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The Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday retreated from new, more rigorous graduation standards out of concern that huge numbers of students would fail to earn diplomas.

“There’s no well-defined tech sector,” said Jerry Nickelsburg, an economics professor at UCLA. “There’s clearly a large and vibrant technology sector that runs across many traditional sectors in Los Angeles — that is clear. What that translates to in terms of employment and income — that’s a little less clear.”

Labor leaders, who were among the strongest supporters of the citywide minimum wage increase approved last week by the Los Angeles City Council, are advocating last-minute changes to the law that could create an exemption for companies with unionized workforces..

A week after Los Angeles became the largest city in the nation to adopt a major minimum-wage increase, suburban Irvine in neighboring Orange County is considering going in the opposite direction.

The fatter budgets outlined by Assembly and Senate leaders seize on alternative estimates from legislative analysts that the state will receive $3.2 billion more revenue than the Brown administration projects.

Unions and grass-roots organizers are considering an effort to, over Brown’s objections, extend the higher taxes that the governor persuaded voters to go along with in 2012. They are also pondering a proposal to alter the state’s landmark restrictions on property taxes, to raise more revenue from commercial interests.

The California unemployment rate slid to 6.3% in April — its lowest level in seven years — and employers in the state added 29,500 nonfarm payroll jobs..

The requirement aims to ensure that wages keep pace with cost-of-living increases, but business advocates say it could cripple entrepreneurs’ ability to adjust wages to unpredictable economic conditions — effectively enshrining automatic annual layoffs when times get tough.

The battle lines in the annual tug-of-war over the state budget became clear on Monday evening, when legislative analysts said there would be $1.1 billion more revenue available for discretionary spending than Gov. Jerry Brown has estimated.

A reduced supply from dams forces the grid operator to turn to more expensive sources of power, such as natural gas, which also enlarges the state’s carbon footprint.

There’s no justification for continuing to sock the highest income earners — the people who can most easily move to a low-tax state — when Sacramento is wallowing in surplus money.

The eight-foot-tall dam, which is constructed of concrete blocks, reeds and mud, will remain in place at least until November, so that the LADWP can fulfil a variety of mandated obligations, including dust mitigation, tribal land requirements and assisting the Lower Owens River Project — the nation’s largest river restoration effort.

Sabrina Lockhart, a spokeswoman for Californians for Energy Independence, an advocacy group for oil and gas companies, said, “It’s ironic that a billionaire who is promoting policies that will cause energy prices to rise suddenly cares about what Californians pay at the pump.”

California’s cap-and-trade program, in which permits to pollute are traded and fees are levied, has been a swelling source of revenue, helping to fuel major initiatives in the updated spending blueprint released by the governor this week. . . Simply put: When power plants burn fuel and tailpipes spew exhaust, money is pumped into the governor’s agenda.

On Friday, the average for a gallon of regular in the Los Angeles area was higher than $4 for the first time since July, according to daily fuel price reports by AAA and GasBuddy.com. The recent surge in regional fuel prices has left local drivers paying more on average than motorists anywhere else in the U.S.