Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. The state senate narrowly approved a pact that Governor Brown reached with the California prison guards’ union when two Republicans broke ranks and voted for what critics have described as a sweetheart deal. The senate also approved five other public-employee union deals that Brown negotiated even though the six pacts fall $200 million short of what the governor had promised. The CoCo Times reports that the pacts will now go to the state assembly, where they also will require two GOP votes to pass.
2. UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau reinstated men’s gymnastics yesterday after alumni raised $2.5 million to save the program, the Trib reports. The move follows the reinstatement of men’s baseball after donors contributed $9 million and means that Cal is not eliminating any collegiate sports. Men’s gymnastics, however, will not be able to offer athletic scholarships, at least for now, because donors fell short of the $4 million goal set by Birgeneau.
