Morning News Round-Up -- 7.20.09: School Districts Gone Wild...

The Luther Burbank School District Board of Trustees was undoubtedly (not) excited to see Board President called out in last weeks Civil Grand Jury Report. They must have spent the weekend cringing over new stories they aren’t paying teachers and they were so afraid of telling parents what they thought about the Report they delayed the discussion – after 4 hours of unrelated talk. The Luther Burbank Superintendent did not say, "Thank goodness East Side Union High School District is also in the news..."

Also vying for (negative) attention, the East Side Union High School Trustees getting some special love from a County Office of Education audit accusing District officials of financial shenanigans. Not the first time the District has been in hot water: in 2004 then-Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas took Trustee credit cards away. Can (unelected) Trustee Eddie Garcia save the day? Or did he come by his bad habits honestly through years of training from former East Side Trustee/ former Councilmember/ current Supervisor George Shirakawa, Jr.? (Click through the previous link for a memorable cartoon...)

The Merc.’s Scott Herhold sat with retired San Jose firefighter/ Author/ track star Jerry Williams to put a local face on the Sonia Sotomayor hearings. Herhold also reminds us that having a great kid isn’t always enough to avoid tragedy.

Sal Pizarro got an earful about parking from more San Joseans angry at the $3 charge for evening parking. Pizarro also reports the Pat Tillman Foundation received a $5,000 boost from patrons of the Britannia Arms and asks you to support Martha’s Kitchen when you head out to see Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire this week.

San Jose Insiders shared their parking peeves on Insides Rants & Raves while Baretta picks at San Jose Revealed with a little sleuthing work of their own.

Mission City Lantern shares details on three of their San Jose Revealed favorites...

San Jose Insider/Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio talks at length about the joys of iPods before getting to the point – no, he won’t be taking home lifetime benefits after 8 years on the San Jose City Council. Santa Clara County Supervisors make more and keep benefits after 12 years.

The flu that won’t go away is taking Twitter by storm, or so Joy Alexiou with Santa Clara County Public Health hopes. This is one viral they hope makes the top 10 Tweets.

And even though San Jose Revealed joined the San Jose City Council on hiatus, the Merc wants us to know there are still other cities in Silicon Valley and some are actually doing work…

• Palo Alto’s City Council interviews candidates hoping to join their Planning Commission.
• Santa Clara’s Planning Commission talks demolition and condo conversion.
• The Campbell Union High School District reconsiders open enrollment and how to snag some of those federal stimulus dollars.
• San Jose Unified School District looks at bringing back some of the 96 teachers they laid off.