In brief: Latino, Asian populations grew

Los Angeles – Surging numbers of Latinos and Asians accounted for virtually all of California’s population growth during the past decade, census data showed Tuesday.

In the period from 2000 to 2010, the number of Latinos grew by 28 percent to 14 million in the nation’s most populous state, while Asians increased by about 31 percent to 4.8 million.

In contrast, non-Hispanic whites decreased by 5 percent, and the state’s non-Hispanic black population dipped by 1 percent.

Wisconsin’s Walker floats concessions

Madison, Wis. – Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has offered to keep certain collective bargaining rights in place for state workers in a proposed compromise aimed at ending a nearly three-week standoff with absent Senate Democrats, according to e-mails released by his office.

The e-mails, some dated as recently as Sunday, show a softened stance in Walker’s talks with the 14 Democrats who fled to Illinois to block a vote on his original proposal that would strip nearly all collective bargaining rights for public workers.

Under the compromise floated by Walker, workers would be able to continue bargaining over their salaries with no limit, a change from his original plan that banned negotiated salary increases beyond inflation. He also proposed compromises allowing collective bargaining to stay in place on mandatory overtime, performance bonuses, hazardous duty pay and classroom size for teachers.

Alumnus gives USC $200 million

Los Angeles – The University of Southern California will announce today its largest donation ever, a $200 million gift from alumnus David Dornsife, the chairman of a large steel fabricating company, and his wife, Dana.

The Dornsifes’ donation will go to USC’s College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, the university’s biggest academic unit, without restrictions on how it should be spent.