Capitol Alert: AM Alert: All the Capitol's a stage for political theater on budget

VIDEO: Dan Walters, in today's video report, says that California's growing number of Latinos could change the state's political landscape.

There's nothing like a budget deadline to bring political theater to the Capitol.

Recipients of In-Home Supportive Services and their caregivers are gearing up for a rally, assembling early to make signs and hang banners before gathering on the south steps at 10:30 a.m. to urge lawmakers to pass "a better alternative" to program cuts, as a news release puts it.

IHSS organizers also anticipate an attempt around noon to take over the rotunda. Ten demonstrators were arrested Tuesday after an officer warned that they would be arrested if they remained in a Capitol hallway, Torey Van Oot reports in this post.

At the same time as the rotunda action, organizers say 5,000 protesters will link arms around the exterior of the Capitol building in what they're calling a "circle of care."

Home-care advocates aren't the only protesters today. Members of the California Federation of Teachers join students to decry what they're calling "the death of education" via budget cuts, complete with a hearse and a coffin carrying grievance cards signed by Los Angeles Community College District students. That event starts at 11 a.m. over by the fish pond.

As Friday's deadline approaches, here's a provision in Gov. Jerry Brown's budget that hasn't drawn much notice: A proposal to cut off thousands of retirees who return to work for the state. Jon Ortiz and Phillip Reese have details in today's Bee.

While protesters rally at the Capitol, U.S. Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin will be a few blocks away at the California Museum announcing a new national initiative that aims to keep Americans healthy. State schools chief Tom Torlakson will join Benjamin at a roundtable discussion about the plan. The event starts at 10:30 a.m. at 1020 O St. Learn more at this link.