Thursday, January 7, 2010

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.7.10: Good morning Ms. Carr...

The top story today will make DA Dolores Carr's head explode -- and perhaps her political future as well. A man sentenced to 38 years in prison in a child molestation case is going to be let out of prison because the prosecutors were corrupt. Watch Dog can't make this stuff up, see for yourself. The trial didn't happen under Carr's watch, but the key point of this story is that the steps the DA's office took, or didn't take, when they learned of over 3,000 video tapes made of victims telling their stories that they never handed over to defense attorneys. (No reponse -- yet -- from the Rosen for DA camp...)

In other crime news... You remember the story about a Fry's executive who liked to gamble with Fry's money? Well, his attorney is asking for the case to be dismissed. Good thing the DA's office isn't the one prosecuting this case...

Scott Herhold goes after his least-favorite government agency today... again: the Santa Clara Valley Water District. Referring to the agency as 'the Golden Spigot' he chronicles their continued missteps and financial fucked-uppedness. This story has political implications too...

In really important news... San Jose Councilmember Pete Constant is getting two new chocolate Labradors. "What's Labrador?" Perhaps Constant can name the pups Cheech and Chong...

Few things are more interesting on local City Councils than split votes... so when Melinda Hamilton was elected/selected by only four of her colleagues to become Mayor of Sunnyvale, we take notice. She beat out Ron Swegles for the position. Perhaps Sunnyvale politics will be interesting for the next little bit...

Three former high-ranking Mountain View department heads retired last month and are collecting their pensions... oh, and they are back at work part-time. Pension checks from the City and paychecks from the City... the double-dip.

Good thing local governments have extra money to throw around because Palo Alto just settled a lawsuit brought by a resident who was hit by a City employee who was driving and reaching for his cell phone... the total tab: $1.45 million and a spinal injury for the resident...

To the blogs...

San Jose Inside/The Fly gets Councilmember Liccardo talking about the San Francisco Giant's polling in San Jose -- which Watch Dog wrote about earlier this week...

Protect San Jose takes and responds to comments today. Watch Dog has only one -- when is "In Their Words" going to come down as promised? Just asking...

Politicon Valley gets the press statements from local electeds (and elected wannabes) about the Governor's State of the State...

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