The Culligan Man could soon join the Maytag repairman in California, as regional water agencies seek more authority to remove home water softeners if they threaten local water supplies. Assembly Bill 2270, by Assemblymen John Laird and Mike Feuer, D-Los Angeles, would allow cities, counties and special districts – whichever entity oversees wastewater – to ban water softeners. Daniel Zarchy in the Sacramento Bee

The parade of capital spending cuts may feed the economy's downturn. Many firms' optimism for 2009 evaporates. Martin Zimmerman in the Los Angeles Times Here is an interesting twist; more government spending (more tax money raised, spent) actually helps the economy. Cutting taxes, spending hurts the economy. If this is true, we now have a socialized government, right?

A few weeks back, Time magazine was musing that John McCain was in danger of sliding from “a long shot” to a “no-shot.” Around the same time, a hard-nosed former Hillary Clinton insider declared the race “effectively over” thanks to the McCain campaign’s ineptitude, the tanking U.S. economy and Obama’s advantages in cash, charisma and hope. And Obama, up by three to six points nationally, was about to leverage a much-anticipated trip to Iraq, Afghanistan and Europe into a pre-convention poll surge. Politico

Fremont may double its bus fees, to $700 a kid. In Gilroy, elementary students must now live a mile away from school before they can board a school bus. And transportation directors everywhere are working the phones to find the best price on diesel fuel. With classes just a few weeks from resuming, the fuel crisis is heading to school. And while businesses and families have been struggling to handle the costs, schools have a few special issues. Most of those big yellow buses are fueled by diesel. With diesel at $4.56 a gallon, those 96-gallon tanks cost $438 a fill-up. Dana Hull in the San Jose Mercury

The Republican Party, which overtook Valley Democrats in voter registration totals eight years ago, is losing ground for the first time in at least a decade. After peaking just ahead of the 2004 presidential election, Republican registration numbers are down in Fresno, Tulare, Kings, Madera, Mariposa and Merced counties. John Ellis in the Fresno Bee

Joann Gardner sat forlornly on her living room floor, waiting for the final step in her home's foreclosure process. The lender's representative was due any moment to give her "cash for keys," a transaction in which she would deliver her family home vacant in exchange for an incentive payment. Carolyn Said in the San Francisco Chronicle

When Michele Frost and Mary Helen Walker enrolled their 3-year-old daughter Shea in preschool, it required a change in the school application form. But it was no big deal: Officials simply substituted the words "mother" and "father" with "Parent 1" and "Parent 2." Rob Hotakainen in the Sacramento Bee

Sometimes the joy of gay marriage is followed by the pain of gay divorce, but Peter Zupcofska is there to help. Rob Hotakainen in the Sacramento Bee

African Americans are leaving San Francisco because of substandard schools, a lack of affordable housing and the dearth of jobs and black culture, according to a report by a committee looking into the exodus. The African American Out-migration Task Force, put together by the mayor's office last year to figure out what can be done to preserve the city's remaining black population and cultivate new residents, presented its findings at a public hearing Thursday called by Supervisor Chris Daly. Leslie Fulbright in the San Francisco Chronicle . Is the most liberal city in America racist?

They also would have to wait three days before they are paid by check under legislation intended to reduce the theft of valuable metals. The ACLU sees an invasion of privacy. Patrick McGreevy in the Los Angeles Times . This is a perfect solution…we have all of this theft for copper, silver and precious metals…let’s make them wait for a few days to make sure they didn’t steal the metal to get the cash.