Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.3.09: The Return of Editor-Blogger Thorwaldson...

Congresswoman Jackie Speier was back 'in district' yesterday to gather support from the education community for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. While the money will be a nice influx of cash, it probably doesn't stem the tide of budget cuts every District is going through these days. And the Federal money won't make Sacramento work any better either...

The fee fiasco continues in the San Mateo Union High School District with a new report being issued saying that the District's new fees are legal and are meant to recover costs. The report was issued by Bill McGuire from School Innovations and Advocacy. Of course, School Innovations and Advocacy's purpose as a company is to help school districts, so the report shouldn't be a real surprise. From School Innovations and Advocacy's own website:
"We're proud to be a leader in getting California schools reimbursed for mandated activities. With the success of school districts in mind, we deliver solutions for all aspects of school operations that ensure compliance with state requirements and customized consulting for cost-effective programs."
Elizabeth McManus, the Assistant Superintendent at San Mateo Union chimes in on the issue in the Daily Journal today as well...

The Daily Journal's Michelle Durand needed stamps and came out of the Post Office on Delaware Street in San Mateo with today's column...

Menlo Park may be getting into the housing market. MP Councilmember Andy Cohen proposes establishing a $2 million fund to buy foreclosed homes from banks, fix them up, and sell them to families that need them. Pretty interesting. I guess the budget in Menlo Park isn't so bad after all...

The Director of Burlingame's Parks and Recreation Department is heading to San Bruno to be lead San Bruno's Park, Recreation, Library, and Facilities Departments...and Randy Schwartz is getting a pretty nice pay raise in the process...

County Times columnist John Horgan goes into detail about the government agency versus government agency situation in Burlingame between the City, which needs money to pay for drains, and the School District, which is facing a huge, new tax bill...

Jay Thorwaldson at the Palo Alto Weekly finally came out of his blogging hiatus to write about the botched billing practices for ambulance service in Palo Alto. Thank you for re-appearing Mr. Thorwaldson, we missed your blog posts...perhaps it won't take another 2 months to get you to write again?

The always timely blog, Pacifica Riptide, corrects its post about Senator Yee's Sacramento Committee assignments...one update of note, Senator Yee is on the all-important Select Committee on California's Horse Racing Industry -- which no longer exists in San Mateo County...

East Palo Alto is launching a justice system of its own, for young people, by young people, and of young people...

No comments: