** The following Letter to the Editor of the Press Enterprise newspaper was forwarded to InlandPolitics.com yesterday due to its non-publication.

I write in response to the story “Corruption campaign part of San Bernardino County DA’s race” by Richard K. De Atley. If you wonder why your circulation is declining it is because you have abdicated your responsibility to “investigate.” You simply report – or rather repeat whatever you are told. The public corruption in San Bernardino County is partly the responsibility of the press who act like press agents for politicians rather than skeptical seekers of the truth. You acknowledge the bloggers; making it evident that you are aware of other sources of information or “news.”

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San Bernardino, an “All America” designated city in 1976.

Thirty-four years later it’s a city exactly the opposite.

Decades of petty political infighting and misguided priorities further complicated by a antiquated Councilmatic Ward System has pretty-much destroyed a city that’s only viable because of a California State University campus, a courthouse, an Indian casino, and county government operations speaks volumes to the situation.

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10:48 PM PDT on Sunday, May 9, 2010

By JAN SEARS
The Press-Enterprise

Redlands voters will decide in June whether to allow mega retail stores to do business in town.

The issue first caught the eye of residents when the Redlands Good Neighbors Coalition began collecting signatures on an initiative to ban giant retail stores.

While the initiative does not mention Walmart by name, it focuses on stores larger than 100,000 square feet that devote at least 3 percent of that space to grocery sales.

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In today’s San Bernardino Sun, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, and Redlands Daily Facts, there appeared an identical story regarding the 7 Republican Party candidates standing for the GOP nomination for the 63rd Assembly District.

The piece by reporter Wendy Leung was fair and impartial, and it included quotes from all competing candidates for this seat.
Among those commenting was Mike Morrell, who has a fantastic message. A winning message that Morrell himself admits is strictly for the purpose of securing votes in his endeavor for State Assembly.

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Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Posted: 05/09/2010 07:03:23 AM PDT

The Board of Supervisors is poised to sign a letter of support for legislation that would require registered sex offenders to provide law enforcement all of their online addresses, e-mail addresses and instant messaging user names.

On Tuesday, the board will vote on whether or not to ratify an action to support Senate Bill 1204, introduced in February and authored by Sen. George Runner, R-Antelope Valley.

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James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Posted: 05/09/2010 09:47:42 PM PDT

The state is set to take millions of dollars from local redevelopment agencies today, and officials in some Inland Empire cities said they will have to lay off workers, shutter redevelopment projects for the next year and borrow money from accounts that are supposed to pay for low- and moderate-income housing.

With the economy still unsteady, property tax revenue likely to decline in the coming years and more money owed to the state next year, officials say the financial raid could hamper redevelopment efforts for four or five years. Low-income housing advocates, meanwhile, said the raid will slow down much-needed housing projects.

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By Michael Rothfeld, Los Angeles Times

May 10, 2010

As a central theme of Meg Whitman’s many commercials attacking Steve Poizner, her Republican rival for governor, she has told voters that he helped to undercut Proposition 13, the 1978 ballot initiative that has kept property taxes in check.

“Steve Poizner joined with liberal unions to weaken Prop. 13 and raise your property taxes,” an announcer proclaims in one of a series of Whitman ads telling voters why they “can’t trust Steve.”

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By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee
Published: Monday, May. 10, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

Self-evidently, the California Legislature isn’t balancing the state budget, nor is it doing anything noticeably positive about traffic congestion, poor school test scores, high dropout rates, the public pension crisis or any other real-world issues.

So how are the nation’s highest-paid state legislators occupying their – actually our – time in Sacramento these days, when they’re not throwing or attending campaign fundraisers?

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by Jason Zweig
Monday, May 10, 2010

It took the Dow Jones Industrial Average 62 long, grinding years to close above 582.69 for the first time. On Thursday, the Dow (NYSE: ^DJI – News) plunged by 582.69 points in less than 420 seconds.

The market’s terrifying drop was more than a technical trading glitch. It was a warning that the U.S. economy is playing a dangerous game. After all the massive bailouts, the federal debt is exploding.

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