Morning News Round-Up -- 4.20.10: 420, need we say more?

420... 'nuff said. Now, onto November...

And you thought the Garbage Saga was over... the County wants the garbage overseers, the South Bayside Waste Management Authority, to have elected officials on it, as opposed to City and Council staff... good luck with that...

Congresswoman Anny Eshoo will testify today on Capitol Hill in front of the House Financial Services Committee on how the County, and all kinds of other government agencies, got screwed by Lehman Brothers...

The San Mateo Police Department is as concerned as everyone else is with the recent crimes at the psych unit. They aren't surprised though, they go there all the time on calls.

Speaking of the San Mateo Police Department, Councilmember David Lim's plea to keep looking into the sharing a police department with Burlingame got shot down and now San Mateo's Deputy Police Chief Mike Callagy will be the new interim Police Chief in Burlingame. Sorry David...

Burlingame Voice also chimes in about how the man and woman on the street in Burlingame feels about the police department merger...

The John John John Johns drama ended yesterday as the Atherton Town Council approved a settlement... of course, like everything in Atherton, it wasn't easy. It was a 3-2 vote, with Elizabeth Lewis and Charles "I live in Atherton" Marsala voting no. Perhaps the gang that couldn't shoot straight can start focusing on other stuff now... the settlement vote warranted capital letters on the Town of Atherton blog: ATHERTON SETTLES JOHNS LITIGATION...

Yesterday was a bad day to be train-dependent. First a bomb threat that screwed up the afternoon/ evening community, then a suspicious package at the Caltrain Station in Mountain View closed things down for a while last night...

One Silicon Valley-ite who is running for high office has released his tax returns... Tom Campbell. And we learn what we already knew... he isn't a rich as Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina, or Steve Poizner... Most stunning of all, he donated only $600 to charity in 2009. ... that's it.

Speaking of Silicon Valley types running for office... Chris Kelly is a former Facebook executive running for Attorney General. (In case you didn't know that, and if you didn't know that, then you are in the majority...) He is facing some tough questions about Facebook's privacy policies. Questions like, does Facebook have a privacy policy?

Layoffs, furloughs, and cuts, oh my! (In Half Moon Bay...)

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...