A tough blueprint to stem red ink- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday proposed a temporary 1.5-cent sales tax increase and new levies on everything from sporting events to alcohol, as well as deep cuts in education and social services, to help close an estimated $24.2 billion state budget deficit through June 2010. Sacramento Bee article

My View: Carbon bank demands an honest accountant- Recent polls indicate that almost 90 percent of Californians support protecting forests because they naturally remove global warming pollution from the atmosphere. The good news is that the state's Air Resources Board, charged with implementing California's landmark global warming policy, wisely included forests among the sectors that must help the state meet its targets for reducing carbon dioxide, the primary global warming pollutant.Sacramento Bee opinion

Rated G- Green-building rating systems are typically based on how something measures up to a standard. Chico News & Review article

Tehama County olive crop falls short- As the state's olive crop comes in, it appears an April frost and a May heat wave have knocked California's olive crop to less than half of that of 2007. Red Bluff Daily News article

Voters put Calif. egg industry in peril- Proposition 2 captured nearly two-thirds of the vote. Voters in the Bay Area and Los Angeles overwhelmingly voted for the measure, while most of the Central Valley and northeast California opposed it. Capital Press article

Meetings start Monday on proposed wood-burning rules - The Butte County Air Quality Management is proposing the rules to reduce the amount of small particulate pollution, which exceeds federal health standards several times each winter. Chico Enterprise Record article

Sacramento City Council delays action on proposal to vaporize garbage- A key vote on a controversial plan to vaporize Sacramento's garbage and turn it into energy was delayed Thursday after perturbed City Council members questioned whether experts who have testified before them about the technology were truly independent.. Sacramento Bee article

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