County Supervisor Paul Biane has broken his silence. Now his statements bear some analysis.

A leisure trip to West Virginia that occurred in September 2008 was reimbursed out of Biane’s campaign funds. Did the reimbursement occur in September 2008 or when the amended disclosure form was filed in March 2009, just 8 days before the arrest of Jim Erwin, former Chief of Staff to Supervisor Neil Derry?

Erwin was charged with ten counts of perjury and filing false documents related to a trip and gift he received in January 2007.

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James Rufus Koren and Joe Nelson, Staff Writers
Posted: 01/19/2010 09:38:48 PM PST

More than a year before he was hired as San Bernardino County’s top administrator, Greg Devereaux traveled cross-country on a private jet for a weekend of college football and camaraderie with county Supervisor Paul Biane and two investors from Rancho Cucamonga development company Colonies Partners.

Biane says he used the September 2008 trip as an opportunity to query Devereaux – the longtime Ontario city manager – about whether he’d be interested in becoming the county’s chief administrative officer.

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Posted by Administrator3 at 19 January 2010

For almost a year the question has been asked repeatedly, “Why would San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos take on the likes of Jim Erwin?” It’s especially puzzling for several reasons.

First, Mike is a poltroon. He utilizes his paltry supply of testosterone to satisfy his overactive libido. None is left to be a man in any other way. He is emasculated. He is not capable of going to battle because he believes in the righteousness of an issue. To suggest he is attempting to “clean up corruption” is ludicrous, especially coming from one of the most corrupt district attorneys in the entire country.

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The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors is expected to take-up the matter of the Ramos investigation and report next week. It would be nice to be a fly on the wall for this meeting.

Case law not only requires the disclosure of the report, but also other documentation from the four-month-long, $140,000 inquiry.

The controlling legal case governing the release is BRV, Inc. v. Superior Court, 143 Cal. App. 4th 742.

The BRV case involved the release of an investigation report into the conduct of a school superintendent, who was eventually given a ‘sweetheart severance deal”, which was a matter of public concern. A local newspaper filed a lawsuit to have the report and related materials released.

The Superior Court denied the request to release.

The California Court of Appeal reversed the Superior Court and ordered the release. The California Supreme Court denied review.

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Josh Dulaney, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/19/2010 06:09:59 PM PST

FONTANA – Educators here said Tuesday the worst budget deficit they have seen in the history of the Fontana Unified School District could lead to layoffs and deep program cuts.

The district faces a projected $28 million shortfall for the 2010-11 school year.

“We’re dealing with peoples’ lives, vitality – everything,” said Richard Bruce, president of United Steelworkers Local 8599, which represents more than 1,500 classified workers in the district.

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Steve Poizner

Michael J. Sorba, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/19/2010 05:57:51 PM PST

SAN BERNARDINO – Tax cuts, less spending and more saving are the principles of a plan state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner says will make him the best Republican choice in the June 8 gubernatorial primary.

Poizner and former Ebay CEO Meg Whitman are front-runners for the GOP nomination. If elected, he’ll implement a “10-10-10 plan” that will cut income, sales and the corporation taxes by 10 percent, cut spending by 10 percent over two years and save enough for a $10 billion reserve fund by the end of his first term.

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Supervisor Gary C. Ovitt
Posted: 01/18/2010 07:32:19 PM PST

Small businesses are the engine of our economy. According to a recent study conducted by California State University, Sacramento, small businesses make up 99.2 percent of the business community in California. In San Bernardino County there are more than 60,000 small businesses, and each entrepreneur understands the challenges behind launching and maintaining their business.

In fact, approximately 80 percent of all small businesses fail within the first five years.

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Chantal M. Lovell, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/19/2010 09:39:44 PM PST

REDLANDS – Summer school will be a thing of the past for elementary school students in the Redlands Unified School District.

The program was eliminated in the first level of district reductions during the last Board of Education meeting.

“One of the recommendations we’re making is to eliminate the elementary summer school program,” said district Superintendent Lori Rhodes.

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Council gives contract extensions to police and fire, gets furloughs in return

JESSE B. GILL Staff Writer
Posted: 01/19/2010 08:35:54 PM PST

REDLANDS – After months of a grueling negotiating process, the City Council approved contract extensions with three holdout labor groups in exchange for furlough days.

The council voted unanimously Tuesday to extend labor contracts for the Redlands Police Officers Association (RPOA), the Redlands Professional Firefighters Association (RPFA) and the Redlands Association of Fire Management Employees (RAFME) through 2012. Contracts for all three associations were due to expire in 2010.

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10:05 PM PST on Tuesday, January 19, 2010

By GAIL WESSON
The Press-Enterprise

San Jacinto Mayor Dale Stubblefield filed his answer with the city Tuesday to the recall petition against him, according to the city clerk’s office.

The recall campaign is further along against three other City Council members, and the clerk’s office said Tuesday a review of the petition seeking their removal is still in progress.

In his response Stubblefield wrote that he would continue to serve “in a professional and respectful manner.”

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10:00 PM PST on Tuesday, January 19, 2010

By ALICIA ROBINSON
The Press-Enterprise

Riverside city officials said Tuesday they don’t expect major job cuts in 2010, but minor layoffs are possible and officials will have to close a budget gap of up to $4 million.

The city laid off about 23 workers in 2009. Officials reached an agreement in October with the Service Employees International Union that none of its members would lose their jobs until after Jan. 15.

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Carly Fiorina

By Kevin Modesti, Staff Writer
Updated: 01/19/2010 08:40:00 PM PST

NORTH HOLLYWOOD – All business in style and substance, U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina came to the San Fernando Valley on Tuesday and said cuts in taxes and regulations can “restore California to the land of opportunity within the land of opportunity.”

Fiorina, one of three prominent Republicans vying to challenge Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, pitched herself to a luncheon audience of 100 members of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association as a self-made star of the business world who wants to bring her experience to Washington.

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PENSIONS

The retirement system’s portfolio earned only 11.8% in returns, trailing its internal benchmark of 21.2%, as its real estate holdings plummeted.

By Marc Lifsher

January 20, 2010

Reporting from Sacramento – Heavy losses in real estate holdings battered 2009 investment returns at California’s giant public pension fund, although the portfolio overall rose in value for the year.

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System earned an 11.8% return on its portfolio as global stock markets recovered from the collapse of 2008, the fund said Tuesday. The portfolio had dived 27.1% in 2008.

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Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

Five years ago, California’s local government officials were hailing Arnold Schwarzenegger as their fiscal savior for championing a ballot measure to protect their treasuries from raids by the state.

Now they’re denouncing him as a bandit who steals money they need for providing police, fire and other local services because he exercised a loophole in that ballot measure.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New U.S. housing starts unexpectedly fell in December, likely the result of unusually cold weather, while producer prices rose for a third straight month.

The Commerce Department said on Wednesday housing starts fell 4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 557,000 units, pulled down by a drop in groundbreaking activity for single-family dwellings. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected housing starts to rise to 580,000 units.

Building permits, however, soared in December.

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