Morning News Round-Up -- 4.22.09: The Day After

Internet (Porn) Filters failed to fly in San Jose last night. Watch Dog ran a run-down piece earlier today. Councilmember Sam Liccardo called filters the equivalent of “fighting a global naval strategy by deploying all our ships to Lake Tahoe.” Metro/San Jose Insider reports that the religious right may have won the battle on gay marriage (for now) but they lost the war on porn…

San Jose’s Councilmember Nora Campos wants to strip the Mayor of looking for the next Independent Police Auditor. After the giant screw-up from the Mayor’s office the last time she may get support.

Silicon Valley’s public aid offices are swamped with families trying to keep their lives together during these difficult economic times. The news couldn’t come at a worse time, the Supervisors will start slashing services next month to try and keep up with their growing deficit.

Welcome to Earth Day 2009, now 4 decades old it is no longer restricted to granola crunchers. P.K. Karnik took recycling to a whole new level when he remodeled his Los Gatos home. Using craigslist, Karnik unloaded everything that would normally have hit a landfill. In Saratoga, Hari Sripadanna is giddy to have a LEED Gold place to call home.

Silicon Valley calling ET. In fact, Steve Vogt is calling from Mt. Hamilton with a fancy new telescope designed to look for life among the billions and billions of lights in the sky.

The economy is driving everyone back to school, or so it seems. Thousands of De Anza students were left out in the cold, unable to get into class. College League President Scott Lay called community colleges “Ellis Island” for students on their way to a four year education.

Los Gatos main drag has seen a lot of boutique shops shutter their windows and leave town. Looks like Watch Dog has some new places to sniff around as hip, “moderate” retailers take their place. Soles owner Heidi Rehbock optimistically said "I picked the worst month of the worst year to open, so there's nowhere to go but up."

Los Gatos contractor Channing Verden was busted for being a firebug. Verden screwed up, had no permit to burn brush and was lazy with the stuff he was burning – the end result was 35 homes were lost.

If you ever wanted to hang with the Merc’s Scott Herhold, this is your chance…Filled with lynchings, hangings, and statues that piss people off, Herhold kicks off his walking tour Saturday at the Arena. But, RSVP first. Contact Scott Herhold at sherhold@mercurynews.com or 408- 275-0917. Sounds exciting...