California: Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times' stunning, powerful and deeply disturbing investigation documenting the near-impossibility of firing a bad teacher in California is one of the rare stories that could actually change the course of public debate. Its wrenching, sickening anecdotal lead...

Rick Wartzman is not some Twitter-happy newbie who naively pimps New Media and technology. He's the former Business Editor at the Los Angeles Times, and was the editor of the...

The Los Angeles Times reported over the weekend that several top members of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration charged taxpayers thousands in airfare, hotel and meal costs with little oversight.

From the Times:

When Cruz works there, he goes by plane. He has charged taxpayers for his flights and for hotel bills of up to $382 a night on regular trips between his Orange County home and Sacramento, records show

Carrie Lopez, director of the Department of Consumer Affairs, charged taxpayers to fly from Sacramento, where she works, to Los Angeles, where she lives, to attend a Justin Timberlake concert with her daughter. She listed the trip on her expense report as a meeting with the energy company that paid for the concert tickets.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating an Orange County real estate lending company owned by the husband of Assemblywoman Diane Harkey.

According to the Los Angeles Times, "In an e-mail to his firm's roughly 3,000 investors, Point Center Financial Inc. President Dan J. Harkey disclosed that the SEC had subpoenaed records from the firm last week."

A spokesman for the Republican assemblyman has said the more than $1 million she has spent on her campaigns came from her own money and that she is not affiliated with Point Center. She previously worked as a bank executive.

Dan Harkey, meanwhile, has written an open-letter to investors about the investigation and says his wife is not financially connected to his company:

The full letter is posted on the OC Blog.

Previously: Assemblywoman Harkey's husband targeted in suit