Morning News Round-Up -- 4.30.10: Shhhhhh...

High-Speed Rail could be in trouble, according to a new State audit because it... "...suffers from 'weak oversight,' 'lax' management and a shaky funding plan..." Funny, we thought that was the norm for things coming out of Sacramento... One thing for sure, this audit will be the talk of the country-club set in Menlo Park and Atherton this weekend...

Students at Aragon, San Mateo, and Hillsdale High are having a silent-in today to protest Arizona's ridiculous new immigration law... We stand quietly with you students... shhhh...

Lee Duboc must be happy, sort of. The Menlo Park City Council is going to "impose terms" on part of its unionized work force. That is a unions worst nightmare, obviously. San Jose imposed terms earlier in the week and Menlo Park followed suit. Trend. Growing...

In other union news, sort of. The teachers in Redwood City School District are contesting their pink-slips... the union thinks the District issued more layoff notices than it needed too. Well duh... doesn't every District do that?

The Daily Journal Editorial Board is endorsing Joe Galligan for his bid to replace Lee Buffington as County Treasurer...

Joshua Melvin at the San Mateo County Times might win the Best First Sentence in a News Story Award this year: "...A San Mateo woman who tied up her teenage daughter with duct tape and poured dish soap in the girl's mouth after a fight over a cell phone bill was sentenced Thursday to probation and six months in jail, a prosecutor said..." It is a creepy story obviously, but we are sure that Mr. Melvin will clip that one for his cubicle... reporters have very sick senses of humor...

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.9.10: Shut your Face(book)...

Here's a lesson for all of you... don't write stupid stuff on Facebook, it can get you into trouble. Don't believe us, ask East Palo Alto Police Detective Rod Tuason, who jokingly wrote a comment on a friend's Facebook status update that police should shoot advocates of "Open Carry" rules -- you know, those good folks who walk around with guns on their hip. Funny joke?

We all know Lee Buffington is stepping down from the position of the County's Tax Collector-Treasurer. Perhaps its because of Buffington's long tenure, or perhaps its because Lehman Brothers went under with all the County's money. Either way, there are folks lining up for the cool (high-paying) gig: Richard Guilbault, Sandie Arnott, and Joe Galligan. Arnott is a current deputy tax collector-treasurer and is endorsed by Buffington. Guilbault runs an asset management company. Galligan is an accountant and former Burlingame Mayor and is endorsed by a bunch of important people, like Supervisors Rose Jacobs Gibson and Adrienne Tissier.

Bruce at PP Examiner takes a look at the race as well...

Speaking of money problems in local government... Las Lomitas School District is facing the budgetary music with $1.2 million in cuts on the horizon.

Community colleges are also feeling the pinch in San Mateo County -- a $7 million pinch to be close to exact. Of course, with severe cuts comes the possibility of asking voters to open their wallets through the ballot box, which will be discussed Wednesday. A Santa Clara County Community College District is considering a tax too. A Community College District (apparently) has never gone to the ballot for a parcel tax in California... yet.

This is fun: A Palo Alto public meeting on High Speed Rail design options. Expect a lot of angry folks yelling and screaming... And their neighbors to the north (Atherton and Menlo Park) are threatening to re-open lawsuits against the High-Speed Rail Authority...

Some business-y news: The Executive Director of the Downtown San Mateo Association will step down in April and SAMCEDA will have Redwood City Councilmember Rosanne Foust as its acting President and CEO while Dan Cruey recovers from a motorcycle accident that happened late last year.

While some folks look for ways to attract businesses, many San Mateo County cities are looking for ways to shut down some businesses... like medical marijuana dispensaries. Millbrae is the latest city to look to ban the 420 outlets... Soon, the only place you'll be able to get good weed is at high school...

Morning News Round-Up -- 7.28.09: Mistrial... but is it over?

We updated late yesterday afternoon, but here is the coverage of the Ayres mistrial: Daily Journal, San Mateo County Times, the Chronicle, the Mercury News, and William Ayres Watchdog. It may not be over, however. The DA may refile, or settle, or not refile, or, or, or...

The Daily Journal launched 2009 Election Journal to cover races (and ballot measures) this November. Today's 2009 Election Journal highlights include:

• San Carlos: City Council incumbents Matt Grocott and Bob Grassilli are in, but incumbent Brad Lewis is not... yet.
• Sequoia Union High School District: Two incumbent Trustees (Gordon Lewin and Sally Stewart) will not seek re-election, but Alan Sarver and Virginia Chang Kiraly aim to fill their shoes. Presumably, these two electeds-to-be will have their hands full with the Sequoia/ Everest legal battle...

Here is something for next year's Election Journal... except it comes to us from the San Mateo County Times: Lee Buffington, the County's long-time Treasurer, will not seek re-election next year. Let the games begin to replace Treasurer Buffington. Names already in the hopper: Buffington's deputy Sandra Arnott and former Burlingame elected official/ Accountant Joe Galligan.

More Election Journal news that didn't make it into the Election Journal... (because it is a different County.) Palo Alto's ever-growing list of folks that want to serve on the City Council is ever-growing still. Gregory Scharff (lawyer), Nancy Shepherd ("school activist"), and Brian Steen (land-use consultant) are all throwing their hats in the ring. They join Planning Commissioner Karen Holman, Gail Price, realtor Dan Dykwel, realtor Leon Leong, business-dude Tim Gray, and man-about-town Victor Frost. Oh yeah, current Councilmember Larry Klein is also running. They are all vying for four seats.

The San Mateo-Foster City School District versus the City of Foster City battle gets some first-hand ink today via an Op-Ed in the Daily Journal. The School District's Superintendent and the President of the School Board go into exhaustive detail about how the process has moved forward with the City to identify what to do with rising enrollment. Why did they write this Op-Ed now? I'm glad you asked...

...the School District is about to do a poll to gauge voter support for a renewal of their parcel tax. Clearing up outstanding issues (like the battle with Foster City) is important for a School District (like San Mateo-Foster City) to do when moving forward with an important vote, we'd guess.

We know that the battle about the Sharp Park Golf Course in Pacifica is pitting San Mateo County versus San Francisco... well, revenge is a dish best served cold. San Francisco aims to get two, newly allowed off-track betting (OTB) facilities thanks to Berkeley's Golden Gate Fields. The problem? The two OTBs are less than 20 miles from the County-run OTB in San Mateo which violates a new State law. Our OTB lawyers are trying to stop SF from opening an OTB. Take that SF Supervisor Mirkarimi!

Palo Alto's College Terrace Centre project took an important step forward yesterday when the City Council approved a requested zoning change for the site. Two "public benefits" that the neighbors were looking for were a JJ&F subsidy and affordable housing. They'll get both -- and probably a little more office space than neighbors wanted too...

While we are in Palo Alto... the three Police Chief finalists have been announced: Interim Chief Dennis Burns, Fairfield Police Chief Kenton Rainey, and San Carlos Police Chief Gregory Rothaus. (To remind us all how we got here.) Perhaps the Fairfield Police Chief is concerned that SF Supervisor Chris Daly is now in his back yard?

Bruce at PP Examiner is apparently back from vacation and posts the obvious-titled blog update: State raids local coffers. Welcome back Bruce...