Sunday, July 15, 2012 – 11:30 a.m.

Forget all the media hype coming from San Bernardino City Attorney James F. Penman.

After all, isn’t it about hammering the other side, when it comes to Penman? I mean really! Allegations by Penman of thirteen falsified annual financial statements by approximately a half-dozen former city managers led to San Bernardino’s pending bankruptcy filing?

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SAN BERNARDINO’S FINANCIAL CRISIS

Christina Villacorte, Staff Writer
Created: 07/14/2012 01:26:21 PM PDT

Don’t be surprised if more California cities go belly up.

Certainly a number of experts around the state won’t be. The pressures that pounded San Bernardino, Stockton and Mammoth Lakes into bankruptcy mode aren’t much different from those threatening other cities around the state: stagnating tax revenue, spiraling pension obligations and decreased financial support from the state, among others.

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An FBI agent loads documents into the back of a truck from offices at San Bernardino International Airport on Sept. 21, 2011.

BY DUG BEGLEY AND
KIMBERLY PIERCEALLSTAFF WRITERS
dbegley@pe.com | kpierceall@pe.com

Published: 14 July 2012 04:11 PM

As recently as the mid-1980s, San Bernardino was the envy of other Inland cities, able to brag about its military base teeming with well-paid workers, the nearby steel industry and a vibrant downtown.

One by one, those economic and social engines disappeared. Despite spending years trying to boost the city’s stature with new developments, even a new airport, San Bernardino never recovered from steady decline, a fact underlined this week by the city’s decision to seek bankruptcy protection.

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On Tuesday July 10, 2012 the San Bernardino City Council voted to authorize City Attorney James F. Penman to seek Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection. (File Photo)

SAN BERNARDINO’S FINANCIAL CRISIS

Joe Nelson and Ryan Hagen, Staff Writers
Posted: 07/13/2012 05:33:07 PM PDT

The city has struggled for more than 30 years with a declining job base, dwindling business community and a steadily eroding housing stock.

“It’s a three-decade long experience,” said Mayor Pat Morris, noting, however, that the real blow to the city has come in just the past few years.

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Andre de Bortnowsky

July 14, 2012 5:00 PM
Brooke Edwards Staggs, City Editor

VICTORVILLE • City Attorney Andre de Bortnowsky is expressing his frustration at the San Bernardino County Grand Jury’s recent report on Victorville, stating he believes it did a “disservice” to residents and city leaders.

De Bortnowsky has served as city attorney for Victorville since November 2007, taking the post as the city was in the midst of making many of the deals questioned in the grand jury’s June 29 report. He’s also served as counsel for the regional Victor Valley Economic Development Authority, in charge of redeveloping Southern California Logistics Airport, since 1991.

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Gov. Jerry Brown signed a flurry of bills that will take effect in January. (Patrick T. Fallon, Los Angeles Times / July 11, 2012)

By Patrick McGreevy and Michael J. Mishak, Los Angeles Times
July 14, 2012

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown approved a flurry of new laws Friday, including an exception to the ban on texting while driving, an increase in fines for staging bear and rooster fights, and a prohibition against law enforcement officers having sex with arrestees.

They will take effect in January.

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Dan Walters

By Dan Walters
Published: Sunday, Jul. 15, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

The campaign to establish a state lottery nearly 30 years ago adopted “schools win too” as its theme. And it worked.

Voters responded because education is the single most popular category of public spending, even though in reality, the lottery provides schools with little or nothing in extra money.

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By Steven Harmon Bay Area News Group
Posted: 07/14/2012 07:30:04 PM PDT
Updated: 07/15/2012 10:15:51 AM PDT

They now all have numbers. The cash is streaming in. And all those annoying TV ads should be starting soon.

So, Californians, maybe it’s time to put aside that light summer reading and begin your homework on November’s ballot measures.

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San Bernardino Mayor Pat Morris ponders a question Wednesday, July 11, 2012, regarding the Tuesday city council vote authorizing a bankruptcy filing outside San Bernardino City Hall in San Bernardino, Calif. City officials have said San Bernardino “has an immediate cash flow issue” and may not be able to make payroll with a budget shortfall of more than $45 million in the next fiscal year. (AP Photo/The San Bernardino Sun, Rick Sforza) Photo: Rick Sforza, Associated Press / SF

Wyatt Buchanan
Published 10:35 p.m., Saturday, July 14, 2012

Sacramento –San Bernardino’s stunning news last week that it was broke and needed to file for bankruptcy protection has some observers wondering who’s next.

San Bernardino is the third California city, after Stockton and Mammoth Lakes (Mono County), to declare bankruptcy within the past three weeks. And while Stockton’s June 28 filing wasn’t surprising – city officials had talked publicly about the problem for months – the moves by San Bernardino and Mammoth Lakes were.

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By Christina Villacorte, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/14/2012 05:15:01 PM PDT
Updated: 07/14/2012 05:20:47 PM PDT

Don’t be surprised if more California cities go belly up.

Certainly a number of experts around the state won’t be. The pressures that pounded San Bernardino, Stockton and Mammoth Lakes into bankruptcy mode aren’t much different from those threatening other cities around the state: stagnating tax revenue, spiraling pension obligations and decreased financial support from the state, among others.

Read the rest of this entry »