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Crosscurrents

Connecting the dots: top news stories for Wednesday, December 7

Early this morning police took down San Francisco’s Occupy encampment – the last large Occupy camp in the Bay Area. Seventy people were arrested, a few on felony charges of assaulting an officer…

Meanwhile, anti-tax groups filed a ballot measure today in response to Governor Brown’s tax initiative, which would raise sales tax by half-a-cent and create new taxes for the wealthy. The ballot measure would lock in recession-era spending levels and redirect money from schools to pay off state debt. The governor, however, argues that the revenue from his tax proposal would boost the education budget, not cut from it…

To aid California’s economy, Governor Brown has also proposed a 12-point pension reform plan, designed to raise the retirement age and offer less generous state and local pension benefits. There’s bound to be a union fight, but according to a recent poll, the majority of Californians are in support of scaling back public employees pension benefits

Despite a staggering state economy, the South Bay led the nation in job growth last year, reporting a 3.2% market growth. Apple, Google, and Facebook are largely responsible for the increase in jobs, which some suspect – and hope – will spread throughout the Bay Area…

Despite the vibrant economy, the South Bay’s Portola and Castle Rock state parks face closure next July, unless the Portola and Castle Rock Foundation can raise $500,000. A similar campaign succeeded in saving the 87,000-acre Henry Coe State Park near Morgan Hill….

Meanwhile in San Francisco, Mayor Ed Lee is thinking about vetoing legislation that would transform a Pacifica golf-course into 417 acres of natural park land… 

And finally, you might be unhappy with the state of politics in California, but at least we’re providing great fodder for the Daily Show!

Connecting the Dots brings together the day’s news.

Crosscurrents