- Newsmaker: Edison Bailout Last night, Assemblyman Gil Cedillo flew to Sacramento to cast the deciding vote on a bill to help Southern California Edison pay off 3 billion dollars in debt. Edison complains that legislation doesn't go far enough. But as we hear from Harvey Rosenfield, head of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, consumer groups don't like it at all.
- Reporter's Notebook: The Upstate California Campaign The land between Sacramento and the Oregon border used to be called Alta or Superior California because it was higher up on maps labeled in Spanish. Now, Northern California has an identity problem. Dan Levy, of The San Francisco Chronicle, reports that there's a new campaign afoot to change the name of the region.
Edison Bailout; Greenpeace; Upstate California
From last October through this May, some 50 activists were arrested during nonviolent protests at Vandenberg Air Force Base, and charged with misdemeanor offenses. But now, 15 Greenpeace activists and two journalists have been charged with felonies for sailing ashore and delaying a July test of the Star Wars missile defense at the Ventura County base. They face as many as six years in prison and fines of 250,000 dollars. Is theirs a case of civil disobedience or compromising national security? We get contradictory views from the US Attorney's office and an attorney representing the group.