SACRAMENTO (Reuters) – California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday compared the state’s predicament to that of weaker euro zone economies and called for scrapping the state welfare system to close a $19.1 billion budget gap.

The movie star turned governor said California, the most populous U.S. state with an economy that would be the eighth largest in the world, faced the same dilemma of dismal growth and budget gaps as Greece, Spain and Ireland.

CORDOVA, Alaska/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – More than half an inch of oil covered the sea when Dennis Kelso’s boat, piled with a few newly dead birds, nudged up against the side of the Exxon Valdez on Friday, March 24, 1989.

A rope ladder hung down the side of one of the biggest vessels on earth, which had run aground near midnight on a reef in pristine Prince William Sound, a haven for birds, whales and otters, brimming with fish that supplied a multimillion dollar industry.

CORDOVA, Alaska/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – More than half an inch of oil covered the sea when Dennis Kelso’s boat, piled with a few newly dead birds, nudged up against the side of the Exxon Valdez on Friday, March 24, 1989.

A rope ladder hung down the side of one of the biggest vessels on earth, which had run aground near midnight on a reef in pristine Prince William Sound, a haven for birds, whales and otters, brimming with fish that supplied a multimillion dollar industry.

CORDOVA, Alaska/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – More than half an inch of oil covered the sea when Dennis Kelso’s boat, piled with a few newly dead birds, nudged up against the side of the Exxon Valdez on Friday, March 24, 1989.

A rope ladder hung down the side of one of the biggest vessels on earth, which had run aground near midnight on a reef in pristine Prince William Sound, a haven for birds, whales and otters, brimming with fish that supplied a multimillion dollar industry.

SAN FRANCISCO, April 30 (Reuters) – A few weeks ago,
California Latinos had little to fight for. Now they’ve got
something to fight against — Arizona’s illegal immigrant law.

The tough law next door in Arizona is sending protesters to
the streets, while emboldening conservatives who feel illegal
immigration has gone too far.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Meg Whitman caught a glimpse of what could be her biggest enemy in the California governor’s race — organized labor — when unions on Monday unveiled a campaign linking her to Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Wall Street “greed.”

Promising their biggest fight in a governor’s race with 25,000 union members calling and going door-to-door, the 2.1 million member California Labor Federation unveiled a Web site, www.wallstreetwhitman.com, which paints the former eBay Inc CEO and Goldman Sachs director as a creature of Wall Street.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – California’s climate change law is the most aggressive in the United States and it faces challenges this election year.

Some of the same forces that may stall federal climate legislation, including oil companies and businesses concerned by higher energy prices, are now taking aim at California’s landmark 2006 law.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Greenpeace considers the climate change bill being drafted in the U.S. Senate a “baby step” that will not deliver needed change, but it will not campaign against it, the group’s top executive said on Thursday.

U.S. senators led by Democrat John Kerry are expected to unveil next week a compromise bill to fight global warming that tries to bridge divides between industry and environmentalists after a previous effort failed.

DALLAS/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Gay rights activists heckled President Barack Obama this week at a Democratic event that exposed signs of disenchantment threatening the party in November’s congressional elections.

Five million first-time voters turned out in 2008, many drawn by Obama’s promise of hope and overwhelmingly voting for Democrats. Now disappointed, or at least apathetic, they may not go to the polls this year.