WASHINGTON – After buying a chunk of land 50 miles north of San Francisco, the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria just broke ground on a new, Las Vegas-style casino. It will be the largest in the Bay Area, with 3,000 slot machines, 200 hotel rooms, a spa, bars, restaurants and parking for more than 5,000 cars.
In New York, the Shinnecock Indian Nation is considering Long Island as a site on which to build the Big Apple's first tribal casino.
And in Washington state, the Spokane Tribe of Indians wants a new 13-story casino and hotel next to Fairchild Air Force Base, prompting fears that the city will become "Spo-Vegas."
The plans are extraordinary for one reason: In all three cases, the tribes want to build their palaces on land that's not part of their original reservations.
The expansions are the latest twist in the nation's Indian casino wars, and they mark a major shift for the tribes, which already run 385 casinos and bingo halls in 29 states.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for large-scale Indian gambling 25 years ago, tribes have been forced to keep the majority of their casinos on reservation land held in trust by the federal government, usually in remote regions far from public view.
Now, thanks in part to the Obama administration, Indian tribes across the country are ready to bust out, bringing gambling to the same land that was taken from them long ago.
Tribes are seeking to cash in on a loosening of the rules, announced in June 2011 when the Bureau of Indian Affairs junked a Bush-era requirement that a casino had to be within easy driving distance from a tribe's reservation.
Casino opponents now fear that tribes, with their sovereign status, will have far too much authority to do as they please on their new lands, especially as they press for even less federal control.
In the small desert town of Joshua Tree in Southern California, Victoria Fuller said she worries what might happen if the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians is allowed to open a new, off-reservation casino near the entrance to Joshua Tree National Park.
"They could do anything they want," said Fuller, the president of the Joshua Tree Community Association and a leading opponent of the plan. "They could put a 20-story building with spotlights on it, and we would have no say."
The new push by the tribes is aimed at reviving a $28 billion-a-year industry hit hard by the recession. After growing at a brisk 14 percent annual rate from 1995 to 2007, gambling revenues have essentially stalled out, increasing by only 1 percent a year.
The tribes' moves have ignited a debate over how quickly the United States will hit a saturation point with casinos. While polls show broad public support for gambling, some say the tribes are ready to push the envelope.
"It's just all about the money, and the model is very simple: It's to get as many slot machines as possible as close to maximum-population areas …" said John Kindt, a gambling researcher and professor of business and legal policy at the University of Illinois. "They're going to go everywhere."
The epicenter of the battle is in California, one of six states – along with Washington, Florida, Oklahoma, Arizona and Connecticut – that account for more than two-thirds of all Indian gambling revenue.
The Golden State already has more than 60 Indian casinos, the most in the nation. And when U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced a bill last year that would make it harder for tribes to buy new land for gambling, she said the state could easily have another 50 casinos in coming years if Congress doesn't stop them.
Feinstein warned that another 67 tribes in California were already seeking federal recognition, the first step toward getting a casino. And she said "the problem is only going to get worse," with some tribes vying to open new casinos more than 100 miles from their tribal headquarters.
Casino opponents who are tracking the tribes' activities said that at least 137 applications from California are pending with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which must sign off on the land transfers before casinos can be built.
Cheryl Schmit of Penryn, founder and director of Stand Up For California, a statewide organization that has been leading the fight against more casinos, called the rule change a mistake and said that, if allowed to stand, it could result in casinos opening "on every offramp."
"Some of these are just land grabs by wealthy tribes," Schmit said, lamenting that the tribes are making their push to expand with little attention from either the press or the public. "It's huge, but everybody's kind of been numbed by all the gambling."
Since 1990, the Indian gambling industry has made political contributions of nearly $58 million, with 70 percent of the money going to Democrats, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. And the tribes also have been spending heavily on lobbying, more than $20 million in 2011 alone.
Schmit and other opponents say the relaxed rules on off-reservation casinos are merely a payoff to the tribes, which have made the president their top recipient of campaign cash in the last two years.
In Congress, both Feinstein and Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona are pushing bills to clamp down on off-reservation casinos.
When she introduced the Tribal Gaming Eligibility Act last year, Feinstein said she wanted to end the practice of "unbridled reservation shopping." Without congressional action, she warned, "Californians have no power to stop these tribes from opening unwanted casinos in their backyards."
The Democratic senator personally intervened in one of the hottest fights in California, lobbying Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to kill the plan to open a casino in Joshua Tree.
Fuller cheered Feinstein's entry into the fray and said there is no shortage of gambling opportunities in Joshua Tree, with seven casinos already operating within an hour of the town. She said the tribes have created "a real ticking time bomb for communities and states."
"I don't think anybody ever envisioned that they would be able to go out and buy land and have casinos everywhere," she said.
GAMBLING
Source: www.sacbee.com
California’s Brown Wins Tax Measure Ballot Order Fight - Bloomberg
California Governor Jerry Brown won a court ruling allowing his income tax initiative to be listed on the state’s November ballot above a rival measure sponsored by a group headed by civil rights attorney Molly Munger.
State court Judge Michael Kenny in Sacramento today rejected the suit by Munger’s group, Our Children, Our Future, that sought to derail legislation aimed at giving Brown’s initiative an upper hand at the polls.
California lawmakers included language in a June budget bill requiring bond measures and constitutional amendments to get top billing on statewide ballot pamphlets. That legislation, and Kenny’s ruling today, pushes Brown’s tax proposal above Munger’s, according to an e-mailed statement from Nathan Ballard, a spokesman for Munger’s group.
“No matter where we end up on the ballot, the fact remains that our measure will reboot California’s public schools by sending $10 billion a year into a separate trust fund for education that can’t be touched by the governor or the Legislature,” Ballard said in the statement. He said Munger’s group won’t appeal today’s court ruling.
‘An Abuse’
Molly Munger, the daughter of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK/A) Inc. Vice Chairman Charles Munger, sued in June to block the ballot ordering provision, calling it “an abuse of the political process and legislative power.” The change pushed Brown’s tax proposal to the top of the pamphlet from ninth.
Brown, a Democrat, and a teachers’ union collected signatures asking voters in November to temporarily raise the state sales tax and income taxes on the wealthy to erase a $15.7 billion deficit and eliminate a recurring shortfall that has plagued the most populous U.S. state for the last decade. The revenue already is calculated into the fiscal 2013 budget. If voters say no, it would trigger a $5.5 billion cut from schools, the equivalent to three weeks off the academic year.
Brown said at a news conference today in Oakland that his measure is “so important that it deserves the dignity of being ranked with other constitutional measures and bond issues” on the ballot.
“We’re going forward and I think we’re on the right track,” he said. “Ultimately the people will choose.”
A bill passed this month removes an $11 billion water-bond proposition from the November ballot on concern that too many high-cost measures might jeopardize Brown’s proposed tax increase.
Joe Arellano, another spokesman for Munger’s group, said in an e-mail that the precise positioning of propositions won’t be known until Secretary of State Debra Bowen assigns ballot numbers and releases the order later this week.
Shannan Velayas, a spokeswoman for Bowen, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.
The case is Our Children, Our Future v. Bowen, 2012-80001194, California Superior Court (Sacramento).
To contact the reporters on this story: Joel Rosenblatt in San Francisco at jrosenblatt@bloomberg.net; Michael B. Marois in Sacramento at mmarois@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stephen Merelman at smerelman@bloomberg.net; Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net
Source: www.bloomberg.com
Furniture Now! in Lewes celebrates 18 years of community enterprise - Lewes Today
It celebrated 18 years of community enterprise in the Lewes, Wealden and Eastbourne areas with local MPs Norman Baker and Charles Hendry in attendance.
The party was opened by Cllr Ruth O’Keefe, Deputy Chair of Lewes District Council, and Furniture Now! welcomed its new patron, journalist and broadcaster Polly Toynbee.
Rik Child, Director of Furniture Now! said: “We are delighted to be celebrating our 18th birthday. It is really exciting to bring the community together to celebrate the work of the charity over the last 18 years.
“In this time, we estimate we have helped 60,000 households, therefore benefiting approximately 150,000 people. Approximately 140,000 items of furniture have found new homes.”
He added: “The charity trains 80 to 100 volunteers each year who give a remarkable amount of their time to help the customers get the items they want, measure it up, buy it and even help deliver it into people’s homes. This is how we provide such low cost items.”
Mr Child continued: “This year marks Furniture Now!’s coming of age. In a climate of considerable change, the charity is opening shops in Hailsham and Portslade, and is developing a computer refurbishment and recycling business under the banner, Computer Now! and of course we will continue to work with as many trainees as possible.
“This year we have run long and short courses for 120 separate learners who were isolated and unemployed. More than half have progressed to accredited courses and are now seeking employment.”
Polly Toynbee, author of Hard Work: Life in Low Paid Britain, writes for The Guardian and has long been recognised as an advocate for social justice and a fairer society.
Source: www.sussexexpress.co.uk
California gasoline prices still falling; national average rises - Los Angeles Times
Average retail gasoline prices continue to fall in California, but the national average for a gallon of regular fuel rose for the first time in several weeks, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report.
The average price of a gallon of regular gas in California is $3.708, the AAA said, down 4.1 cents since last Monday. That's a decline of 43.4 cents a gallon over the past month. Here's why it might not feel like much relief: the current average is just 6.3 cents a gallon lower than it was at this time last year.
California gasoline prices have fallen for eight straight weeks, but the pace of the decline has slowed. Analysts said that California fuel prices were still catching up to a $30 plunge in U.S. oil prices, which briefly fell below $80 a barrel before recovering slightly in the past week. The drop was attributed to signs of a slowdown in the global economic recovery.
"California still has some catching up to do in fuel price declines," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service. He added that the California average could fall as low as $3.50 a gallon. OPIS and Wright Express provide the numbers for the AAA Fuel Gauge Report.
The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.382 a gallon, up 5.6 cents since last week, the AAA said. The rise broke a string of 13 straight weeks of declines across much of the U.S. Analysts said the prices around the nation may have already bottomed out for awhile.
Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for the price-watch websites run by GasBuddy.com, said, "While I don't necessarily believe that the recent uptick in crude prices will stick, I also don't see prices falling considerably lower until after the conclusion of the summer driving season."
U.S. oil prices are up 95 cents to $85.40 a barrel in trading so far on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
ALSO:
Source: www.latimes.com
Iran to mount 21st International Furniture Exhibition - Presstv
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Iran is set to hold the 21st International Furniture Exhibition, showcasing a wide array of home furniture items from different countries in the Iranian capital of Tehran. Some 420 foreign and Iranian companies will present their latest productions and ...Source: www.presstv.ir
California High Speed Rail Still Faces A Lot Of Obstacles - Huffington Post
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California lawmakers may have given their OK to what could be the nation's first high-speed rail line, but the project is still a long way from leaving the station.
The project has prominent supporters such as President Barack Obama and Gov. Jerry Brown, but supporters must still overcome a number of challenges, including environmental concerns, clashes with local leaders over land use, a $68 billion overall price tag with no funding guarantees and an increasingly disenchanted public.
Supporters applauded Friday when the state Legislature narrowly approved $4.5 billion in state funding for rail improvements and to begin construction on the initial segment of high-speed track in the agricultural Central Valley. The move enabled the state to tap $3.2 billion in federal bond money.
Critics, however, are redoubling their efforts to derail the project that could eventually link Los Angeles and San Francisco with trains traveling up to 220 mph.
Among those gearing up for a fight are the farmers whose land lies in the path of massive infrastructure project.
The Madera and Merced county farm bureaus, along with other parties, have filed a lawsuit to halt the project on grounds that the state has not done enough environmental vetting. The plaintiffs say the train would render 1,500 acres of fertile land unfarmable and disrupt 500 agricultural businesses.
"We are going to protect our property," said Frank Oliveira, a farmer and leader of the Central Valley group Citizens For California High-Speed Rail Accountability. "Somebody is coming into our area, and they are going to seize our property and say we don't have a choice in the matter."
Brown has made the project a touchstone of his administration. He had initially attempted to prevent courts from using the state's complex environmental law to stop construction but backed down from that proposal under pressure as he sought to win lawmakers' approval.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Monday praised Democratic lawmakers for approving the project, despite intense pressure from critics, saying it reinforces California's position as a leader in high-speed rail.
"The president's vision is to get America to have high-speed rail. There's no better place to do it than in California," he told reporters at San Francisco International Airport.
___
Associated Press writer Fenit Nirappil in San Francisco contributed to this report.
Earlier on HuffPost:
Source: www.huffingtonpost.com
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