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Pornographic news racks will never appear in Simi Valley again due to the signing of AB 17 by Gov. Wilson. Four years ago, I participated in an effort to stop pornographic news racks in Simi Valley, which proliferated around town like a cancer. After several hundred people went to the City Council, the city acted to get rid of these news racks. A couple of years later, summer of 1992, some news racks came back, and again we organized to get rid of them. And we did. The fight is now over.

You are right in calling AB 2958 a shameful outrage, but you glossed over another disturbing fact ("Pull In Phone Monopoly... ," editorial, July 1). When it came time for the Assembly to vote, only one member, Rod Pacheco (R-Riverside), wondered about the validity of a bill that is backed by SBC Communications--which, we found, underreported its net income by $2 billion between 1997 and 1999 alone (that translates to $350 million due to customers under profit-sharing)--and is opposed by numerous consumer groups throughout the state.

SACRAMENTO - California's $8-an-hour minimum wage needs to go up, says Watsonville Democratic Assemblyman Luis Alejo. And he may be getting the votes he needs to make it happen. But don't count on it; Alejo has tried this before. Alejo is the author of AB 10, which would give the Golden State its first minimum wage increase since 2008. The bill would raise it 25 cents an hour next year, 50 cents in 2015 and an additional 50 cents to $9.25 an hour in 2016. In 2017 and annually thereafter, hourly pay would be adjusted upward automatically, based on the state's inflation rate.