New in CW 08.31.06

The softer-rock side of Jack O'Connell It's Friday afternoon at 4:45 p.m. but Jack O'Connell wants to talk. Most state workers already have gone home. It's late July--the doldrums of the political calendar--but O'Connell, California's top education official, still wants set up a weekend-postponing interview. And he doesn't even want to talk about education. "The day started out in a spectacular fashion this morning," O'Connell beams over the phone. "The rock group that has sold more albums than other American group in the history of the planet was on the Today show." Jack O'Connell isn't just a fan of Chicago, the 1960s rock band: He's a groupie. Flood legislation returns without builder-opposed provision Senate leader Don Perata has revived a flood-control package that he declared dead only a week ago. But a central proposal vehemently opposed by the building industry--which last week donated $500,000 to a Perata-controlled committee, and another $500,000 to a committee run by a close Perata associate--remains off the table. On Tuesday, exactly one year after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Perata said he was folding several provisions from the shelved eight-bill flood package into new, yet-to-be introduced legislation.