Thursday, February 25, 2010

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.25.10: Dolores Carr... again again

Another day, another story featuring District Attorney Dolores Carr...sort of. Part A of this story is that a judge found a man that had been charged (but then uncharged) of murder "factually innocent." Part B of the story is that the judge finding the dude "factually innocent" stood up for the judge that is being boycotted by the DA's office for "standing up for her convictions." Part C is that the judge questioned why the District Attorney's office was fighting the "factually innocent" ruling... A response from the DA's office is expected today, apparently. Watch Dog anxiously awaits...

Speaking of the DA...

The Merc's Scott Herhold looks into the future about "How the Phuong Ho case will unfold"... He agrees with Watch Dog (read this) that the Police Officers in the video beating will not face charges from the District Attorney's office, but doesn't think it has much to do with the endorsement of the Police Officers' Association of the District Attorney... Herhold concluded with this about the Ho case: Put succinctly, Phuong Ho was beaten and shocked with a Taser without adequate reason. If there had not been a cell phone video, he would have been found guilty like dozens of others. It's the way our system works. Not the most reassuring few sentences in the paper this morning...

Picking up where Herhold left off, the Merc Editorial Board looks to the Police Chief to actually take some disciplinary action against the Officers involved in the beating/ Tasering of Ho and to make that action public. About the Officers' actions, the Ed Board concludes: "It may have been legal, but that doesn't make it right"... (Watch Dog predicts no action from the Police Chief.)

This was in yesterday's Chronicle, sorry we missed it: The folks that run Oakland Coliseum -- a.k.a. Alameda County -- are planning to build another stadium that will house two football teams, the Raiders and the 49ers. (Of course, the 49ers don't want to be there, but that's another story.) County Supervisor Scott Haggerty said: "There is only going to be one stadium in the Bay Area, and it's not going to be in Santa Clara... We have a better location, a better infrastructure and better access to roads and mass transit." Unfortunately, Oakland's ability to do anything is seriously in question -- just ask Lew Wolff.

We learn from San Jose Inside that most/all Mayor Chuck Reed's political people are working to get Sheriff Laurie Smith unelected... Mayor Reed isn't involved in the race... yet. The Mayor's political brain trust (?) is all behind former SJ Police Captain Richard Calderon...

In other political news...


And the race to replace Judy Chirco on the City Council is heating up... and Larry Pegram seems to be in (with Jim Cogan and Don Rocha). There is also a Santa Clara University student in the race... because we all know what great decisions college kids make.

In case you were living inside a Bloom Box, you know that a thingy called a Bloom Box is being touted as the new, new thing in the clean tech world... We'll see. But certainly their PR agency is energized. 60 Minutes. NPR. Every TV station in the world. The Merc's front page. The Chronicle. etc. etc. etc.

A ban on pot in Mountain View... but they have all those yummy restaurants on Castro Street...

The lawsuit filed against San Mateo County's elections office is moving forward. This is about electronic signatures captured via iPhone being used to sign State elections petitions and is being brought by Verafirma, a Silicon Valley start-up. San Mateo County Elections' chief Warren Slocum rejected the signatures because he couldn't figure out a way to verify the signatures under California law. (This is a start-up that involves Silicon Valley man-behind-the-curtain Jude Barry...)

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