Voices from the March (budget)

Robbing Rose's Flowers to pay Wal-Mart

By Brandon Ortiz on April 5

Willie Pelote from AFSCME has an excellent column in the California Progress Report about how "economic" incentive programs at the state and local level subsidize mega corporations like Wal-Mart, which in turn drive mom-and-pop stores -- like the one owned by Irene Gonzalez's foster parents -- out of business.

We must build a culture of community autonomy and self-reliance

By Jenn Laskin on March 22

As we move up the Central Valley I see and speak with many people. Different skins colors and cultures line our path.

So many people driving through only see the nice homes and the people who live in them. We overlook the trailer compounds along the road, sandwiched between a prison on the left and a cows on the right standing up to their knees in mud and manure. The bulls stand guard along the highway with huge horns.

'My wheelchair can't hold me back, but budget cuts can'

By Brandon Ortiz on March 18

David Bacon delivers another great story about the march. For this one, he interviews Maria Salgado, an immigrant student in Bakersfield, about how fee increases are denying her an education. Here are the highlights:

State payroll bloated? Think again

By Brandon Ortiz on March 18

Over and over, the right wing tells us, California government is too big. It's been repeated so many times that it's become conventional wisdom.

The facts, however, tell a different story.

California actually had the third fewest state employees in proportion to its population in the country in 2008, according to a new report by the Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy. In fact, California is 28 percent below the national average.

'Massive wave' of teacher layoffs predicted

By Brandon Ortiz on March 15

More than 22,000 teachers and school employees across California recently received pinkslips -- notices that they may be laid off if the Legislature rubber stamps the governor's anti-education budget proposal, according to the Los Angeles Times.