed, but take a negative toll on the economy as a whole. The study found that every job lost in the film industry results in a loss of $112,000 in spending in the local economy.
And in the past 15 years, feature-film production in Los Angeles alone has declined almost 60 percent.
Almost as good a story  as that EPA fellow dreaming up climate standards who said he was a  CIA agent .
A Chinese con-woman created a “superhuman†alter ego.  She then claimed  that she possessed powers of invisibility in order to dupe her victims out of at least £12,000.
The 54-year-old fraudster, named only as Ms Yang, tricked two female lovers and one pensioner into believing she was actually “Mr Liâ€, a “superhuman†police officer who not only worked for both Interpol and the Chinese Ministry of Finance but was also able to make himself disappear.
The confidence trickster’s supernatural cover was blown last August when one victim discovered she had been sharing a bed not with Mr Li but with a convicted fraudster who was in fact a woman.
Ms Yang’s bizarre campaign of deception began in early 2013, according to the Beijing News. Short of cash, she allegedly faked documents in order to gain access to an internet forum for middle-aged singletons. There, Ms Yang posed as “Mr Li†– a senior Communist Party official who boasted physical attributes that are normally the reserve of Marvel superheroes.
Progressive progress: Bill de Blasio sets new rules for others.
Just days after Mayor Bill de Blasio announced an aggressive plan to prevent traffic deaths, CBS 2 cameras caught the driver of a car carrying the mayor violating a number of traffic laws.
As CBS 2′s Marcia Kramer reported Thursday, the mayor’s two-car caravan was seen speeding, blowing through stop signs, and violating other traffic laws. Kramer reported that if the driver of the lead car, which carried the mayor in its passenger seat, had been cited, he would have racked up enough points to get his license suspended.
[New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s progressive progress]
Visionary Street Safety Goal: No Fatalities or Serious Injuries on New York City Streets
“In just one night two weeks ago, three New Yorkers were killed while walking on New York City streets. This, tragically, was not unusual. In the past year, 291 of our neighbors were killed in car crashes, and 15,465 pedestrians and cyclists were injured in collisions with motor vehicles.
“In New York, one person is killed in a car crash every 30 hours. Every 10 seconds, a New Yorker suffers a traffic related injury, and every two hours a traffic injury results in dismemberment or disfigurement. From 2001 to 2010, more New Yorkers were killed in traffic than were murdered by guns. The consequences for New York families is tragic: being struck by a car is the most common cause of injury-related death among children 1-14 years old, and the second most common cause among those aged 15 and older.
Food Stamp Fraud?  New Mexico replaced 93,000 (70%) for Food Stamp  cards.
A bill that toughens penalties for those who try to trade food stamps and EBT cards for cash passed 65-0 in the New Mexico House of Representatives on Saturday and the bill’s sponsor thinks the chances are good that the measure can get through the Legislature before the 30-day legislative session ends Thursday.
“You have instances where people were continually committing fraud and we couldn’t really aggregate those into a felony,†said Rep. Monica Youngblood, R-Albuquerque of House Bill 229. “That’s what this bill will do.â€
Across the country, there have been reports of people going on Craigslist and offering to sell food stamps, Women, Infants and Children (WIC) checks or electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards for cash.
food stamps for alcohol
Here in New Mexico, a gas station attendant in Albuquerque was caught on tape by KOB-TV trading $200 in food stamps for $100 in cash.
Last May, a couple from Farmington was arrested and charged with entering false transactions for food purchases using food stamps and then giving half the money they were reimbursed to the holder of the food stamps.
“It’s really easy to sell (food stamps and EBT cards),†Youngblood said. “People stand outside grocery stores and actually offer them for half their value. I hear from teachers that kids are coming to school hungry and that shouldn’t be the case in our state, especially with the amount of public assistance we have.â€
written by Dr. Cameron Jackson   drcameronjackson@gmail.com
So say  New York politicians.  Why not spend 65 K instead of 60 K for each inmate in prison so when felons leave prison they have a 2 year college degree?
Will  a two year college degree break the 67% recidivism rate overall for all programs and all felons? Yes, 2 out of 3 felons are re-arrested within 3 years of leaving prison.
If New York does this will not California follow right after.
Until ex-felons make a choice to lead a life that contributes and is legal no program will keep persons from doing anti-social, illegal acts.
RE-AUTHORIZE MEANS NO UNION DUES TAKEN AUTOMATICALLY BY SEIU
Re-authorize contract so  no more automatic union dues taken from SEIU employees!
Can SEIU members at San Andreas Regional Center  (SARC)  learn something from the auto workers who did not sign up to become USW union members?  I hope so!
Volkswagen workers reject UAW in Tenn.; Union looks for Plan B to enter South
(Erik Schelzig/ AP ) – Workers assemble Volkswagen Passat sedans at the German automaker’s plant in Chattanooga, Tenn. Workers at the plant voted 712 to 626 to reject unionization at the plant.
Everything seemed to be going the United Auto Workers’ way: A company actively in support, laws that don’t require workers to pay dues even if they vote for a union, automatic membership in a German-style “works council†that would give employees real authority over day-to-day matters at the plant. A “yes†ballot was risk-free.But late on Friday night, 712 employees at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga voted against joining the union — more than enough to overwhelm the 626 who voted in favor.
On its face, the vote was shocking to supporters.“My company is freely offering me voting rights,†said pro-union worker Chris Brown, in the days preceding the vote. “Why would I turn it down? They want my voice.â€The news is a huge blow for the UAW, which has struggled for decades to organize foreign automakers drawn to the South in part because of its low union density — a phenomenon that has dragged down wages even at Detroit’s unionized Big Three. After years of discouraging losses, the UAW had staked its Southern strategy on winning this one and blamed threats and intimidation by politically motivated third parties for turning the tide against them.
“I think it was unprecedented that outside forces, whether it was the Koch brothers and the money they spent here, whether it was [Republican Sen. Bob] Corker, whether it was Grover Norquist, all these people who were going to come in and threaten the company and threaten workers, to me was outrageous,†said UAW President Bob King, at a news conference after the tally was announced.
In a high-profile public campaign, Republican politicians threatened to withhold further tax incentives if the plant organized, while D.C. conservative activist Grover Norquist plastered the town with anti-union billboards and churned out UAW-bashing op-eds. As the vote commenced, Corker even said he’d been “assured†that Volkswagen would make a planned new SUV in Chattanooga rather than Mexico if workers voted no, even though the company has said consistently that the vote had no bearing on its choice.
The real ground game, by contrast, came by way of a dedicated core of anti-union workers who handed out fliers, voiced their opposition through a Web site and social media, and held a big meeting Feb. 8 to make their case. “It just spread,†said Mike Jarvis, in a group gathered outside the news conference in the rain on Friday night, wearing blue T-shirts with a crossed-out UAW. “I told two people who told four people who told eight people, like a pyramid kind of thing.â€
The winning argument? Jarvis said people on the fence were persuaded by a clause in aNeutrality Agreement negotiated between Volkswagen and the UAW before the election, establishing a principle of “maintaining and where possible enhancing the cost advantages and other competitive advantages†that Volkswagen enjoys over its competitors. In other words, keeping wages and benefits from getting too high relative to General Motors, Ford and Chrysler — which Jarvis calculated would take $3 per hour off his current pay.
The problem is, what Jarvis interpreted as wage suppression was exactly the kind of innovation that the union was counting on to deliver a win. Since the auto bailouts in 2009 and in a departure from its militant past, the UAW has shifted toward a more cooperative approach that it says is aimed at helping companies succeed. “With every company that we work with, we’re concerned about competitiveness,†King said, when asked why the clause was included. “We are showing that companies that succeed by this cooperation can have higher wages and benefits because of the joint success.â€
___________________
That’s the pitch that’s supposed to make companies more amenable to the idea of allowing their workers to have representation. But what if the prospect of too much coziness with management spooks the workers themselves? Successful organizing campaigns need a scary opposition — and there was no way to make Volkswagen into such a figure. “Volkswagen’s a class act,†said UAW Secretary-Treasurer Dennis Williams.
Ironically, Volkswagen’s generous benefits might have made organizing more difficult, since most workers were content with what they had, and enough were persuaded that a union might just rock the boat. Take it from Steve, the father of a quality control manager at the plant who voted “no†— he withheld his last name to protect his son from controversy — who just doesn’t see why unions are necessary.
“Well, you know, I think at one time they were very useful. But now, I don’t know that you get that much benefit from them,†said Steve, while eating dinner with his wife, Candy, at a Waffle House on Wednesday. “When they first came in, it was a good thing, because workers were really getting taken advantage of. But it’s not so much the case anymore.â€
Jarod Roll, a labor historian at the University of Mississippi, noted that “the South has historically had a low-wage economy where good-paying jobs have been hard to find and to keep. That historical experience has influence when people get good jobs because it makes them reluctant to do anything that might put those jobs at risk, like join a union.â€
The narrow defeat will have repercussions. The UAW had already begun to apply a similar organizing model to a Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance, Ala., figuring that parent company Daimler might also be more willing to accept a works council. Now, there’s little competitive pressure to do so.
The biggest fallout of the loss, however, isn’t for the workers who already have jobs at the German-owned plants. Rather, it’s the ones who work at places such as the Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tenn., which has gradually been replacing its full-time positions with temporary jobs that pay much less and grant no sense of stability. The UAW lost a vote there in 2001, and while it still has organizers on the ground in Smyrna, workers will look to Chattanooga and wonder why so many thought the union was a bad idea.
Of course, the UAW had other headwinds, besides political animosity and the lack of a bogeyman to campaign against. Detroit’s bankruptcy last fall cast a shadow over its efforts, as union opponents effectively tied imagery of the belly-up city to bloated union benefits. That legacy has left the autoworkers with an even more negative impression in the eyes of those who may never have met a union worker — or never thought they did.
“The public image of the autoworkers is very negative,†says Kristin Dzickek, a labor specialist at the Center for Automotive Research. “But if you think of the public image of UPS drivers, nurses, people you interact with in day-to-day jobs who may also be union members, they’re not seen as thugs. I don’t think anyone sees their UPS driver as a thug, even though some of them make more than autoworkers do. There’s not that same kind of attack on unionization in other sectors.â€
On Stalin & Sochi: CNN never found a gulag it didn’t like
On Stalin & Sochi: Â CNN never found a gulag it didn’t like.
CNN comments on Stalin and Sochi
“Nestled in the coniferous, cypress-tree forest of the Matsesta mineral springs area and perched in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains, it was seen as the ideal refuge to replenish the man whose day job was ruling over 200 million people. …
“Generally, he liked to be all alone. He loved his wife  Svetlana and his children. He had no friends. He read and thought a lot. He enjoyed hunting. He also loved farming. He grew lemons (for medicinal drinks). So,  he was an unsociable man, I think.”      http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/12/world/sochi-olympics-joseph-stalin-dacha/
____________________________________
Firenze Sage, Esq.
Actually Svetlana was Stalin’s  daughter. His wife shot herself after the reclusive Joe humiliated her at a drunken party.  Oh and by the way, Stalin murdered millions of people.
325 missing persons found in  Santa Cruz County,  2013  with help of volunteer  Christopher Smith
325 Â missing persons “found” — cases resolved — in Santa Cruz County in 2013. Wow!
How?  One person, Christopher  Smith, volunteers with the Santa Cruz County  Sheriff’s office and works these cases.
Christopher Smith checks on cases 7 days a week. He  volunteers  Monday – Friday AMs  working  cases involving  missing persons and other issues.Â
When not doing  volunteer  police activity, Christopher  Smith has a Santa Cruz, CA  law practice.
Christopher  reports that in his spare time he has taken up motor cycle  racing classes and has high hopes of  doing the Baja 1000 race.
Concerning Missing Person Reports:  All law enforcement persons must take reports and do so in a timely manner.  If you are living in the County of Santa Cruz those reports will go over Christopher Smith’s  desk.
SANTA CRUZ — In a cold murder case that flummoxed investigators for two decades, Santa Cruz police this week identified a Pacifica 17-year-old as the woman known as Pogonip Jane.
Kori Joanne Lamaster, found dead in January 1994, was identified through DNA and fingerprints, said Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark.
Lamaster traveled from Pacifica to Santa Cruz and other areas of the Central Coast in late 1993, and police believe she was bludgeoned in the head with a metal pipe and partially buried in Pogonip — a wooded area between UC Santa Cruz and the Harvey West area.
“We’re really relieved to have an identity and to be able to provide some closure to the family,” Clark said Wednesday. “But our work’s not done here yet.”
Lamaster’s killer has not been identified, and police are still seeking information in the case.
Lamaster went missing in 1993.
MYSTERY DEATH
On Jan. 29, 1994, two hikers were looking for mushrooms in Pogonip when they found the body of a naked woman in the middle of a trail. Under a small tree, she was about 50 feet from a homeless camp.
“It was pretty upsetting,” hiker Lauri Duncan said of the find.
Lamaster had short brown hair, pink-painted fingernails and a small heart tattooed between her left thumb and index finger. At the camp, police later found her clothing, a Bible, camping gear and trash — although it wasn’t clear if she had been camping there.
For years, detectives could not identify her. It was a case that bothered Santa Cruz police Sgt. Loran “Butch” Baker, one of two Santa Cruz detectives killed on duty earlier this year.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office volunteer Christopher Smith also worked on the case, as did sheriff’s Sgt. Alan Burt, Santa Cruz police detective Bruce Cline and others.
Samples from the teeth of Pogonip Jane were used to determine her approximate age. Authorities believe she was killed days or weeks before she was found, based in part on the decomposition of her body.
To seek leads in the case in 2010, authorities even created a model of her head and sought the public’s help. The bust was strikingly similar to photos later found of Lamaster.
Lamaster’s family did not report her missing to Pacifica police until 2007. Clark declined to say why her family waited so long to report her missing.
MISSING WOMAN
In 2008, Lamaster’s family submitted a DNA sample to Pacifica police. It was checked against a state DNA database with thousands of DNA samples — including one taken from Pogonip Jane.
In October, the state Department of Justice laboratory told Santa Cruz police it had a match. Santa Cruz police detectives then contacted Lamaster’s family, and they reached Lamaster’s adopted sister in Washington. Lamaster’s sister happened to have a fingerprint card from Lamaster made when Lamaster was a child.
The prints matched ones taken from the body, and Santa Cruz police were assured they had a positive ID this week.
“We were extremely excited,” said Clark, the deputy police chief.
He said investigators are now looking for anyone who might have seen Lamaster while she was in Santa Cruz in 1993.
Police had picked her up in the city as a runaway a few years prior to her death, Clark said, but it was not clear how long she was in town.
Now that police have distributed photos of Lamaster in her teens, “We’re wondering if somebody’s memories might be jarred,” said Clark.
“Was she camping up there (in Pogonip)? Is there anything that would show what her daily activity was like? Who was she with? How far did she travel?” Clark asked.
Two men have been named as “persons of interest” in the case: Wayne and Greg White. Greg is Wayne’s son and is deceased, and Wayne White lives in Tennessee.
“We’re interested in talking with anyone who may have information about this father-and-son team, especially anyone who may have witnessed them traveling with Kori,” Clark said.
He said Kori Lamaster’s identification — 20 years after the crime — would have relieved detective Baker, who even visited Wayne White in Tennessee a few years ago as part of the investigation.
“It meant a great deal to us,” Clark said of the case.
“As an investigator, you always have those cases that continue to haunt you. And this is one of those that haunted Butch.”
Santa Cruz police asked that anyone with information on the case to call investigations at 831-420-5820, the anonymous tip line at 831-420-5995 or leave a tip at www.santacruzpolice.com or by the mobile application at http://m.santacruzpolice.com.
Birds cooked  by solar plant in CA.  A 2 billion $  bird killer!  What are we doing?
Birds like heat. Guess what! Bird die after largest solar plant opens in Ca. How? Cooked to death. Good heavens!
New solar plant  covers 5  square miles. More info:
The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, the world’s largest “tower-based” solar plant, is scheduled to open this week in the Mojave Desert. According to Brightsource, one of the project’s investors, the plant covers 3,500 acres (five square miles) with “over 300,000 software-controlled mirrors [that] track the sun in three dimensions and reflect the sunlight to boilers that sit atop three 459 foot tall towers.” The Wall Street Journal puts the exact figure at 347,000 “garage door-size mirrors.”
Ivanpah cost $2.2 billion, but investors have few worries. The plant  was financed with a federal loan guarantee of $1.6 billion, and Californians are required under Renewable Portfolio Standards to purchase Ivanpah’s electricity for the next 30 years, at four times the cost of electricity generated with natural gas.
Birds seem to be attracted to the array, thinking that the shimmering mirrors are a body of water.
It turns out that when those 347,000 mirrors focus sunlight up to the 459-foot high towers, the surrounding air gets warmed up a bit — to a toasty 1,000 degrees F, hot enough to fry our feathered friends to a crisp.
Firenze Sage:  Oh and in sunny California you get to pay 4x the going rate for electricity.  This  is fine on the coast but most of  California  requires air conditioning for 4x the going rate.
 http://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=four+more+obama+years
City officials had been working with Trader Joe’s for more than a year to convince the grocery store to invest $8 million in a “historically African-American neighborhood.†A high crime neighborhood. The kind of place that First Lady Michelle Obama calls a “food desert†because large grocery stories will not open there.
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