State Buildings

A state appeals court has stalled the controversial sale of 24 government buildings, ruling Monday afternoon that the transaction cannot go forward this week as planned and delaying it until at least January. The Schwarzenegger administration had hoped to help fill the state's yawning budget deficit by selling the buildings ? including the homes of the state Supreme Court and two appeals courts ? to raise $1.2 billion for this year's shortfall and then leasing them back. But two former members of the state building authority filed suit last month to halt the sale, arguing that it was a waste of taxpayer money.

A Confederate flag that was briefly displayed inside the old North Carolina State Capitol building is coming down and will be moved along with an exhibit on the Civil War to another site. The flag had been hanging for about a week before the Associated Press published a story about its display inside the building, which houses the governor's offices. In a statement provided by the governor's office, Susan Kluttz, the head of the state Cultural Resources office said the intent of the exhibit was to represent the Capitol the way it was in 1863.

Four years after voters approved bonds to strengthen government buildings, the Wilson Administration on Friday identified the most seismically unsafe state buildings in California, including three in Downtown Los Angeles that it singled out for demolition.

It's been 80 years since a giant ape climbed to the top of the Empire State Building and held on to a tiny actress while planes flew over trying to shoot him down. That scene in the original 1933 "King Kong" is one of the most memorable in cinema history. "I don't care how old you are, you feel for the poor gorilla and what happened to him," said "Kong" historian John Michlig, who has written for the "Kong Is King" website. Though there have been sequels and remakes - including Peter Jackson's CGI-driven 2005 hit - none have matched the magic and romance of RKO's original, produced and directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack.

Four years after voters approved bonds to strengthen government buildings, the Wilson Administration on Friday identified the 20 most seismically unsafe state buildings in California, including three in Downtown Los Angeles that it singled out for demolition.

The state Seismic Safety Commission is proposing an $800-million bond issue to finance strengthening or demolishing hazardous state government buildings that could collapse in an earthquake. More than 100 such buildings are used by the University of California, according to a commission survey.

The state Seismic Safety Commission has been pushing the Legislature for several years to begin repairing and retrofitting state buildings and local government buildings that might collapse or suffer serious damage in a moderate or severe earthquake. The state owns 16,000 structures throughout California, many of which need to be upgraded to modern earthquake-safety standards.

A total of $800 million is needed to reinforce 250 hospitals and state-owned buildings considered potentially hazardous in a major earthquake, the chief administrator of the California Seismic Safety Commission told a legislative panel meeting Friday in Los Angeles. State Sen.

In a striking exception to California's stagnated urban construction scene, the blam, blam of the pile driver echoes through downtown Sacramento, pounding merrily along, scarcely missing a beat through good times and recession times. One by one in recent years, construction projects rising in the capital city have added office space equal to the area of about 100 football fields.

It was a big, early test for Gov. Jerry Brown. And he passed with an "A. " He opted for prudence rather than expedience. Brown essentially walked out of escrow Wednesday on arguably the worst real estate deal the state of California had ever conjured up. It was a transaction authorized by a wimpy Legislature ? trying to avoid deeper spending cuts and higher taxes ? and negotiated by the Schwarzenegger administration. Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ? a play now, pay later type of guy ?

A man who shot to death a former colleague in midtown Manhattan and then took aim at police never fired at the officers before they gunned him down in a hail of bullets that also wounded nine bystanders outside the Empire State Building. The New York City police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, said Saturday that three of the pedestrians suffered bullet wounds and the others “were struck with fragments of some sort” as a result of the two officers' shooting at Jeffrey Johnson after he pointed his .45-caliber handgun at them.

Los Angeles Times NEW YORK - Each morning, Jeffrey Johnson would put on a suit, leave his Manhattan apartment, and walk to a nearby McDonald's to pick up breakfast. Sometimes he would greet a neighbor and pet her dog along the way. Friday seemed no different to those familiar with Johnson's ritual, but this time, he did not return to his apartment with breakfast in a bag. Instead, he headed to Midtown Manhattan, to his former employer's shop near the foot of the Empire State Building, and shot an ex-colleague repeatedly in the head, police said.

Gunfire broke out on the street outside the Empire State Building in Manhattan at the height of rush hour Friday, and initial reports said that multiple people have been shot and the shooter was dead. Media reports said at least three other people had been shot, but their conditions were not immediately known. The gunfire erupted about 9 a.m. EDT outside the iconic building at 34th Street and 5th Avenue. Police blocked off traffic around the building, which on a normal summer morning would be surrounded by tourists lined up to ride the elevator to its top floors, and commuters who work inside.

NEW YORK -- Jeffrey Johnson, who police identified as the gunman outside the Empire State Building, was described by neighbors as a quiet man with a strict morning ritual: Dressed in a suit with a New York Times tucked under his arm, he would walk around the corner and return shortly after with a takeout McDonald's bag.  “Seven days a week, he would leave between 7:30 and 8 in the morning, come back 20 minutes later, and go into the building, always...

A man who opened fire on the crowded streets outside the Empire State Building, shooting indiscriminately and hitting multiple people, appears to have been motivated by a workplace dispute, not terrorism, according to an FBI official who received the initial reports from police on the scene. “The preliminary indication is that there is no nexus to terrorism,” said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly. Early reports said the gunman and at least one other person were dead.

Word is that King Kong is on top of this IPO. The owners of the famed Empire State Building in New York are planning an initial public offering that could raise as much as $1 billion toward making upgrades to the 1931 structure that was once the tallest building in the world. Empire State Reality Trust Inc. said in a regulatory filing that about $65 million of the money will be used to complete planned renovations of the 102-story building that claims to be the most famous office building in the world.

Gov. Jerry Brown has an unexpected opportunity to kill perhaps the worst real estate deal the state of California has ever concocted. It's a dreadful deal for taxpayers, that is. It's a sweetheart for private investors. INTERACTIVE: Try your hand at balancing the state budget But Brown may be so desperate for cash to balance the books in Sacramento that he will feel compelled to move ahead with the fire sale of 24 buildings on 11 pieces of property. This Sacramento swill was cooked up by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature to feed their addiction to borrowing.

A survey of more than 240 state buildings, to determine the extent of asbestos contamination, will be undertaken on behalf of the California Department of Health by Diagnostic Engineering Inc. of Sierra Madre. The potential health hazards and accompanying liabilities associated with asbestos have prompted building owners all over the country to inspect and monitor their structures and to take corrective action to ensure safer work environments, said Charles F. Redinger, principal of DEI.

It's time to grade Jerry Brown on his first year back as California's governor. He certainly doesn't rate an A. But he hardly deserves an F either, even if he did fail in his most important task: forging a bipartisan compromise on taxes, spending and deficit reduction. It's a bear to negotiate with Republicans when they shrivel into a ball at the mere mention of taxes. Grading Brown is a tough call. What did he actually accomplish? His biggest achievement is essentially overlooked: He didn't screw things up worse.

One of the most dramatic protests against Alabama's tough illegal immigration law unfolded here Tuesday as 13 activists, most of them from out of state, were arrested for blocking a street near the Capitol and refusing to leave a legislative office building as a crowd chanted, "Undocumented, unafraid!" The acts of civil disobedience were the culmination of a rally organized by the Dream is Coming project, a group of young illegal immigrants calling for passage of the DREAM Act, the proposed federal legislation that would create a path to citizenship for qualifying illegal immigrants who attend college or enroll in the military.