Super-Sized Morning News Round-Up -- 5.17.10: Blood-Sport Monday - Hockey and Politics...

The Western Conference Finals started Sunday... Sharks lost... but at the end of the series, we are looking forward to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley sending some of Chicago's finest (and fattiest) foods west to San Jose. He and Mayor Reed made a little wager. Chuck may receive a bunch of Vienna Beef soon. Yum.

But hockey was the mild sport over the weekend with politics being a little more dangerous... Especially in San Jose's City Council District 5...

Let's go chronologically:

The Mayor may be sharing some of Chicago's finest foods from Mayor Daley with his new BFF, Magdalena Carrasco. He endorsed her late last week, according to Watch Dog's email...

But that wasn't the only, or the most intriguing, part of that City Council race this weekend. Mailers were mailed out that took a big shot at Xavier Campos' role at MACSA courtesy of the Chamber. (Can you use the phrase "courtesy of" when you are talking about who paid for a hit piece?) Longtime readers of Watch Dog will not be surprised about the MACSA/Campos connection...

But that wasn't even the more intriging news out of that City Council race. It seems someone is (illegally) using Magdalena Carrasco's name to put out a fake mailer that has her standing with a communist Vietnamese flag... welcome to 1950... The Mayor is not pleased with this latest development and is calling on the DA, the Elections Commission, the post office, and the media to all do their job to identify who did this shady work... Watch Dog won't speculate, even though we'd love to...

As if there wasn't enough going on on San Jose's east side, there was an emergency landing at Reid-Hillview over the weekend... and a man was shot and killed in the Tropicana parking lot on Sunday morning.

Expect this story to also have political repurcussions: Dolores Carr's DA's office apparently stopped the forensic testing of some evidence in the De Anza rape case. This according to evidence in an ongoing civil trial... Jeff Rosen's team is no doubt reprinting this story and distributing it widely... Especially now that he has the support of some high-placed friends...

A big, long in-depth story was in Saturday's Mercury News about the new County Executive Jeff Smith. He has some fans, namely the County Board of Supervisors, who extended his contract through 2013. But the more interesting part of the story is the detractors: the County's unions do not like Jeff Smith. But that might be expected... but Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren? Apparently Smith pushed off a meeting with Lofgren for months. Here's what she said:

"His comments so far appear to be precipitous, haphazard and detrimental to the foundation of county government... People are calling to complain to me. I spent 14 years of my life making a good hospital and many of us are thinking, 'What is he doing?'"

Well, we know he isn't making friends with people in high places...

That isn't the only County employee in the news this week... there is a new County Counsel in the mix -- the acting County Counsel Miguel Marquez is getting the acting removed from his name...

The Merc's Internal Affairs shed some light into how the employee negotiations are going at the City of San Jose. It seems that City Manager Deb Figone had her lunch at Flames interupted by some city workers that were having a protest and started banging on Flames' windows yelling "Save our jobs!"... of course, Figone used to eat lunch at Morton's, but since the pay cut, she's now at Flames... We also learn from IA that the San Jose Redevelopment Agency forked over a $62 million check to the State Govenrment t his week. No word yet if the Governor has signed the thank you note...

Also in an attempt to get attention for their union plight, Jim Unland at the San Jose Police Officers' Association wrote a Memo to the Mayor on Friday... we're sorry we missed it then, but the Mayor probably isn't...

Perhaps this will help with the Figone/Employee and Police/Mayor relations: Measure K in San Jose got the deep dive in Sunday's paper as the Merc's Sandra Gonzales goes into the lovely Garden City Casino for some "man/woman on the street/at the table" interviews and looks at the pros and cons of relying on gambling to plug San Jose's budget holes...

The Water District reversed course and approved a new map for districts. Gilroy is no longer with Palo Alto... And that new Gilroy/Morgan Hill district is the one that the fast-food toy-loving Supervisor Don Gage will run for this fall... But the Mayors of Gilroy and Morgan Hill are still not pleased...

Sometimes it is good to have a reporter/columnist that is over 25 years old... such is the case with Scott Herhold. He gives a great perspective on Larry Pegram's first go'round on the San Jose City Council. If you read between the lines, Pegram left the Council with his three buddies on the heals of a bribery scandal... Pegram wasn't indicted or found to have done anything wrong...

File this story under D -- as in "Drive Cindy Chavez Crazy." Local political consultant Jude Barry is a founder of a technology firm that allows folks to register to vote and sign ballot petitions through iPhones, iPads, and other smart phones. It is the same company that landed Barry on the California Labor Federation's Do Not Patronize list... (This story should tell you how important that list is...) The Santa Clara County Registrar is accepting registrations that use Verafirma technology...

File this story under W for Weird... the Merc Editorial Board, generally a pro-education parcel tax bunch is "reserving judgement" on one parcel tax this June -- Measure I in Alum Rock Union Elementary School District because they are not including charter schools in their tax measure. The other parcel taxes in Milpitas, Oak Grove, and Mount Pleasant get the Merc Editorial nod...

Palo Alto may be getting some taller buildings... above 50 feet actually. Expect the NIMBYs to start the rebellion soon...

Ken Yeager and the rest of the Santa Clara County Supervisors (except Don Gage and George Shirakawa) get props from Dorothy Dimitre in the San Mateo Daily Journal for their fast food toy ban...

We didn't write about this last week, but it doesn't mean we missed it. Saratoga City Councilmember Susie Nagpal died last week. Very sad story.

And because sometimes important things happen outside of our regular sphere: Burlingame and its police department have started the long road toward pension reform. From the San Mateo County Times: "...Police sergeants and captains in Burlingame have agreed to pay freezes through the end of the year and are ready to cut retiree benefits, the first union contract that includes pension reform for a city struggling to deal with escalating employee costs..."

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.19.10: A bankrupt Merc?

It has been a long, long weekend, so if you haven't had your coffee yet, go get it and come back to Watch Dog caffeinated...

This isn't good... the owner of the Mercury News are filing for bankruptcy. Is it possible that the paper could lose more reporters and more pages? The Mercury News Weekly perhaps? Watch Dog cannot fill the void, unfortunately, we just go Wii...

But remember, Merc. Columnist Cassidy says that they will succeed because they provide unique local content... or at least they used to...

In other stellar economic news, office vacancies may be through the roof (again) this year...

Here's one way to increase air traffic at SJC: have SFO-bound planes make emergency landings at SJC because of high wind gusts... "SJC, when the weather is too shitty for SFO..." That would be a hella cool ad campaign...

The Merc got into the weedily-witty headlines about local marijuana dispensaries this weekend with this: San Jose says pot clubs popping up like weeds; city starts cracking down. Is it fair to say that when the headlines aren't serious, neither is the actual issue? Of course, we often write Watch Dog stoned, so who are we to question anyone...

The County is finally helping folks who are facing misdemeanor charges by providing some with a public defender... which everyone should be shocked didn't happen before a Sean Webby news story last week. But remember, this is the same County that wants to do away with pre-trial services in order to get more business to bail bonds shops, so nothing should surprise you... Kudos to Supervisors Yeager and Cortese for realizing that having folks face charges without being represented by a lawyer is a horrible idea and is part of Criminal Justice 101.

Speaking of Criminal Justice 101, the good folks at Protect San Jose encourage you to be honest with police and tell them exactly what they want to hear when they pull you over. Of course, that flies directly in the face of "right to remain silent" and could find you in the County Courthouse without a lawyer (see above)... in case you believe (like Watch Dog) that incriminating yourself doesn't sound like such a hot idea when you get pulled over, here is some different advice about what to do when you get pulled over from a source other than police officers: "...Silence is not an admission of guilt and cannot be used against you in court..." So far, the advice on Protect San Jose is to respond to Police Officers like you were in kindergarten and provide them all the answers they ask for. Thank you Protect San Jose... The Fifth Amendment is still intact, right?

In an un(?)related note, the Chronicle gets in on the Freedom Train controversy between San Jose's NAACP, who pulled out of this year's Train, and the San Jose Police Officers' Association, who is one of the sponsors. In the Chronicle piece, we find another hard-hitting quote from Pastor Moore of the NAACP: "While Rev. Dr. King stood for nonviolence and against police brutality, we find ourselves honoring police, who talk to our community members in derogatory tones, who beat innocent citizens in our community, who unlawfully arrest people, and in extreme cases kill members who dare to speak up and stand up for their rights."

Update: It turns out the ride was well-traveled, even with the controversy and even without the NAACP... but a Freedom Ride without the NAACP is an issue that is not going away.

The Merc's Scott Herhold writes about Tom Campbell's running (again) for the Senate after dropping his bid for Governor. And ends with a prediction, of sorts, about whether Campbell, if unsuccessful this time in his third run for the Senate might look ahead to 2012: "Could Campbell try for a fourth time? If it happened, I wouldn't be surprised." Oh, and referring to previous races and other Republicans, Herhold assures us that: "...He [Campbell] wouldn't have been caught dead in a strip club..." Thank you.

Pete Constant is trying to up-end the plastic bag ban in San Jose by hitting up his misspelling cohorts (the Chamber of Commerce) for support -- or sopurt. He says the cost is too high. As usual, Constant was the lone vote against the plastic bag ban. Which brings up the question: What did Councilmember Constant think it meant when he voted for the Mayor's Green Vision which has this included in it:

5. Divert 100 percent of the waste from our landfill and convert waste to energy.

The good folks at Internal Affairs had a busy week writing for Sunday. First, they give us a "reversal of fortunes" of the highest order with Phil Angelides heading a serious, and newsworthy, Inquiry panel and Governor Schwarzenegger becoming the lamest of ducks. Next, they provide all of us more than we probably need to know about the dress code in the DA'soffice, and how it got relaxed an effort to help Dolores Carr politically. And finally, Larry "Boo" Stone calls the San Francisco Giant's efforts to fuck up the A's move to San Jose "...classic San Francisco politics..." We agree with Stone, but not for nothing: classic San Francisco politics launched the career of the Speaker of the House...

On a serious note: the post office is moving in downtown Los Altos.

If at first you don't succeed... the Fremont Union High School District to approve a parcel tax (again!) in May. They just packed up the stuff from their campaign office in November, but are going to give it another go. Desperate times, etc.

Aren't you glad you had your coffee? Stay safe out there folks...

Morning News Round-Up -- 8.26.09: Any-Excuse-to-Use-Funny-Photo Edition...

The Merc’s Sal Pizarro gives a rundown of San Jose’s latest accolades: 3rd best place for kids (think skate parks), 12th best public university in the west (tied with Humboldt, Fresno, and Texas State), and, drumroll please, top water pollution control plant from the US Environmental Protection Agency (for power generation). Yay us -- 12th best in the west!

Santa Clara Supervisor Ken Yeager hopes to find a way to keep Henry Coe State Park open while colleague/ Supervisor/(soon-to-be Mayor?) Don Gage says close that puppy. The list of closing parks is expected right after your Labor Day hike, so enjoy it.

Gilroy Mayor Al Pinheiro’s biggest hater, Mark Zappa, is waiting until the Mayor returns from Portugal before filing the recall paperwork and looking to a June 2010 recall election, to save the City money. That's pretty thoughtful... For the record, Gilroy’s future Mayor?/ Supervisor Don Gage made no appearance in the story...

The race to replace Hal Plotkin by appointment to the Foothill-DeAnza Community College Distict is in the final interview stage. Foothill-DeAnza Trustees want to talk with Joan Barram (Cupertino Union School District Trustee), Richard Bernhardt (Business and student lobbyist), Jeannie Conner (Senator Joe Simitian’s political director), and Anita Manwani-Bhagat (business leader at NASA/HP/Agilent).

Congressmember Anna Eshoo’s 2nd “telephone” town hall got her props from the more than 7,000 participants. Eshoo told participants she’s doing a face-to-face on healthcare next week and testily pointed out she’s done more face-to-face town halls than any of her colleagues.

Kathleen Blanchard, the Mother of one of Gunn High Schools suicide victims spoke out at the Palo Alto Unified School Board meeting. Without pointing fingers, she gently urged change in how adults work with students and called for “attitude adjustments and philosophical adjustments” in working with kids. The Merc’s Patty Fisher digs into other teen suicides in Silicon Valley and the news is not good…

NASA Ames is ready to build “Sustainability Base,” architect Kevin Burke loves the “combination of high tech and low tech.” Meaning the building will close itself at night and use the same “technology” as historic California Adobe homes to cool off or warm up. With a little luck, there won’t be a “toxic” siding battle on this green house.

Latest perv alerts heading your way…

• Dentist/(mock) breast health worker Benva Oshana Lazar has added another complaint to his patient list – bringing his total to 8 (so far) patients pissed to learn breast exams are not part of dental practice.
• Teacher/ perv Edward Riley Slate III was busted for a 6 month sexual relationship with a student at Santa Clara’s Wilcox High.

(shy) Erotica enthusiasts/ burglars hit Gilroy’s Simply Romance for a third time taking off with leather wrist bands, cash, and owner Hank Provost’s new pipe, among other goodies. The increased attention from thieves doesn’t deter Provost, “if anything, I’m more determined to stick around.” Perhaps we now know where the ball gag came from...

San Jose Insider/ Santa Clara County Board of Education Trustee Joseph DiSalvo (could he have a longer title?) has endorsed former Franklin-McKinley Superintendent Larry Aceves as his favorite for State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

San Jose Inside’s Fly celebrates a (temporary?) reprieve for the (Fly hangout) “dingy, punky, (puky?)” Caravan Bar over an (un)watered down White Russian. (apparently) The Merc’s Internal Affairs story pissed off bartenders who “scribbled down letters” (on napkins) demanding an apology. Fly's piece also proves that Metro writers are probably a lot more fun to hang out with than Merc writers...

Morning News Round-Up – 6.17.09:

Yes, that was President Obama in San Jose’s Plaza de Cesar Chavez…. Sort of…

San Jose’s big news, there is a budget… At least until the State starts their annual grab-fest. The Merc suggests labor agreements will close the (current) $73 million gap. Former council colleague/South Bay Labor Council Executive Officer Cindy Chavez suggested the Mayor should have come to unions earlier. Chavez’ first time back in chambers included a poke at the Mayor..

San Jose’s Mayor is green, with envy… Gilroy’s Fire union overwhelmingly approved a city council offer that closes one fire station for an unknown number of days, the Police Officers Association put a deal on the table to cut $1.1 million from the budget and other unions are following suit.

Assemblymember Paul Fong is getting support from the Merc’s Patty Fisher in his quest to get reparations for mistreatment of the many Chinese who helped build this country. Fisher does suggest that an actual apology would be more useful than a monument.

San Jose Councilmember Pete Constant has found a new calling, grill-meister. Sal Pizarro reports Constant spent two days preparing ribs before sleeping in his car to baste overnight. The payoff? County Supervisor Ken Yeager, Assistant Fire Chief Teresa Deloach-Reed and Mission College’s Scott Brunson declared Constants ribs tops at the Winchester Business Association cook-off. Next stop no doubt a spot at Way Out West BBQ Championships…

Santa Clara County Supervisors are recommending a 24% cut to the “social safety net” affecting the county’s poorest and most vulnerable.

In her own, inimitable, way, Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr makes it clear what she thinks about sunshine. Saying nothing “legally or factually extraordinary” was found during the initial investigation of Daniel Pham’s death, Carr is keeping the Grand Jury closed.

Meanwhile, in East San Jose a man was shot in the leg during a shootout in an apartment building.

Although foreclosure rates had been declining May saw more Silicon Valley homeowners losing their homes at the years highest rate.

(Former) San Jose Aquatics coach Andy King has perv charges being thrown at him from San Jose, the East Bay and now, thanks to a Merc investigation, Oak Harbor, Washington. USA Swimming has some explaining to do…

In a cost cutting measure the Mountain View police are recommending deregulating taxi companies. Councilmember Mike Kasperzak made a comparison to flying in unregulated airplanes. Councilmember Tom Means, apparently not understanding the analogy, shot back “Are we going to ask the police department now to regulate the number of coffee shops in town?” Regulate the Watch Dog’s lattes? Say it ain’t so.

The Merc’s Editorial Board sends the Milpitas Unified School board to detention. You remember this story from last week, foster child Shontale Taylor is one of the few foster children to graduate high school. Except, she stopped a fight. The school board (of course) stopped her from walking the stage with her peers.

The families of accused gang murderers are pissed off the DA is using the “provocative act murder theory” to try gang members that didn’t pull the trigger. Monica Fernandez, mother of the murdered boy, said “those boys are like my son’s brothers… this was no planned attack.”

Morning News Round-Up – 6.2.09: It's a do-over...

Leading the way, our Sister blog Watch Dog San Mateo posts Silicon Valley news…

• Businesses face new taxes in November, odd time to do this... A big oops from Palo Alto officials over an ill-advised probe into Children’s Theatre
• San Jose’s Cayetano Figueroa-Fernandez used his break time to sell meth in the company parking lot
• Not related to Silicon Valley but Watch Dog couldn’t resist, senior prank day at Menlo-Atherton scores big…

Santa Clara city leaders, and the Niners, face a motley crew of anti-stadium voices. City manager Ron Garratt looks forward to lively discussion an election will bring saying “it makes for a better project when folks are involved.” Stanford economist Roger Noll says Santa Clara will end up with a “better deal than just about any other city…”

Palo Alto Unified School District Trustees aren’t waiting for the other enormous/painful shoe to drop from the State. Tonight Trustees propose a budget that keeps existing pay raises. Trustees expect September will have them sorting out the State’s disaster.

A Santa Clara County Grand Jury report slams the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). Words matter and these words paint a picture of the VTA as a petulant teenager… Unresponsive, unaccountable, disobedient and dishonest. VTA spokesperson Jennie Loft shoots back that the report is filled with erroneous information and sounds more like the “anti-BART rhetoric… rejected by voters in November,” than a Grand Jury report.

The Morgan Hill Times Editorial Board takes a shot at Caltrain’s budget cutting proposal to eliminate service to the Southern portion of Santa Clara County. The Times calls for more service and a “shuttle train.”

Bike commuter/Santa Clara County Supervisor Ken Yeager is pissed county fleet cars go unused, take vacations to Malibu, and several drivers “are racking up… parking fines,” for over $100,000. President Liz Kniss praised Yeager and called for a halt on the proposed purchase of new sheriff’s cars. The President didn’t point out the audit was decades overdue…

Shock, shock hits the streets of San Jose. San Jose Councilmember Nora Campos officially announced her plans to take termed out Assemblymember Joe “Mr. Insurance” Coto’s seat. Campos’ promised not to forget San Jose saying “my biggest job will be to make sure we don’t lose any more local money.” The surprise is that anyone thought otherwise…

Taking pity on taxpayers, the Santa Clara Valley Water District directors voted unanimously not to raise rates and to make more than $100 million in budget cuts. Director Rosemary Kamei warns the cuts come from delayed projects and rate payers will be in for a rude awakening at a future date…

This summer kids are losing their Jamba Juice jobs to unemployed old folks. Business owners like Details’ Bernie Levine are cutting staff while trying to keep mortgage paying parents off unemployment lines.

Girls Middle School students aren’t looking for Jamba Juice, they launched an eco-friendly micro business with $100. “Buckle My Jeans” co-founders Jamie Bindon, Rachael Rappoport, Maggie Brown and Jaime McConachie report their motto “we’ve got your jeans in the bag,” was a no-brainer. There’s no truth to the rumor Watch Dog was first in line for the doggie bag…

San Jose was the site of a green/labor conference with such luminaries as economist James Galbraith, Sierra Club leader Carl Pope and San Jose’s own Cindy Chavez. (Un)surprisingly, the only coverage was from an alternative/online media source out of San Francisco.

The crashing economy has a few bright spots. Palo Alto officials are looking for a place to build a new cop-shop, current negotiations could turn to their favor. Councilmember John Barton said it was an example of the council “acting in a very business-wise manner.”

The Merc’s Joe Rodriguez reports a small victory in consumer affairs. The 17 year old credit nightmare for Manuel and Luz Fausto is over and there’s a check for $500,000 in the mail. Consumer advocate Denise Richardson says the web is buzzing, “finally, some good news to report.”

Morgan Hill Superintendent Alan Nishino announced he’s outa here at the end of June. Nishino leaves a $4.1 million shortfall and a “fractured” union relationship.

Gilroy Councilmember Dion Bracco supported colleagues who said no to South County Housing’s project a few months ago. Bracco said he wouldn’t spend his own money on the project, at the time. Last night Bracco convinced colleagues a do-over was needed because the project owner was now changing the financial agreement.

San Jose Revealed calls this week the “boringest week ever,” aside from the Merc’s Scott Herhold increasingly busy schedule and old news about Nora Campos it wasn’t worth a visit to the keyboard yesterday.

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.17.09: Soggy Biking Edition...

In case you were on lucky enough to be on vacation yesterday and missed our Morning News Round-Up, check out yesterday's goings on here. The real highlight of the day, however, was the national attention Assemblymember Joe Coto's blanket and sleeping habits received...

The Merc.’s Editorial Board is calling for San Jose Police Department to release reports on drunk arrests, no doubt making the Drunk Task Force, Councilmember Nora Campos, and the ACLU very happy. While at the same time, making this guy very nervous...Watch Dog has been covering the ever tipsy story on skyrocketing arrests of Latinos in San Jose here, here, and here.

San Jose/Santa Maria Legislator Senator Abel Maldonado is enjoying his time in the catbird seat and issued a list of demands in exchange for his Republican vote on the State budget proposal. Maldonado’s list includes eliminating partisan primaries, stopping Legislator paychecks (when the budget is overdue), and refusing raises when the State runs a deficit. Colleague/San Jose Senator Elaine Alquist has released a list of projects in Santa Clara County that will be affected if the Governor keeps his promise to stop funding if there’s budget agreement today. No wonder Coto couldn't stand to watch this rerun...Maldando will cave and be a big hero...

Santa Clara County Supervisor Ken Yeager thinks the County may have too many cars in its garage and has started an audit saying, "I was concerned that the County was purchasing a lot of automobiles, and I wanted to make sure everyone who is assigned a car needs one." High time too. It’s been nearly three decades since an audit was done of County vehicles. There are currently 144 county employees who have “take-home” cars, including Yeager’s colleague Supervisor Don Gage. I guess a 12-year job at over $100k isn't enough for Gage, he wanted the car too...

At least Supervisor Gage drives his County car...According to an informal survey by the Merc’s Mr. Roadshow Gary Richards, Gage drives solo from Gilroy to San Jose in a GMC SUV but takes light rail from County offices to events in downtown San Jose. Gage must have worried when he received the call from Mr. Roadshow as he said, "Please be nice to me. I am responsible for many key transportation projects completed under budget and ahead of schedule in South County." Check out the story to see how other local leaders get to work...

The Amgen Tour of California will zip through town today as cyclists race out of San Jose on their way to the Central Valley amidst buckets of rain. Cyclist/cancer survivor Lance Armstrong tweeted a request to move the race to April, had a bike stolen, and crashed with a photography motorcycle. The Merc’s Ann Killion covers the race in all its dripping glory.

Local Legislator’s continue dealing with the Great Recession. Around the Valley meetings are in full swing after a wet three day weekend:

• Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors will get a report from Acting County Executive Gary Graves with an update on the budget, including staffing impacts and year-end projections for the general fund. This won't be good...
• Santa Clara Valley Water District hears from staff regarding water supply and possible drought restrictions. Ironic, since it has been an incredibly wet week...
• San Jose’s City Council will look at budget corrections, changes to an arts stabilization fund, and new fees for parking violations. Now in real person speak: "corrections" mean things aren't going well, "changes" mean there isn't enough money to stabilize the arts, and "new fees" mean hold on to your wallets...
• Santa Clara's City Council will discuss a grant for police equipment...
• Sunnyvale’s Council considers changes to their sign code...
• The every-entertaining Alum Rock School District Trustees are still talking about lawyers, as in, who to keep/fire/hire.
• Campbell Union School District looks at their strategic plan, facility needs, and talks contracts with the teachers. Again, in real person speak: discussing contracts means the contracts are going to get contracted...
• Cupertino Union School District Trustees meet with the Cupertino Educational Endowment Foundation Board to discuss instructional technology, the budget, and the parcel tax...
• Los Altos School District looks at the parent survey results and hears about proposed budget cuts.

According to the Merc’s Sal Pizzaro, there is an unlikely duo voicing support for San Jose’s beleaguered Councilmember Madison Nguyen. San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber CEO Pat Dando and Labor Leader Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins have joined forces for a public service spot on KLIV and KRTY. Both stations are owned by local legend (and Nguyen fan) (and Little Saigon business owner) Bob Kieve. Watch Dog would have loved to be in the studio when those two cut that spot...

Pizzaro also lets us know that when we see him out and about this week he won’t be covering local stories, he’s taking a one-week furlough imposed by the Merc. because times are tough.

Watch Dog Weather Report: You might be thinking, as you slog through rising puddles, that all threats of drought imposed sanctions are over. Not so fast. So far this season we’ve received about 8 inches, according to Santa Clara Water District spokesperson Susan Siravo, "This doesn't get us out of the woods yet. We need eight inches plus of rain [more] to get us to where we need to be." Let's hope that those 8 inches don't all fall today...

In spite of the wet weather, San Jose’s rare peregrine falcon’s have returned to City Hall. Clara and Carlos will again be on the City’s webcam giving you the opportunity to be a 24-7 voyeur. The Merc notes that anyone interested in helping to support the San Jose City Hall falcons and the work of the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group may do so by making tax deductible donations by check or online.

The Morgan Hill City Council is considering a 2% utility hike to help ease their budget woes. Measure G on last year's ballot failed miserably. Councilmember Marby Lee said of the failure, "I think part of it may be the public didn't trust us to use the money for what we said it would go for." Y'think? This week council will consider a June or November ballot measure.

Hoping to drag an East Bay sports team South, Morgan Hill property/business owner Julie Borina Driscoll sent letters to the Board of Supervisors and the Oakland Raiders urging them to consider Morgan Hill as their new home. Supervisor Don Gage suggested that Morgan Hill might not be the best solution and offered that conversion of (County owned) Hellyer Park in South San Jose is a better idea. Morgan Hill Councilmember Greg Sellers said having the Oakland A’s in Morgan Hill would be a “dream come true” but wondered about the fiscal impacts saying, "If it would cost the community money, I don't think it would be appropriate right now." Especially given the proposed 2% utility tax hike being considered...

Nearly 35 years ago Gilroy was embroiled in “Sewergate” after news broke that City Administrator Jay Baksa’s predecessor and other top-level employees had orchestrated and covered up sewage dumping into a local creek after two years of heavy rain overwhelmed the system. The State imposed a building moratorium on Gilroy. This year, the Morgan Hill/Gilroy South County Regional Wastewater Authority received the Plant of the Year Award from the California Water Environment Association. Gilroy’s Public Information Officer Joe Kline reports Gilroy is now poised to grow. He didn't say, "We need more outlets...a lot more outlets..."

(late again) Morning News Round-Up 1.14.09: Disappointed Edition...

Sorry to disappoint you with the long delay...Watch Dog has been recovering from the Mayor's State of the City (Budget)...more on that later (or tomorrow)...

On to old news...

Garlic Ta-Ta’s closed before it ever opened. Ante Bilic withdrew his application Tuesday morning for a gentleman's club in Gilroy after news broke of the 10 year old prohibition of flaunting ta-ta’s in Gilroy. The sleuthing was uncovered by Home Depot's lawyers. No word yet if the more than $4,000 in fees already paid to Gilroy by Bilic will be refunded. Bilic did not say, "The whole experience with Gilroy was like being in a gentleman's club for an evening -- it's fun while it lasted, but we leave disappointed..."

Speaking of disappointed...at yesterday's Council meeting, San Jose City Councilmembers heard from new Retirement Director Russell Crosby. Crosby described the loss of more than $1 billion from the City employee pension funds. Mayor Chuck Reed said, "We need to restructure the [oversight] boards to bring in outside expertise..." You think? Could this be a signal that Reed-ally/pensioner/pension board overseer/Councilmember Pete Constant is on his way off the board after a dismal two years? Councilmember Sam Liccardo seems to think so, saying “…something is seriously broken here...” calling out massive market losses, a travel audit that uncovered excessive and undocumented expenses, and multi-million dollar over-payments.

Vegas hoteliers called him only “Mr. S” and catered to his every wish -- bowls of Glitterati Mentissimo, chilled Dom Perignon and Kurosawa Sake, silk socks, porn, and (of course) condoms. (Disappointed) John, Randy, and Dave Fry know him as the check-kiting/former exec/jailbird Ausaf Umar Siddiqui. Thanks to the Merc., we all know both sides of the Baccarat embezzler. We've learned that the rumors are untrue that Boots Del Biaggio has applied for a job at Fry's...

San Jose Redevelopment Agency is hoping that divided loyalties may prevent the Santa Clara Supervisors from fighting to prevent the Agency from taking a larger share of property taxes. Will former Councilmembers Dave Cortese, Ken Yeager, and George Shirakawa, Jr. side with the needs of the County and area school districts in battling with San Jose over property taxes? The hearing is set for March in San Jose, stayed tuned...Mr. Mavrogenes, don't be too disappointed if the old adage holds true that "where you stand depends on where you sit"...Dave, Ken, and George sit somewhere new now.

Once a month teachers and students descend upon Barker Elementary School on a Friday night (a.k.a. parents' Date Night) while the school gets to raise some much needed funds. Computer lab specialist Ann West said the kids love hanging out in the library, playing twister, surfing the net, and getting crafty. The funds raised help close budget gaps...

Los Altos native Sargent Binkley has been found not guilty by reason of insanity for robbing a Mountain View pharmacy at gunpoint. The landmark decision handed down by a Santa Clara County jury recognized post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following addiction to morphine as the cause of Binkley's insanity. Prosecutor Deborah Medved argued Binkley was sane and said the law does not allow for insanity based on addiction -- just insanity due to Twinkies...

San Jose welcomed it’s first Indo-American onto the City Council yesterday. Ash Kalra says he didn’t run as an ethnic candidate but is proud to represent his community.

San Jose Revealed wants you to Tweet sjrevealed from San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed’s annual breakfast (as if Revealed won’t be there...). Revealed also takes time to liken the Madison Nguyen fiasco to a coup in which the beleaguered San Jose Councilmember's peers are attempting to take her out – and insert a new Vietnamese leader who will obediently take orders.

San Jose Inside weighs in on the new Chief Yahoo! Carol Bartz, formerly of AutoDesk. Bartz could be a refreshing change saying she wanted to help Yahoo! “get some friggin’ breathing room.” Watch Dog likes the idea of a 60 year old, female, Yahoo! talking about kickin’ butt...