Morning News Round-Up -- 5.26.10: not very CSI-like...

Ah, the news about how shabbily handled the De Anza rape case was just keeps coming. Today's news: "...nearly 24 hours elapsed between when the semi-conscious girl was brought to a hospital and the first sheriff's officers knocked on the door of the house where the incident occurred..." That doesn't seem very CSI-like. Expect the Merc's Sean Webby to get another award around his coverage of this story... and expect the Sheriff, the DA, and nearly every other law enforcement official and organization to continue to hate Sean Webby. Which is a pretty good indication that he is doing his job...

Fresh off banning toys at fast food joints, the Board of Supervisors is about to get into the parcel tax game on the November ballot. The tax will go to "preserve health insurance for low-income kids"... this seems pretty ground-breaking to Watch Dog and we wish the Supervisors luck in November. We are pretty sure that there are about a dozen or so school districts out there that were eyeing November for a parcel tax as well. They might not wish the Supervisors much luck because they have to ask themselves: How many new parcel taxes are people willing to support?

The Las Vegas-ification of San Jose gets a deep dive in the Merc today. It doesn't sound like that many people have confidence in the plan for a major hotel near the new San Jose "Strip on First," but Garden City Casino is certainly moving and they are getting more tables (and increasing the City's rake) when they do...

There is at least a conceptual plan, even if not a fully-baked financial one, to make the Mexican Heritage Plaza an arts and culture school. Maybe the increased rake at the card clubs could help finance the place...

And what would a day be without a little news from the San Jose City Council District 5 race? Yesterday all the candidates attended an "ethics workshop" at Santa Clara University and they all signed a pledge to run ethical campaigns. A little late, perhaps? One candidate has already been called a communist and a gang-banger...

If you are planning on getting a fat loan from San Jose as part of your compensation for being hired to a high-level management job, it just got a little less fat... Of course, judging from some of the salaries highlighted in the Merc's Public Employee Pay Database thingy, why would someone need a loan anyway?

San Mateo County Supervisor Rich Gordon gets the Merc Editorial Board nod for the 21st Assembly District... for a Board that questions the status quo up in Sacramento, it seems a strange choice, no?

As a companion piece up the Peninsula, it was Yoriko Kishimoto's turn for a Will Oremus profile...

While we are in Palo Alto... the Palo Alto Finance Committee voted to start charging kids/families to act in the Children's Theatre... that should go over big.

Here's something: Mountain View Police will "forgo pay raises for a year"...

We mentioned earlier this week that we can't resist pointing out imperfections with the online Merc... we are clearly wildly immature. We wouldn't argue agains that...





Finally, where have you gone Politicon Valley? We miss you...

Morning News Round-Up -- 5.6.10: Too...Many...Margaritas...

Oh, poor Mineta San Jose (International?) Airport. They are considering cutting positions, contracting out services, and generally driving Cindy Chavez absolutely bonkers... the proposed cuts/contracting could save a whole bunch of cash all in an effort to get airlines to start coming back, or at least to stop cutting flights...

And no amount of cutting or contracting out will bring Tapestry in Arts back this year apparently... it joins the fireworks display downtown as canceled events in San Jose...

Scott Herhold follows the County budget closer than some Supervisors do. Especially Supervisor George Shirakawa. (Remember, Herhold told the story about District Attorney Dolores Carr's car...) Shirakawa and his fiscally responsible staff, headed up by Eddie Garcia, are over budget and don't seem to know why, which is reassuring. The curious part is that Herhold's story doesn't mention the second in charge to Garcia: Xavier Campos. You'd think Campos would be able to deal with the budget in the office, y'know, because of the bang-up job he did as MACSA's Chief Operating Officer...

San Jose District 5 got the breakdown treatment this week, so did Districts 1 and 3 (from Joe Rodriguez), and now it is District 7's turn, where incumbent Madison Nguyen runs for that seat for the 17th time... John Woolfolk at the Merc has been very, very busy...

Speaking of the District 3 run-down, it seems Councilmember Sam Liccardo disagrees with some (or all) of what Joe Rodriguez wrote according to Liccardo's letter to the editor...

George Beattie, the not-nearly-as-much-fun successor to Bobby Lopez at the San Jose Police Officers' Association, writes for Protect San Jose about the back and forth and back and forth between the POA and the City of San Jose, with copies of the letters that are flying between North 4th and Santa Clara Street...

Guess what Steve Poizner's internal polls say? That he's catching up. Guess what Sarah Palin's polls said about her? That she was qualified... it doesn't make it so Steve, it doesn't make it so...

In other political news (about people way behind in the polls), Yoriko Kishimoto gets a write up in the Almanac/Palo Alto Weekly. She is running for State Assembly for Ira Ruskin's seat against Josh Becker and Rich Gordon.

Stanford Hospital and nurses still aren't getting along nicely. The hospitals just rejected a proposal from the nurses... who previously had rejected the "last, best, and final" offer from the hospital.

Just to give you fair warning, four students were sent home from school at Live Oak High School yesterday for wearing American flag t-shirts on Cinco de Mayo, it was viewed as incendiary. (Perhaps it was the t-shirts and the tight-cropped hair cuts...) This will be a controversial issue that will likely make Fox News, the Rush Limbaugh Show, and probably spark a Tea Party rally as well.

This is a story from Watch Dog San Mateo.. the Almanac actually... but it will send shock-waves up and down Silicon Valley. Menlo Park is imposing a two-tier pension system for its municipal employees. The beginning of a trend, or the shot heard round the union world?

More from San Mateo County... To Tweet (or Facebook) or not to Tweet during a City Council meeting... something that more than one Watch Dog has commented on in the past related to at least one San Jose City Council member whose name starts with P and ends in ETE. A Tweet from a Councilmember in San Carlos has stirred up the usually sleepy town...

Finally, Tom Campbell's campaign has released an online campaign video (and taken their gloves off) that you absolutely have to see. Seriously. It makes the weird sheep thing Carly Fiorina's campaign put out a while ago seem mild. Take a gander... love the head-bob...

Morning News Round-Up -- 4.27.10: Rainy Days and Tuesdays...

Scott Herhold does his best Harry Mavrogenes as he gets into the nitty-gritty about traffic patterns in and out of the HP Pavilion (and Cisco Field)...

You remember the shitty story about the two Santa Teresa High School students killed a classmate in his backyard... the two students pleaded not guilty yesterday.

In lesser crime news... the Apple Store in Los Gatos was robbed via smash and grab on Monday... "Everybody down... step away from the iPad..." Perhaps the thieves were in town for the Wine and Fashion Week in Los Gatos...

Mountain View will talk affordable housing developments in their downtown... we weren't there last night, but we expect the next story to be about NIMBYs...

El Camino Hospital is having a tough year in the budget department... they are $11 million short so far this year. Which makes it a great time to join the Board, which is what Patricia Einarson did by way of appointment this week...

Speaking of hospitals... a highly critical report was release this week of Valley Medical Center: "overstaffed," "high pay and benefits," "plagued with inefficiencies," etc., etc., etc. It must not be a good morning at 70 West Hedding...

It is political season in Morgan Hill. Two folks have declared their intention to run for Morgan Hill City Council in November: Michael Castelan and Rick Moreno. The seats they are running for are currently held by Greg Sellers' (who not be running again?) and Marby Lee (who hasn't decided to run yet or not)...

The protest letters to the Water District were due today, so if you are pissed about the ground-well fee, we hope you spoke up or will forever hold your peace...

You remember that there was "trouble in paradise" between the Los Altos School District and its teachers' union over contract issues... it was punted for a few weeks until something could be worked out that could pass the school board -- and now it seems to have passed the school board... barely. The best part of this story is that one of the board members used the phrase "hissy fit" in her comments before voting yes...

You remember the singing group from Mountain View High School that got stranded in Paris, right? Well, now they have to raise $50,000 to pay for their baguettes, escargot, and espresso...

Thanks to Politicon Valley, we know that Yoriko Kishimoto got the Sierra Club endorsement... adding to a long list of organizations?