Dan Walters: California's borrowing orgy unlikely to end soon -- A well-established economic principle, called the "wealth effect," holds that consumers' spending is influenced more by their sense of well-being than by their incomes. If consumers believe that their wealth is growing - from home equity or retirement savings, for instance - they're more inclined to run up credit cards, tap home equity and otherwise incur debt to buy things.

Oakland's missing millions -- Oakland's finances appear to be far worse than suspected. Former City Manager Robert Bobb, who has parachuted into town at the request of Mayor Ron Dellums to try to sort out the fiscal mess, has discovered that Oakland's reserves have been drawn down by as much as $48 million in the past year, and accounting for most of the missing funds hasn't been easy.

Farmworkers union chief wants change in voting -- United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez has worked for more than three decades in the labor union co-founded by Cesar Chavez in the 1960s. Rodriguez was at the Capitol last week to lobby for Assembly Bill 2386, which would make it easier for the union to organize by allowing farmworkers to sign cards in lieu of secret-ballot voting.

Deal would allow state oversight of chemicals in California -- An ambitious proposal crafted in the dwindling days of the legislative session would for the first time give state regulators broad authority to oversee chemicals in consumer products.

Free grocery bags targeted for extinction in California -- The plastic grocery bag is fighting for its crinkly life. From the city of San Francisco to Los Angeles County, more than a dozen local governments around the state have proposed or passed plastic-bag restrictions, ranging from recycling mandates to outright bans.

Johnson attracts big names in Sacramento mayor's race -- Kevin Johnson took the stage of a packed Oak Park theater last week and accepted an endorsement from Jack O'Connell, California's public schools chief and one of the state's most visible elected officials.

Algebra - it's everywhere -- Algebra. The very word can twist the stomachs of otherwise well-adjusted adults, dredging up memories of nonsensical X's and Y's and a lifelong loathing of math. For many, the math course was the educational equivalent of castor oil, forced down the throats of teenagers who questioned when they would ever encounter that train leaving Boston at 60 mph.