Morning News Round-Up -- 9.18.09: There's a new Chief in town...

For those long-time Watch Dog readers, you remember the turmoil the last Palo Alto Police Chief brought on to herself. Well, Palo Alto is appointing the taking the "Interim" off of Interim Police Chief Dennis Burns. Here's hoping that Burns doesn't follow in Lynne Johnson's PR footsteps...

A "suspicious" fire hit Citti's flower shop in Santa Clara. Sad. Watch Dog always loved Citti's and we hope they get that building back soon.

That gas you were smelling in Japantown in San Jose yesterday was caused by a construction crew that hit a gas line.

Unsurprisingly, the Los Gatos-Saratoga Union School District Board disagrees with what the Civil Grand Jury says about the District's pay packages and legal fees. One day, there will be a government agency that actually agrees with a Civil Grand Jury report -- that would be newsworthy.

Just down the street in Saratoga, an audit showed that as many as 1,740 businesses may not be paying the City's business license fee. Raising the obvious question: there are 1,740 businesses in Saratoga?

Library wars are brewing in Palo Alto. Mostly because Palo Alto just loves books so much. In fact, the Library Commission heard from pissed off readers who demanded a redesign to accommodate more books. Palo Alto’s City Council also had some (detailed) suggestions about the new library. One mad Library Commission Chair Susie Thom resigned saying “in 2 hours the council was able to discount 4 years of work.”

Morgan Hill tow truck operators are angry about a City proposal for a City-owned impound lot. They fought in court claiming it violated State law (the judge disagreed). According to tow lawyer Bruce Tichinin the City’s impound lot would “put my tax-paying clients out of business.” Tow operator/ Gilroy City Councilmember Dion Bracco adds jurisdictions in SoCal don’t make as much money as Morgan Hill hopes will roll on in.

Morgan Hill's State Senator, Abel Maldonado, was a no-show when it came to voting on a bill that could have helped Morgan Hill. The bill failed and Morgan Hill is out $2 million. Maldo said he hopes to get a do-over if the bill shows up in special session and promised Mayor Steve Tate “I’ll keep an eye on this bill.”

Oops. California didn’t post Gilroy High’s score on the eagerly anticipated Academic Performance Index. Superintendent Deborah Flores suspected it was “something to do with participation.” In fact, not enough students put those old #2’s to paper for Gilroy to qualify.

Mission City Lantern gives some props to Watch Dog and renames a local lobbying outfit...