First Take: Meg Whitman plays hardball. State owes workers back wages. Paul Rodriguez gets an appointment.

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Michael Rothfeld looks at the risks of Meg Whitman’s style of political hardball. A judge has ordered the state to pay back wages to thousands of workers who he says were illegally furloughed.

Director Kevin Smith tweeted his conversation with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger about obesity, Bruce Willis and marijuana.

Schwarzenegger appointed actor Paul Rodriguez to a post on the state film commission.

The Assembly adopted a no-cussing rule and a couple of small budget fixes too.

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