GOOD DAY FOR: Pirate booty, after Somalian buccaneers drew $3.2 million in ransom for a Ukrainian freighter they had been holding since September. U.S. Navy ships have surrounded the freighter, carrying tanks and other heavy arms, since its capture, but did not raid the ship for fear of endangering the crew and other pirate-held seamen. All the pirates escaped unharmed. (AP in Los Angeles Times)
BAD DAY FOR: Turning 16 in California, as state offices across the state are closed today, including the Department of Motor Vehicles, in a mandatory furlough for 200,000 state workers. Amid a fiscal state of emergency, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered the state workers to take two days off a month, effectively cutting pay by 9 percent. He says that will save $1.4 billion through June 2008. (Los Angeles Times)
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