Will Contra Costa supervisors dip into reserves?

After cutting more than $150 million from Contra Costa's budget since May, supervisors will vote today whether to use reserve funds for the first time this fiscal year.

The board will need a four-fifths vote to use $1.5 million in reserves to bolster the county's health care clinics, which anticipate a wave of new clients now that the county will no longer cover nonemergency health care for undocumented adults.

The one-time-only reserve expenditure would ramp up clinics that expect to provide the bulk of health care for an estimated 5,500 undocumented residents in the county. Supervisors recently stopped covering that population to save $6 million annually.

2009 Earth Day is special, says green jobs czar

A former Oakland activist now serving as President Barack Obama's "green jobs czar" said this week's Earth Day observance is special because of the new administration.

"As we move forward, one of the big differences is that we recognize now that the debate over whether we can do right by the environment and right by the economy at the same time is over," said Van Jones, appointed in March as special adviser for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

2009 Earth Day is special, says green jobs czar

A former Oakland activist now serving as President Barack Obama's "green jobs czar" said this week's Earth Day observance is special because of the new administration.

"As we move forward, one of the big differences is that we recognize now that the debate over whether we can do right by the environment and right by the economy at the same time is over," said Van Jones, appointed in March as special adviser for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.