Politics, Government & Business in California's Inland Empire
Friday, July 27, 2012 – 01:30 p.m.
Here’s some news of interest traveling across the transom this week.
U.S. Economy slows, second quarter GDP Falls to a tepid 1.5%.
The U.S. economy grew at a cooling-down pace of just 1.5% in the 2nd-quarter of 2012. The news isn’t good for those hoping for a economic recovery.
Friday, July 27, 2012 – 12:45 p.m.
Sources are telling InlandPolitics.com The Sun newspaper is shuttering its North San Bernardino facilities and will relocate back to the city’s downtown.
Ryan Hagen, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/26/2012 05:23:55 PM PDT
Special Section: San Bernardino
SAN BERNARDINO – Concerned citizens say the city’s shortage of cash and budget deficit have revealed other problems – and other solutions.
“We had a bankruptcy of civic engagement,” said Roxanne Williams, who recently moved to San Bernardino and now is vice-chairwoman of a group called Save Our San Bernardino, which formed four months ago. “I’ve always been concerned about the lack of vision of San Bernardino, so our concern actually predated the fiscal bankruptcy.”
Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/26/2012 05:30:00 PM PDT
A founder of a San Francisco company behind a proposal for local government to use eminent domain to take control of underwater mortgages predicted other companies may follow them and take the plan national.
Mortgage Resolution Partners co-founder and chief strategic officer John Vlahoplus said in an interview Thursday that he believes the controversial plan will survive legal challenges and may be emulated by other firms in areas heavily affected by the post-2007 housing market bust.
BY JEFF HORSEMAN
STAFF WRITER
jhorseman@pe.com
Published: 26 July 2012 07:31 PM
A rift has developed between two Riverside County supervisors over re-submitted plans for the Liberty Quarry.
Supervisor John Benoit, who represents desert cities, is supporting efforts to fast track plans for the Temecula-area open pit gravel mine.
July 27, 2012 8:40 AM
Brooke Edwards Staggs, City Editor
VICTORVILLE • It’s been discussed by local leaders — often heatedly — on and off for several years.
Now, armed with a recommendation from the San Bernardino County grand jury, talk of shifting control of Southern California Logistics Airport from Victorville to the regional Victor Valley Economic Development Authority has resurfaced.
John Weeks, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/26/2012 03:12:18 PM PDT
Last Wednesday we charted the history of San Bernardino in a way that made the city’s recent bankruptcy filing seem predictable, even predestined.
We saw how the city was abandoned in its infancy by its founders and how it has been a troublemaker ever since, acting out its aggression in ways that have kept it poor, disreputable and always under suspicion. (To read again, head online to sbsun.com and click on Opinions, then Columnists, then on my column titled “SB bankruptcy both inevitable, impossible.”)
BY JAN SEARS
STAFF WRITER
jsears@pe.com
Published: 26 July 2012 10:53 PM
Candidates seeking office in Redlands’ November elections will be asked to abide by voluntary limits on fundraising, the City Council agreed Thursday evening, July 26.
Councilman Bob Gardner sought limits on both campaign spending and fundraising, but agreed to focus on fundraising alone when other councilmen began raising questions about his proposal.
By Mike Rosenberg mrosenberg@mercurynews.com © Copyright 2012, Bay Area News Group
Posted: 07/26/2012 06:02:30 PM PDT
SACRAMENTO — A week after uncovering a hidden-funds scandal at the state parks department, finance officials are now trying to piece together why the balance sheets for similar “special funds” are off by $2.3 billion — money that appeared to be right under their noses amid California’s financial meltdown.
An analysis by this newspaper of California’s little-known 500-plus special funds — like the ones that included $54 million in parks money shielded from the Department of Finance — shows tens of millions of dollars in discrepancies in numerous accounts.
July 26th, 2012, 4:58 pm
Posted by Andrew Galvin
Tom Mauk agreed Thursday to resign as the county’s highest non-elected official, the latest executive departure since former O.C. Public Works manager Carlos Bustamante was charged with 12 felonies for alleged sexual abuse of female employees.
Mauk will receive about $270,000 in severance payments, said John Moorlach, chairman of the county’s Board of Supervisors. That includes 10 months of pay and 410 hours of accrued vacation time and is a bit less than Mauk would have been entitled to under his contract if he’d been fired, Moorlach said.
By Dan Walters
Published: Friday, Jul. 27, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
If you and the Internal Revenue Service disagree about your federal tax bill, the path of resolution is clear – several layers of bureaucratic appeal and, if that process doesn’t do it, a trip to tax court.
Characteristically, California’s tax adjudication process is much more convoluted and, on occasion, much more political.