Robbins

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SACRAMENTO

Redistricting limits proposed by Nuñez

In one of his last acts as Assembly speaker, Fabian Nuñez on Tuesday proposed legislation to strip lawmakers of the power to draw their districts as a rival measure backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared to be headed for the November ballot.

Nuñez said the redistricting initiative supported by Schwarzenegger, Common Cause and other groups "leaves a lot of holes in what I consider to be a very complex task."

Supporters of the Common Cause proposal, which would create a 14-member redistricting commission, announced Tuesday that they had collected 1.2 million signatures to put the plan on the Nov. 4 ballot. They need valid signatures of at least 694,354 registered voters to make it.

IN BRIEF

LOS ANGELES

Baskin-Robbins co-founder, 90, dies

Irvine Robbins, who as co-founder of Baskin-Robbins brought exotic ice cream flavors to every corner of America, has died at age 90.

He died Monday at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, said his daughter, Marsha Veit.

While the company advertised that it offered 31 flavors, in fact, it has created more than 1,000, according to its Web site. "Frankly, I never met a flavor I didn't like," Robbins said in 1973.

Robbins opened his first ice cream store in Glendale in December 1945, after his discharge from the Army. His brother-in-law, the late Burton Baskin, opened his own ice cream store in Pasadena a year later. By the end of the 1940s, they had joined forces.

Today, Baskin-Robbins is part of Dunkin' Brands Inc. and has more than 5,800 franchises worldwide.

FRESNO

Mistreated chickens shown in video

An animal rights group Tuesday released undercover video showing chickens at a major California egg farm being mistreated by workers and housed in cages so small, they can't spread their wings.

The Chicago-based nonprofit Mercy for Animals began circulating the footage as part of its campaign to promote a California ballot measure that would bar farms from confining hens, pregnant sows and calves in cages that are so restrictive, the animals can scarcely turn around.

The group's executive director, Nathan Runkle, planned to submit the grainy images along with a criminal complaint to the Merced County district attorney today, claiming that the conditions broke state animal cruelty laws.

One of the nonprofit's investigators shot the footage on a camera worn during two months he fixed cages and repaired machines at egg-laying sites in Delhi and Hilmar in the San Joaquin Valley, Runkle said.

SACRAMENTO

Foundation sets up scholarship plan

A higher education foundation is donating up to $50 million for a permanent scholarship endowment for low-income community college students in California.

The San Francisco-based Bernard Osher Foundation announced the funding Tuesday. The endowment will pay for $1,000 scholarships for students at the state's 109 two-year community colleges.

—From wire reports