Sacramento County

In his foreword to "Hillinger's California" (Capra Press, 284 pages, $16.95), comedian Bob Hope says the author "has left no California stone unturned--save a few golf courses which are worthy of note." But who needs golf when you've got the "moaning cave" of Calaveras County and a booming, shrieking, sighing, singing sand dune in San Bernardino County? For 46 years, from 1946 to 1992, Charles Hillinger roamed the country as a reporter and feature writer for the Los Angeles Times.

Only days before California begins directing nonviolent drug offenders to treatment centers rather than jail, a drug policy group said Wednesday that four of the state's largest counties are dangerously unprepared to handle the impact of Proposition 36.

Robert Fountain still remembers the smell of tomato soup drifting from the downtown canneries into the lazy streets of this capital city. It was 1976, and the young economist had moved here from West Los Angeles to draw a paycheck from government, like practically every other worker in town. The city was, in every sense, "a plain vanilla government town," Fountain recalls. "It was two years before I saw a Rolls-Royce." Nowadays, Fountain is similarly incredulous.

Hostility between Republicans and Democrats flared all over the Capitol on Monday, as Republicans vowed to repeal a new law that grants driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and Democrats killed a popular bill by a Republican challenger to the governor.

A janitor was found guilty Wednesday in the 1997 rape and murder of a popular high school senior, a crime that prompted California legislators to tighten employee screening and prevent hiring felons convicted of serious crimes. Alex Dale Thomas, a convicted felon and Los Angeles gang member, now faces a Sept. 18 hearing to decide if he will be sentenced to death for the daytime slaying of Michelle Montoya at a rural Sacramento County high school.

Patient care workers at the University of California's medical centers plan to stage a two-day strike next week, but the number taking part will be decided Monday in Sacramento County Superior Court. A judge is expected to rule on a request for a temporary restraining order limiting the number of workers who may take part in the walkout. According to UC officials, the focus is on workers considered essential for patient care. The union representing nearly 13,000 patient healthcare workers has notified UC that it plans to strike over contract issues from 4 a.m. Tuesday to 4 a.m. Thursday.

Three have been fired and 10 have quit. Nine have been promoted. Two have killed suspects while on duty. And one stands accused of falsifying evidence in a murder case. For most of the 44 Los Angeles Police Department officers labeled "problem officers" in the landmark 1991 Christopher Commission report, the past four years have been tumultuous. The commission said its intention was to illustrate, not define, what it called "the problem of excessive force in the LAPD."

Without fanfare, Sacramento County supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved California's first law allowing use of tax money to help finance political campaigns. "I believe this ordinance will be one of the most important decisions this board has made in a generation," Supervisor Ted Sheedy said before the board voted 5-0 for the measure. "It's good government."

California counties will get $196.2 million this year to treat drug and alcohol abusers and try to reduce the demand for drugs, state drug czar Chauncey Veatch said. About 77% of the money will be spent on drug and alcohol treatment programs run by counties, and the rest will be used for local prevention programs, said Veatch, director of the state Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs.

A little more than a year ago, California quietly began conducting tests on the GPS monitoring devices that track the movements of thousands of sex offenders. The results were alarming. Corrections officials found the devices used in half the state were so inaccurate and unreliable that the public was "in imminent danger. " Batteries died early, cases cracked, reported locations were off by as much as three miles. Officials also found that tampering alerts failed and offenders were able to disappear by covering the devices with foil, deploying illegal GPS jammers or ducking into cars or buildings.