A bit of good news for California's stem cell researchers who have watched as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has weathered some changes lately: California officials announced this week that $250 million in taxable general obligation bonds will be sold on September 27 with the proceeds going to CIRM, the regulatory body that oversees the state's stem cell research. These funds represent a portion of the $3 billion that California voters made available in a 2004 ballot to fund stem cell research in the state.

This potential infusion of funds will come after the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation donate what Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's press office calls, "a multi-million dollar gift to the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)" on September 10. (All you Schwarzenegger-philes out there can watch the Governator attending the UCLA press conference live via webcast at his website.)