Democratic gubernatorial candidate and attorney general Jerry Brown evaporated from the air waves yesterday after Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley arrived on the scene to set the record straight regarding his office’s investigation into the City of Bell salary and pension scandal.

Brown has went quiet on the Bell episode in the the media circuit since Cooley gave interviews to newspaper and radio stations starting Monday.

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City managers will gather in Sacramento on Thursday to discuss damage control. Some say more residents are seeking salary information from city halls. The Legislature considers reforms as well.

By Sam Allen, Abby Sewell and Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times

July 29, 2010

The scandal over high salaries paid to Bell officials has city leaders throughout the state scrambling to limit the political damage.

City halls have seen an uptick in residents calling to find out what their local officials make ever since the story broke two weeks ago and prompted widespread public outrage.

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Josh Dulaney, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/28/2010 05:30:35 PM PDT

RIALTO – Another woman has come forward in connection with an alleged sex scandal involving police officers and employees of the Spearmint Rhino strip club, authorities confirmed Wednesday.

“Last Friday, we had a woman file a complaint against one of the officers that we’ve identified in the investigation,” Police Chief Mark Kling said.

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10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The Press-Enterprise

Redlands Planning Commission Chairman Paul Foster has qualified to run for a City Council seat in the November election.

Foster submitted nomination papers with 30 signatures on Monday. Twenty were validated, enough to qualify for the ballot, City Clerk Sam Irwin said Wednesday.

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10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, July 28, 2010

By JAN SEARS
The Press-Enterprise

The Redlands City Council today will consider asking residents to approve a half-cent sales tax measure on the November ballot.

The council conducted a July 20 public hearing on the tax and agreed afterward, on a 4-1 vote, to put the measure on the ballot. The action requires a second vote, scheduled today because Mayor Pro Tem Jerry Bean will be unavailable for the next regular meeting Tuesday.

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10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Cassie MacDuff

People are understandably upset at high salaries paid to city officials, while municipal workers are being laid off and the public is being told it will have to settle for reduced services.

But lucrative pay is only half the story. When you add in the benefits public officials receive, the taxpayers are getting hit for even more than many people realize.

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10:49 PM PDT on Wednesday, July 28, 2010

By DAVID OLSON and BEN GOAD
The Press-Enterprise

The sharply divergent reactions that Inland residents had to a federal judge’s ruling Wednesday blocking full enforcement of Arizona’s tough anti-illegal-immigration law mirrored the outrage and joy expressed nationwide.

Lake Elsinore Mayor Melissa Melendez blasted the decision. “If that’s what they’ve done, and they’ve usurped the authority of the state of Arizona, then I am completely ashamed and appalled at what they are doing,” Melendez said.

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Wendy Leung, Staff Writer
Created: 07/28/2010 10:28:23 PM PDT

RANCHO CUCAMONGA – The former city manager of Bell, who stepped down last week after news reports unveiled his unusually high salary of more than $787,000, got his start in Rancho Cucamonga, where he rose through the ranks in eight years to become assistant city manager.

Robert Rizzo, 56, possibly the highest-paid city manager in the nation, was hired by Rancho Cucamonga as an administrative aide in 1980 and later became an administrative analyst and an assistant to the city manager before becoming an assistant city manager.

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Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer
Created: 07/28/2010 06:21:05 PM PDT

A number of area residents have signaled their intent to run for the region’s school boards as the filing period for the Nov. 2 election has just passed its mid-point.

More than 30 school board seats are being contested at the Inland Valley school districts of Central, Alta Loma, Chaffey Joint Union High School, Chino Valley, Cucamonga, Etiwanda, Fontana, Upland, Mount Baldy, Mountain View, Ontario-Montclair, and the San Bernardino County board of education.

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L.A. NOW
Southern California — this just in

July 28, 2010 | 5:31 pm

Three highly paid administrators in Bell will not be permitted to draw their state pensions until the attorney general determines whether the city broke the law in awarding the hefty paychecks, according to an official with the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.

“CalPERS is concerned about the situation, and our intention is to not [to] entertain applications for pensions from any of these people until the investigation is complete,” said Pat Macht, the agency’s external affairs director.

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Brown

July 28th, 2010, 3:18 pm · posted by Martin Wisckol, Politics reporter

Gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown today posted an education-reform plan on his website. Among his proposals are an overhaul of higher education, several proposals for improving the quality of teachers, and an increased emphasis on science, technology, engineering, history and humanities.

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The suit, filed against Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, says the wording describing the measure is ‘false, misleading and unfair.’ The ballots will be printed in mid-August.

By Margot Roosevelt, Los Angeles Times

July 29, 2010

Backers of Proposition 23, a November ballot initiative to suspend California’s 2006 Global Warming Solutions Act, filed suit in Sacramento County Superior Court on Tuesday against Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown for what they called “false, misleading and unfair” language that would describe the measure on voters’ ballots.

The ballots, which must be printed by mid-August, would say that the measure “Suspends Air Pollution Control Laws Requiring Major Polluters to Report and Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions That Cause Global Warming Until Unemployment Drops Below Specified Level for Full Year.”

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