Politics

Congressmember Lois Capps, a Democratic Party superdelegate, broke months of silence on 4/30 to endorse Barack Obama in his bid for president. Though she had praise for Hillary Clinton, Capps explained Obama would help counter the culture of demonization that now consumes so much of national politics. Capps had hoped not to involve herself as a superdelegate, preferring that one candidate would have emerged decisively by now. (click here for more)

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Supporters of the Safe Neighborhoods Act gathered on 4/25 at the Santa Barbara County Courthouseand in locations throughout Californiato announce that they have obtained enough signatures to put the initiative on the November ballot. Supported by both the District Attorney’s Office and the Sheriff’s Department, the measure aims to fight gang violence and drug dealers, strengthen after-school programs, and increase sentences for gang recruitment.

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Legislation introduced by Congressmember Lois Capps on 4/24 attempts to ease the national nursing shortage by encouraging military nurses to teach in accredited U.S. nursing schools. The bill will offer incentivesincluding scholarships and two-year tours of duty as faculty members at nursing schoolsto entice experienced military nurses. Capps’s office reports that U.S. nursing schools turned down 42,866 qualified applicants in 2006, primarily due to a lack of qualified faculty.

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Members of the Santa Barbara chapter of MoveOn convened outside the Santa Barbara Public Library on 4/25, to promote the national group’s new report indicating that 55 percent of polled California voters worry about the state economy, 50 percent think that removing American forces from Iraq would help the economy “a great deal,” and 69 percent think that war money would have been better spent at home.