Arnold Schwarzenegger

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger went on the offensive Monday in the stalled state finance talks, releasing a television ad in which he vows to oppose any budget that raises taxes or "spends money we do not have." The governor's commercial comes at an awkward moment in negotiations over the state's projected $26.3-billion budget gap, as all sides described a weekend of closed-door talks among top lawmakers and Schwarzenegger as productive. Negotiations are set to continue today.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger replaced most members of the state Board of Registered Nursing on Monday, citing the unacceptable time it takes to discipline nurses accused of egregious misconduct. He fired three of six sitting board members -- including President Susanne Phillips -- in two-paragraph letters curtly thanking them for their service. Another member resigned Sunday. Late Monday, the governor's administration released a list of replacements.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger swore in six new members of the state nursing board Wednesday, vowing to "weed out the bad actors" among the ranks of California nurses. The governor abruptly replaced four members of the Board of Registered Nursing and filled two vacancies this week, after publication Sunday of an investigation by The Times and the nonprofit news organization ProPublica that showed inordinate delays in disciplining wayward nurses.

A proposal that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been pushing in closed-door budget talks would tie the state, with little oversight or review, into a multibillion-dollar computer system likely to be run by the private sector to enroll low-income Californians in welfare, food stamp and healthcare programs. A draft of the plan obtained by The Times shows that Schwarzenegger would replace existing county-run processes, which use four different computer systems across the state, with a single one.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been chanting this mantra since he first landed in Sacramento: Sacramento must learn to live within its means. The volume rose in late June when budget talks heated up. The governor lambasted "Sacramento's failure to live within its means" -- as if he weren't Sacramento's most powerful politician. At a Los Angeles news conference, he complained that "they live way, way beyond their means."

Stung by criticism, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger blasted his administration's Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, plagued by a massive backlog in handling appeals of jobless Californians denied unemployment compensation. The board has blamed the governor's policies for at least part of an 82,500-case pileup, citing state-ordered work furloughs for its employees. Now Schwarzenegger is firing back, saying board staff members, including judges, are not working hard enough.

The fact that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's poll numbers have plummeted to where Gray Davis' were when Schwarzenegger booted him from office might humble an ordinary politician. He'd probably lower his sights. But not Schwarzenegger. The lame duck governor intends to pursue an ambitious legislative agenda the rest of this year and next while pushing ballot measures in the 2010 primary and general elections.

Three years after Margaret Hamblin was busted for running a $50 betting pool on football at the Elks Lodge, the 76-year-old grandmother believes she got some justice Thursday when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law reducing the penalty for participating in such office betting contests. The betting pool measure was one of 128 bills the governor signed Thursday as he cleared his desk of legislation that had been delayed as lawmakers grappled with the state's budget problems.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called on legislators Thursday to adopt sweeping education reforms that would dramatically reshape California's public education system and qualify the state for competitive federal school funding. The governor's proposed legislation, to be considered during a special session that ends by Oct. 5, was met almost immediately by criticism from the powerful state teacher unions, which called Schwarzenegger's plans rushed and unnecessary. While Schwarzenegger's goal is to boost California's chances to qualify for $4.35 billion in federal grants, known as "Race to the Top," many of his proposals go far beyond those needed for eligibility, and embrace the Obama administration's key education reform proposals.

Unemployment in California is high, which could partly explain why thousands of people had time to line up on a Friday morning to go shopping. Another possibility was the allure of a bargain, as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration launched the Great California Garage Sale to unload some unneeded items, cheap. The governor toured the site Friday morning before flying east for the funeral of his wife's uncle, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). The shoppers had waited in the pre-dawn outside the Sacramento-area warehouse.