SoCalConnected

Culture Monster - The Autry National Center got corralled at least temporarily on Tuesday in its bid for a $96-million expansion of its Museum of the American West in Griffith Park. - SoCalConnected

BLDGBLOG: Artificial earthquakes triggered by deep-crust drilling operations have always been of interest here, and The New York Times brings the idea back into the media cycle today with a new article - SoCalConnected

KPCC’s Julie Small reports that the California’s Pooled Money Investment Board has voted 2-1 to set a 3.75 percent interest rate for IOUs the state will issue to certain businesses, agencies, and individuals. - SoCalConnected

In the July issue of Los Angeles magazine, Steve Oney offers an oral history of the slayings. [h/t L.A. Observed] - SoCalConnected

LAist: To no surprise of anyone, the state once again failed to pass the budget revision before today, the beginning of the 2009/2010 fiscal year. - SoCalConnected

The Sacramento Bee tracks which CA areas use the death sentence most often. - SoCalConnected

LAist: National Park Service Pacific regional director Jon Jarvis informed Schwarzenegger that closing some 69 parks that received funding in the past jeopardized all future funding and that a handful of parks deeded to the state from the feds could be repossessed. - SoCalConnected

Harold Meyerson in the WaPo: The terrible irony in decimating the public sector to save the state is that the California that was the epicenter of the postwar American dream was fundamentally a creation of government. - SoCalConnected

The New York Times Magazine paints a complex portrait of Gavin Newsom, Mayor of San Francisco and potential future governor of California - SoCalConnected

With LAUSD in ruins, many schools in the district are paying close attention to the current battle at Birmingham HIgh, reports the LA Times. - SoCalConnected

Ripe with foreclosures, a tour of Merced might convince Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan of the necessity of sending California economic disaster aid. - SoCalConnected

Sacramento Bee - California officials say they're trying to avert a threat from the federal government to seize six state parks that could close to help balance the state budget. - SoCalConnected

With a deteriorating public sector on his hands, the Mayor will try to "strike a humble, hopeful, forward-looking tone for the second term." - SoCalConnected

LA Times - With a state government looking to cut costs anywhere, the death penalty is once again pocking its head out in Sacramento. - SoCalConnected

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that cities within California and throughout the country are canceling July 4th celebrations in an attempt to cut state costs. - SoCalConnected

The NY Times Green Inc. Blog reports that California has been granted its long-sought request to tighten tailpipe emission regulations, a key step in making cars across the nation more fuel-efficient. - SoCalConnected

Hector Tobar of the LA Times gives context to the recent rise in hate speech against the Latino community. What lessons can we take from the Black Civil Rights Movement? - SoCalConnected

The Sacramento Bee reports on the Governor's promise to veto a recent Democratic agreement in the state congress. - SoCalConnected

The San Diego Union-Tribune discusses the drawbacks to across-the-board general salary increases in times of economic crises. - SoCalConnected

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca is considering whether to expand a program that distributes condoms to gay inmates at the Men's Central Jail in order to combat an in-prison HIV epidemic. - SoCalConnected

While the proposed closure of state parks came as a sudden shock, the LATimes.com reports that a proposed surcharge on vehicle licensing fees might make up the necessary difference. - SoCalConnected