Politics, Government & Business in California's Inland Empire
Tuesday, June 30, 2015 – 05:00 p.m.
The Lou Desmond and Company Show is coming to you from the Toyota of San Bernardino Recording Studios!
Tonight on the show, Lou is joined by Estimable Economist Jay Prag to discuss the financial stability of San Bernardino. Hint: it isn’t stable. After that they turn to two other fiscally unstable governments, Puerto Rico and Greece.
By Kevin Smith, San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Posted: 06/28/15 – 4:23 PM PDT |
The Southern California real-estate market is feeling the sting of a changing climate, as a pair of new reports finds renters, would-be homebuyers and black households losing ground in the face of competition from investors and a widening racial wealth gap.
By Sam Hananel, Associated Press
Posted: 06/30/15 – 8:12 AM PDT |
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will consider limiting the power of government employee unions to collect fees from non-members in a case that labor officials say could threaten membership and further weaken union clout.
By Cathleen Decker
June 29, 2015
Like so many political events, the U.S. Supreme Court decision on Monday that upheld the right of independent citizen commissions to draw district lines inspired a different reaction in California than elsewhere in the nation.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
June 29, 2015
Well, it was fun while it lasted.
But the fun – months of chattering by political cognoscenti about the possibility that the Legislature could regain its power to redraw congressional districts – ended Monday.
By Brenda Gazzar, Los Angeles Daily News
Posted: 06/29/15 – 8:07 PM PDT |
A Supreme Court decision upholding a controversial drug used in lethal injection executions in Oklahoma starts the clock for California to come up with its own injection procedures, thus increasing the chance executions could resume here.
By Jeff McDonald
June 29, 2015 – 4:54 p.m.
The judge in charge of the San Onofre matter pending before the state Public Utilities Commission is seeking more details from Southern California Edison about its participation in a secret meeting in Poland regarding shutdown costs for the failed nuclear plant.
AP California News
By Femit Nirappil and Judy Lin
Associated Press
June 29, 2015 – 2:37 PM EDT
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The California Legislature is holding two special sessions this summer to tackle long-vexing funding shortfalls in the state’s transportation and health care programs. But talk of targeted tax increases has prompted political hand-wringing.
By Debra J. Saunders
Monday, June 29, 2015 – Updated 4:43 pm
San Francisco changed America. When then-Mayor Gavin Newsom opened City Hall to same-sex marriages during the 2004 Winter of Love, he had determined to “put a human face on discrimination.” The long line of couples eager to tie the knot appealed to the public’s romantic side. When two people are in love and want to commit to each other for the rest of their lives, activists asked, how can the government say no?
Published: June 26, 2015
Updated: June 28, 2015 9:16 p.m.
Spending from a special Riverside County pool of funds intended to help worthy community endeavors would be subject to enhanced scrutiny under rules being considered by the county Board of Supervisors.
To read story by Jeff Horseman in The Press-Enterprise, click here.
By Ed Mendel
June 29, 2015
An accounting board best known for requiring the calculation and reporting of the debt owed for retiree health care promised government workers, which often turned out to be shockingly large, is having another moment.
By Robert O’Harrow Jr. and Tom Hamburger
June 28, 2015 at 7:06 PM
In early 1989, seven weeks after his father moved into the White House, Jeb Bush took a trip to Nigeria.
By Steve Hunt, Editor
Posted Jun. 26, 2015 at 8:40 PM
With a lawsuit set to be tried next year, the San Bernardino County Grand Jury is believed to have called at least three current or former sheriff’s deputies to testify about alleged corruption in the department’s High Desert stations, sources said Friday.
The Grand Jury’s annual report is expected next week.
Sunday, June 28, 2015 – 10:30 a.m.
Set aside all the hubbub.
The Supreme Court of the United States did the Republican Party a huge favor this week.
Sunday, June 28, 2015 – 10:00 a.m.
All eyes on the new Greek play. Really?
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has called for a June 5 referendum asking voters to decide whether to accept more economic pain, which they will. But all the back and forth rhetoric over the weekend is sort of entertaining.
Published: June 26, 2015
Updated: June 27, 2015 – 6:58 p.m.
Riverside City Councilman Paul Davis won’t face any charges in connection with 2014 allegations that he violated the city’s charter, which could have been a misdemeanor.
But the case, which some residents considered a boondoggle, isn’t quite over.
To read story by Alicia Robinson in The Press-Enterprise, click here.
By Liset Marquez, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Posted: 06/26/15 – 1:42 PM PDT |
UPLAND >> For the second time in three years, the City Council will not pass its budget on time. The delay comes as city leaders have questions remaining about the proposed staffing additions.
Capitol Alert
By David Siders
dsiders@sacbee.com
June 27, 2015
California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton confirmed Saturday he will not seek re-election when his term ends in 2017, and the party’s executive director, Shawnda Westly, has stepped down in anticipation of his departure.
Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
June 27, 2015
Jerry Brown has a vision, or a hope, or perhaps just a fingers-crossed wish.
It is that when he finally departs from the governorship in January 2019, construction will be unstoppably underway on two immense public works projects.
By Debra J. Saunders
Friday, June 26, 2015 – Updated 2:12 pm
The GOP-majority Supreme Court saved President Obama’s bacon Thursday with a political ruling that papered over his signature Affordable Care Act. Writing for the majority in the 6-3 King vs. Burwell decision, Chief Justice John Roberts noted that the 900-page law was written behind closed doors with little debate or amendment, and thus was “inartfully drafted.” It was the court’s obligation, he wrote, to translate bill language limiting the government subsidies to enrollees in “an exchange established by the state” to also cover federal exchanges.
Saturday, June 27, 2015 – 10:30 a.m.
An employee lawsuit against the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department has ripped open Pandora’s Box after it came to light this week.
By Ryan Hagen, The Sun
Posted: 06/26/15 – 2:47 PM PDT |
SAN BERNARDINO >> There’s more trouble for the city’s long-overdue audit, and it’s not because the city hasn’t given the necessary information, according to Deputy City Manager Nita McKay.
By Staff Report
Posted: 06/26/15 – 7:27 PM PDT | Up
ONTARIO >> Since May, passenger activity at LA/Ontario International Airport is up nearly 2 percent. According to figures released by Los Angeles World Airports on Friday, 1.67 million passengers have used ONT in the first five months of the year compared to the 1.64 million for the same time in 2014.
By Jeff McDonald
June 26, 2015 – 4:58 p.m.
Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric have petitioned state regulators to reject the suggestion that the $4.7 billion settlement deal for the failed San Onofre nuclear plant be reopened.
By Jeff McDonald
June 26, 2015 – Updated: 5:16 p.m.
The regulator overseeing an investigation into the failure of the San Onofre nuclear plant met privately with then-California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Peevey days after Peevey returned from a secret meeting about the matter in Poland.
Friday, June 26, 2015 – 12:15 p.m.
Fallout has already started from an impending San Bernardino County Grand Jury report, expected Tuesday, which reportedly will expose a traffic ticket quota system forced upon motor traffic officers in the contract city of Victorville.
Friday, June 26, 2015 – 12:00 p.m.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department has been hit with yet another in a series of lawsuits alleging civil rights violations, including assault under color of authority.
The latest complaint stems from a law enforcement contact in the Morongo Basin area.
It’s like we have been saying for quite some time now. It’s a leadership problem!
To read the complaint, filed June 15, in U.S. District Court, click the following link: Arrona v. County of San Bernardino et. al
By Adam Liptak
June 26, 2015
WASHINGTON — In a long-sought victory for the gay rights movement, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage.
By Joe Nelson, The Sun
Posted: 06/25/15 – 7:17 PM PDT |
San Bernardino County Supervisor Janice Rutherford has been honored by the American Society for Public Administration Inland Empire chapter with the 2015 Outstanding Elected Official award.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
June 25, 2015
Capitol politicians are patting themselves on the back for opening an escape hatch for millions of motorists whose licenses have been suspended for failure to pay past-due tickets.
Capitol Alert
By Jeremy B. White
jwhite@sacbee.com
June 25, 2015
The state Assembly passed a closely watched bill Thursday compelling schoolchildren to be fully vaccinated, approving the measure on a 46-30 vote that blurred party lines.
By Dean Starkman
June 25, 2015
The nation’s biggest public pension fund is falling far short of its annual investment goals.
By Paul Pringle
June 25, 2015
A California pension board’s decision to slash the retirement benefits of former Bell Police Chief Randy Adams because his salary was concealed from the public will serve as a precedent for other cases in which government officials receive hidden pay, the panel has announced.
Thursday, June 25, 2015 – 05:00 p.m.
On the Lou Desmond and Company Show tonight, Lou is joined in the studio by Toyota of San Bernardino Owner Cliff Cummings and on the newsmaker line by Constitutional Scholar Ralph Rossum to discuss today’s depressing SCOTUS ruling. Scalia said it best: words no longer have meaning. So how could the Court end up at such a ruling?
By Mark Sherman
June 25, 2015
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the nationwide tax subsidies underpinning President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, rejecting a major challenge to the landmark law in a ruling that preserves health insurance for millions of Americans.
Published: June 24, 2015 – Updated: 4:40 p.m.
Amazon has announced it will create 1,000 more jobs for its Inland Southern California fulfillment centers.
To read story by Debra Gruszecki in The Press-Enterprise, click here.
By Grace Wong, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Posted: 06/24/15 – 7:57 PM PDT |
ONTARIO >> With its sights on the airport, the City Council has unanimously approved a structurally balanced budget for the 2015-2016 fiscal year.
By Jeff McDonald
June 24, 2015
The San Francisco consumer group that helped broker the $4.7-billion deal dividing costs for the shutdown of the San Onofre nuclear plant said Wednesday that it no longer supports the agreement and called on regulators to reopen talks.
By Joel Rubin
June 25, 2015
Three Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies were convicted Wednesday of beating a handcuffed man bloody and then lying to cover up the abuse.
By Chris Megerian
June 24, 2015
Gov. Jerry Brown signed a new $167.6-billion budget Wednesday that expands child care, boosts funding for public schools and opens the state’s public healthcare program to children in the country illegally, but leaves some key issues unresolved.
By Michael Finnegan
June 24, 2015
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) said Thursday that a former treasurer of his reelection committee had embezzled more than $170,000 from the campaign.
By Margot Roosevelt / Staff Writer
June 24, 2015 – Updated 11:29 p.m.
Orange County will add more jobs this year than at any time in the past 15 years, buoyed in part by a reviving national economy, Chapman University economists predict.
Wednesday, June 24, 2015 – 11:00 a.m.
San Bernardino County Third District Supervisor James Ramos, planning on a reelection bid for a second term, has been out polling his constituents.
By Ryan Hagen, The Sun
Posted: 06/23/15 – 5:19 PM PDT |
SAN BERNARDINO >> The bankrupt city with a reputation for lengthy, contentious decision-making unanimously approved a budget for the coming fiscal year after less than three hours of discussion, a smoother procedure than most cities without its financial challenges.
And then there was applause.
By Ryan Hagen, The Sun
Posted: 06/23/15 – 6:01 PM PDT |
SAN BERNARDINO >> Gov. Jerry Brown has given his response to the optimistic request for help on six different fronts that Mayor Carey Davis and his allies made in a trip to Sacramento.
The answer is no.
Published: June 23, 2015 – Updated: 3:37 p.m.
The Murrieta City Council on Wednesday will consider launching an investigation into the actions of Mayor Harry Ramos, who last week was accused of “inappropriate” conduct during his brief time as mayor.
To read story by Aaron Claverie in The Press-Enterprise, click here.
Politics
June 24, 2015
By Sam Hananel, Associated Press
Washington — Powerful public-sector unions are facing another high-profile legal challenge that they say could wipe away millions from their bank accounts and make it tougher for them to survive.
Politics Blog
By Bob Egelko
June 23, 2015 – 4:39 PM
Like his last state Supreme Court appointee, one of Gov. Jerry Brown’s latest appellate court nominees is a young Obama administration lawyer with no judicial experience. The current pick, Lamar Baker, is stirring up a certain amount of controversy.
California
June 23, 2015
The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court revived a lawsuit Tuesday brought by a media outlet over a failure by the court in a California county to make some civil complaints available on the same day they are filed.
Capitol Alert
June 22, 2015
By Jim Miller
jmiller@sacbee.com
California’s legislative branch will be among the beneficiaries of the $115.4 billion general fund spending plan on Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk, with both houses receiving funding increases nearly 10 times last year’s rate.
Posted by Alexander Nguyen
June 24, 2015
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department‘s former second-in-command plans to tell a jury that his boss ordered him to develop a way to thwart a federal probe into deputy misconduct at county jails, court papers obtained Tuesday show.
Tuesday, June 23, 2015 – 05:00 p.m.
On the Lou Desmond and Company Show tonight, Lou is joined Ryan Hagen of the San Bernardino Sun joins the show. San Bernardino passed its city budget last night in very uncontroversial fashion, a welcomed change for the city. Also, what does the lake fire mean for the coming fire season?
By Joe Nelson, The Sun
Posted: 06/22/15 – 8:31 PM PDT |
San Bernardino County Supervisor Janice Rutherford is spearheading an effort to align various public agencies in mountain communities within her district as a council of governments to improve collaboration on issues pertinent to the communities the agencies serve.
By Jaxon Van Derbeken
Monday, June 22, 2015 – Updated 7:19 pm
The ability of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and other utilities to engage in back-channel talks with top California Public Utilities Commission officials unfairly skews decisions in favor of big-money interests, and the practice should be banned in rate cases, a review requested by the state agency concluded Monday.
By Dorothy Mills-Gregg
Posted 06.22.2015
Bottled water, immigration, condoms, hospital fees, plastic bags, statehood, alimony – those are just a smattering of the issues on or trying to get on California’s 2016 statewide ballot.
By Samantha Masunaga
June 22, 2015
Chief executives of the country’s largest firms made 303 times more than a “typical” worker in 2014, according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.
By Victoria Colliver
June 22, 2015
Updated: June 22, 2015 5:17pm
Drug shortages have turned into a nationwide chronic condition.
Disruptions in production, safety recalls, difficulties finding key raw ingredients, shifts in demand and decisions to discontinue certain products are just some of the reasons pharmaceutical makers give for not having enough supply. Nearly half the time, research shows, the reason is not disclosed, but the problem has escalated over the past five years.
Monday, June 22, 2015 – 09:00 a.m.
The Inland Empire logistics renaissance is booming,
Tilt-up warehouse construction is on fire and all those high-paying jobs, according to a handful of experts, are not far behind.
Monday, June 22, 2015 – 08:30 a.m.
Will the economically-tiny nation of Greece default?
Is it already too late?
If it does. Will the event ripple through the financial markets?
Sunday, June 21, 2015 – 10:30 a.m.
Happy Father’s day to all the Dad’s out there from Inland Politics.com
Sunday, June 21, 2015 – 10:00 a.m.
It’s time for the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians to put an end to a long-running and embarrassing legal battle, arising out of an admitted murder-for-hire scheme, hatched by two of its members.
Sunday, June 21, 2015 – 09:55 a.m.
We almost missed it!
The long-running prosecution of the 2007 California Charter Academy indictment was in court two weeks ago, on June 12 to be exact, and guess what?
Published: June 19, 2015 – 6:12 p.m.
John Tavaglione remembers sitting at large conference tables with grand juries and cordially discussing issues concerning Riverside County government.
This year was different, said Tavaglione, a county supervisor since 1995.
To read story by Jeff Horseman in The Press-Enterprise, click here.
By Debra J. Saunders
Published: Friday, June 19, 2015 – 03:00 p.m.
Everyone has a story: The time an unlicensed driver rear-ended me. The time an unlicensed driver ran a red light and killed a co-worker’s dog as her husband was walking the dog in a crosswalk. It seems as if there are so many unlicensed drivers in California that authorities are not capable of deterring the unlicensed from getting behind the wheel.
By Lawrence Hurley
Sunday, June 21, 2015
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Tensions are building inside and outside the white marble facade of the U.S. Supreme Court building as the nine justices prepare to issue major rulings on gay marriage and President Barack Obama’s healthcare law by the end of the month.
By Dan Balz, Chief Correspondent
June 20, 2015
Hillary Rodham Clinton and Jeb Bush laid out ambitious agendas in their announcement speeches over the past eight days. If they are as good as their word, the coming months of the presidential campaign could be remembered for something unusual: a summer of substance.
Published: June 19, 2015 – 3:51 p.m.
With public-safety-spending absorbing an ever-growing piece of Riverside County’s budget pie, supervisors want a closer look at how the sheriff and district attorney spend taxpayer dollars.
To read story by Jeff Horseman in The Press-Enterprise, click here.
Capitol Alert
By David Siders and Jeremy B. White
dsiders@sacbee.com
June 19, 2015
Three days after Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders reached agreement on a $115.4 billion general fund state spending plan, lawmakers in both houses on Friday ratified the deal.
By Tony Saavedra / Staff Writer
Updated: June 19, 2015 – 8:50 p.m.
A single missing document in a DUI case, noticed three months ago by a courtroom clerk, set off a probe by the FBI and local prosecutors that has grown to more than 1,000 cases of suspected record fixing.
By Chris Kirkham
June 19, 2015
California employers continued a nearly four-year hiring streak by adding 54,200 jobs in May, one of the largest monthly employment jumps in the last year.
Friday, June 19, 2015 – 10:00 a.m.
Former Upland City Manager Robb Quincey, who cut a plea deal with prosecutors less than a year ago, has abandoned an attempt to clear his felony record.
Published: June 18, 2015
Updated: June 19, 2015 – 7:54 a.m.
Zombie properties continue to dog the Inland region, but their numbers are dwindling.
To read story in The Press-Enterprise, click here.
By Joe Nelson, The Sun
Posted: 06/18/15 – 7:52 PM PDT |
San Bernardino County CEO Greg Devereaux on Thursday was awarded the Clarence A. Dykstra Award for his work on the Countywide Vision, a long-term strategy to improve the quality of life in the county.
Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
June 18, 2015
There was a time when California was teaching the world how to build first-class highway systems.
Kathy Robertson
Sacramento Business Journal
Jun 18, 2015 – 1:07pm PDT
The State Bar of California does not consistently protect the public from bad lawyers and lacks financial accountability, according to a state audit released Thursday.
By Chad Terhune
June 18, 2015
Citing higher drug prices, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System said its HMO premiums are rising by 7.2% next year.
By Meghann M. Cuniff / Staff Writer
June 17, 2015
Updated: June 18, 2015 – 6:13 p.m.
Related stories:
San Juan Capistrano has set aside $4.1 million to refund residents and businesses who paid for water under steep tiers recently deemed illegal by an appellate court panel.
Thursday, June 18, 2015 – 11:00 p.m.
A San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge has rejected an inexplicably lenient plea bargain San Bernardino County prosecutors were set to give a Redlands nanny accused of child abuse.
By Ryan Hagen, The Sun
Posted: 06/17/15 – 11:24 PM PDT |
RIVERSIDE >> The attorney representing bondholders who’ve invested about $50 million in San Bernardino came out swinging Wednesday in the first bankruptcy hearing since the city filed a bankruptcy exit plan that would pay bondholders only 1 percent of that.
By Rene Ray De La Cruz, Staff Writer
Posted Jun. 18, 2015 at 12:01 AM
HESPERIA — During a lengthy meeting, the city council passed its new fiscal year budget without raising fees or taxes.
By Carolyn Said
Wednesday, June 17, 2015 – Updated 9:26 pm
An Uber driver is an employee, not an independent contractor, the California Labor Commission ruled this month, in a decision that foreshadows a big challenge to Uber’s business model and potential seismic changes to the nation’s classifications of workers.
By Andrew Khouri
June 17, 2015
Southern California home prices rose slightly in May, while sales jumped during the busy spring buying season.
By Jim Puzzanghera
June 17, 2015
Federal Reserve policymakers on Wednesday kept the central bank’s benchmark short-term interest rate near zero, opting against the first increase since 2006 after determining the economy still isn’t strong enough to handle it.
By E. Scott Reckard
June 17, 2015
Four years after pledging to clean up wide-ranging foreclosure abuses, Wells Fargo & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and four other banks still aren’t complying with customer-service standards imposed by a federal regulator.
By Chris Megerian and Melanie Mason
June 17, 2015
Immigrant children who are in the country illegally would receive public healthcare coverage in California under a budget deal announced Tuesday by Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders.