Governors

SACRAMENTO - Arnold Schwarzenegger has found lots of ways to keep busy since leaving the governor's office, including starring in action movies and lending his name to a policy institute at USC. Now he'll return to a role that stirred controversy during his time in Sacramento: serving as executive editor of Muscle & Fitness and Flex magazines. The move was announced Friday by American Media Inc., which owns the magazines. Schwarzenegger, who was named Mr. Olympia seven times, first took the editorship shortly after winning the 2003 gubernatorial recall election.

Saying he still poses a threat to society, Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday blocked parole for Manson family member Bruce Davis. “Until Davis can acknowledge and explain why he actively championed the Family's interests, and shed more light on the nature of his involvement, I am not prepared to release him,” the governor wrote in his decision. Davis, 26 at the time of the killings, was convicted and imprisoned in 1972 for his role in the murders of two men, ranch hand Donald “Shorty” Shea, who also worked as a Hollywood stuntman, and aspiring musician Gary Hinman.

Detroit's deteriorating fiscal picture is so dire that Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder on Friday declared a city financial emergency, paving the way for eventual state oversight and control. The announcement comes after a state team last month reported on Detroit's growing problems, including a $327-million budget deficit and more than $14 billion in long-term debt. The next step would be the appointment of a board and state emergency manager with broad powers to deal with the city's sinking finances.

WASHINGTON -- In a move likely to shake up the top election contest of 2013, Bill Bolling said Thursday that he's received an "amazing" amount of encouragement to run as an "independent Republican" for governor of Virginia, and he called it a race he could win.  A campaign by Bolling, the GOP lieutenant governor, would inject a new element of uncertainty into the Virginia race.  Only two states are choosing governors this year. In New Jersey, Republican Gov. Chris Christie is strongly  favored to gain reelection.

On the elegant stairway up to the Governors Ball, a man was having fun with the name of the event he was about to attend, loudly proclaiming it - or, rather, a variation of it that suggested a part of the male anatomy - to anyone who'd listen. The man could be excused for a burst of adolescent delight: He was George Clooney, and the actor-filmmaker had just won the best picture Oscar for his work on “Argo,” a fact evident from the statuette he was gripping triumphantly. Inside the ball - the swanky post-show event for Oscar attendees at a ballroom atop the Hollywood & Highland complex - winners and losers mingled and nibbled on Wolfgang Puck-made pot pies and pizzas as musician Michael Feinstein took the stage and played a few swingy numbers.

WASHINGTON - Planes delayed. Teachers laid off. And, now, more illegal immigrants slipping past the Border Patrol. The White House on Monday added to its list of dire consequences it says would come from automatic federal budget cuts scheduled to start Friday, part of a campaign to ignite a public outcry. For days, President Obama and his aides have been turning up the volume about the effects of the across-the-board cuts, seeking to gain leverage over Republicans in Washington's latest fiscal fight.

In the Anaheim City School District, where most students are low-income and struggling to learn English, teachers need special training, extra tutoring time and lots of visual materials to help their pupils achieve at grade level. In the well-heeled Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District, poverty and limited English are not widespread problems. But officials there say their student needs include more expensive Advanced Placement classes to challenge them with college-level material in high school.

PHOENIX - Not long ago, when the tea party was in full boil, Jan Brewer became a heroine to conservatives across the country with her finger-jabbing defiance of President Obama and the signing of Arizona's tough, show-me-your-papers immigration law. But lately the state's Republican governor has confounded many and angered others by moving decidedly leftward, proposing a Medicaid expansion under Obama's healthcare overhaul - financed by a new...

Can't wait to roll out the fondue, sample ballots and Champagne for your own at-home Oscar party? You'll be in fine company as the stars roll out to their own celebrations surrounding the big show. Here are a few of the weekend's biggies: Starting out ahead of the game is the Weinstein Co. , which returns to the Soho House with jeweler Chopard to toast its nominees on Saturday night. Keeping it informal and sentimental, Weinstein is known for taking the mike and serenading the journey of his filmmakers and stars to Oscar Sunday.