Morning News Round-Up -- 4.23.10: Leaving Mommy and Daddy Warbucks is a good thing...

The only San Jose news today is that the Sharks won... they lead the series 3-2.

Go electric or go to bankruptcy court... those seem to the options for Caltrain these days. That ain't fun. This would seem to have major implications up and down the region. Let is also be known that they are the first (but certainly not the last) local government agency to utter the "b" word...

Trouble in paradise... Paradise is Los Altos and the trouble is with the school district. Actually, the trouble is with getting a new teachers' contract signed by the school district. Some School Board members think the contract does nothing to address their budget problems now or long-term, some School Board members want to pass the thing and move on. The Board punted passing the contract earlier in the month and will take it up again on Monday. Is this a trend? Is this the educational equivalent of Police Officers and Firefighter contract/ benefit negotiations that cities are dealing with these days? We'll see...

It is very, very clear that (Almaden Valley's) Tom Campbell made the right move at the right time to get away from Daddy and Mommy Warbucks in the Governor's race. As Whitman and Poizner single-handedly boost up California's economy with their campaign spending, Tom Campbell is kicking ass in the U.S. Senate race he joined. A new poll done for Capitol Weekly has Campbell pulling away from Fiorina: Campbell 31, Fiorina 17, and Chuck DeVore (?) at 15 percent. (The betting line in Vegas is now Campbell by 6.5 points.)

Watch Dog is never really sure what James Rowen at Mission City Lantern means when he writes about us... but he wrote about our note on Jude Barry and Ed McGovern having clients on different side of San Jose's Measure K but working together on the 49ers' issue. It is clearly just business, but we just thought it was interesting and clearly that mainstream reporters aren't connecting dots, so we must.

Morgan Hill selected a (Barry Swenson) Builder to help redevelop its downtown... Congrats Mr. Swenson...

The same week as 420, Mountain View wants to crack down on a storefront pot club. Some people have no sense of humor dude... they are suing the club that opened up despite a City ban.

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.30.10: Rosen and Carr -- the saga continues...

We've said it before: When lawyers run against each other in politics, expect a litigious campaign -- especially when the folks are running for District Attorney. And the DA's race took another turn yesterday, and like most turns thus far, it doesn't turn in the incumbent's favor -- at least the way Watch Dog (and the Merc's headline editor) sees it. (Merc headline: DA challenger Rosen can keep flattering quotes in ballot statement. San Jose Inside had a different take: Carr v. Rosen split decision) Dolores Carr had sued to try to make Jeff Rosen change his ballot statement because it included quotes from the Mercury News and former DA George Kennedy and it compared the two candidates -- which is a no-no. The ruling: Rosen can keep in the quotes from the Merc and from former DA George Kennedy. He voluntarily changed the comparison part of the statement. Rosen's quote in the story sort of sums the whole thing up: "...Her ballot statement is about how she's a bureaucrat... My ballot statement is about how I'm a tough, ethical, experienced prosecutor who has prosecuted hundreds of cases and she has not." Anytime you do something that let's your opponent get that quote in the paper, you need to rethink your strategy.

The budget, the budget, the budget... San Jose is in trouble. The Merc Editorial Board is calling on employees to make concessions -- as it is the only way to get things more in line with reality...

More San Jose budget crap: If a city is a collection of neighborhoods and the neighborhoods are built around community centers, then San Jose is in even deeper shit... because "dozens of San Jose communiity centers" are about the get the axe. Expect a lot of folks to show up to speak at tonight's budget session, bring your No Doze.

Would you like to own a chunk of land in North San Jose? Well, if you are a government agency with extra cash on hand (and which government agency doesn't have a bunch of extra cash on hand) you could own the last bit of Agnews...

If you were looking forward to buying both the cause of hangovers (beer) and the cure (Advil) at Palo Alto Walgreens, you are going to have to wait longer. Neighbors filed complaints to the State Alcohol Beverage Control folks and things are on hold for a while.

Downtown Morgan Hill potential redevelopers have been narrowed to three: Barry Swenson Builders, City Ventures, and The Olson Company... and only one wears a hat all the time...

Christopher High School in the Gilroy Unified School District will get its aquatics center... but it will be two years later than expected.