Morning News Round-Up -- 4.9.10: Chuck and Larry getting hitched?

It will cost four or five times as much to have High-Speed Rail to go underground... that's the official word. Which means you HSR-NIMBYs should start bombarding the High-Speed Rail Authority now... Oh, and the train won't sit on "berms" in Palo Alto or Mountain View, in case you were concerned about that too...

The sale of the two parking lots in downtown San Jose (for $20 million to Sobrato) adds to the kitty being assembled to bring baseball to San Jose. There are more land sales pending for the baseball stadium, but apparently one of the parcels of land where the infield will be isn't for sale. An AT&T spokesperson, who speaks for the infield land-owners, said the land is not for sale. But when the infield does go on sale, the Redevelopment Agency should have the money now... thanks to the Sobratos.

Remember the Tapestry in Arts Festival in San Jose? You know, the Labor Day weekend celebration of local arts... well, you may have to remember it, because it might be going away. And by "might" we mean "probably is"... No fireworks on July 4th, no fancy car race in the summer, no Tapestry in Arts. The only thing that could save downtown San Jose in the summer is the Boys of Summer...

Say you had a job (which about 12% of you don't)... and your employer offered you a 4 percent pay hike and a $3,000 bonus, you'd probably take it right now, right? Well, not if you are a nurse at Stanford... you'd strike. We have nothing against nurses, in fact, we love you all -- but...

The Tech decided it was time to end the $200k/ year contract with the museum president's wife. Of course, that would have been the right decision before the contract even started...

In the blogosphere, San Jose Inside called Mayor Reed "Nuts" earlier in the week for endorsing Richard Calderon for Sheriff, and then yesterday they hint that the Mayor might be getting ready to endorse Larry Pegram... Watch Dog bets it will be today, as getting news like this out on a Friday helps sufficiently bury it for a while... Inside made the awesome reference to Chuck and Larry, which is ironic, as the film was about gay marriage... we will now use this reference whenever we refer to Mayor Reed and Larry Pegram together:

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.4.10: "...protecting the people of San Jose..."

The big news of the day is obviously that District Attorney Dolores Carr decided not to charge the San Jose Police Officers in the videotaped beating/Tasing of Phuong Ho. Watch Dog is not surprised... Scott Herhold at the Merc won't be surprised... the Merc Editorial Board is not surprised... but for the San Jose Police Officers' Association to be "not suprised" is a little suprising, at least in our minds. (Perhaps they knew about it before we did?) The POA's statement also says this about the Phuong Ho incident: "Even though our work is difficult, we do an excellent job protecting the people of San Jose. This case was no exception." We guess "the people of San Jose" don't include Vietnamese students studying abroad in San Jose...

So while Dolores Carr made her decision in one part of the County Building (which also was a big relief to her most prominent political backers...), on the other side of the County Building, some more news was being released... The Deputy Sheriffs Association is endorsing Jeff Rosen for District Attorney. How is that for political timing?

The Merc has dug up (been handed) a story about the Tech Museum that is likely to gain some attention today: Pete Friess, the CEO of the Tech Museum, makes lots and lots of money. His salary is up to $367,478, even as the staff of the Museum has gone from 150 to 60. The Tech Board President did not say, "He is such a great CEO that he is doing the work of 90 people he fired..." Ironically, San Jose Inside has a stat on the Tech from a recent post that says attendance was way down, all the way to about 390,000... perhaps Friess gets paid a dollar per visitor?

Apparently it is egg-laying season at San Jose City Hall... and we aren't talking about the decision to close the San Jose Family Camp either...

Palo Alto is getting a new Assistant City Manager... we guess the bar is being set lower and lower about what constitutes news that Watch Dog will re-report...

Morning News Round-Up -- 10.22.09: Beam me up...

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed opted out of adding sunshine to a gloomy Tuesday (Remember this? Sunshine go away today...) this week but now says he wants to reconsider releasing 911 tapes from the shooting of Daniel Pham. Perhaps a little late to the table, Reed and San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis are accused of misrepresenting the Sunshine Reform Task Force requests. The Merc’s Editorial Board sends props to Councilmembers Ash Kalra, Nora Campos, Kansen Chu, Sam Liccardo and Madison Nguyen for “standing up for public access.”

Parents at Wilcox High say they warned school officials about teacher/perv Edward Slate’s “flirtatious” emails to their 17 year old daughter. Superintendent Steve Stavis said the District is working closely with Police during the investigation.

The Merc’s Scott Herhold reminds us that the written/ spoken word is a mighty powerful tool, or weapon, as his neighbors talk about the use of ethnicity in describing cyclists (who may be) casing the neighborhood.

Payless Hardware on King Road in San Jose is licking its wounds after realizing it wasn’t the economy causing that slow leak from the till. Accounts Receivable clerk Desiree Herrera and husband Ruben skimmed more than $1.3 million in 7 years. The State tax guys are also pissed, the Herrera’s didn’t pay $182,000 in taxes on their ill-gotten gain. Office Manager Karey Thatcher is given props for the numeric sleuthing that uncovered the crime.

Silicon Valley the home to spies? Say it ain’t so. According to defense attorneys for Lan Lee and Yuefei Ge the Feds got it all wrong, Lee and Ge are super smart geeks who invented the better mouse trap. The FBI and prosecutors say not so fast, Lee and Ge were thieves getting ready to sell secrets to China.

Former Assemblymember Sally Lieber speaks out on campaign finance...

Palo Alto has tossed in the towel, declaring an impasse in negotiations with their largest union after 5 months of contentious talks. Union representative Nick Steinmeier and City Manager James Keene point at the other side for not accepting “reasonable” counter offers.

Trekkies beam in to San Jose this week for “Star Trek: The Exhibition” at geekiest museum of all, the San Jose Tech. The Merc’s Sal Pizarro joined Museum board members Judy Swanson, Steven Moore, and Mike and Joan Hackworth in greeting Mr. Sulu on the bridge. Pizarro reminds us the holidays are around the corner with a variety of gift purchasing opportunities in store.

San Jose Inside’s Fly ran into fake protesters marching in downtown San Jose. The pretend protesters work for Barry Swenson and are trying to increase sales during the housing crash. According to spokesperson Christy Marbry, it works.

Protect San Jose’s irascible Kathleen Flynn said Tuesday’s San Jose City Council meeting left her with “conflicted feelings.” On the one hand she was delighted with the Mayor’s stance against recommendations from the Sunshine Reform Task Force on the other hand she was pissed that Sunshine member/Mercury News Managing Editor Bert Robinson wanted reforms enacted… Bringing up the most puzzling question of all these days: Where is Sunshine Task Force Chair/Protect San Jose blogger Ed Rast?...

Morning News Round-Up -- 9.2.09: Illegal Fiscal Practices + Misappropriation of Funds = Get a Good Lawyer

The Mexican American Community Services Agency’s (MACSA) theft of teacher retirement funds has former teacher/ union leader Marty Herrmann really pissed. Who can blame him. A State investigator’s report gave the news to the Santa Clara Office of Education that MACSA was engaged in “illegal fiscal practices” and “misappropriation of funds.” District Attorney Dolores Carr is still trying to figure out whether to launch a criminal investigation (still?). And we would guess some folks are hiring lawyers...

Caltrain CEO Mike Scanlon is still apologizing for the loud tweeting and tooting pissing off residents as the commuter rail rumbles past bedrooms. Yes, they are trying to figure out how to comply with Federal regulations and soften the racket. The good news is that the horns are quieter than they have been.

The lucky Hal Plotkin-replacement on the Foothill-DeAnza Community College Board will be Joan Barram who did her time supporting Foothill-DeAnza since 1980 on various boards. Barram is no stranger to school boards having served on the Cupertino Union School District Board for a dozen years.

The Merc’s Sal Pizarro hung out with creative geniuses at the San Jose Tech Museum playing with everything from wind-up radios to solar powered commuter ferries. Pizarro suggests a visit to the Tech’s new upstairs is good for the imagination.

Palo Alto Unified School District got a whopper of a tax credit – (up to) $25 million. Chief Business Official Bob Golton deadpanned “it’s good to be lucky.” The rich get richer, so to speak...

San Jose Insider/Santa Clara County Board of Education Trustee Joseph DiSalvo ponders a battle brewing in Sacramento over test data and teacher performance. At stake, millions of Federal dollars.

Mission City Lantern sends kudos to State Senator Elaine Alquist and celebrates Alquists 49ers Senate bill.

Protect San Jose’s data wonk, Ed Rast, does a walk through the cost of doing business comparing San Jose to other Silicon Valley communities. No response from City administrators being smacked by Rast.

A recap of Merc’s Government Watch for your viewing pleasure…

• The County Board of Supervisors Public Safety and Justice Committee talks about a new program to keep kids out of crime...
• San Jose’s City Council wants to land some of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act dollars at the airport for “taxable short-term debt” conversion. Also on tap discussion of that pesky Grand Jury report smacking San Jose’s Los Lagos golf course for mega-cost overruns.
• The Santa Clara County Office of Education noodles over how to get students on the Board.
• Budget woes and Grand Jury reports are on tap for the Los Altos School District.
• After seeing those STAR reports the Los Gatos Union School District talks test results.
• In Sunnyvale, the Fremont Union High School District gets more depressing news about state budget updates.
• Furloughs for Board Members (seriously?), managers, and confidential employees is in the works at the Campbell Union School District.
• Developers in the Mountain View-Whisman School District will be on hand for a discussion of increased developer fees. That should be a fun conversation...