Veto

Among the dozens of bills vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown in recent days was a measure that would have required medical providers to notify women if they have dense breast tissue — a factor that could obscure detection of cancer on a standard mammogram. The proposal would have required that women be told they might benefit from more screening, a suggestion that did not sit well with the governor. "Such a notice must be more carefully crafted, with words that educate more than they prescribe," Brown wrote in his veto message.

Gov. Jerry Brown announced early Monday that he had outlawed the open carrying of handguns in public in California, a controversial practice that top law enforcement officials had denounced as dangerous. Clearing his desk of final bills sent to him by the Legislature, Brown signed the ban into law after it was backed by Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and other law enforcement officials throughout the state. "I listened to the California police chiefs," Brown said in a statement.

Breast density has emerged as an important risk factor for breast cancer along with other factors such as age, family history and some gene mutations. However, there is no consensus on what to do with information on breast density and on Sunday, California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed proposed state legislation that would have required doctors to notify women having mammograms of their breast density. Having more high-density tissue, which has less fat, raises breast cancer risk, while having more low-density tissue lowers it. In a letter to the California state Senate, Brown said he agreed that patients need more health information.

Gov. Jerry Brown raised the ire of bicyclists, Chinese-food chefs, Republicans and some pet lovers Friday as he announced action on dozens of proposed laws. Brown outlawed the sale of shark fins, despite protests from some Chinese American leaders who saw the move as an assault on Asian culture; vetoed a controversial bid to restrict how motorists pass bicyclists; and decided not to require microchip tracking of some dogs and cats. Among the 57 bills he approved were several intended to increase the safety of natural gas pipelines and one that requires all ballot initiatives to be decided in November general elections, which typically draw greater numbers of liberal voters than June primaries.

Reporting from Sacramento -- Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday vetoed a bill that would have barred medical marijuana dispensaries within 600 feet of homes, saying it stepped on the powers of cities and counties that already have authority to regulate pot shops. The governor also signed 28 measures into law, making it easier for California firms to sell wine over the Internet and allowing bars to infuse alcohol with fruits and vegetables for use in cocktails. Brown has until Oct. 9 to act on nearly 600 bills sent to him by the Legislature this year and has already wielded his veto pen several times, complaining about the state imposing too many standards on communities and families.

Diplomats on Tuesday raced to nail down a plan to deflect the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations, crafting a face-saving formula that could lessen the immediate prospect of a Security Council veto, which the Obama administration desperately sought to avoid. Under the plan, the council decision on the application for recognition, which Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas plans to make Friday, would be put off indefinitely. That would buy time for the U.S. to try to restart negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, and would keep $600 million a year in American aid and other international assistance flowing to the Palestinians.

Over the summer President Obama pushed a "grand bargain" that called on Republicans and Democrats to forge a compromise: Each would agree to painful sacrifices that would slash the nation's deficit and shore up the social safety net for decades. The approach failed to achieve a deal, angered many Democrats and coincided with a steady drop in Obama's prospects for reelection. In releasing a new deficit-cutting plan Monday, Obama displayed a striking change in course. His shift in both substance and rhetoric amounted to a tacit admission that the strategy he had pursued from April through August had failed.

With efforts stymied to head off a U.N. resolution on Palestinian statehood, some Obama administration officials hope to make the most of a silver lining — the chance to emphasize the president's solidarity with Israel by casting a high-profile veto in the Security Council. For months, U.S. and Israeli diplomats worked to forestall a plan by the Palestinians to present their resolution to the Security Council. Now, however, with Obama facing restiveness among some Jewish supporters, the prospect of a veto comes at a politically useful moment.

Democrats in the Legislature are as good as their word. And their word, it turns out, means nothing. That became all the more clear last week when they gutted, rewrote and adopted SB 202, a bill that originally was intended to increase filing fees for ballot measures. One aspect of that bill has been much discussed: All initiatives would be placed on the November ballot, when, its proponents say, more voters will turn out than during midyear elections. That clause is sneaky and cynical because what it is really designed to do is to help Democrats move one particular measure from the June 2012 ballot (when Republicans will turn out in force for the GOP presidential primary)

Rebuffing international pressure to soften their positions and return to the negotiating table, Israelis and Palestinians announced separately Thursday that they were moving forward with an expected diplomatic battle next week at the United Nations. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will address the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 23, after which he will submit a formal application to admit Palestine into the international body as a state, according to his foreign minister, Riad Malki.