Morning News Round-Up -- 5.22.09: Early long weekend get-away (especially for SBWMA staff?)

The Belmont Chamber of Commerce is in full crisis communications mode. Their Board President/Beau Monde Flooring owner Michael Kazarian was arrested on multiple counts of child molestation. Chamber Board VP Lenore Griffin came forward with a by-the-PR-textbook statement, "...The alleged victim and Mr. Kazarian should both be allowed to rely upon the justice system..." Watch Dog is projecting that Mr. Kazarian will step down from this post "temporarily to focus on his legal issues and his business." (Hint to the Belmont Chamber: remove Mr. Kazarian's personal email address from your website. He might start getting some pretty nasty emails...)

The dreaded/beloved Academic Performance Index scores came out yesterday grading our schools. No surprise to anyone that some San Mateo County schools score incredibly high... and some not so much. The San Mateo County Times generously calls this "mixed results"...

Speaking of the County Times, there are new plans for their old building. Intracorp (which sounds like a made up name for a big corporation in a movie) has plans for a partly residential, partly office building development that will go to the San Mateo Planning Commission on Tuesday. (58 townhomes, 9 duplexes, a single family home, and a partridge in a pear tree.)

Robert Jeangerard, a 75 year old San Carlos resident and former Olympic Gold Medalist in basketball (1956), walked away from his home earlier in the week and is missing. If you have seen the 6'4" man, let the San Carlos Police know. (650) 802-4277.

The Daily Journal (finally) gets on the Half Moon Bay NOT filing for bankruptcy story... others had the story earlier in the week.

Lucky for everyone else, Michelle Durand read the Civil Grand Jury report on San Mateo Medical Center's drug administration system. The first page put Watch Dog to bed... so thank you Michelle for the run down.

We are still waiting for the grand daddy of Civil Grand Jury reports about the Garbage Saga. If it comes out today (which Watch Dog projects) expect the SBWMA brass to have left on an early long weekend... On the other hand, expect Assemblymember Jerry Hill to be available for comment...

The San Mateo County Harbor District is looking to sell 6 acres of the "Burnham Strip" in El Granada across Highway 1 from Surfers Beach. The sale is going to be to the Granada Sanitary District for "wet storage"... which may be something really gross...

The failure of Measure D in Pacifica leaves some pretty bad budget cuts to make. On May 28th you can attend a budget session to have your voice heard...

Ron Kroichick, the golf columnist at the Chronicle, chimes in on Sharp Park. (Hat tip: Riptide) He advocates for a "middle ground." Way to stick your neck out Kroichick. I guess even writing about something controversial is big for a golf columnist...

The COWs of Woodside write up the idea to have green building standards in Woodside...

Morning News Round-Up -- 3.17.09: Good bye Michelle?

Make sure you take a read through yesterday's Watch Dog post about the Civil Grand Jury report on red-light cameras in the County...

Something seems to be wrong with a story that appears in the San Mateo County Times today. The story says that Burlingame residents will see their sewer rates go up by 8 percent. Ok. But then the story says that the rate increase will be on Allied Waste's bills starting in April. The problem is that Allied Waste is the garbage company, not the sewer company. Maybe Watch Dog is wrong...but maybe Christine Morente is wrong...Either way, 8 percent increases in garbage or sewer is a lot. Hold on to your wallets Burlingamers...

The Daily Journal (finally) gets in on the story reported by the Half Moon Bay Review (and written about on Watch Dog San Mateo) about the closure of the Coastside Family Medical Center...

A contentious zoning issue was discussed last night in San Mateo. The issues is whether to "downzone" certain parts of certain neighborhoods...for your land-use geeks, read this story...

Is Michelle Durand leaving town? Say it ain't so...in today's Daily Journal she breaks up with the State of California. The budget mess. The failed leadership. The botched State Government. Michelle is fed up and she isn't taking it anymore...apparently. Please Michelle, let Watch Dog buy you a coffee to talk about the good old days before you leave...

New retailers are opening up in East Palo Alto: Sports Authority, Nordstroms Rack...these are a few of my favorite things...

Palo Alto is going to ban plastic bags at grocery stores...Watch Dog guesses that lobbyist/former Assemblymember Manny Diaz wasn't successful in lobbying for the environmental gurus at the American Chemistry Council...San Jose, are you listening?

The TravelBlog being posted on the Palo Alto Weekly website has been updated. Keith Schuman is in Vietnam. Note to Jay Thorwaldson, updating a blog regularly (like Keith is doing) makes things a lot more interesting...

More bad news from our friends in Half Moon Bay. The Legend of Motorcycle event has been canceled for 2009...(perhaps) to return in 2010.

Once again Assemblymember Jerry Hill is proving himself to be the most strategic politician in the County...he appointed Pacifica's Barbara Arietta to the State Democratic Committee Convention...you'll remember that Hill outmaneuvered State Senator Leland Yee when most of the delegates were selected to the Convention. Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!

Speaking of Pacifica Democrats...on March 21st they will be discussing how Coastside areas get screwed in choosing County Supervisors...(hat tip: Riptide)

You have got to love Atherton. A tech start-up, TechCrunch.com, was going gang-busters and was being run out of the founders home in Atherton. Neighbors freaked out about the traffic (for the 10 employees/interns) and pushed the promising start-up out of town to Palo Alto. Not only did the neighbors cause jobs from being created in Atherton, they pushed them out of the County...

(Snowy) Morning News Round-Up -- 3.2.09

The snow must have caused this Foster City car accident. Remember, be careful where you park your house in Foster City...

There is lots of Belmont stuff today:

You may recall that Belmont shut down a lane of traffic near Carlmont High School sending already hyper parents over the edge -- including one person who was compelled to send threatening letters to the City Council. Well, the issue is still causing a stir, but it doesn't look like Belmont is going to budge any time soon -- even though San Carlos would like it to.

And while parents (and San Carlos) are complaining about traffic around Carlmont High School, Belmont neighbors are complaining about Animal House-type parties sprouting up from rental homes in Belmont. Apparently there is a direct relationship between rental homes in Belmont and keg sales....

And if traffic and keg-parties weren't enough Belmont news for the day...how about some Belmont park news? The question is, how to keep parks thriving and green. Does it need to be from a tax?

From the Economy in the Tank File: The Atherton City (Town?) Council will meet today to discuss the City (Town's?) budget...and...Menlo Park City Schools are looking to cut $1.1 million from next year's budget...But on the good news front, the Federal Stimulus Package is coming to highways and roads near you...

Because people have been knocking down the doors to learn more about Portola Valley, a new ($70,000) website just launched to give residents and others insight into what happens in Portola Valley. I guess the old phrase "what happens in Portola Valley, stays in Portola Valley" is no longer true because of this website...

Thank goodness for Pacifica Riptide. If it wasn't for them, no one would have any idea what is happening in Pacifica. (No offense Tribune...)

Pacifica voters will vote on a 1 cent sales tax increase starting May 19th. The all-mail ballot will be due back on June 2nd...

Riptide also looks at Pacifica's retiree liabilities as reported in a 2008 Civil Grand Jury report. (Remember, Watch Dog looked a recent Civil Grand Jury report, but is awaiting the Garbage Grand Jury Report...)

More details of the State's bailout of Half Moon Bay...Watch Dog has confirmed that there is no truth to the rumor that Farmer/Mayor John sent flowers to Jerry Hill and Leland Yee.

Speaking of our bearded hero: In a move sure to piss-off businesses in San Bruno, Assemblymember Hill calls for a statewide ban on Styrofoam. John Garamendi will be pleased...

A march against the fast train will happen today in Palo Alto. Palo Alto City staff is recommending that the train be tunneled through Palo Alto of else run through someone elses' town...remember the thinking in Palo Alto: slow train = good, fast train = bad...

South City has some ideas to save money on energy, unfortunately, those ideas actually cost money in the short-term to save money in the long-term. Specifically, using green energy (wind/solar) to power the water treatment plan. It seems the new technology will come online when rates go up...

If it is Monday, it must be Sue Lempert's column day in the Daily Journal. She drops some Constitutional Convention knowledge as well as updating her column from last week when she talked about outsiders challenging entrenched politicians...

Finally, food luck Taylor Middle School cheerleaders!!!! O....M....G....!!! DISNEYLAND!!! (If you want a related story, find out how cheerleaders from Morgan Hill almost missed their Disneyland fun because of a slacker coach...)

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.26.09: A San Mateo Surfer Scam...

Here is a true "Only in San Mateo County" story...a Maverick's surfer was due to appear at the San Mateo County Historical Museum for a bunch of events around the opening of an exhibition. The day before the event at the Museum, a man posing as surfer Grant Washburn scammed the Museum out of a couple of hundred bucks. This story is too weird to believe...No arrests have been made.

Watch Dog has been interested in the Garbage Saga forever...partly because of the intrigue, partly because of the cost, and partly because of the colorful quotes. But others have been interested too -- like the Civil Grand Jury, who took up outgoing Supervisor (now Assemblymember) Jerry Hill's call to action to look into how the 10-year contract was awarded to Norcal...the County Times gives us an update on the Civil Grand Jury investigation: nobody is talking about it...

As if taking a hint from the Daily Journal's Jon Mays' Editorial this week about consolidating municipal services, Burlingame is considering sharing fire and police services with Millbrae (along with a bunch of other cost-saving measures...)

San Mateo Union High School District is in a battle with local unions about signing Project Labor Agreements, which would (essentially) require union contractors be used for high school modernization projects.

Some local folks attended the recent California Constitutional Convention Summit, (a.k.a. the Tea Party) (a.k.a. Throw the Bums Out Meeting) that took place in Sacramento...Supervisors Gordon and Church were there...

On a (sort of) related note...

Teachers + California = Yearly Pink Slips...

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission -- the folks the dole out the cash -- has a new Vice Chair, and you may recognize her...

High-Speed Rail is coming to the Peninsula. (Some/All) Folks in Menlo Park and Atherton and Palo Alto hate it...but it seems that it is moving on a fast-track...(pun intended)...if you want to learn more (or spout off) there are two upcoming meetings, one tonight in Palo Alto and one in Redwood City...

And...San Carlos has its own Holly Street Bridge problems with high-speed rail they just (?) discovered...

Congresswoman Jackie Speier is the Woman with the Plan (and President Obama too)...Speier writes about her foreclosure plan today in the Daily Journal, and it got covered in a bunch of places as well. San Mateo County is extremely well-represented in Congress these days...

What is becoming a truism on Watch Dog, do not mess with school kids' parents. The uprising in the Burlingame Elementary School District about their lottery system meant to alleviate over-crowding, is now causing the District to rethink/scrap their plans and instead invest millions of dollars in new facilities...

As if it were a different time and/or a different place, there were protesters outside of the Planned Parenthood in San Mateo. Really? Still protesting outside of Planned Parenthood?

Surprise, surprise. A city-wide fiber optic network built by the City of Palo Alto is not likely to happen -- it seems -- after a decade of hoping and wishing and studying. It turns out it is expensive to build and maintain such things...really?

Or, perhaps it isn't the money, but the fact that Palo Alto-based utility-type things sometimes seem to be (perhaps) corrupt. The Palo Alto Utilities Department is being investigated by the US Department of Transportation for conspiracy to alter records...

Finally, Michelle Durand goes "Off the Beat" today in the Daily Journal and is right on point. Lamenting the (possible?) demise of the San Francisco Chronicle, she provides a reporter's insight into the newspaper industry. She ends her piece by asking "...if no journalists remain to cover the story, who will ask the questions?..." I'm doing my best Michelle...

Morning News Round-Up -- 1.1.09: Dean Martin (forever cool) for Council...

The list is set for the San Mateo City Council (undemocratic) appointment process to replace unelected Supervisor Carole Groom. 14 people (I counted) have applied. The list:

1. Planning Commissioner Fred Hansson
2. Planning Commissioner Robert Gooyer
3. Community Relations Commissioner David Lim
4. Supervisorial Aide (and Watch Dog respondent) Randy Torrijos
5. Marlene Andrade
6. Fel Anthony Amistad
7. Retired Police Lieutenant Robert Ross
8. Library Foundation President Tish Busselle
9. Former Planning Commissioner Karen Herrel
10. Former Planning Commissioner Bertha Sanchez
11. Labor leader Rich Hedges
12. Matthew Francis Nathan
13. Dean V. Martin (forever cool)
    
14. Gail Berkley

Interviews will happen next Wednesday and the appointment will be made on Thursday. Of all these candidates, Karen Herrel has agreed to be a placeholder until the next election -- which would ensure that there is actually a democracy still intact in San Mateo (or in the County for that matter)...but don't bet on her appointment. There are some powerful people applying. Some have organized labor's support while others clearly have experience with land-use issues and public safety. Plus, Dean Martin...if a member of the Rat Pack joined the San Mateo City Council it would be so fun...A new President on Tuesday and a new San Mateo Councilmember on Thursday. Could this be any more exciting?!

Hillside homes in Hillsborough is going to be a tough sell -- especially when the plan is to build those 25 homes on 48 acres of now open space near the Crystal Springs Reservoir. Add to that the school-aged kids that will go into those homes and the chance of more neighborhood traffic and you have a recipe for a NIMBY Battle Royale. Which is (perhaps) what the owner of the property wants...what do I mean? Well, if the owner of the 48 acres, Chirstian de Guigne IV, creates enough stir about putting up housing, perhaps the Peninsula Space Open Authority will be pressured into paying a premium for the piece of land to keep the space open. Just a theory, but not one that is out of the question according to de Guigne's team. He has hired a small army of lawyers and spin-meisters..including Greg Hampton and Peter Callander...

State Senator Simitian is proposing (again) to lower the threshold for local tax measures to pass at the ballot from 2/3 to 55 percent. 2/3 is a tough threshold that many local school districts and agencies have trouble reaching. That's actually why the 2/3 threshold exists in the first place. Nonetheless, there would be much less pressure on local government if the State government would do its job and stop stealing from their local brethren...

And speaking of the State not doing its job...Evidence that they don't really know what their doing becomes incredibly clear today in this Tea Party Alert...if you are expecting some of your tax money back from the State this season you might get an IOU instead because the State doesn't have any money. Can you imagine if millions of Californians don't get their tax over-payments back? There will be a full-fledged revolt -- mark Watch Dog's words...

The Civil Grand Jury has been busy. First garbage...then water...now schools -- specifically fire safety in schools. Watch Dog is still waiting for the Jerry Hill-requested garbage contract report from the Civil Grand Jury...

Anyone who rides their bike to the train to avoid burning fossil fuels should be commended. Unfortunately, there is never enough room (apparently) for all the cyclist that want to ride the train. Scott Wildy was sick of it. So he refused to get off a full train with his bike and was arrested. Now he must pay a fine -- which is a lot better than spending a year in prison, which was also a prosecutorial option...

The Bair Island boardwalk is being rebuilt -- you know how you can tell? All the helicopters hovering right off 101 in Redwood City. Cool to watch, but please keep your eyes on the road...

The Chronicle (finally) gets in on the action covering the Royal Hairness (Gavin Newsom's) visit to San Carlos on Tuesday.

And finally, a look around the other blogs in San Mateo County...Pacifica Riptide continues its awesome-ness posting constantly about Pacifica and world issues, while Jay Thorwaldson's "blog" continues to stink (he hasn't posted since December 9th). The newby, San Mateo Public Policy Examiner (or PP Examiner), hasn't posted in a week (which is weak)...

Civil Grand Jury takes on pilfering...and someone (Watch Dog) actually read it...

A few weeks back, Watch Dog posted about a San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury report related to garbage ( recycling, actually). This Civil Grand Jury report should not be confused with the Civil Grand Jury’s upcoming report about the awarding of the $700+ million contract -- which promises to be far more exciting...but the recent one was ok.

There seems to be a problem (or perceived problem) in County neighborhoods of scavengers poaching stuff from recycling bins to make money. Because no one, except maybe this guy and these guys, read the report -- Watch Dog took the liberty of reading it and filling you in on the details, as promised...

The report was launched in response incidents in Menlo Park where a neighbor complained to the City Council...then another neighbor wrote on a message board...and pretty soon, the Civil Grand Jury deemed that there was a large-scale issue on its hands and took action by launching a "pilfering investigation."

Civil Grand Jury Findings...
The Civil Grand Jury actually provided a pretty good picture of how garbage and recycling work in San Mateo County. We learned some new information about how garbage runs here -- perhaps it is new to you too:

• The current garbage company, Allied Waste, picks up recycling at the curb and sells the collected recyclable materials. However, Allied Waste doesn't get the revenue generated from the recycling. Instead, the money actually goes back to the agency overseeing the garbage contracts -- the South Bayside Waste Management Agency (SBWMA). From the SBWMA, the recycling revenue is distributed to the member agencies (cities, the County, etc.) who often use the revenue to off-set rate increases. This apparently differs from Pacifica's relationship with its garbage company that actually keeps the revenue from recycling. (Pacifica is also considering dumping its garbage company.)
• Over the past four years, Allied Waste claims that the total number of recyclables have gone down from curbside pick-up while at the same time the money that scavengers can get for recycling 'commodities' have skyrocketed. (Apparently, the sky-high commodity prices have recently dropped like Madoff's portfolio.)
• Pilferers (or anyone else who has tons of beer cans in their garage) can bring recyclable materials to a 'buy-back' center and get paid for their recyclables. It is relatively simple -- if not a little smelly and sticky.
  
• To help curb pilfering, a new State Law went into effect last week (1/1/09) whereby anyone who brings stuff to buy-back centers needs to show identification if they are looking to sell more than $50 worth of stuff. Also, those crisp bills that buy-back centers used to hand out are now going to be pesky checks.
  
• 'Single-stream' recycling is going into effect in much of the County in 2011 which may make pilfering more difficult. Single-stream recycling is when everything that is recyclable gets put into one bin -- as opposed to the two-bin system now.

The bottom line from the Grand Jury's findings: There is lots of money in recycling. People like money and pilfer other folk's bins to get to the recycling/money. Pilfered recycling/money generally goes to reducing our garbage rates.

Civil Grand Jury vs. Watch Dog San Mateo -- More Questions...
To wrap up the Civil Grand Jury report, these good folks put forward some conclusions. Unfortunately, these conclusions lead to more questions. Fortunately, Watch Dog loves asking questions. So, here are the Civil Grand Jury’s conclusions, followed by (much more interesting) Watch Dog Questions:

Civil Grand Jury Conclusion: Pilfering can cause increased garbage rates because cities receiving less revenue from recycling means cities cannot offset the actual garbage costs.

Watch Dog Question: Does this mean that the rates we pay now are not covering the cost of the services we get? Is the next garbage company due to take over in 2011 going to receive the revenues from recycling? If so, won't our rates go up even more than what has already been promised?

Civil Grand Jury Conclusion: Pilfering will increase as commodity prices rise.

Watch Dog Question: Duh, but doesn't this mean that pilferers will do even more to get their hands on the recyclables? If yes, won't that screw up the next conclusion?

Civil Grand Jury Conclusion: Single stream is becoming more common, including in our community, which will make pilfering more difficult.

Watch Dog Question: Won't pilferers want these recyclables/money enough to wade through the other stuff -- especially if the commodity prices rise -- as the Civil Grand Jury says they will? And what has been the experience of Cities with single-stream already? (Partial answer here.)

Civil Grand Jury Conclusion: SBWMA should take a leadership role in dealing with this and they currently have not. Likewise, Allied Waste doesn't currently take an active role in dealing with pilfering because they don't have a financial stake in it.

Watch Dog Question: Same as before: If the garbage company has a financial stake in the recycling revenues -- and those revenues won't help underwrite the cost of the services we get now -- won't our rates go up even more?

Civil Grand Jury Conclusion: The new garbage contract should put onus on collection companies to help curb pilfering.

Watch Dog Question: Does this mean that the next garbage company is going to be policing our neighborhoods? Is that what we want them to do? Won't that add even more cost to our garbage service?

Civil Grand Jury Conclusion: Pilfering is not a public-safety threat but it does concern residents.

Watch Dog Question: If this is not a public-safety threat, why is the Grand Jury recommending that new ordinances be put in place that would be enforced by police? Aren't our police departments already stretched too thin? What if neighbors call all the time about pilfering -- won't that put a burden on the police to respond to "non-public safety"-related calls?

To deal with this issue...

the Civil Grand Jury Proposes...(drum roll please)...

• The Civil Grand Jury recommends that a bunch of public agencies do a bunch of work about this issue.
  
• The County should educate residents about the relationship about pilfering and rates.
• The County should set the stage for new ordinances that allow police to issue citations that costs folks lots of money if they pilfer.
  
• The DA should be able to do something about pilfering.
  
• Collection companies should communicate with customers that pilfering is illegal and pilfering should be reported to the police.
  

Overall, the report provided some interesting information. However, it lacked any real solutions to the perceived pilfering problem.

In Watch Dog's view, there is very little that government agencies, police departments, or garbage companies can do to keep people from pilfering recycling if the financial reward is great enough ($) -- especially in these economic times.

What have we learned about how to curb pilfering? Not much...

What have we learned about the Civil Grand Jury? We know that they understand the local garbage industry...which should worry some folks and make some folks happy as the Civil Grand Jury starts asking tough questions about the new garbage contract...

Morning News Round-Up -- 12.26.08: Boxing Day Edition...

As the news slows down, Watch Dog doesn't...at least not today. Remember to visit this Watch Dog post questioning what the County Controller is trying to hide by releasing a financial review on Christmas Eve...more on this soon. Now, onto the news...

In this time of giving and good will...it is nice to know that the District Attorney is getting many more complaints about the San Mateo psychic that was bilking old ladies...as we said last time, you'd think the accused would have seen this coming...

The State put a halt on public works projects -- remember this? -- and now it may affect a San Mateo affordable housing project being built by the Mid-Peninsula Housing Coalition.

On the 18th, a woman was found dead on a Pacifica golf course. Everyone covered this story -- the Chronicle, the Mercury News, Watch Dog, and Pacific Riptide...unfortunately, the Pacifica Tribune didn't get on the story and put something on its website until the 24th. A mysterious death (murder?) happens in your backyard and your don't update your website for 5 days? Weird...At least there is a bit of new news in the story (sort of) -- Laura Jessice Valentine may have died from the elements that night on December 18th...

Watch Dog may slow down a bit over the next few days -- but check back often for new stuff, including a review of the Civil Grand Jury's look at pilfering of recyclables and the Christmas Eve County financial review...

Morning News Round-Up -- 12.23.08: Pilfered Recycling Edition...

More garbage...not really. Less recycling dollars is the issue today. A Civil Grand Jury has been working on garbage more than we even knew about. They issued a report about the stubborn problem of peoples' recyclables getting snatched from their front yards on pick-up day and the affect that this theft has on garbage rates...Watch Dog loves the title of the report: Pilfering of Curbside Recyclables: Should We Be Concerned?...well, if the Civil Grand Jury looked into it and Watch Dog writes about it...then obviously yes!

Watch Dog has been following this issue (a bit) for sometime. There is another (another?) delay in the trial of accused child molester Dr. William Ayres. Thank you to those folks that are following this more closely than Watch Dog for keep us informed. For more information, you can always visit here: William Ayres Watch For a Watch Dog backgrounder on this case, including links to previous news stories, you can visit here.

South San Francisco is joining the fight against Lehman Brothers for being misled during the financial meltdown...but it doesn't stop there. South City is also adding to their targets Citigroup Global Markets, Suntrust Robinson Humphrey, Wells Fargo Securities, and Mellon Financial Markets...you go South City...the County is suing Lehman too...

A horrible ambulance crash in Palo Alto seriously injured a Concord woman that was being taken to a routine medical appointment yesterday. The ambulance hit a tree on University Avenue and flipped on its side.

The California Coastal Commission agreed with the City of Half Moon Bay about a home that is to be built near the contested Beachwood Property (that is costing HMB $18 million). The City and the Commission gave the Gale home a thumbs up to move ahead...

Mavericks Surf Contest will go on -- even if it opened a bit later than usual this year. Possible dates will be from January 1st through the end of March. They have a full field of big wave surfers and even some sponsors. See the details in the only newspaper that really covers such things...the HMB Review...

A Burlingame exit off of 101 gets the SF Chronicle's attention today in their widely read "What's Not Working" section...expect this to get attention soon...

Morning News Round-Up -- 12.11.08: What would a day be without speculation about the Sup. seat and garbage?

More names are popping up at for Jerry Hill's seat. Some well-known: Former County Clerk Ric Silver, County School Board Trustee Rod Hsiao, and (obviously) San Mateo's Carol Groom. Some not so well known: Linda Koelling of Foster City, Belmont's David Dexter Frydenlund, and Daniel Duane Kaul, also of Belmont. Big labor and big business are pushing for a Groom appointment but the Democratic and Republican Parties are pushing for a 2009 special election. All this from the Reporters' Notebook at the Daily Journal.

Also from the Reporters' Notebook, this gem that will keep us all focused on garbage for sometime:

At the Belmont City Council meeting Tuesday, a woman who reportedly identified herself as a member of the civil grand jury said the group is moving forward with an investigation into how the county’s garbage collection agency handles its contractor selection process...if the report from Tuesday’s meeting is accurate, it sounds as though it is a go.

Stay tuned...

In November, a generous San Mateo County Board of Supervisors picked up the tab for a liver transplant because the State wouldn't. Now, the State is reimbursing the County for a million bucks. Just make sure the check clears before 'financial Armageddon' hits.

The man who stomped his roommate's cat to death because he was mad at the roommate's 4 year old daughter will spend 16 months in prison based on his plea deal. That was pretty swift justice -- this story only broke yesterday, as first reported in the Daily Journal. No word if hell is keeping a space open...

Yesterday it was going to be $400,000 in savings and reductions that the Sequoia Union High School District was going to put into place -- but it grew to $800,000 last night in order to preserve their reserve. This was necessary, according to Board Member Gordon Lewin, because:

"Taking some pain now means the pain next year will be less. And, we’ll be more likely to get back to our 8 percent reserve.”

Michelle Durand's column in the Daily Journal thanks folks who read her Tuesday column and were kind enough to drop old eyeglasses at the Daily Journal's offices.

Farmers' markets are feeling the economic pinch. The San Mateo County Times takes a look at the markets in Half Moon Bay and Pacifica -- things aren't good.