State Budget | featured news

Residents relish their role in the lawmaking process, but they share the blame for the state's severe dysfunction. Californians are well known for periodic voter revolts, but on Tuesday they did more than just lash out at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature over the state's fiscal debacle.

California holds a special election on a series of measures to plug its gaping budget hole amid warnings of deep spending cuts.

Districts facing budget cuts nationwide are contemplating the measure. It's an appealing alternative to cutting staff or programs, but it can create child-care problems for parents.

At least 15 states are in various stages of considering or implementing furloughs, with mixed results.

Could marijuana be the answer to the economic misery facing California? Democratic State Assembly member Tom Ammiano thinks so. Ammiano introduced legislation last month that would legalize pot and allow the state to regulate and tax its sale — a move that could mean billions for the cash-strapped state.

Its deficits ballooning and its lawmakers intransigent, California appears to be headed off the fiscal rails.

The Kansas City Fire Department’s Citizen Assist Program, or CAP, started as a pilot program in 2006 and recently got a major grant to continue and expand. CAP targets people who have “fallen through the cracks,” said program originator Richard Gist, principal assistant to Fire Chief Smokey Dyer.