Politics, Government & Business in California's Inland Empire
Benoit
By PE Politics
on November 19, 2010 3:59 PM
Riverside County Supervisor John Benoit testified before a grand jury today and is not the target of the inquiry, his chief of staff said.
District attorney’s investigators served Benoit with a subpoena to appear today before a grand jury.
12:27 AM PST on Saturday, November 20, 2010
By IMRAN GHORI
The Press-Enterprise
Special Section: San Bernardino Co. Probe
A San Bernardino County judge on Friday rejected a request to reduce perjury charges in a corruption case against former Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin, but suggested that Erwin might have a better chance later at a preliminary hearing.
Erwin faces nine counts of perjury and one count of filing a false document over allegations of failing to report gifts he received from Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum in January 2007, shortly after he joined the assessor’s office.
James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Posted: 11/19/2010 06:47:27 PM PST
Dan Velarde of Rancho Cucamonga has been out of work since June – not so terribly long at time when many Americans have been out of work for a year or more.
He’s hopeful that he’ll find work soon. But if he doesn’t, and if Congress doesn’t act in the next few weeks, he’ll be one of the more than 400,000 Californians who will lose their unemployment checks in December.
Joe Nelson and Mike Cruz, Staff Writers
Created: 11/19/2010 06:49:25 PM PST
A criminal defense attorney told a San Bernardino Superior Court judge on Friday that his client, a defendant in a scandal that rocked the county Assessor’s Office between 2006 and 2008, could no longer afford his services.
Victorville lawyer Stan Hodge, who represents former assessor taxpayer advocate Gregory Eyler, told Judge Michael A. Smith that he could no longer represent Eyler, citing his client’s financial situation.
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Created: 11/19/2010 05:12:25 PM PST
A request by a defense attorney to dismiss eight of nine felony perjury counts against former San Bernardino County Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin was denied by a Superior Court judge on Friday.
Erwin, 48, of Highland stands accused of the nine perjury counts and one felony count of filing a false or forged document. He was arrested and charged with the alleged crimes in March 2009.
The Democrat is ahead by about 40,000, with about 300,000 ballots left to count.
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times
November 20, 2010
San Francisco Dist. Atty. Kamala Harris increased her lead Friday over Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley in the still-unresolved race for California attorney general.
Harris, the Democratic candidate, led by 42,114 votes, with 305,004 uncounted ballots left to be processed across California, according to a Times review of updated vote counts in all 58 counties. Of those ballots, 185,937 are in counties Harris carried on election day, and 119,067 are in counties that Cooley, the Republican, carried.
LOS ANGELES TIMES/USC POLL
A new Los Angeles Times/USC poll shows a deep reluctance among many voters to side with a GOP candidate and broad swaths of the state holding views on government’s role that conflict with Republican tenets.
By Cathleen Decker, Los Angeles Times
November 19, 2010
The road to redemption for the Republican Party in California may be even rougher than November’s statewide electoral drubbing indicated, as a new Los Angeles Times/USC poll shows a deep reluctance among many voters to side with a GOP candidate and broad swaths of the state holding views on government’s role that conflict with Republican tenets.
Money & Company
Tracking the market and economic trends that shape your finances.
November 19, 2010 | 9:40 pm
The battered municipal bond market recovered a bit more on Friday, and California was a beneficiary.
Treasurer Bill Lockyer said the state was able to sell all $3.275 billion of taxable bonds it offered to investors, even after boosting the size of the deal from an original $2 billion.
Rather than raise premiums, companies should implement cost-saving reforms authorized six years ago, California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner says.
By Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times
November 20, 2010
Reporting from Sacramento —
California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner rejected a call by industry financial analysts for a 28% increase in workers’ compensation insurance premiums, which are paid by most of the state’s employers.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Saturday, Nov. 20, 2010 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
The economic recovery finally came to California last month. Maybe.
After months on the sidelines, California employers started hiring again in October, state officials reported Friday. That, along with a few other indicators, had some experts suggesting the economy is starting to kick into gear.
L.A. NOW
Southern California — this just in
November 19, 2010 | 6:57 pm
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. on Friday confirmed that the utility has sent letters to more than 100 residents of Hinkley this week, offering to buy their properties.
The High Desert town has long been threatened by a toxic plume of groundwater contaminated with cancer-causing chromium 6; the situation was made famous by the 2000 movie “Erin Brockovich.”
PG&E previously settled with more than 600 Hinckley residents for $333 million. But company officials say they are now expanding their property purchase program due to residents’ demand.
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