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Can Jerry Brown Solve California's Perpetual Crisis?

and last week, he signed bipartisan bills trimming $11.2 billion from the massive deficit. Of that sum, nearly $6 billion is from health and social programs that serve the poor, the sick, the elderly and children. The University of California is taking a $500 million hit as is the massive 23-campus California State University system.

But that's not enough. Brown needs to shore up tax revenues, specifically by extending the tax rates set to expire in June. And that's where Brown has run into the same so-far unsolvable California conundrum that has stymied governors again and again. California is one of a handful of states where tax increases - including the extension of tax rates - must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature. This gives the minority Republicans tremendous leverage. To try to get around this knot, Brown has been pursuing a populist strategy. When he was running for office, Brown vowed not to raise taxes without voter approval and for three months he worked behind-closed doors to court Republican support for a June vote on the tax extension.

The Republicans weren't about to let themselves be forced into a corner by popular demand - without getting the deeper cuts they want from the budget. And so, in exchange for their support of the governor's budget plan and placing the tax extension measure on the June ballot, Republican leaders pushed for pension reform, a spending cap and business-friendly regulatory changes. Last week, they increased their demands, handing Brown an expanded list of 53 items, including changes to teacher tenure, curbs on trial attorney fees and limiting the tax extensions to 18 months and not the five years proposed by Brown.

Those demand were too much for Brown. On Tuesday, he declared the budget talks dead and halted negotiations with Republicans over a deal to place taxes on the June ballot to resolve the state's remaining $15.4 billion budget shortfall. Said the Governor: "The budget plan that I put forth is balanced between deep cuts and extensions of currently existing taxes and I believe it is in the best interest of California. Each and every Republican legislator I've spoken to believes that voters should not have this right to vote unless I agree to an ever changing list of collateral demands." Brown needed at least four Republican votes to put the measure on the ballot. He did not specify what he would do next.

"The crisis is real," says Jack Pitney of Claremont McKenna College. "If Brown doesn't get something on the ballot, he has to go the route of austerity with an all-cuts budget." Apart from the Republicans, Brown is boxed in by the unions and Democrats who did now want to see him to giving in to G.O.P. demands. Meanwhile, the calendar is moving rapidly. "Brown sold himself as the old wiley guy, a pragmatic fixer," says Republican consultant Rob Stutzman. "Now the pressure is on." Without the special election, it is growing more likely that deeper cuts will have to be made - perhaps piercing straight to the bone. And it may be a bipartisan crisis. "An all-cuts budget is going to be unpopular," says Pitney. "I don't see an upside for Republicans who say they want smaller government."

For nearly two decades, California has faced a chronic structural deficit, a persistent gap between the revenue the state brings in and what it spends. In the flush years, the gap closed; but in fallow years, it has yawned wide. Brown's predecessors, Republican Schwarzenegger and Democrat Gray Davis, used a combination of modest cuts, massive borrowing and accounting tricks to paper over the problem. Neither would address the budget issue head on.

Brown has vowed to be different and proposed a budget that solves the deficit with a combination of deep cuts and expanded revenues, via an extension of current tax rates. "Kicking the can down the road, by not owning an honest budget, is simply out of the question" the governor said in January. It's been pretty painful already. After last week's cuts, Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, said "California is a less healthy, less caring and less secure state. Compared to Schwarzenegger, Brown has put forth a more honest budget, but by the same measure a more brutal budget."

"Governor Brown recognizes that the only thing worse than the cuts would be to let the fiscal crisis linger year after year," said Senate Democrat Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg. "Governor Schwarzenegger was more willing to triage the problem. Nobody wants cuts. Nobody wants to extend taxes. But the reality is that we must do both for the economy to recover and for the good of the state."

Without Republican support, one option is to put the issue on the ballot in June with a simple legislative majority, which the Democrats can muster. Republicans say they will challenge this in court. Option two is to gather signatures for a November initiative. The problem with November is that the deadline for a budget is July 1 and that without an extension of tax levies that Schwarzenegger and the legislature enacted in 2009, revenues will drop. Some Democrats favor a November vote but the time for gathering signatures is tight and the move could delay the budget, cause school districts to fire thousands of teachers, hurt the state's already poor credit and force California to issue IOUs, as it did in 2009, to stave off financial disaster.

Brown will need to make some magic soon. "He can get on the ballot in June without the Republicans but without bipartisan support, it becomes a much harder sell," says Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California. Garry South, a former advisor to Gov. Davis, agrees. "Brown has played the inside game too long. he should have taken his message to the public and collected signatures for a June ballot while he was romancing Republican legislators. That would have put pressure on them. Now his best bet is a November ballot measure."

With the odds of a successful June vote plummeting, Schnur says, "all the roads are uphill at this point."

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Two Cleveland fans boost support for Duran Duran and Weird Al in the Rock Hall

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The way Greg Method sees it, if Alice Cooper was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on March 14, "Weird Al" Yankovic can get in there, too.

"Weird Al is rock and roll's foremost satirist," Method says, speaking of the singer whose spoofs include "Eat It" and "Like a Surgeon."

"He has been at the top of his game for over three decades and his name is invariably the first and only one that comes up when the subject of humor in popular music is discussed," Method adds.

Longevity alone might make Yankovic a contender for admission to the Rock Hall, but Method says talent is the real reason he should be inducted. "If he had never come along, then there would be this very big hole in the rock and roll spectrum," he says.

Kirk Harrington feels the same way about his favorite band, Duran Duran. So sure was Harrington that the alternative-pop rock band, famous for 80s songs like "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Rio," should be inducted, he began an online campaign two years ago to gain support for his cause. Duran Duran to the Rock Hall, or DDTTRH, has a Facebook page, a blog ( ) and has gotten endorsements from a number of 80s musical bigwigs, including Nile Rodgers.

Method has his own campaign that he's operated for a few years. Make the Hall "Weird" is part of a website he operates called All Things Yank ( ), which is chock full of information on the satirical singer. (For those Weird Al fans out there, you can order online a "Make the Rock Hall Weird" t-shirt, featuring a caricature of Yankovic playing the accordion, for $24.)

Both the Weird Al and Duran Duran campaigns have fans from around the world. Each has its roots in Cleveland, where both Method and Harrington live, and where, coincidentally, the pyramid-shaped, glass-encased Rock Hall stands.

"I think it's funny that there are campaigns like ours and the Duran Duran effort actually based here in the same city as the [Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & Museum]," says Method. "If anything, it's great accidental symbolism, considering the campaign the city produced to get the Rock Hall in the first place."

DDTTRH recently connected with Make the Rock Hall Weird, and the two support each others efforts.

How close have they gotten to gaining support from the Rock Hall?

"Well, at one point we were on the Rock Hall's Christmas card list," Method notes wryly. "I guess that's better than a cease and desist."

Harrington and his team took their argument for Duran Duran all the way to the CEO of the Rock Hall, Terry Stewart. He replied with a lengthy letter explaining the nomination and voting process, as well as why Duran Duran had yet to be selected as an inductee.

"First of all, the only reason that Duran Duran have not been inducted is that they did not get enough votes to date to make the final ballot, or, upon making the ballot, they did not get enough votes," Stewart wrote in part. "There are no conspiracies and no one has veto power."

Harrington doesn't blame Stewart or the Rock Hall for what he and other Duran Duran fans consider a grave oversight. "One of my rules with this is that there is no Rock Hall bashing," he says. "I love the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame."

Duran Duran and Yankovic are actually in good company, with Heart, Peter Frampton, Joan Jett, Kiss, Yes and Warren Zevon among other seasoned acts that have yet to join The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and Aretha Franklin in the hallowed hall.

There might be hope for all of them. Method believes that fan efforts such as his and Harrington's have helped somewhat nontraditional rock and roll artists like Cooper and Neil Diamond, both of whom were inducted this year. "Seemingly, these very loud efforts in general are starting to make a difference," he says.

So they keep plugging away, and in the process, finesse the art of online marketing and social media. While DDTTRH isn't the only Duran Duran/Rock Hall online campaign out there, Harrington and his team (they recently restructured the organization so that Harrington no longer plays a lead role) have gone to great pains to make theirs stand out. "What makes us unique is that we do artist interviews," Harrington says. Articles on bands influenced by or supportive of Duran Duran can be found on the DDTTRH blog.

The Weird Al and Duran Duran campaigns look to another year of getting their messages out, perhaps strongly enough that they reach and influence those who decide who gets into the Rock Hall. The founders of these online campaigns say they'd be elated if their dreams were realized.

"If Al was even to get nominated, let alone inducted, I would most likely shriek and faint like Ned Flanders," Method says.

How fitting it would be if Duran Duran and Yankovic were nominated and inducted in 2012, when the Rock Hall induction ceremonies take place in Cleveland, after having been in New York for several years. Indeed for Harrington and Method, it would be music to their ears.

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Cash 5 Tickets Worth More Than $250,000 Each Sold in Philadelphia, Westmoreland Counties

MIDDLETOWN, Pa., March 28, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Jackpot-winning Cash 5 tickets worth more than $250,000 each from the March 25 drawing were sold at Rita's, 1901 Rhawn St., Philadelphia, and Slickville Deli, 154 Main St., Slickville, Westmoreland County.

Both tickets correctly matched all five balls, 11-14-17-18-21, to split a jackpot of $536,710 and win individual prizes of $268,355, less 25-percent federal withholding.

Each retailer will receive a $500 bonus for selling a winning ticket.

Lottery officials cannot confirm the identities of the winners until the prizes are claimed and the tickets are validated. Cash 5 winners have one year from the drawing date to claim prizes.

The Lottery encourages each holder of a winning ticket to sign the back of the ticket, call the Lottery at 717-702-8146 and file a claim at Lottery headquarters in Middletown, Dauphin County, or at any of Lottery's seven area offices.

Claims may be filed at headquarters Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at area offices.

How to play Cash 5: To play Cash 5, players pay $1 and select five numbers from 1 to 43. Players may select their own numbers using a Cash 5 playslip, or they may opt for computer-selected quick picks. Players must match all five numbers drawn to win the jackpot. Players also win prizes for matching two, three or four winning numbers. Cash 5 drawings are held seven nights a week, and tickets can be purchased up to seven draws (one week) in advance. Odds of winning the jackpot prize are 1-in-962,598; the overall odds of winning any prize are about 1-in-10.5.

About the Pennsylvania Lottery: The Pennsylvania Lottery remains the only state lottery that designates all its proceeds to programs that benefit older residents. Since its inception 38 years ago, the Pennsylvania Lottery has contributed nearly $20.6 billion to programs that include property tax and rent rebates; free transit and reduced-fare shared rides; the low-cost prescription drug programs PACE and PACENET; long-term living services; and the 52 Area Agencies on Aging, including full- and part-time senior centers throughout the state. The Pennsylvania Lottery reminds its players to play responsibly. Players must be 18 or older.

For more information on the Pennsylvania Lottery, visit .

Media contact: Kirstin Alvanitakis, 717-702-8008

SOURCEPennsylvania Lottery

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Act Now Domains Announces 'Series of Learning'

New Series of Learning Teaches Beginners How to Make a Website

Scottsdale, AZ (Vocus/PRWEB) February 07, 2011

Act Now Domains, one of the leading sellers of websites on the internet, recently announced a "Series of Learning" to teach beginnersthrough a video learning experience.The first user instructional guide in this development series shows visitors how to create a website, including the individual steps required during the building process as well as a variety of add-ons they can add to their website to make their web presence unique.

The second video instructional page in the Act Now Domains' Series of Learning is titled "."As the title suggest, this video shows beginners the basics of how to make a website.The make your own website video guides users through the steps needed to complete a website.It offers a fast paced, engaging look at .This instructional guide provides a unique look at the website making process that will be appreciated by complete beginners and experienced website creators alike.

The third page in the Series of Learning offers a fun, educational and entertaining venue in which to teach visitors .The video shown on this page breaks down the whole website building process into three easy steps.These steps are shown in a humorous and interesting way in order to encourage tentative beginners to see how easy it is to build a website and to de-mystify what is often seen by beginners as a scary, uncertain operation.

Although additional pages are planned in the future, currently the final page in the Act Now Domains' Series of Learning provides a detailed look at Act Now Domains' .To date, Act Now Domains' website maker offers over 1450 website designs for users to choose from as well as over 27,500 professional images.These designs and images allow even the most inexperienced person to build a professional looking website.

"It is our hope that this Series of Learning will show people how easy and fun it is to build a website.We want to demystify the process," said Allison Lee, Vice President of Development at Act Now Domains.

About Act Now DomainsAct Now Domains is a leading provider of internet services that enable individuals and businesses to build, maintain and promote an online presence.Act Now Domains provides inexpensive domain registration of over 30 domain extensions as well as website builders, hosting, ssl certificates and many other web related products.

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Holly Rodgers, Marketing DirectorAct Now Domains1-480-624-2500Email Information

Formula One driver Kubica on the mend doctors says

ROME (AFP) – Doctors treating Polish Formula One driver Robert Kubica, who was seriously injured in a high-speed rally crash at the weekend, said it would take at least six days to ascertain how permanent is the damage to his right hand.

The 26-year-old Lotus Renault driver was at the wheel of a Skoda Fabia, taking part in the Ronde di Andora Rally in Liguria in the north-west of Italy, when his vehicle left the road and crashed into a church wall.

He was airlifted to the Santa Corona hospital in nearby Pietra Ligure where he underwent seven hours of surgery for multiple injuries, the worst of which was to his right hand which was partially severed by a metal railing.

"We will need at least six days to verify if the blood is properly circulating in the hand," said Professor Mario Igor Rossello, the surgeon who led the operation team.

"His hand is warm which indicates that the operation went well and all being well it will take him a year of re-education to recover the full movement in it."

However, later on Monday there was more reassuring news on his condition as he was able to move the fingers on his right hand.

"Moving his fingers, added to his general state of health, is what reassures us the most," said Rossello.

"He is conscious and continues to be sedated for the pain."

Flavio Briatore, his flamboyant former manager at Renault, visited the Polish star during the afternoon and said he had been relieved the state his friend was in.

"Given the medical bulletins, I thought he was in form. He is lucid, and even shared a joke.

"He is a fantastic fellow, a real war machine, and I am sure he will come back quickly."

Kubica is reported to have taken a bend at speed when he lost control and hit a guard rail which broke down the drivers' door and bent the roll-bar.

His co-driver, Jacub Gerber, emerged from the wreck unhurt but Kubica remained inside until emergency services removed him from the wreckage.

A statement issued Monday on the Lotus Renault website said: "Robert's general condition is much better today.

"The Lotus Renault GP driver was able to talk to his relatives.

"Professor Rossello did not notice any swelling or infection on his right forearm, and this is another good sign, although it will be several days before it is known if the operation has been 100 percent successful.

"In order to avoid any physical stress, Robert will be put under gentle medication in order to sleep for the next 24 hours at least.

"Meanwhile, the doctors will decide how they will treat his elbow and shoulder fractures. Robert may have to undergo surgery once again for this, but not for a few days."

Team principal Eric Boullier defended the decision to let Kubica drive in a rally just weeks before the start of the new Grand Prix season in Bahrain on March 13.

"Robert is a true racer, his life is motor racing," Boullier told BBC Radio 5 Live on Monday. "It was agreed between us that he keep doing the rallies because it was part of his balance in his life. We knew the risks of doing the rally; he knew it as well. It was agreed together."

Lotus Renault reserve driver Bruno Senna, nephew of the late three-times F1 world champion Ayrton Senna, is in line to replace Kubica in Bahrain although the team also have test driver Romain Grosjean in their ranks.

The rally accident was not the first time Kubica has been involved in a horror crash, after he hit a wall at 300kph during the Canadian Grand Prix in 2007.

Driving for Sauber, Kubica slid off the circuit and crashed into a wall, before rebounding across the track in a barrel roll and hitting another barrier.

Kubica, however, was not seriously injured, sustaining nothing more serious than a sprained ankle and slight concussion. He missed only one Grand Prix after the incident.