Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Fitz says Walker was involved in attempted ax of open records law
I’ll keep this brief. Here’s the headline: Scott Fitzgerald: Scott Walker’s office was involved with open records changes The most important thing to take away is that Fitz and the boys will make another effort to cut you and the world off from legislative records: “I think it’s something that there are many different entities more »
InlandPolitics: Final cut coming for first GOP Presidential Debate
Tuesday, July 7, 2015 – 03:00 p.m.
The Washington Post has setup a link to their website showing the averages of the latest national polling in the Republican Presidential Primary contest.
Only the top-10 in terms of highest to lowest polling will make the cut. Those who do not will be severely impacted from continuing forward.
Currently, the bottom nine of the field of eighteen can change significantly before the axe falls.
To reach the website, click here.
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2015 San Andreas League all-league baseball, softball
Here are San Andreas League spring all-league teams BASEBALL For SOFTBALL, click below Share this
Daily Bulletin: Former Fontana Unified police dispatcher awarded more than $315,000
By Joe Nelson, The Sun
Posted: 07/06/15 – 7:45 PM PDT |
A jury has awarded a former Fontana Unified School District police dispatcher more than $315,000 after she alleged she was fired for reporting a police officer accused of raping or sexually assaulting other dispatchers.
The jury awarded Jolee Berdnik $315,295 on Thursday in San Bernardino Superior Court following a monthlong trial, according to court records posted online and Berdnik’s attorney, Brian Hannemann. The attorney is representing three other current and former employees of Fontana Unified’s police services division in lawsuits claiming former police officer John Garcia sexually assaulted or raped them on school district grounds in 2010 and 2011.
Berdnik did not accuse Garcia of sexually assaulting or harassing her, but claimed in her lawsuit, filed in 2012, that she was let go during her probationary period in retaliation for reporting to her superiors what other dispatchers told her about Garcia’s alleged conduct.
“We are ecstatic that this jury saw through the lies and half-truths of those petty supervisors at school police who thought they could get away with this,” Hannemann said Monday. “Jolee Berdnik did the right thing. We all know it.”
Hannemann said one of the things that still “rankles” him is that the school district never thanked Berdnik for reporting Garcia, which ultimately led to his termination.
Maria Aarvig, the attorney representing the Fontana Unified School District in the litigation, declined to comment on Monday.
Olivier Wong Ah Sun, chief of staff for Fontana Unified Superintendent Leslie Boozer, released the following statement on Monday: “The Fontana Unified School District does not comment upon its personnel decisions but wishes to re-iterate that it is committed to ensuring the quality of its staff and a positive workplace environment for all our employees.”
To read entire story, click here.
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Daily Bulletin: Former candidate calls for recall of Montclair mayor, two councilmembers
By Grace Wong, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Posted: 07/06/15 – 10:13 PM PDT |
MONTCLAIR >> Tensions were high at Monday night’s City Council meeting when a resident accused the council of overpaying City Manager Ed Starr and called for a recall of the mayor and two councilmembers.
Sean Brunske, an unsuccessful candidate in the most recent City Council election, accused the council of negligence in the city’s parks, the city manager’s salary and the police force.
Brunske specifically pointed his comments toward Councilmember Carolyn Raft, saying that she did not have correct information on how much the city manager was being paid, which he argued was nearly half a million dollars including benefits, salary and retirement.
“The citizens of Montclair have had it so I’ve got a petition here for a recall of the mayor (Paul M. Eaton), Councilmember (Bill) Ruh and Councilmember (Trisha) Martinez,” Brunske said during the meeting. “And you know, Mrs. Raft, if you don’t know the numbers of your own city employees, you might as well just back right out as well just so we can make this a free-for-all and get some new people to run this city appropriately.”
But Brunske’s information was vehemently contradicted by both Starr and Finance Director Donald Parker, who said that his salary was inaccurately represented on the state controller’s website, when in reality, his salary is $220,000.
To read entire story, click here.
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Monday, July 6, 2015
The Sacramento Bee: Opinion: Politics, self-interest infest construction of California’s schools
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
July 5, 2015
- Capital appreciation bonds accumulate interest costs
- Los Angeles district wants to change low-bid rules
- Leaseback court ruling could undo deals
One might think that school construction would be about as simple and straightforward as anything government does.
However, like any governmental activity involving lots of money, school construction is fraught with self-serving interests and politics.
Take, for example, the now-infamous practice of issuing capital appreciation school construction bonds.
Local school officials who should have known better drank the Kool-Aid offered by fast-talking “financial consultants” and issued voter-approved bonds that would accumulate interest costs for decades without any repayments – not unlike the “teaser rate” mortgages that lenders doled out to unqualified homebuyers.
San Diego County’s Poway Unified School District is the poster child for this fiscal malpractice, having borrowed $105 million. It’s now committed to paying back $1 billion long after those who made the bad decision have departed.
Reacting to the furor that erupted when the scheme was revealed, Poway and other districts that issued similar bonds are now trying to restructure them.
Meanwhile, however, the Los Angeles Unified School District is seeking state permission to depart from the traditional process of giving construction contracts to lowest bidders.
Instead, it wants to use “best value procurement,” which is more subjective than competitive bidding.
To read entire column, click here.
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The Washington Post: 3 big ways the crisis in Greece could affect Americans personally
Demonstrators hold flags and banners in front of Parliament in Athens in February. (Simela Pantzartzi/EPA)
By Ylan Q. Mui
July 5, 2015 at 2:55 PM
The financial crisis in Greece has upended the lives — and livelihoods — of residents of the Mediterranean nation. The shutdown of the banking system has resulted in long lines at ATMs to withdraw a daily maximum of just 60 euros, about $67. Citizens have stockpiled food and fuel, leading to empty shelves at grocery stores and crowded gas stations. Business leaders have warned that shortages of crucial medicines could be next.
It is the worst economic downturn faced by any developed nation since World War II. It strikes at the heart of the single currency that unites the 19-member euro zone and threatens to destabilize a fragile region.
But for Main Street U.S.A., the ripple effects are few and far between. Here are the three big ways the Greek debt crisis — which is likely to intensify in coming days, after Greece rejected a European bailout package Sunday — could affect you personally, from your stock market and summer travel plans to how much it costs to buy a house.
1) Your 401(k) could get scary
Markets around the world plunged after negotiations broke down late last month between Greece and its European creditors. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index logged its worst day so far this year, falling more than 2 percent. Analysts worried that the turmoil in Greece could signal the end of the six-year bull market in the United States. For those with a 401(k) retirement savings plan, the sell-off was a painful reminder of the volatility on Wall Street during the 2008 global financial crisis.
But it didn’t appear to last — at least, not so far. U.S. markets regained much of their ground the next day and ended the short holiday trading week well off their lows. A recent survey of investors by Barclays found that more than half thought that even a worst-case scenario in which Greece gets booted from the euro zone would register only as a blip in global markets. The United States has little direct exposure to the Greek debt crisis, and central banks have done a lot to set up firewalls against a broader panic. Only if the crisis spread badly to other countries such as Portugal and Italy would there be true reason for concern.
2) Your vacation could get cheaper
The instability in Europe and the massive stimulus program by the region’s central bank have sent the euro plunging against the dollar. The currency hit a 12-year low in March — of $1.05 — before inching back up. But it began sliding again in mid-June as the crisis in Greece ramped up.
To read entire story, click here.
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