Hilda L Solis

The Senate, acting within hours of President Obama's inauguration, confirmed six of his Cabinet secretaries and his budget director Tuesday, but postponed for one day a vote on the nomination of Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of State. Sen.

House and Senate negotiators agreed Thursday to extend daylight saving time by four weeks as part of a sweeping energy bill. The provision is designed to save energy. But Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a co-sponsor, said, "The beauty of daylight savings time is that it just makes everyone feel sunnier." Under the measure, clocks would be turned forward an hour on the second Sunday of March and turned back an hour on the first Sunday of November.

Entertainment industry moguls and various local billionaires seem to have two favorite California Republicans: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (of course) and the not as well known but equally liked Noel Irwin Hentschel. This week, the Bel Air entrepreneur and GOP activist sent out a clarion call to all her friends in Hollywood (and everyone else on her vast e-mail contact list) to join her campaign to aid the victims of China's deadly earthquake.

The California Highway Patrol is investigating a possible breach of the governor's computer system after The Times published an audio recording of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger bantering with staff in a private meeting last spring. Schwarzenegger apologized Friday for comments made on the six-minute recording, which The Times posted Thursday on its website.

The National Park Service is launching a study of sites in California and other states associated with the life and work of labor leader Cesar E. Chavez for possible designation as a national historic landmark or addition to the national park system. "The life of Cesar Chavez and people like him who have worked to make this country a better, more perfect union deserve to be recognized as part of the history of America," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Thursday. "As stewards of the history of this great nation we look forward to working with the Chavez family, the United Farm Workers and communities throughout California and Arizona to determine how best to preserve this great legacy."

WASHINGTON - President Obama intends to nominate career civil-rights attorney Thomas Perez as secretary of Labor, people familiar with the deliberations confirmed Sunday. Perez is an assistant attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice. If confirmed by the Senate, replacing Hilda L. Solis, who announced her resignation as secretary of Labor in January to return to Southern California. He would be the only Latino Cabinet secretary. A White House announcement of Perez's nomination is expected but not imminent, according to the sources.

WASHINGTON - Wednesday's "photo of the day" on the White House website showed an unusual sight in Oval Office history - the president surrounded by top advisors, only half of whom are white men. The picture seemed calculated to counter criticism that President Obama's new set of Cabinet appointees so far all are white and male. Obama is expected to name his chief of staff, Jacob Lew, to lead the Treasury Department. Further compounding the diversity problem, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to leave the administration soon, and Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis announced Wednesday that she was resigning.

In a move that is sure to have the agriculture industry grimacing and labor-rights advocates cheering, the Labor Department is reversing a Bush administration rule that allowed farmers an easier path to hiring temporary or seasonal foreign workers. The department has issued new regulations that will require growers to take more steps to try to find Americans to fill jobs picking crops and other harvest-time roles, as well as increase pay and provide more job-safety protections for the thousands of foreign farmworkers they do hire.