Morning News Round-Up -- 7.22.09: the Everest/Sequoia chess match continues...

The Everest Charter School versus Sequoia Union High School District chess match took an interesting turn this week. There has been the battle about where Everest would open. Sequoia wants to put Everest on a plot in East Palo Alto. Everest doesn't want to be on the EPA site. So, Everest began the work to move into an office building in Redwood City. The School District countered by raising environmental issues about the site Everest wanted. Well, the pendulum has swung, perhaps permanently, into Everest's direction. They have change the Redwood City site where they want to open school on August 24th, and it seems that may be their new home -- no matter what Sequoia does. Checkmate?

A State budget deal is done, as you have probably read and heard. But the budget includes a huge money grab from local governments. Well, local governments are mad and they aren't going to take it anymore. (Or at least they don't want to take it anymore...) Schools are also concerned with what the budget means for them because of "deferrals" and "mid-year cuts"... Local beaches are set to be cut also...

Pacifica Riptide has an idea about how to avoid the State stealing money from local government, to fund schools, and to avoid closing State beaches... Repeal Prop 13. (Their idea, not Watch Dog's.)

Daily Journal Editor Jon Mays gets in on the State budget action too and calls the budget deal "evidence of ailing state..."

If this wasn't an obvious headline: Jail site options drawing concern. Watch Dog is shocked. SHOCKED! Actually, not so much. We predicted some pretty harsh reactions to the County Sheriff's jail-siting public meetings.

For all you High-Speed Rail NIMBYs who are upset that there has been a slow down in public meetings over the summer to hog the microphone, here is your chance. Congresswoman Eshoo and State Senator Joe Simitian will be hosting a town hall meeting on Saturday in Menlo Park.

And if the NIMBY's in Menlo Park can't wait until Saturday, there will be a public meeting tomorrow night about the "Menlo Gateway" project, a.k.a. the Bohannon project.

SSF is the latest city to consider hiking its hotel tax. Belmont already considered, and dropped, that idea, but Burlingame's hotel tax is now officially on the ballot in November.

Here is something we can probably all agree on: fewer sewage overflows that lead pollute the Bay. This is a result of a lawsuit recently settled by the Burlingame Hills Sewer Maintenance District.

$7 million worth of heroin was seized in East Palo Alto on Tuesday. That's good news...