Jerry

Auto leasing deals abound these days, with offers that often seem too good to be true. How about a well-equipped Honda Accord for $250 a month with no down payment or any other drive-off fees? Or better yet, $199 a month for a Chevrolet Malibu? So, what's the catch? There isn't any if you know what you're getting into. There are always details. You need top-tier credit to qualify. You pay a penalty if you turn that Honda in with more than 36,000 miles. And the payment is not $250 a month because of that little matter of tax. It is more like $275, depending on where you live.

In a reminder of the boom years of the late 1990s, California's fiscal picture brightened in the first few months of 2013, leaving the state unexpectedly flush with cash. But when Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled his revised budget proposal Tuesday for fiscal 2013-14, he did something much more reminiscent of the "era of limits" in the 1970s: He laid out a cautious and moderate course. Specifically, he called on the Legislature to increase spending by less than 1% while doubling the amount held in reserve.

It's easy to sit home and take potshots at a public figure like Jerry Lewis (Letters, March 5 and 12). You may not like him as an entertainer. And you may disapprove of aspects of his personal life. But few others have brought smiles and laughter to as many children and adults as Mr. Lewis, and dedicated as much time and effort to a charitable cause, as has Mr. Lewis. If he is a "World Class Egomaniac," as reader Douglas McEwan claims, it's OK with me--he's earned the right. H. STEPHEN DEMPSEY Thousand Oaks

Arte Moreno has placed blame for the team's brutal 2013 start, its failure to make the playoffs for three straight years and several high-priced moves that have paid minimal dividends on the one person the Angels owner can't fire: Himself. "If you're going to blame anyone, you've got to blame me," Moreno told FoxSports.com on Wednesday in New York, where he is attending the owners' meetings. "I'm the one at the end of the day that has the final call. " Moreno orchestrated the signing of first baseman Albert Pujols to a 10-year, $240-million deal before 2012.

What's this? Another "new" Jerry Brown (Oct. 29), reinventing himself to run for mayor of Oakland? He's fast becoming the Democrat version of Richard Nixon--only not as sincere. BURT WILSON Simi Valley

It seemed like eavesdropping on a private conversation -- or reading a rival journalist's notes. But I eagerly did it anyway out of curiosity about Jerry Brown. What I found confirmed that the California attorney general hasn't changed a lot, at least in tone, since he was governor 30 years ago (1975-83). He's still argumentative, rebellious, inquisitive, self-confident, articulate, outspoken and egocentric. A reporter's dream. And it's a big reason -- along with the surname inherited from his late father, the revered Gov. Pat Brown -- that he has managed to survive 40 years in politics and now is the early front-runner to replace Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Finally Jerry Lewis is being recognized for his achievements and prodigious talent ("An Open Letter to the Academy," by David Weddle, Feb. 27). He's an original American clown whose movies have entertained the world; an innovative filmmaker whose techniques have influenced various directors; a tireless humanitarian who has raised more than $1 billion for charity. Does he deserve an Oscar? He deserves three! Hiram Kasten Los Angeles

Hulse made the Times travel section the finest in the country, bar none, during his 30 years as travel editor. His stories conveyed the sights, sounds, smells and unique ambience of the places he described so that you almost felt that you were there. If that is the measure of a good travel writer, then Jerry was a great one. Most remarkable was that despite the millions of exhausting miles he traveled, his work never grew jaded, never lost its freshness, romance and excitement.

With San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's announcement last month that he was withdrawing from next year's gubernatorial contest, the Democratic field in the race has dwindled to one: Jerry Brown. Whatever one thinks of Brown's merits as a once-and-future governor, that's a pretty thin field to choose from. It's not as if the Democrats are a small or embattled party in California, after all. Barack Obama carried the state by 24% last November. Democrats hold both U.S. Senate seats, most statewide offices and have lopsided majorities in the Legislature and the congressional delegation.

Without a doubt, life is smiling at Jerry Buss these days. "Like all gamblers, we feel like we're on a run," the Lakers owner said while reclining in a black leather chair near his luxury suite Sunday at Staples Center. The Lakers are five months removed from an NBA championship and favored to win another, leaving Buss in an upbeat mood as one day turns to another. In a wide-ranging 30-minute interview, Buss revealed why he was willing to spend a league-high $112.7 million to satisfy the Lakers' soaring player payroll demands.

SACRAMENTO - The graduation rates of UC students came under more scrutiny Wednesday as Gov. Jerry Brown urged administrators and faculty to prod more undergraduates to earn a degree in four years, not six. Brown recently proposed giving UC and Cal State more funds if they increase their graduation rates by 10% by 2017. UC leaders have said that is an admirable but unreasonable goal and that such issues as students' outside employment and their desire to take double majors slow them down.

SACRAMENTO - California may finally be free of deficits, but Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled a cautious budget Tuesday, saying the state's financial condition remains treacherously unstable. Brown put lawmakers on notice that he had no desire to ratchet up spending despite a multibillion-dollar windfall of tax receipts in recent months. Saying there is no evidence that the surge will last, he reduced his revenue estimates for the budget year that begins July 1. Only schools would get a substantial boost beyond what the governor proposed in January, before state income spiked.

SACRAMENTO - With California's deficit wiped out and its economy starting to hum, this was to be a year when Gov. Jerry Brown was free of the budget logjams that have paralyzed the Capitol. But instead, the governor has a fight on his hands - with his fellow Democrats. He is on a collision course with them over how to reshape the state's sprawling, complicated healthcare system to conform with President Obama's national overhaul. The sticking points in extending public healthcare to more Californians include how many to add to state insurance rolls, how much to pay doctors and hospitals, and how much money to give counties for their care of the indigent.

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Jerry Brown's office late Thursday produced a court-ordered plan to reduce prison crowding that includes the early release of elderly inmates and the relocation of thousands of offenders to private lockups or state fire camps, among other measures. Brown said in his filing that he would also ask the Legislature to allow hundreds of prisoners who earn time-off credit for good conduct to be freed early, along with about 400 "low-risk" inmates who are elderly or medically frail.

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Jerry Brown's office late Thursday produced a court-ordered plan to reduce prison crowding that includes the early release of thousands of inmates and the relocation of some prisoners to private lockups or state fire camps, among other measures. FOR THE RECORD: Prison plan: An article in the May 3 LATExtra section said that Gov. Jerry Brown's office produced a plan to reduce prison crowding by releasing thousands of inmates early. In fact, the plan proposes releasing hundreds, not thousands, of inmates.

Gov. Jerry Brown is pursuing a prison contract in California, too small to meet federal orders to reduce crowding, but enough to help Brown end the shipment of inmates to for-profit prisons out of state. According to bid documents, California offers to pay no more than $63 a day, on top of facility costs, to house up to 1,225 additional inmates in what the state calls "modified community" prisons. California currently has 600 inmates in one such private prison, paying more than $13 million a year to the GEO Group Inc . Bids for the new facilities are due May 28. At one point, California housed more than 5,600 inmates in 13 small "community" prisons built for state prisoners by local governments or by private prison operators.

Re "Ready for the Small Time" (May 19): Political reporter Mark Barabak's profile of former Gov. Jerry Brown is done with his usual deftness. However, it's hardly accurate to describe Jerry Brown's presidential campaigns as increasingly feeble. His '92 campaign won a half-dozen states and left him the runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination. More to the point, it perfectly forecast the agonies of corruption that the system is now undergoing in Washington. WILLIAM BRADLEY Sacramento What Jerry Brown needs to realize is that he must run for mayor of Oakland, and win. That is the only way his Green Plan for Oakland will ever be implemented.

SACRAMENTO - The state will send dozens of new agents into California neighborhoods this summer to confiscate nearly 40,000 handguns and assault rifles from people barred by law from owning firearms, officials said Wednesday. The plan received the green light Wednesday, when Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation providing $24 million to clear the backlog of weapons known to be in the hands of about 20,000 people who acquired them legally. They were later disqualified because of criminal convictions, restraining orders or serious mental illness.

SACRAMENTO - Arnold Schwarzenegger persuaded voters nine years ago that if they let him borrow money to cover the budget deficit, California's financial woes would end for good. A key part of his plan was a new rainy-day fund to insulate the state from further crisis. "It will be a whole new ball game," Schwarzenegger said. "Trust me. " But California was roiled by financial turmoil for years afterward, and today the reserve is empty. With more than $5 billion in bonds left to repay, Gov. Jerry Brown apparently plans to leave it that way. The reserve was created without a firm requirement to fill it, and Brown's proposed budget contains no allocation for the fund.