Desert Local News - Index

Desert Local News - Desert Local News Print and Virtual Edition April 17 2008 - Index

28 CALIFORNIA WIRE
Lawmaker delays attempt to
expand bingo for charities
saCramenTo - a bingo-expansion
bill backed by the Catholic
Church and other charities has been
shelved in the face of stiff opposition
from California’s powerful
gaming tribes.
sen. gil Cedillo, d-Los angeles,
canceled a public hearing set for today
(april 15) on a measure to allow
churches, charities and nonprofits to
run interconnected games that could
offer prizes well above the current
$250 limit.
Cedillo said he has not given up
on the legislation, sB 1328, and will
take time to meet with indian tribal
leaders in an effort to allay their concerns.
The move clears the field for a
showdown next week over another
bingo bill that gaming tribes like
even less. That measure, sB 1626,
would legalize electronic bingo machines
similar to slot machines for
charities. The bill is being carried by
the senate’s leader-elect, democrat
darrell steinberg of sacramento.
steinberg said monday that he
plans to proceed with a hearing before
the senate governmental organization
Committee april 22 despite
mounting tribal opposition to his
bill.
“my motive is very simple,”
steinberg said. “i want to make sure
that the charities in my district, specifically
the WIND Youth Center,
has the ability to continue fulfilling
its incredibly important mission.
electronic bingo is the way they
raise money.”
Tribes have warned that hundreds
of bingo machines operating
in sacramento County and elsewhere
violate indian casinos’ guaranteed
monopoly on slots and other
electronic-gaming devices. a breach
of the guarantee could cost the state
hundreds of millions of dollars a
year.
But Catholic parishes, charities
and nonprofits say bingo revenue
has dropped off sharply as indian
casinos and the state lottery have
flourished.
Cedillo’s bill would have authorized
a potentially dramatic expansion
of conventional, paper and
dauber bingo, by using technology
to connect games statewide. To appease
tribes, it was amended to expressly
forbid individual bingo machines.
“We remain committed to the
bill,” Cedillo said. “Because we are,
we want to take the time to make
sure that the opponents understand,
as we believe, that this bill does not
pose a threat to them.”
Because today’s hearing was
canceled, Cedillo’s bill will miss
an initial deadline to start moving
through the process. But it could be
resurrected later or amended into another
piece of legislation.
“We’ll get a hearing this year,”
vowed John Lovell, a lobbyist for
groups backing the measure.
Tribes objected to a provision
that would have allowed charitable
bingo to offer prizes of up to 37 percent
of the gross receipts for a game.
With hundreds of parishes or elks
lodges linked to a single game, that
could produce six-figure prizes, proponents
predicted.
Tribes also said bingo operators
should be subject to state regulation.
Bingo machines are illegal under
state law, tribal attorneys have argued.
“The bingo industry has regulations,”
said anthony miranda, chairman
of the California nations indian
gaming association. “We would
like to see them adhere to the laws
and regulations already in place for
them.”
Grade separation
When is a B not a B? When high
school students have a 3.0 gradepoint
average and high enough saT
scores for a California state university
school, yet spend their freshman
year in remedial english or math
classes.
This seeming oddity, likely the
result of grade inflation or less rigorous
expectations at some schools,
isn’t new. From 1988 to 2006, the
Csu student body systemwide grew
by 19 percent; the need for remediation,
by 24 percent. of the freshmen
who entered the Csu system of 23
colleges last fall, 46 percent ended
up in remedial english classes, 37
percent in remedial math.
This occurred despite Csu’s $10
million worth of special training for
high school teachers, an online math
class and, for high school juniors
with a year to improve, Csu’s “early
assessment program.” so much
for CSU officials’ 2007 goal of only
10 percent of freshmen in remedial
classes.
despite the thousands of local
students whose high school class
standing - in the top third makes
them Csu-eligible, san diego state
university needn’t take them all.
That’s a system anomaly that the
university uses well. students admitted
for the freshman class this
fall, about half from the san diego
area and half from outside it, have
the highest average gpa and saT
scores ever - a standard that knocks
out many local students.
For this sad reflection on much
of public education from kindergarten
to high school, choose your culprit.
Grade inflation. Poor teachers.
poorer students. dreadful facilities.
uninterested parents. Funding mandates.
english as a second language.
a dearth of discipline.
each of these factors contributes
to increasing numbers of high school
graduates who think they’ve made
the grade for college but haven’t. it’s
a cruel fiction that starts as early as
elementary school, which is really
when plain facts are due.
reprinted from The san diego
union-Tribune.