State Politics

Friday April 20 is a national “Day of Silence” sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

For 12 years, the group has sponsored this event, which asks college, high school and middle school students to take a day-long vow of silence to peaceably “protest the discrimination and harassment – in effect, silencing – experienced” by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students.

The event “ exploits anti-bullying sentiment to silence people who oppose homosexuality based on morality,” counters the Capitol Resource Institute, a Sacramento-based organization that says it defends “conservative moral beliefs.”

Parents should keep their children at home on April 20, the resource institute [....]

On the same day a GOP lawmaker failed to advance legislation to allow voters to rescind $9.95 billion in bonds approved to construct a high-speed rail project in California, legislative budget writers said the project hasn’t provided “sufficient detail and justification” for seeking $5.9 billion to begin construction this year.

The report by the Legislative Analyst preceded scheduled votes on the project by budget subcommittees in both houses of the Legislature April 18.

Saying funding for the project remains “highly speculative,” the analyst recommends lawmakers reject Gov. Jerry Brown’s request to move forward using $2.6 billion in state bond funds, approved by [....]

While the presidential proclamation making this declaration was not immediately discovered through a relatively thorough Internet search, numerously press reports corroborate the headline.

Kraft Foods says that while the origin of the grilled cheese sandwich is unknown, similar recipes appeared in the cookbooks of Ancient Rome.

Of those who buy sliced cheese, (preferably Kraft, presumably) 74 percent make a grilled sandwich at least once a month.

Grilled cheese is the second most preferred non-deli sandwich nationwide. The tomato is the most frequently added ingredient.

That’s convenient since April is also National Fresh Florida Tomato Month.

It’s also National Soyfoods Month, National Soft [....]

Saying it was an abdication of legislative authority, the Assembly Transportation Committee rejected a bill April 9 that would have prevented lawmakers from naming highways, bridges, overpasses and interchanges.

Such signs — which are erected at no cost to taxpayers — have sprouted across California for decades. The ability to create them offers lawmakers a visible way to honor former colleagues, memorialize dead law enforcement officers, salute veterans or showcase a community or place of historic or tourist interest within their districts.

The measure would have given sole naming power to the California Transportation Commission, who critics of the bill said [....]