Former governor and current Attorney General Jerry Brown says that New York's blocking of Usenet groups and other Internet censorship isn't harsh enough, as a few independent Internet service providers still allow users to access banned content. Brown wants every ISP doing business in California to enact similar restrictions. I can't believe this guy's nickname used to be "Moonbeam." [TechDirt] (Photo by AP/Rich Pedroncelli)

The California State Controller's Office shows that Microsoft owes Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang $3,008.46 in unclaimed dividend checks. The software giant has apparently been mailing the checks to Santa Cruz instead of a Yahoo office in Santa Clara. Is that why Yahoo hasn't yet responded to Microsoft's bid? [Forbes]

Facing possible fines and jail time, local gene sequencers Navigenics and 23andMe will have to get permits if they want to continue testing resident of New York state. Meanwhile, California is investigating 12 complaints against unnamed gene sequencing companies, with officials noting that "all genetic tests must be ordered by a licensed physician." Trying to distance themselves from health regulators, 23andMe spokesman Paul Kranholdt told Forbes that "23andMe's services are not medical ... they are educational." In other words, getting tested amounts to a $1,000 exercise in vanity. No wonder people in the Valley love it.

In a move to shore up the state budget, State Assemblyman Charles Calderon, D-City of Industry, introduced AB 1956 in February. The bill, if passed, would equate paid downloads of digital content with real goods for sales tax purposes — meaning that Californians would have to pay an extra eight percent next time they sign up to download movies by Sasha Grey. Caleron estimates that taxing porn alone would bring in $500 million. Good luck with that.(Photo by AP/Rich Pedroncelli)

A California state ballot item planned for November would secure $10 billion in bonds to begin building a high-speed rail system by 2009, with a 20-year estimated building schedule and a total price tag of $40 billion, all of it in publicly traded bonds more stable than, say, subprime mortgages. Millions have already been spent on planning — and influencing lawmakers with trips to visit Japan's shinkansen. But Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has helped derail two previous efforts to let California voters make the decision, even though 58 percent of voters statewide support the idea. A new public-private partnership amenable to the Governator's self-interest might finally break the ice. Why should the Valley care? Here are four reasons.

With Romney dropping out of the race, his cofinance chair, retiring eBay CEO Meg Whitman has been outbid on a Cabinet position in the Romney Administration. But what about running for governor of California? Retired businesspeople need to find something to do with their time. Sitting around the house after running a company 24/7 is all too intolerable. Yes, Whitman smashed rumors of a 2010 gubernatorial run in California, but many, many, wannabe politicians say that before jumping into a race.

This is the way it has always worked: the gays move into a shitty neighborhood and clean it up. Then eventually they grow old and move in with each other and possibly get dogs and babies and then, by this point, we straights have come in. Eventually ugly stores are built by straight people and the gays go. Then the gays—who have a much better skills than any of those idiots currently moving further and and further out on the J train—don't have neighborhoods anymore, but they don't really care, and their nutty gaytopian communities become, well, the West Village. Or the Castro! And so then the annual Castro Halloween party gets canceled and therefore the Times declares the Gayborhood to be dead.

For six long days, wildfires have raged across southern California, displacing thousands, destroying millions of dollars worth of property; they still threaten tens of thousands of homes. Seven people are confirmed dead and an area twice the size of New York City is a charred wasteland. But the magazines must go on. According to Folio, the fires "have affected countless numbers of staffers at the region's magazines, publishers there say, but have yet to disrupt magazine production."

Half of us was on vacation in Los Angeles last week — oh, that's sweet; we missed you, too — and so you can imagine our excitement when, walking back to the car in Santa Monica, we found ourselves passing the original Michael's.

We mentioned earlier that 4% Famous author Deborah Schoeneman has been doing book signings in DKNY stores nationwide, as reported in USA Today. "For me, it's great exposure," Schoeneman told the paper. Oh, is it? Shortly after that post went up, a New York media type on vacation in Southern California emailed in this anecdote:

A belated follow-up for all of you who were shocked yesterday we didn't cover the California legislature's passage of a bill legalizing gay marriage, from the L.A. Times:

We are indeed aware, as several of you pointed out today, that California's assembly yesterday passed a bill allowing for gay marriage, leaving only Gov. Arnold's signature as the final step remaining to the fulfillment of Gavin Newsom's fondest dreams. (We understand some gay and lesbian couples might be pleased with the news, too.) We are further aware, as you also pointed out, that we have not commented upon this development.