California Faultline

LOS ANGELES

Mayor Villaraigosa has threatened L.A. city managers with layoffs, which would be the first since the early 80s. [Daily News]

LA Weekly digs into why turnstiles will soon be installed at L.A. subway stations, and isn’t taking MTA CEO Roger Snobles reasons as fact.

USC’s Marshall School of Business has been enlisted by the F.B.I. to develop marketing plans to aid recruitment. [Daily Trojan]

SAN DIEGO

The 10.6 million-acre California Desert Conservation Area may be excluded from federally protected status just because it doesn’t have the word “national” in its name. [LA Times]

STATEWIDE

Bakersfield could be the next California community require mandatory spaying and neutering of pets. [Bakersfield Californian]

Robert at the new California High Speed Rail Blog is skeptical of the proposed “public private partnership” to build and manage the project.

Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, D-Burbank has proposed anti-piracy legislation that would increase the amount of damages copyright holders may be entitled to and would also allow prosection of anyone who helps transport pirated material. [Daily News]

To prevent teacher layoffs, L.A. Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez is proposing a 6% tax hike on oil produced in California that would be diverted the help fill the gap in next year’s anticipated education budget cuts. An additional 2% tax would be placed on windfall oil profits. The new taxes could generate $1.2 billion annually for the state.

Gas, by the way, has hit the $4 mark in the Los Angeles area (and California Progress Report notes, “in the tiny coastal town of Gorda, about 40 miles south of Big Sur, the local gas station was selling gasoline for $5.19 a gallon over the weekend”), so its no surprise that the Sacramento Bee reports the bill is expected to fail when it hits the Assembly floor this week.

Probably a good time to also mention that support for a proposed high speed rail between Fullerton and Anaheim is gaining momentum. Californians will be able to vote for or against the project this November.