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Flap’s Links for February 22nd from 14:50 to 18:56

These are my links for February 22nd from 14:50 to 18:56:

  • California fees boost traffic fines to aid budget – Justin Jachens learned of California's soaring traffic penalties when he got slapped for a red-light violation.

    Ticketed drivers have been squeezed hard during the budget crisis, perhaps because few complain until they get fined – then it's too late.

    "We're the ones taking the brunt for everything," said Jachens, 21, a student at California State University, Sacramento. "It's outrageous."

    Jachens was nabbed by a red-light camera for not making a complete stop at the intersection of Watt Avenue and Fair Oaks Boulevard. Three years ago, the offense would have cost Jachens $371.

    Now it's $470.

    With unemployment soaring and median income foundering, California's rising traffic fines stand out. Lawmakers generally have not increased base fines, but they have raised total penalties for each ticket the past three years by expanding or tacking on assessments:

    • $20 for court security.

    • $35 for court construction or renovation, plus an "immediate and critical needs" fee of $2 for every $10 of base fine.

    • $4 to bolster emergency medical air transport services.

    • $2 for every $10 of base fine to assist crime labs in processing DNA samples.

    Jachens plans to attend traffic school, for which state-approved fees have doubled to $49 over the past three years. He also must pay a $7 county charge and tuition for the course itself, perhaps $25, lifting the total tab for attendance above $80.

    Jachens' bottom line to clear his red-light camera ticket? More than $550.

    "It's an entire paycheck for someone like me," Jachens said.

    +++++++

    California is nickel and diming its citizens to pay for public employee pensions and benefits for illegal alien's children,etc.,etc.

  • California teachers’ pension system headed toward insolvency – As California school districts anticipate possibly the worst budget crisis in a generation, many will try to lighten their burden by enticing older teachers into retirement. But as more and more teachers retire — with a pension averaging 55 percent to 60 percent of salary — they will be straining a system that already can't meet its obligations.

    The California State Teachers' Retirement System is sliding down a steep slope toward insolvency. The threat isn't to teachers who have retired or plan to, but to the people of California. Taxpayers, who already pick up 23 percent of CalSTRS expenses, will be increasingly burdened as the giant pension system fails to meet its obligations.

    "We're on a path of destruction," said Marcia Fritz, president of pension-reform group California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility.

    And merely rejiggering formulas for new employees won't rescue the system, she said. Simply put: "We overpromised."

    Among those promises, "Californians have typically given their public employees richer retirement benefits" than have other states, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office.

    +++++

    Read it all

    Another example of Big Government and Big Labor promising too much to a constituent group.

  • Flap’s Links for February 21st through February 22nd | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links for February 21st through February 22nd #tcot #catcot
  • YouTube
    – Koch Membrane Systems and Santa Paula Water Recycling Facility
    – I uploaded a YouTube video — Koch Membrane Systems and Santa Paula Water Recycling Fac…