The Capitol in Crisis
Estimated $22 Billion Shortfall Among Worst in State History
The state�s economy may be turning the corner, but California�s budget is in a state of meltdown. Just six months ago, the budget deficit for the upcoming 2002-03 fiscal year was projected at between $7 billion and $10 billion � large, but still regarded as manageable.
Then, when Gov. Gray Davis released his budget last January, he put the deficit at $12.5 billion � and proposed $5.5 billion in borrowing to help close the gap. Now, in advance of Davis� May revision next week (May 14), the budget deficit is being pegged at $20 billion to $22 billion, more than 20 percent of the total budget.
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�Terminator� Finds Home in L.A.
The world is in danger of coming to a violent end � and that suits Hollywood boosters just fine. After a hiatus of more than a decade, the fabulously lucrative �Terminator� franchise, the first two installments of which generated more than $550 million at the box office, is back in production.
This time around, armed with an estimated $170 million budget, the biggest ever for an independently financed film, Arnold Schwarzenegger will face off against a female cyborg � and the battles will be waged exclusively in Los Angeles.
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Appellate Ruling Is Seen as Deathknell For Overtime Suits
An appellate ruling narrowly limiting the extent to which wage-hour lawsuits can be certified as class actions may stem filings that have cost California businesses hundreds of millions of dollars in the last two years.
Sav-On Drug Stores Inc.�s victory in the Second District Court of Appeals last month overturned a lower court�s ruling certifying 1,400 current and former assistant managers and operations managers in stores throughout California as a class. The ruling could reduce a flood of multi-million dollar lawsuits to a trickle, local attorneys said.
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SPECIAL REPORT - Banking & Finance: Boards Under Fire � What Do They Know?
Corporate trouble always rises to the top. That�s why directors at some of the nation�s largest companies are on edge. The crisis in corporate governance � precipitated by the Enron fiasco but propelled by accounting questions at other companies, some based in Los Angeles � has shareholders and regulators asking the same question:
What does a board know? What should it know?
10 stories inside this issue!
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