It’s hard not to be jealous of California. Its residents don’t have to deal with black ice in January. There are palm trees. And it’s the place where "Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper" was filmed and enjoyed six magical seasons.

But an article on Yahoo! News today, and featured on the Drudge Report, illustrates what happens when people finally become tired of inadequate government:

Mike Reilly spent his lifetime chasing the California dream. This year he’s going to look for it in Colorado.

With a house purchase near Denver in the works, the 38-year-old engineering contractor plans to move his family 1,200 miles away from his home state’s lemon groves, sunshine and beaches. For him, years of rising taxes, dead-end schools, unchecked illegal immigration and clogged traffic have robbed the Golden State of its allure.

Is there something left of the California dream?

"If you are a Hollywood actor," Reilly says, "but not for us."

Since the days of the Gold Rush, California has represented the Promised Land, an image celebrated in the songs of the Beach Boys and embodied by Silicon Valley’s instant millionaires and the young men and women who achieve stardom in Hollywood.

But for many California families last year, tomorrow started somewhere else.

The number of people leaving California for another state outstripped the number moving in from another state during the year ending on July 1, 2008. California lost a net total of 144,000 people during that period — more than any other state, according to census estimates. That is about equal to the population of Syracuse, N.Y.

The state with the next-highest net loss through migration between states was New York, which lost just over 126,000 residents.

As we work our way through Minnesota during summer fishing trips, I invariably make it a point to announce to the group that Hibbing is the hometown of none other than Bob Dylan as we pass by. The other gentlemen on the trip rarely seem to care, but I like to make it known that I’m aware of this fact and that I celebrate his work. 

And now it seems apropos that the North Star State is working to avoid getting its public education system "Tangled Up in Red (Tape)." Despite my miserable segue, Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s office offers this:

Governor Tim Pawlenty and key legislators today announced a bipartisan proposal that will require Minnesota school districts and charter schools to combine efforts to reduce costs. The proposal will compel schools to pool limited resources in order to deliver more cost-effective services, redirect administrative costs, and reduce duplication…

“There are 340 school districts and 150 charter schools in the state, but back-room functions don’t need to be duplicated 490 times,” Governor Tim Pawlenty said. “Shared services will allow Minnesota schools to focus resources where they are needed the most – in the classroom and on improving student achievement.”

Also interesting:

Governor Pawlenty is hopeful that the Legislature will pass a bill for this initiative sooner rather than later so that districts may realize savings during the 2009-2010 school year. School districts in other states have saved 5 to 15 percent in purchasing and information technology services. For example:

• One Pennsylvania school district was able to save approximately $100,000 through the sharing of food services that helped standardize health and safety practices.

• The California Charter School Association entered into shared services agreements for worker’s compensation insurance resulting in approximately $20,000 in savings per school on an annual basis.

• Through the Midwestern Higher Education Commission, IT software sharing occurs among Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin resulting in a combined savings of $750,000.

Tony Bennett officially becomes Indiana’s new superintendent of public instruction today. Three days earlier, he offered Indiana Chamber members participating in the First Friday Conference Call a preview of things to come. And he didn’t mince any words.

A few of the highlights (with a more extensive report to be included in the March-April BizVoice magazine’s focus on education and workforce development):

• The old question of "how do we get more money for education?" needs to be changed to "how do we get more education for our money?" Bennett says the Department of Education that he will oversee can operate with 10% less funding
• Consolidation of smaller school districts is not just a financial argument, but primarily a way to increase learning opportunities for students
• Although just elected in November, Bennett strongly believes the superintendent position should be appointed. He hints at how long he might serve in that role (see the BizVoice article in March)
• He terms it a great injustice to lower expectations based on an individual student’s background. "The excuses stop at the schoolhouse door," Bennett claims

As a spectator for this First Friday call (Chamber education expert Derek Redelman served as host), I can confidently offer the following: Bennett will hit the ground running and all involved in the education community better be prepared to keep pace.

Michigan is a beautiful state, but right now its economic situation isn’t. The Detroit News offered this article yesterday articulating just how true the phrase "no rest for the weary" is becoming for the Great Lakes State, noting a projected unemployment rate of 11% coupled with declining tax revenues:

Michigan’s jobless rate will top 11 percent in each of the next two years and state tax receipts this year will come in $870 million below estimates made in May due to the languishing economy, according to a revenue forecast released Wednesday.

The House Fiscal Agency report says unemployment in Michigan, which was 8.4 percent in 2008, will rise to 11.3 percent this year and 11.4 percent in 2010. The jobless mark will peak at 11.7 percent in the first quarter of 2010, the report predicts.

"Michigan’s economy and state revenue will be significantly affected by the national recession, the weakened level of motor vehicle sales, the tight credit conditions, and the financial condition of General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and their suppliers," the report says.

From the "please stop giving businesses even more hoops to jump through" file, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the U.S. Chamber are joining forces (along with three other trade groups) in a lawsuit against the U.S. government regarding a recent E-Verify executive order. They charge that requiring federal contractors to use the Dept. of Homeland Security’s E-Verify system to confirm if employees are legally eligible to work in the U.S. is illegal.

"This massive expansion of E-Verify is not only bad policy, it’s unlawful," said Robin Conrad, executive vice president of the National Chamber Litigation Center, the chamber’s public policy law firm. "The administration can’t use an executive order to circumvent federal immigration and procurement laws. Federal law explicitly prohibits the secretary of Homeland Security from making E-Verify mandatory or from using it to reauthorize the existing workforce."

The case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, is Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, et al. v. Chertoff, et al. It challenges both the reauthorization and the government’s use of an executive order coupled with federal procurement law to make E-Verify mandatory for federal contractors with projects exceeding $100,000 and for subcontractors with projects exceeding $3,000.

"The DHS intends to expand E-Verify on an unprecedented scale in a very short timeframe and to impose liability on government contractors who are unable to comply," said Randy Johnson, vice president of Labor, Immigration and Employee Benefits at the chamber. "Given the current economy, now is not the time to add more bureaucracy and billions of dollars in compliance costs to America’s businesses."

Hat tip to Chamber staffer Glenn Harkness for the link.

Question: What do you get when you combine a piggy bank with a hammer and the words "financial crunch?" Answer: The cover of the new BizVoice magazine — leading to a special Banking & Finance section that examines the fiscal crisis from an Indiana perspective.

BizVoice writers Candace Gwaltney, Matt Ottinger, Rebecca Patrick and Symone Skrzycki tackled topics ranging from banks and credit unions to financing alternatives and student loan impact.

The stories are quick, easy reads, but filled with valuable information. The print edition went in the mail on December 30 or you can check out the online version.

A revolving door that generates energy? Sounds feasible, right? Well apparently, it is. Boon Edam, the Dutch company that created it, discusses:

The Boon Edam revolving door plays a very important part in achieving and maintaining the sustainability of the building. The TQM revolving door will help primarily to save the carefully generated and conserved energy. A calculation was made for this particular situation that indicated an energy saving of around 4600 kWh per year, a considerable saving compared to a conventional sliding entrance.

For this very special project, Boon Edam has gone one step further to become the first manufacturer in the world to develop an energy generating manual revolving door, which will not only save energy but also generate energy with every person passing through the door. The revolving door is equipped with a special generator that is driven by the human energy applied to the door whilst the generator controls the rotating speed of the door and makes it safer. The ceiling of the revolving door is made of safety class and gives a clear view of the technology. A set of super capacitors stores the generated energy as a buffer and provides a consistent supply for the low energy LED lights in the ceiling. In case the LED lights have used-up all the stored energy, the highly efficient control unit will switch to the alternative mains supply of the building. This ensures that the door is illuminated at all times, even when the passenger flow is minimal. 

Very encouraging. But sadly, this photo is already giving me RCA/Hoosier Dome withdrawals. The building has been demolished for weeks and I still long for those days walking out of the stadium, getting vacuum-sucked by the air pressure onto the concourse like a wayward hamster who’s been found by the family’s Hoover. Oh, the memories.

Hat tip to 13th Floor.