The following stories are under consideration:
FISCALCLIFF-GOP:TBW — The House of Representatives appears set to vote on the Senate-approved fiscal cliff bill, and apparently there are enough votes to pass it and send the bill to President Barack Obama for his signature. By Lisa Mascaro and Kathleen Hennessey in Washington.
ROSE-PARADE:LA— Rose Parade spectator Miriam Pazz was snapping photos of a float honoring military dogs when suddenly it came to an abrupt halt and her husband, who she thought was in Afghanistan, bounded off the platform in combat boots and fatigues. The crowd leaped up in a joyfull standing ovation as 4-year-old Eric Pazz II dashed from the sidewalk and into the arms of his father, Army Sgt. First Class Eric Pazz. Moments later, the family was locked in a warm embrace seen by hundreds of millions of parade viewers around the world. “All I wanted to do was hold my wife and son and tell them how much I love them,” Pazz said later. “I was lost in the moment. There was nothing going on in the world except on the ground my family was standing on.” The family then boarded the float titled “Canines With Courage,” sponsored by Natural Balance Pet Foods, and joined the procession as premier guests of the annual 124th Tournament of Roses. It was among the most dramatic moments in the recent history of the parade that kicks off the New Year for a million spectators gathered along the 5 1/2 mile parade route through downtown Pasadena. It also symbolized this year’s parade theme: “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” By Los Angeles Times staff writers in Pasadena, Calif.
CALIF-BROWN-EDUCATION:LA— California Gov. Jerry Brown will push next year to upend the way schools are funded in California, hoping to shift more money to poorer districts and end requirements that billions of dollars be spent on particular programs. Brown said he wants more of the state’s dollars to benefit low-income and non-English-speaking students, who typically are more expensive to educate. “The reality is, in some places students don’t enjoy the same opportunities that people have in other places,” the governor said in an interview. “This is a way to balance some of life’s chances.” He would also scale back — and possibly eliminate — dozens of rules that districts must abide by to receive billions in state dollars. Some of those requirements, such as a mandate to limit class size, have been suspended amid Sacramento’s recurrent budget problems but are set to resume by 2015. By Anthony York in Sacramento, Calif. (Moving Wednesday)
HONGKONG-PARKINGSPACES:LA— The hottest properties in this frenetic city have no walls, windows or even front doors. Forget condos, apartments and homes. Real estate investors are scrambling for parking spaces. Single slots are now selling for more than some modest Southern California homes. Witness the $288,000 paid last month for a parking place in a luxury apartment complex on Hong Kong Island. Or the $166,000 tab for a spot in a suburban development called Festival City. A space attached to an exclusive cliffside townhouse community in the ocean view neighborhood of Repulse Bay fetched $385,000 in March. And those are just the recorded sales. Jacinto Tong, head of Gale Well Group, a real estate investment firm, was offered $640,000 each for his two ground-floor parking spaces in an office building in the Wan Chai commercial district. He said he turned it down because he likes parking his Mercedes S500 on prime real estate near the elevator. The other spot is reserved for his driver. “This market has gone crazy,” Tong said. “These spaces aren’t worth that much money.” By Don Pierson in Hong Kong. (Moving at a later date)
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