Reporting from Sacramento -- There's a giant Christmas tree all lit up outside California's Capitol. But inside, the place is hardly filled with tidings of joy.
This has not been a season to be jolly.
The state faces a real danger of running out of cash by spring. Major highway projects already are being delayed because the state can't sell bonds. It's facing a $15-billion deficit in the fiscal year that ends June 30 and, if nothing's done about it, another $25-billion-plus for the next fiscal year.
That totals $40 billion in red ink. But the figure really is moot because before things ever get that bad, state government will have collapsed.
Everybody's pointing fingers as they squabble over a solution.
The Republican governor and Democratic legislators ridicule GOP lawmakers as ultraconservative, inflexible obstructionists because they refuse to vote for a tax increase.
Democrats are denounced by Republicans as out-of-control spenders. Nothing new there. But now the GOP also is taking dead aim at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. And why not? Virtually nothing gets spent without a governor's sign-off.
But how lavish has been the spending on Schwarzenegger's watch?
Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines of Clovis last week pegged the spending growth at 43% and asserted: "It is unfortunate that the governor and Democrats are only interested in raising taxes."
That's not quite true. Democrats last week passed a bill that would have pared spending by $7.3 billion -- on top of $11 billion in previous program cuts this year -- while raising taxes and fees by $9.3 billion. Schwarzenegger said he'd veto the bill because the cuts weren't deep enough and the taxes were too high.
Villines' broadside at Schwarzenegger prompted an angry response from the governor's office. Communications director Matt David accused Republicans of blocking tax hikes "because they have signed pledges to protect special interests." And he called the 43% spending growth figure a "factual inaccuracy." David placed it at only 32%.
Both men were referring to the general fund, the state's main account, over which the governor exercises the most control. There also are special funds fed by user fees and taxes designated by voters for specific programs.
Added together, the general fund, special funds and bond spending amount to a current grand budget total of $144.5 billion. That's about a 39% increase over what Schwarzenegger inherited, David calculates.
Like a fool, I set out to find the correct percentage for general fund spending growth. Was it 43% or 32%?
The answer depends on what you count, of course. And remember that Schwarzenegger took office in November 2003.
Villines' 43% figure uses as its base the last budget signed by recalled Gov. Gray Davis in late summer 2003. That number is compared with the current budget signed by Schwarzenegger in September. The adopted general fund budgets for each year are $71.1 billion and $103.4 billion, respectively. And that actually amounts to 45% growth.
David's 32% growth figure uses a higher base: the final 2003-04 spending total of $78.3 billion that was calculated after all the bills had been paid, long past the end of the fiscal year. That figure will go into the archives as the year's official general fund spending total.
Fire spokesman Ron Youngberg said the roof of the Port-owned building at the Multnomah Industrial Park on Old Portland Road came crashing down Monday night under heavy snow. Tuesday a large portion of the building collapsed.
One worker was rescued after being trapped under debris. Two people in all were taken to the hospital.
Officials said about 400 feet of the 600 feet long building has come down so far.
The building housed a cedar mill and a pallet factory.
On Wednesday National Guard troops called out to aid the Columbia County emergency declaration and local crews were inspecting the scene.
Fifty-six percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Wednesday said Blagojevich, who has been arrested on corruption charges, was the naughtiest politician in 2008.
Blagojevich, accused of attempting to sell President-elect Barack Obama's former Senate seat, has said he has done nothing wrong and plans to fight the allegations.
The poll also found 23 percent believed former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer should get the nod, followed by 19 percent for former presidential candidate John Edwards.
Spitzer resigned in March after it was revealed he was Client No. 9 in a high-end prostitution ring. In November, prosecutors announced they would not be bringing criminal charges against Spitzer.
Edwards, who had been considered a major contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, admitted in August to having an extramarital affair with former campaign staffer Rielle Hunter. The former North Carolina senator also denied he was the father of Hunter's then-newborn baby.
One of two speeding cars involved in a road rage incident Wednesday slammed into a third vehicle, killing the unsuspecting driver on a Dallas suburb's streets.
Christopher Cain Soliz, 31, of Richardson, was pronounced dead Wednesday at a Dallas hospital soon after a car struck his sport utility vehicle, Richardson police said.
The accident occurred when another driver, Philip Cullens 40, cut off and blocked a speeding luxury car that was trying to pass him, police said.
Witnesses told police that both cars were traveling anywhere from 70 mph to 80 mph when Cullens' car hit Soliz's vehicle as it entered the main road after exiting an apartment complex.
Gabriel Gaona, 19, the driver of the luxury car, drove off the road to avoid the collision, police said.
Gaona was not injured but police said Cullens and a passenger in Soliz's car were taken to nearby hospitals for non-life threatening injuries.
Police arrested Gaona Wednesday night on a charge of criminally negligent homicide. He remained in the Richardson City Jail on Thursday in lieu of $100,000 bond, a jail official said.
Cullens, who faces the same criminal charge, will be arrested upon release from the hospital, Richardson police Sgt. Kevin Perlich said Thursday.
