The State Worker

As many California state workers rang in the New Year by celebrating a trio of court room victories over the Schwarzenegger administration, a group of fellow state workers in Utah were miffed about an appearance the Grinch made at their annual holiday party.

At the party, the 1,300 Utah Department of Natural Resources employees learned that they must take a one-day furlough by the end of January as the state agency works to meet its governor's mandated 3 percent budget cut this fiscal year. 

Also, the staffers learned that they had also lost their state-subsidized public transit passes.

It's all part of the Utah governor's efforts to make up  for a $183 million budget shortfall.

Utah DNR is one of that state's largest departments. 

To read more about how staff took the news, click here to read a Salt Lake Tribune report.

Autoweek.com recently published an article about Nissan Motor Co.'s big move into electric car manufacturing. The part of the story that caught our eye:

In California, Nissan of Elk Grove owner John Driebe thinks Nissan has identified a powerful new market segment. "A lot of Americans really want to stop using imported oil," he says. "We're excited about being able to market a car that will never use a drop of gasoline."

Driebe's market near Sacramento is home to about 80,000 California state employees, many of whom are worried about the state's current budget crisis. Driebe sees commuting state employees as an ideal demographic group for the car.

Click here to read the entire article. And thanks to The State Worker user CB for sending this our way.