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12/10/2014 Print Article: COLTON: Arrowhead Regional nurses walk the line for better wages
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COLTON: Arrowhead Regional nurses walk the line for betterwagesBY FIELDING BUCK20141209 08:30:47
Three hundred registered nurses walked a picket line Tuesday morning infront of Arrowhead Regional Medical Center at the beginning of a twoday walkout at the hospital and clinics throughout San BernardinoCounty.
Demonstrators say they want better wages to stem a loss of experiencedemployees to private hospitals, claims that the county has refuted in apress release.
Neither the union nor the county provided wage statistics for nurses.According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics,
the 2012 median pay for registered nurses was $31.84 per hour or $66,220 per year.
Citing data from the Hospital Association of Southern California, the county claims that its nurses make slightlyabove the median salary of 21 Inland Empire hospitals and receive “far greater benefits” than most of them. Theassociation said its data is not for release to the public.
“It is about patient care, because if you can’t retain experience, then us at the bedside, we know it’s not safe,”said Rhonda Watts, pausing from the picket line for an interview. Watts is on the nurses’ negotiating team andworks in the intensive care unit. She said she has 27 years with the hospital.
The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United represents more than 1,200 nurses in the county,about 900 of them at the Colton hospital, according to the union.
Nurses have been working without a contract since June.
On the Friday after Thanksgiving, the union announced the walkout and affirmed plans to go through with it lastFriday. Mediation continued until 8:30 p.m. Monday, according to Watts, who said it “didn’t go well at all.”
The county prepared for the walkout by hiring nurses and moving patients to other facilities, said countyspokesman David Wert. At 1 p.m., the hospital was seeking placement for six mothers and four newborns toget the patient load down to 60.
In the morning Wert said the hospital was staffed to handle 90 patients. He described the emergency room asshut down but said the hospital could take walkins if necessary.
The picket line was well organized with many demonstrators wearing matching red Tshirts and carryingprofessionally printed signs. Leaders spoke through bullhorns and some pickets blew air horns.
A disc jockey in the parking lot blasted hits from the 1960s and ’70s such as McFadden and Whitehead’s “Ain’tNo Stopping Us Now”& while protesters paraded in front of him.
Pickets also occasionally went out to the Pepper Avenue sidewalk in front of the hospital, soliciting sympathetichornhonking from passing cars.
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“It’s my understanding the only issue left on the table is money,” Wert said.
Watts said she hopes to be back in negotiations on Thursday and that “mediation will continue with someseriousness.”
“I hope that the county will listen to the fact that the nurses are willing to fight for a contract this time.”
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12/10/2014 San Bernardino County patients moved for 2day nurses strike
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San Bernardino County patients moved for 2day nurses strikeBy Jim Steinberg , The Sun sbsun.com
Hundreds of nurses at ArrowheadRegional Medical Center in Coltonprotest over working conditions and lowwagesTuesday morning. Photos by WillLester — Staff Photographer)
COLTON >> Hundreds of county nursesdid not show up for work Tuesday asthe nurses union began a twodaystrike, demanding higher wages andprotesting working conditions.
Hospital administrators scrambled totransfer patients to facilities that were properly staffed to provide the needed care.
“Some of these patients were very ill,” said county spokesman David Wert. “One had to bemoved in a vehicle that was like a mobile intensive care unit.”
While hospital officials sought facilities to accept seriously ill patients, hundreds of nursesbelonging to the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United picketed outsideArrowhead Regional Medical Center at 7 a.m. Tuesday and will continue until 7 a.m.Thursday.
The union is protesting low wages, which it contends have created a situation where toomany nurses at the county hospital are inexperienced.
Michelle Perry, who has worked at ARMC since graduating from the Cal State SanBernardino registered nurse program in 2006, said that “new grads are training new grads” onsome shifts.
County officials cite statistics showing ARMC turnover is less than state and regionalaverages.
In anticipation of the strike, Arrowhead began lightening its load of 287 patients so that byTuesday afternoon it was 31 patients away from its goal of 60 patients — a figuremanagement thought would be acceptable for operations in strike conditions, Wert said.
Of those, 21 were awaiting transfer to another hospital location.
Wert said the number of patients discharged rather than transferred was not available.
From the size of the picket line at ARMC, it was clear that many of the hospital’s RNs weresupporting the strike.
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But that may not have been the case at other county facilities.
Among the county’s public health employees, about 70 percent of the workforce reported forwork Tuesday, said Meaghan Ellis, the county’s public health nursing director.
Clinics were closed in Redlands, San Bernardino and Adelanto, in anticipation of the strike,she said. Clinics in Ontario, Hesperia and Needles were open Tuesday and will be opentoday as well, she said.
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Nursing operations in the jails functioned normally, a sheriff’s office spokeswoman saidTuesday.
As ambulances were diverted from taking patients to ARMC — one of two trauma centers inthe county — Loma Linda University Medical Center began preparing for the ARMC striketwo weeks ago, said Calvin Naito, an LLUMC spokesman.
LLUMC is the county’s other trauma center.
“Volume has increased, but Loma Linda was prepared,” Naito said. “We can handle theincrease.”
By 8 a.m. Tuesday, there were already about 300 nurses picketing ARMC.
The county lost two attempts to get judges to halt the strike, although on Monday, SanBernardino Superior Judge Pamela King accepted the recommendation of the state PublicEmployment Relations Board and blocked 60 specialty nurses from striking, including thosein ARMC’s specialized burn unit.
Negotiations continued into the night Monday but did not lead to an agreement.
“They were insulting,” said Lieu Vo, an ARMC intensive care nurse and bargaining committeemember, characterizing the nature of the discussions.
The pot was only slightly sweetened, she said.
“We have been talking to them about a new contract for 14 months,” Vo said from the picketline Tuesday morning.
The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United represents 1,250 San BernardinoCounty RNs, including about 900 that work at ARMC and some 330 that work in county jails,juvenile hall, community clinics and in various county health initiatives.
A nurse’s aide taking a break outside the hospital Tuesday morning said it was “boring inside”because there were no patients.
Monday afternoon, ARMC Director William T. Foley said the county hospital declared “a stateof emergency” and began the process of transferring patients to other area hospitals.
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Ambulances were being diverted away from the county’s emergency room as well, he saidduring a specially called meeting of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors.
Supervisors on Monday authorized county managers to spend up to $4 million for nursingstrikereplacement personnel and to reimburse local hospitals and transportation providers forcosts incurred for preparing to or accepting ARMC patients because of the strike.
Jim Steinberg covers environment and healthcare issues for The Sun and the Inland ValleyDaily Bulletin. Reach the author at [email protected] or follow Jim on Twitter:@JamesDSteinberg.
ARROWHEAD REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER NURSES STRIKE OVER PAY
A two-day nurses strike began outside Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton Tuesday, and many of
the hospital's patients have been transported to other facilities.
EMBED
By Rob McMillan
Tuesday, December 09, 2014 09:09PM
COLTON, Calif. (KABC) --
A scheduled two-day nurses strike began outside San Bernardino County's Arrowhead Regional
Medical Center in Colton Tuesday morning. Many of the hospital's patients have been
transported to other facilities.
Hundreds of registered nurses marched outside the hospital to demand higher pay. The strike
started at 7 a.m. Tuesday and is planned to run until 7 a.m. Thursday. There were fewer nurses
on the picket line Tuesday evening than there were at lunchtime.
"Unfortunately we make 30-percent less than other hospitals in the area," said Arrowhead nurse
Lieu Vo.
Consequently, once nurses are trained at Arrowhead, the union says, most of them leave for
better jobs.
"That's not conducive to safe patient care, it really isn't," said Vo.
But San Bernardino County says these publicly paid nurses will get a pension, something the
county says they probably wouldn't get in the private sector.
"What the nurses want right now in terms of wages are something that the taxpayers just can't
afford coming out of a recession," said San Bernardino County spokesman David Wert.
The strike has caused a lot of frustration for people who came to the hospital for help.
"I can't tell them that they don't deserve it, but at the same time, we need them," said San
Bernardino resident Misha Booker.
Because there are only a third of the nurses that would normally be here, many patients have
been moved.
"This has forced the county to move more than 150 patients to hospitals as far away as Blithe,
San Diego, San Dimas, Temecula, and some of these were very sick people who probably
shouldn't have been transported," said Wert.
But if there's a real emergency, these nurses say they're ready to help.
"If something happens to a patient right now, if there's a traumatic accident and they need us to
come in there, we will really drop the signs, run in there, assess the situation and take care of the
patient," said Vo.
The walk-out is scheduled to end Thursday at 7 a.m. If there's one thing that both sides can agree
on, it's that as far as the negotiation is concerned, they're still very far apart.
12/10/2014 Print Article: HIGHER EDUCATION: New president's credentials questioned
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HIGHER EDUCATION: New president's credentialsquestionedBY MARK MUCKENFUSS20141209 18:38:19
Current and former faculty of San Bernardino Valley College have raisedconcerns about the qualifications of the school’s newly named president,Gloria Fisher.
Fisher, who has served 18 months as interim president, has worked forthe college since 1991, when she was hired as a administration of justiceinstructor.
But unlike most other college presidents in the Inland region, Fisher hasno academic doctoral degree. She also has no bachelor’s degree. Sheearned a juris doctor degree in 1986 when she graduated from SanJoaquin College of Law in Clovis. She never passed the bar.
And while she refers to herself as “doctor” in her title, the dean of her lawschool says such usage is inappropriate. The California CommunityCollege Chancellor’s office determined that a JD degree is equivalent to amaster’s degree.
District administrators say Fisher is wellqualified for her position.
“Gloria is among the best college presidents that I have worked with,” saiddistrict Chancellor Bruce Baron.
Fisher did not respond to requests for an interview for this story.
At its Nov. 13 meeting, the San Bernardino Community College District Board of Trustees approved Fisher’sappointment as president. At the board’s meeting Thursday afternoon, Fisher’s approval, which includes anadditional doctorate stipend on top of her base salary of $186,000, is due to be voted on a second time.
The need for a second vote is largely because the school’s faculty senate objected to the way last month’s votewas handled by the board. Senate members said the board had not provided enough notification about a finalvote on Fisher. Leonard Lopez, an assistant professor in the philosophy department, wrote letters to thedistrict’s administrators telling them their actions had violated regulations in the Brown Act, the state law thatgoverns public meetings.
Lopez started writing letters in August to both the district and the state chancellor’s office, questioning Fisher’scredentials. He based many of his arguments on those outlined in a lawsuit filed against the district in 2006 byFrank Peterson, then an instructor on campus and an attorney.
Peterson lost that case on appeal in 2010. The judge based his ruling largely on the fact that too much time hadpassed between Fisher’s hiring and the filing of the suit. Peterson said he delayed his action in order to protectother faculty members from retaliation. He retired in 2006.
Peterson was on the school’s hiring committee in 1991 when Fisher was a candidate for a tenuretrack position.
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“I had advised the committee against hiring her because she had no qualifications,” Peterson said.
Court documents filed in connection with Peterson’s case, show that Fisher earned a total of 37 semester unitsat Riverside City College between 1974 and 1982, taking one to two courses at a time. The one semester inwhich she enrolled in three courses she withdrew from all of them. Her GPA was 3.3.
Peterson’s case claimed that San Joaquin College of Law was unaccredited at the time Fisher attended. Whilethe school was not accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges – the region’s widelyrecognized accrediting agency – it was accredited by the California State Bar Association.
The school has never been accredited by the American Bar Association, but its recent statistics show that morethan 50 percent of its graduates pass the state bar.
Justin Atkinson is the academic dean for the law school. He said the school occasionally takes students whohave not completed a bachelor’s degree.
“It varies from year to year,” Atkinson said. “Sometime we don’t have any and sometimes we have one or two.We’ve always seen ourselves as an opportunity school.”
Fisher graduated in 1986 as part of a class of 28 students. She has been quoted as saying she was fourth inher class. Atkinson said he couldn’t confirm or deny that claim because of confidentiality policies. Fisher, hesaid, would have to clear him to provide that information. In an email, college spokesman Greg Zerovnik saidFisher would not provide that clearance.
During her tenure at Valley College, she has referred to herself as Dr. Gloria Fisher. Atkinson said he isunaware of anyone with a juris doctor degree claiming that title.
“Most professors at law schools have JD degrees, but they’re not called doctor,” he said. That includes theinstructors at his college, he added.
“There is some debate about it,” he said. “But I would consider it inappropriate.”
Part of the court documents in Peterson’s case includes a determination by the state chancellor’s office that“Fisher’s law degree satisfied the requirement of a master’s degree.”
Chancellor Baron said he is satisfied with Fisher’s credentials, and the job she has done while with the district.In addition to teaching courses, she was department head of the Police Science Academy and headed thecollege’s Middle College High School program.
“Gloria is a fine leader and has been an excellent interim president for the past 18 months,” Baron said. “I havea great deal of confidence in her.”
He said her institutional knowledge will benefit the school.
“She’ll bring a great experience, knowing the history of Valley College, knowing the community that we sit in,”Baron said. “I think she’ll be very good at improving student success.”
As far as her title, he said, “She’s Dr. Fisher. And as far as I’m concerned she’s a great role model.”
Board Trustee John Longville said the questions raised about Fisher’s credentials, “didn’t concern me at all.”
Longville equated the controversy to complaining that a player doing well for the Dodgers didn’t play LittleLeague as a child.
“When someone has reached a certain stage in their professional life, where they’re pretty generallyacknowledged for their abilities, you don’t go back and say, ‘Back in grammar school you flunked English,’”Longville said. “If she was applying for an entrylevel position, I would see it as more applicable. But we have alot more to judge her on now.”
Algie Au, a chemistry instructor, is vice president of Valley College’s Academic Senate. She said Fisher hasbeen a polarizing figure on the campus.
“I’ve heard great things about her from different faculty: ‘She’s fair and she’s done this for me,’” Au said. “I’vealso heard the other spectrum of, ‘She will retaliate. I’m afraid to do anything.’
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“I haven’t heard in between,” she added. “That poses a difficulty for us to gauge how that individual willbehave.”
Au said there are concerns among the faculty about how the hiring was conducted. Two other candidates forthe position appeared at a public forum with Fisher, where they answered questions from faculty, staff, studentsand members of the community. Evaluations compiled by the faculty senate from 132 attendees, showed Fisherscoring the lowest among the three.
The way her hiring was placed on the agenda clouded the transparency of the hiring process, Au said.
“We don’t necessarily need to know all the details, but we would like to see things done according to policy,”she said. “The faculty does not feel the policy was followed.”
The question of Fisher’s credentials, Au said, “poses a great concern to our faculty. We have certain standardswe want to adhere to, not only locally but statewide. If we have an instructor that does not fulfill therequirements, we would question this.”
It should be no different for an administrator, she said.
Dan Angelo, a business and information technology instructor and former administrator at the college, saidValley College faces a tough task in finding a good leader. Neither the city of San Bernardino nor the collegehave a good reputation he said, and the college’s salaries are not competitive.
“We have trouble attracting leadership talent to our district,” Angelo said. “This (hiring) decision, to the degreethat it is known outside district, confirms that image of us being a problematic institution.”
Philosophy instructor Lopez plans to ask the board a question at Thursday’s meeting.
“If an undergraduate degree doesn’t matter, then what are we doing here?” Lopez said. “I think that thepresident of an undergrad institution should have an undergraduate degree. It seems like a bad fit.”
Contact the writer: [email protected]
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12/10/2014 L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti stays the course for Ontario Airport sale
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L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti stays the course for Ontario AirportsaleBy Grace Wong , Inland Valley Daily Bulletin DailyBulletin.com
ONTARIO >> Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Monday morning affirmed that the citywould be going forward with the sale of Ontario Airport.
Garcetti made the comments during his monthly “Ask the Mayor” session on 1070 KNXAMradio.
“We have put forward a very fair offer,” he said. “We’ve talked with Senator Feinstein and asI’ve said, I’m not looking to make a buck off the sale, but I also have to be able to represent tothe taxpayers in Los Angeles city a fair price and put a fair price forward and contrary to whatwas said, it hasn’t changed.”
Garcetti emphasized his disinterest in keeping the airport under the Los Angeles WorldAirport control.
“I remain an L.A. mayor who says we don’t have to own the Ontario airport,” Garcetti said onair. “Hopefully if they need help out there bringing that money to the table, it can’t be doneover 20 or 30 years with a drip at a time. We have to get that money back because there’sLAX fees that often paid for the expansion at Ontario, but I would love to see local control forthat out in the Inland Empire.”
For Alan Wapner, Ontario International Airport Authority president, was pleased by the news.
“It’s all great news,” Wapner said. “If he’s still on board with the original offer, once again, I’mgoing to ask that we sit down and meet and finish the deal. But we still haven’t gotten aresponse for the invitation to a meeting.”
As for accusations that Los Angeles has been unresponsive to calls and attempts for contact,Garcetti said that representatives from his office have “calls weekly” to Ontario and they have“record of doing that.” Jeff Millman, a spokesman from Garcetti’s office, said the mayor hasdirected his staff to be in frequent communication with Ontario representatives to try toresolve this dispute. The Ontario International Airport Authority at its Dec. 1 meeting directedExecutive Director Al Boling to make weekly calls to Garcetti’s office to set up a meeting.
At that time, Boling said, the last meeting between Los Angeles World Airports and Ontariowas Sept. 18.
“I’m not quite sure what (Garcetti’s) talking about,” Wapner said. “Maybe he’s negotiating witha different city because nobody here has gotten phone calls from his office.”
However, Wapner remained optimistic in light of Garcetti’s comments and attributed thecurrent direction to Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director of LAWA.
Lindsey could not be reached for comment Monday.
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“It is consistent with what he is saying but it’s not consistent with his negotiators,” Wapnersaid. “The purpose of the meeting is to see if he changed his position and if she ismisrepresenting what his position really is. That’s why it’s important that he personally come.”
Garcetti said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, DCalif, has been made aware of the city’s proposalsand that she supports what has been suggested.
“I’m encouraged,” Wapner said. “We agreed early on with exactly what he said today andtheoretically should have brought this to resolution months ago.”
Wapner said OIAA has not met with Garcetti in at least three to four months, but is anxious tosit down and discuss the offer.
“We’re ready,” Wapner said.
Staff writers Rick Orlov and Liset Marquez contributed to this story.
Reach the author at [email protected] or follow Grace on Twitter: @gwong617.
12/10/2014 Ramos: Stewart apology 'meaningful' Gate House
http://www.vvdailypress.com/article/20141209/NEWS/141209794?template=printart 1/2
>
Print PageBy SHEA JOHNSON
December 09. 2014 6:17PM
Ramos: Stewart apology 'meaningful'
The Daily Show issued an apology on itsMonday episode to San BernardinoCounty District Attorney Mike Ramos.(Associated Press)
San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos on Tuesday said he accepted “The Daily Show” host JonStewart’s apology Monday after Stewart last week erroneously alluded to a 36yearold Victorville man being shot todeath by authorities.
“I thought his apology was meaningful,” Ramos told the Daily Press. “He admitted he made a huge mistake.”
During a segment last week, Stewart used former Daily Press pressman Dan’te Parker as one of several examples toconvey the purported systemic injustices in law enforcement culture.
Parker was stunned with a Taser 12 times by San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies in August before being subduedafter he was identified as a possible suspect in a residential burglary.
He died at Victor Valley Global Medical Center a short time later. A coroner’s panel convened in October and ruled thathis death was accidental and listed acute phencylcidine intoxication (PCP) as the primary cause.
Ramos recorded an unscripted Youtube video last week in response to Stewart’s inclusion of Parker, essentially callingout the comedian for being “so wrong about those facts.”
In his expected television mea culpa Monday, Stewart expressed regret for the error, but also lamented how the mistake would likely turn attention away fromhis larger point.
“Alright, two things: One, why is your set nicer than mine?” Stewart quipped. “And two, you were right about that. In our list of unarmed black men shot bypolice, we should not have included Dan’te Parker. So I’m sorry about that; we should not have done that.
“My sloppiness ... can become an opportunity to negate that entire conversation and shift it back to slightly safer, let’s say, less nuanced ground. That’s what’sso tough about working in media countererrorism. ‘The Daily Show’ has to be right 100 percent of the time. Fox only has to be right once.”
Stewart also said that it was possible to have great regard for authorities and still want to hold them to high standards.
“Raising these issues is not the same thing as denigrating the police,” Stewart said. “Mr. DA, I think we disagree ... I don’t think scrutiny is the same as attack.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Ramos responded to “The Daily Show” on Twitter.
“Thanks for the apology. And yes, we can respectfully agree to disagree,” Ramos tweeted. “Our ‘larger point’ still stands: #PoliceLivesMatter.”
The hashtag is a play on “Black Lives Matter,” which has become synonymous with the outcry against police brutality in the aftermath of recent grand jurydecisions not to indict two white police officers in the deaths of two unarmed black men in Ferguson, Missouri and Staten Island.
In sending out the Youtube video, Ramos, who also recently declared his candidacy for California attorney general in 2018, put himself firmly on the side of lawenforcement.
He said last week that he had grown weary of the broad brush generalizations of law enforcement in the wake of the turmoil in Ferguson and Staten Island.
He said he hoped his video response would help kickstart a discussion about “the other side” and the dangers that law enforcement officials regularly face.
On Tuesday, he reiterated that stance.
“I still feel law enforcement is getting a bad reputation,” he said. “They’re just trying to do their jobs.”
Yet he also vowed that officers here would be held accountable when they were wrong and acknowledged that there is a need to have the type of conversationsbeing pushed by Stewart and others, but said that those talks belonged “in a different box.”
He said such discussions have already been happening here.
“We have such a good relationship with our faithbased community here locally,” he said. “If there is an officerinvolved shooting, a pastor can pick up thephone.”
Shea Johnson may be reached at 7609555368 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @DP_Shea.
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Morongo Valley firefighters seek Coachella Valley help Brett Kelman and Crystal Chatham, The Desert Sun 7:48 p.m. PST December 7, 2014
(Photo: Crystal Chatham/The Desert Sun) 88 CONNECT 18 TWEETLINKEDINCOMMENTEMAILMORE
In the empty expanse of the dusty desert, where traffic races down a rural highway and wild brush dries under an unforgiving sun, a desperate town wants only one gift for Christmas — a shiny red fire truck. Morongo Valley, a tiny, low-income town at the gateway to the High Desert, is desperate for a new fire engine. Currently, the fire department is limping along with two trucks, one ailing and one ancient, and the town government insists it is too small to purchase a replacement. Left with limited options, Morongo Valley has placed a bet on the generosity of its neighbors. The town has launched a crowd-funding campaign, specifically designed to solicit donations from the low desert, in an effort to fund a new fire engine. Town leaders don't deny the campaign is a long shot, but hope that donors will prove them wrong. Donations can be made through the town's GoFundMe page — MVFD Highway Heroes. The campaign is also looking for corporate sponsors. The Morongo Valley Fire Department is especially crucial because the town sits on Highway 62, a dangerous road that runs from the Coachella Valley to the Arizona border. Local firefighters are the first to respond to many car crashes on the western
stretch of the highway, and they often stabilize the injured long before any ambulance can reach the crash scene. However, if Morongo Valley can't maintain a working fire engine, motorists will have to wait for help to come from fire stations in either Desert Hot Springs or Yucca Valley. Both are at least 15 minutes away. "Our response time saves lives," said Fire Chief Jock Johnson, who runs the town fire station on the edge of the highway. "If you are in a vehicle accident, do you really want to wait 15 minutes for help?" Currently, the station's primary fire engine is a 2001 model with nearly 100,000 miles on its odometer. Generally, a station's primary truck is supposed to be less than 10 years old. This engine has has been sidelined for repairs at least six times over the past month, and although the truck was running as of last week, new problems have surfaced in the air brakes. Another breakdown is inevitable. Even when the engine works, it isn't well-suited for the High Desert. The over-weighted truck struggles to climb hills on the highway, and its clearance is too low for bumpy dirt side streets. The water tank is too small, especially considering that hydrants are few and far between in the High Desert. The fire department also has a backup engine, but that truck is 24 years old — older than the town's youngest firefighter. The truck's doors have a tendency to jam, and firefighters have been known to climb out the windows during an emergency call. City leaders say the backup engine is better suited for a museum than an emergency. But a replacement won't come cheap. A new fire engine could cost as much as $500,000, and a used engine would still cost at least $300,000. That may seem like a daunting total for potential donors, but it is equally foreboding to the tiny town. If Morongo Valley were to buy an engine on its own, it could not afford to have a fire department in the first place. The town has only about 3,400 residents, and the entire budget amounts to less than $800,000. Most of the money already goes to the fire department, and the leftover is used to fund local parks, a children's library and streetlights. Morongo Valley may be small, and its budget may be even smaller, but traffic through the town is still troublesome. Morongo Valley sits along one of the busiest portions of Highway 62, a hilly stretch that sees more than 20,000 cars per day. Highway 62 is the main thoroughfare to both a massive Marine base in Twentynine Palms and Joshua Tree National Park, which attracts 1.3 million people per year. Many travelers also use the highway as an alternate route to Las Vegas. In November, The Desert Sun published an extensive story on the lethality of Highway 62, revealing that a driver is three times more likely to die in a crash on that highway than a driver on the average California road. At least 182 people have died on Highway 62 since 2002. A few dozens of those crashes were in Morongo Valley. "(A new fire engine) is so critical because we are the gateway of that highway," said Kristina Brook, vice president of the Morongo Valley Community Services District, which oversees the town government. "The fire trucks are out all the time."
Brooks also works as a classroom aide at Morongo Valley Elementary, the town's only school. Over the past three years, her classroom has lost two students to crashes on Highway 62. Crowdfunding has worked for the Morongo Valley before, but never on this scale. Earlier this year, the town bought the fire department a new defibrillator using money collected through its "Club 365" campaign, a smaller crowdfunding effort. The town asked local residents to pay $1 per day for a year, and dozens of families contributed. However, to raise enough money for a fire engine, Morongo Valley will need donations from beyond its own borders. There are simply too few people in town to generate enough donations, so the fundraising campaign depends on generosity from the lower desert, where larger communities with wealthier residents have more money to give. David Parker, a desert businessman, has stepped up to help the city attract donors. Parker owns The Body Deli, a series of skincare shops in Palm Springs, Palm Desert and Rancho Mirage, but he also comes from a background in marketing, another luxury that Morongo Valley simply cannot afford. Parker has designed a website and "Highway Heroes" merchandise to help the town raise money for the fire engine. "This is one of the most severe highways in the nation, or at least in Southern California. And these first responders need so much more to do their job," Parker said. "I don't think this is just a Morongo Valley story, or an upper desert story. I think it's a Coachella Valley story. How many people do you know that drive this highway? I don't drive it every day ... but it's reassuring to know that help is only five minutes away." Reporter Brett Kelman can be reached by phone at (760) 778-4642, by email at [email protected], or on Twitter @TDSbrettkelman. How to help If you would like to donate to Morongo Valley's fire truck crowdfunding campaign, follow this link: http://bit.ly/1ymUDcd
12/10/2014 Felons petition for reduced charges under new law HiDesert Star: News
http://www.hidesertstar.com/news/article_460fca76803011e49039e72c524a810a.html?mode=print 1/2
Felons petition for reduced charges under new lawBy Alexis Cubit, HiDesert Star | Posted: Tuesday, December 9, 2014 9:49 pm
MORONGO BASIN — District attorneys statewide have their hands full now that Proposition 47 has passed and people convicted of breaking
certain laws are filing petitions to have their charges reduced.
The proposition requires misdemeanor sentences instead of felony ones for certain drug and propertyoffenses. People who have prior convictions for serious or violent crime and sex offenders are noteligible.
Crimes like drug possession and burglary off items worth less than $950 are no longer punishable byprison time; criminals will be sentenced to less than a year in jail instead.
People who are currently incarcerated, are on parole or were convicted of crimes that were alteredunder Proposition 47 are filing petitions with the courts to get their charges reduced.
Terry Brown, the prosecutor who supervises the Joshua Tree district attorney’s office, said theresome exceptions. People convicted of stealing more than $950 in goods, committing certain sexcrimes and people with a super strike — a serious and violent crime — will still be guilty of felonies.
John Burdick, a lawyer in Yucca Valley, said he was in drug court in Joshua Tree this week and sawbetween 63 and 75 out of 104 drugrelated cases eligible for resentencing.
“So, statewide, thousands and thousands of people will be eligible under Prop 47 for resentencing,”he added.
Those from the Morongo Basin who are currently in prison and eligible for a sentence reduction mustfile through San Bernardino County. Last week, 10 offenders from the Morongo Basin who arecurrently in custody filed petitions to reduce their offenses from felonies to misdemeanors. Seventypercent of their petitions were granted and the offenders were released. Only two of those cases weredenied relief.
“The underlying charge may not be what some consider serious, but you have to look at the entirepicture,” Michael Martinez from the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office explained.
“Many had past strike cases, extensive criminal histories or violent crimes.”
With the increase in cases, the county has hired additional staff, including another lawyer, to help thedistrict attorney’s office handle the extra workload. Martinez has even been pulled from his usualdepartment to help with the petition filings.
“It’s not just one department; the entire department has been impacted,” he said.
Last week, more than 200 cases were up for reconsideration and Martinez guesses that relief was
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granted to probably over 50 percent of them.
Since many drug offenses are now reduced from felonies to misdemeanors, the law could also makecertain specialty courts and programs like drug court obsolete.
“The way the drug court program works is that if you go into the drug court program and you’resuccessful, we’ll allow you to have your case reduced, prior to Prop 47, from a felony to amisdemeanor, and then dismissed in its entirety under the California expungement law,” Burdickexplained.
Under Proposition 47, people accused of crimes don’t need to go through drug court’s addictiontreatment program to get their charges reduced.
Superior Court Judge Marsha Slough said people are already dropping out of drug treatmentprograms like drug court to get their charges reduced, rather than continuing on and completing theprogram. In only one day in Victorville, 24 people appeared to drug court to exchange treatment forreduced penalties, 14 of which were approved.
“Those programs have been very, very successful and now with Prop 47, that could well eliminatedrug court programs,” Burdick said.
12/10/2014 Fontana annual audit is approved
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Fontana annual audit is approvedBy Leslie Parrilla , San Bernardino Sun sbsun.com
FONTANA >> An annual independent audit of Fontana’s finances by an outside accountingfirm did not show any major problems with how the city handles its accounting, while someerrors were discovered and corrected during internal reviews.
The city approved the audit in a 5 to 0 vote Tuesday at a City Council meeting.
The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, or CAFR, of Fontana’s accounting practices forfiscal year 20132014 ending June 30 did not note any deficiencies in the city’s financialrecords, accurately reflected the city’s finances and financial position, business activities,cash flows, revenue, general fund and special revenue accounts, according to the auditor’sreport.
The audit’s purpose is to identify whether the city is following general accounting practices,and note any significant problems. None were noted.
An additional part of the audit includes a fiscal analysis by city management. In that portion,the city corrected errors in certain accounts for double billing by $900,000 on a large project,adjusting the general fund by $27.6 million, explained by staff as part of streamlining of termsfor deferred revenues that will not result in an adjustment of real money, a $5.6 million writeoff after the state decided the city could not keep money from the sale of formerredevelopment property, so the property was returned to the city.
A $23.7 million deficit balance listed for the city’s Traffic Mitigation Fund was explained by cityofficials as an advance to pay for construction projects. That deficit is being paid off by thecounty’s transportation planning agency, San Bernardino Associated Governments, orSANBAG, over the next few decades.
“This is sort of an exception. We did eight or nine of these agreements in two or three years,”said Fontana Accounting Manager Dawn Brooks about advancing the money. “We’ve billedSANBAG for those payments and we have a contract in place to say they will pay us for thatfunding in the future.”
The transportation agency is paying the city on the projects, which are already completed,Brooks said.
The audit is the first year Fontana has used Irvinebased accounting firm Mayer, Hoffman,McCann P.C. It is same firm that was on probation for two years until June after a series ofaccounting violations when auditing the city of Bell, whose officials were involved in a majorcorruption scandal, and its redevelopment agency, according to records by the CaliforniaBoard of Accountancy, which operates under the state Department of Consumer Affairs.
The accounting firm was released from probation June 27, said Lauren Hersh, informationand planning manager for the state Board of Accountancy. The state initially planned tosuspend the firm’s CPA license for six months but set the suspension aside, if it completed
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probation, the complaint showed.
Violations in the complaint apply to a 20082009 fiscal year audit. The accusations includedthe firm assessing a highrisk Bell city program as lowrisk, failing to audit a second highriskprogram, not investigating a $300,000 accounts receivable loan that Bell was in default on,not confirming that the city paid legal fees and insufficient documentation,
Brooks said the city was aware of the firm’s probation and that Fontana thoroughly reviewedthe company, its work, references, CPA certification and other factors.
“We had quite a few discussions with them,” Brooks said, noting that the firm’s work with thecity did not start until a few days after the firm finished probation.
Brooks also said different auditors handled Bell’s books.
“The audit team that we have been assigned was not with the city of Bell team, at all,” Brookssaid.
She said the city did initially have reservations, but felt comfortable after evaluating the firm.
Leslie Parrilla covers the cities of Fontana, Rialto and Colton. Reach the author [email protected] or follow Leslie on Twitter: @ParrillaLeslie.
12/10/2014 Prison plans move forward to final votes Gate House
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Print PageBy BROOKE SELF
December 09. 2014 4:12PM
Prison plans move forward to final votes
ADELANTO — Three new Adelanto City Council members will be sworn in on Wednesday, shaking up the dynamics ofthe council and possibly the future of two prison approvals.Two of the three incoming members have been vocally opposed to the prison plans during campaign season, whileanother — Charley Glasper— said he would approve of the jails, and their potential to save the city from its ongoingfiscal crisis. With incumbents Ed Camargo and Jermaine Wright divided on their approval, the final votes will likely come down toMayor Rich Kerr and new councilman John “Bug” Woodard.Up until two weeks ago, Kerr said he remained committed to Adelanto residents who were opposed to the plans.However, just a few days before Wednesday’s city council meeting, Kerr appeared to have reversed his stance.“I’ve been against prisons and everything, but I’m also for Adelanto growing and the prison looks good —what Buck(Johns) and them are bringing to us,” Kerr said. “It’s more a business situation than it is a prison.”Kerr said he doesn’t believe his new stance would upset voters.“No, I’m looking out for their best interest,” he said. “I’m looking out for Adelanto. Voters are going to say a whole lot of things in the next four years and myobjective is to bring Adelanto out of the slump they’re in right now.”The vote on a 3,264bed prison to be constructed near the AdelantoVictorville border to house Los Angeles County inmates passed a first reading on Nov. 19and is facing a final vote on Wednesday night. A separate 1,050bed jail plan brought forward by Geo Group Inc. will also be up for a final approval according toagenda documents, although some council members said they believe that vote will be pushed until the Jan. 28 council meeting.“You’re going to have opposition no matter what project you’re talking about, no matter how good it may or may not be for the community,” Woodard said.“I’m reserving things to Wednesday ... I would expect they do more for our community and it looks like they’re stepping up to the plate to do all that wenegotiated. There may just be a couple of surprises that night.”Camargo and Glasper both have said they are swayed by the $1.2 million annual bedtax revenue and hundreds to thousands of potential new jobs thatdevelopers are touting. Other perks of the project include the addition of three new San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies who would be paid for by eachfacility owner. “I feel comfortable with my decision,” Camargo said. “I think it’s a positive thing for the community with the jobs it’s going to create and the public safety it’screating with police officers coming.”Wright and several Adelanto residents said they’re strongly opposed to the plans because of the stigma the additional two facilities will bring while increasingthe city’s total jail count to five. Others said they didn’t think they were needed with the passage of Proposition 47.“Oh that’s awesome — Adelanto, ‘the prison city of the High Desert,’ ” Wright said sarcastically in reaction to recent articles published about the city in nationalmedia outlets. “It’s kind of aggravating that everything they say about our city is about prisons. There’s more to Adelanto than just prisons. My views haven’tchanged about the prisons.”Orange Countybased developer Buck Johns is spearheading the larger jail complex plans along with former private, forprofit prison executive, Doctor Crants.Johns said even with the city council mixup, he’s feeling hopeful of the prison’s passage.“They’re going to be taking a hard look at the benefits to the community and concerns,” Johns said. “Hopefully we’ve addressed those concerns and I’m hopefulof having a positive outcome on Wednesday.”The next Adelanto City Council meeting will be begin at 6 :30 p.m. Wednesday at 11600 Air Expressway.Brooke Self may be reached at 7609516232 or [email protected]. You can also follow her on Twitter at @BrookeSelf or @DPEduNews.
http://www.vvdailypress.com/article/20141209/NEWS/141209798 Print Page
12/10/2014 Victorville opposes Adelanto jail plan Gate House
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Print PageBy SHEA JOHNSON
December 09. 2014 6:55PM
Victorville opposes Adelanto jail plan
VICTORVILLE — Calling for a valleywide discussion regarding the number of correctional facilities in the area, the city announced late Tuesday that it was“fundamentally opposed” to a proposed prison to house Los Angeles County inmates near the AdelantoVictorville border.
In a letter from Victorville Mayor Gloria Garcia to the Adelanto City Council, the city of Victorville requests that Adelanto table an expected vote Wednesdayevening on the 3,264bed facility until meaningful talks can happen.
“The need for jobs is abundantly clear, however, we are concerned with other undesirable elements and the stigma the high concentration of correctionalfacilities could have on the region’s ability to attract new industry,” the letter states.
Several other regional agencies are copied on the letter, including the Board of Supervisors for Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties; the cities of Barstowand Hesperia; the town of Apple Valley; San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon and the Board of Trustees for Victor Valley College and AdelantoElementary School District.
Victorville officials also cite “areas of weakness in the documents we have reviewed, as a courtesy.”
Additionally in the letter, Victorville volunteered to lead or assist an effort to change the property tax split in Adelanto, underscoring that the current allotmentof .0175 percent “is simply not enough to sustain a city.”
“We would like to work with you, San Bernardino County, the Adelanto Elementary School District, and the other taxing entities to change that formula eitherthrough negotiation or legislation,” the letter states.
Meanwhile, Adelanto City Council is also scheduled to vote Wednesday on a separate 1,050bed jail plan put forward by Geo Group Inc.
Shea Johnson may be reached at 7609555368 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @DP_Shea.
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12/9/2014 County supervisors vote to create sheriff's civilian oversight panel LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/lamelnsheriffoversight20141209story.html 1/4
L.A. NowCalifornia: This just in
County supervisors vote to create sheriff's civilianoversight panel
By ABBY SEWELL
DECEMBER 9, 2014, 2:16 PM
L os Angeles County supervisors voted Tuesday to set up a civilian oversight commission
to oversee the Sheriff’s Department, marking a major milestone for the troubled law
enforcement agency.
Advocates of the move have long called for such a panel to oversee a department that has been
beset in recent years by allegations of widespread abuses in the jails.
A divided board voted down a similar proposal in August, with thenSupervisor Zev Yaroslavsky
casting the swing vote against the proposal.
Sheriff Jim McDonnell, who favors civilian oversight of the Sheriff's Department. (Nick Ut)
12/9/2014 County supervisors vote to create sheriff's civilian oversight panel LA Times
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But with Yaroslavsky termed out of office last week, his successor, Sheila Kuehl, voted with the 32
majority in favor of the civilian oversight panel.
Kuehl, along with supervisors Mark RidleyThomas and Hilda Solis, said a civilian commission
would help monitor and restore public trust in the department. They said the move is particularly
important in light of the growing national controversy about police practices stemming from
incidents in Ferguson, Mo., and elsewhere. RidleyThomas said there should be a "clear signal
from the largest county in the nation with respect to reform."
Kuehl said the commission will provide a needed public forum to air issues in the department
before crises develop.
"The public really doesn’t feel that they knew – or knew in time – what was going on," she said.
Advocates praised the decision to create a civilian oversight body.
"This is a historic moment," said Kim McGill, organizer of the Youth Justice Coalition. She asked
members of the audience to stand up and remind the board of the county’s oftcited mission to
take care of the most vulnerable members of the community. "We are the people that have been in
your jails and the people that buried our family members when they’ve been killed by the sheriffs."
Patrisse Cullors, founder of Dignity and Power Now, which has advocated for a civilian
commission for the last two years, said the commission needs to be "legally empowered,
community centered and independent." The commission should have subpoena power and should
oversee the inspector general, she said.
Advocates also said they do not want the commission to include any current or former law
enforcement officials.
Supervisors Michael Antonovich and Don Knabe voted against creating the civilian oversight
commission. Antonovich said creating a separate oversight body would be "a step backwards" from
efforts to focus on setting up an office of inspector general as a watchdog for the department.
Richard Drooyan, an attorney who oversaw implementation of reforms proposed by a panel that
studied the issue of jail violence, argued that a new civilian commission would "dilute" the
supervisors' ability to influence the Sheriff's Department. He said the most effective means of
oversight would be a strong inspector general reporting to the board.
Inspector General Max Huntsman did not give an opinion on whether the board should create a
new civilian commission, but said his office is still having problems getting access to documents
from the Sheriff's Department. Without full access, he said, "I do not think this will succeed."
12/9/2014 County supervisors vote to create sheriff's civilian oversight panel LA Times
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Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
Key details of how the panel will operate remain to be worked out. Over the coming weeks, a panel
of county attorneys and representatives of the sheriff, inspector general and supervisors will
recommend a structure for the new commission, as well as what powers it would be granted.
Representatives of the deputies’ union said they want to ensure that their members have a
representative on the panel that will figure out the powers and structure of the commission.
New Sheriff Jim McDonnell, who inherited a department facing a likely federal consent decree
over poor conditions for mentally ill jail inmates, has also voiced support for civilian oversight.
The sheriff was out of town Tuesday, but said in a statement that civilian oversight "can provide an
invaluable forum for transparency and accountability, while also restoring and rebuilding the
community's trust."
McDonnell also offered some preliminary recommendations for structuring the commission. They
include: The panel should be made up of seven to nine members, appointed by the board and
other community or law enforcement representatives; the members should be appointed for a set
term and removable only for cause; the commission should oversee the work of the inspector
general.
Follow Abby Sewell on Twitter at @sewella for more county news.
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12/10/2014 L.A. County Sheriff's Dept. to get civilian oversight LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/lamesheriffoversight20141210story.html#page=1 1/5
L.A. County Sheriff's Dept. to get civilianoversight
By CINDY CHANG, ABBY SEWELL
DECEMBER 9, 2014, 8:42 PM
F aced with a series of scandals that have roiled the Los Angeles County Sheriff's
Department, the Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to create a civilian oversight
system to provide greater accountability for the agency.
The action is the latest in several moves aimed at restoring public trust in the department, whose
officials have faced criminal charges over obstruction of justice and mistreatment of inmates in the
sprawling jail system. It also marks the first major shift in policy since two new supervisors took
office earlier this month.
In August, the old board rejected a proposal to create a board of citizens to monitor the Sheriff's
Department, questioning the timing and effectiveness of the move.
But the two new members, Sheila Kuehl and Hilda Solis, declared their support for civilian
Sheriff Jim McDonnell, who supported the creation of the civilian commission, said he will take its suggestions seriously.(Mark Boster, Los Angeles Times)
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oversight, citing not just problems in the Sheriff's Department but also controversial police killings
around the country that have sparked national protests.
"We can't afford to delay any longer," Solis said. "Across this country, public trust in the people
who are charged with keeping us safe has fallen to a low."
The precise powers of the commission will depend to a large extent on the new sheriff, Jim
McDonnell, who was elected to the job last month after longtime Sheriff Lee Baca resigned in
January. The sheriff is an independently elected office, so McDonnell is not obligated to take
direction from the supervisors or their oversight commission.
McDonnell takes over the post under an unprecedented degree of scrutiny, including an
impending federal consent decree governing mentally ill inmates. Last year, the supervisors
appointed a veteran public corruption prosecutor to be the department's inspector general.
Many of the commission's details, including how many members it will have, the scope of its
powers and its relationship to the new inspector general's office, remain to be worked out. A panel
including the sheriff and other county officials will issue recommendations within three months.
"The proof is in the pudding — what kind of civilian review board it will be, what its powers are,
how it's appointed ... remains to be seen. It has the potential to be a good thing," said Merrick
Bobb, who as a county watchdog issued critical reports about the Sheriff's Department for 22
years.
McDonnell, who supported the creation of the civilian commission, said he will take its suggestions
seriously. In his campaign for sheriff, he cast himself as a reformer from outside the department
who helped the LAPD emerge from the Rampart era.
"It's kind of a clarion call," he said last week at a Times editorial board meeting. "If they're calling
out something that's wrong, we have an obligation to fix it."
In a statement released Tuesday, McDonnell emphasized the need for the commission to be
independent. An ideal size would be seven to nine members, including several not appointed by
county supervisors, he said, with the members unpaid and perhaps serving a set number of years.
The inspector general should report to the citizens' commission, McDonnell said.
McDonnell has cited his experience at the LAPD working under its Police Commission, which sets
agency policy, plays a major role in hiring the police chief and reviews useofforce incidents.
"I have long believed that partnerships with our community should be embraced, not feared," he
said in the statement.
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Since 1992, when a commission led by retired Judge James G. Kolts issued a 359page report, the
Sheriff's Department has received detailed recommendations for reform and often failed to
implement them.
Bobb's semiannual reports described issues including excessive force by deputies against jail
inmates and a department culture that failed to punish bad behavior. But he had no powers of
enforcement, and the problems persisted.
In 2002, the U.S. Department of Justice began monitoring the treatment of mentally ill inmates in
county jails. Earlier this year, in a strongly worded letter describing a drastic increase in jail
suicides, federal officials warned that a courtordered consent decree was imminent.
The Citizens' Commission on Jail Violence, which issued an influential report in 2012 and counted
McDonnell among its members, called for the creation of an inspector general's office and other
Sheriff's Department reforms but did not call for civilian oversight.
The department has been implementing the reforms proposed by the jail violence commission.
Major force incidents, such as deputies kicking suspects in the head or causing bone fractures,
appeared to be down, with only three reported in the first nine months of this year.
Street policing has been an issue too. In 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice accused sheriff's
deputies in the Antelope Valley of racially biased policing, including unlawful searches of homes,
improper detentions and unreasonable force against African Americans who received lowincome
subsidized housing.
Kuehl and Solis, who were sworn in with McDonnell on Dec. 1, joined with Supervisor Mark
RidleyThomas to approve the citizens' oversight board.
Los Angeles County, with the nation's largest sheriff's department, should send a "clear signal ...
with respect to reform, openness, transparency and accountability," RidleyThomas said. Kuehl
said the commission will provide a needed public forum to air issues before they develop into full
blown crises.
"The public really doesn't feel that they knew — or knew in time — what was going on," she said.
Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, who with Don Knabe voted against the measure, said a
separate oversight body would be a distraction from the inspector general's work. Richard
Drooyan, who oversaw implementation of the Commission on Jail Violence's recommendations,
argued that a civilian board would dilute the supervisors' influence and that a strong inspector
general's office would be the best form of oversight.
12/10/2014 L.A. County Sheriff's Dept. to get civilian oversight LA Times
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Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
Inspector General Max Huntsman deferred to McDonnell on the civilian oversight question but
said his office is having problems getting access to internal Sheriff's Department documents.
Without full access, he said, "I do not think this will succeed."
Advocates for civilian oversight called Tuesday's vote a historic moment and asked that the
citizens' board have subpoena power and not include law enforcement officers among its
members.
Kim McGill, organizer of the Youth Justice Coalition, asked people at the Board of Supervisors'
meeting to stand up and remind the board of the county's oftcited mission to take care of the
most vulnerable members of the community.
"We are the people that have been in your jails," she told the board, "and the people that buried
our family members when they've been killed by sheriffs."
12/10/2014 Gleaming new transportation hub reflects O.C.'s embrace of public transit LA Times
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Gleaming new transportation hub reflects O.C.'sembrace of public transit
By EMILY FOXHALL
DECEMBER 10, 2014
W hile Los Angeles over the last decade has invested heavily in new rail systems,
Orange County has largely kept its eyes on the road — widening freeways,
improving traffic flow, building better interchanges.
But this week, commuters got their first view of an enormous, airy transportation hub that reflects
Orange County's growing embrace of public transit.
The $188million transportation center in the heart of Anaheim, not far from Disneyland, is
designed as a central hub where trains, buses, cars and bicycles will converge. Officials hope it
ultimately will be the final stop for the state's proposed highspeed bullet train.
A statement about future
A Metrolink commuter train pulls into the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center, which opened Dec. 6.(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
12/10/2014 Gleaming new transportation hub reflects O.C.'s embrace of public transit LA Times
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Backers say the aim wasn't just to create a train station but to also make a statement about the
future. They wanted a central station to unite previously scattered transportation services, said
Curt Pringle, the former mayor of Anaheim and once board chairman of the California High
Speed Rail Authority.
"It's planned to be a part of a vibrant community that's going to grow up around it for a long
time," he said.
The 67,000squarefoot station was two decades in the planning, long enough that the ambitious
plans for a countywide lightrail system were drawn up and then shelved. But plans for what was
to be Orange County's premier transportation hub never lost momentum.
The Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center — ARTIC, for short — sits next to the 57
Freeway, adjacent to the Honda Center and Angel Stadium and a short distance from Disney
Resort and the Anaheim Convention Center.
Bus stops for Orange County Transportation Authority routes and private carriers surround the
station, while Amtrak and Metrolink trains pick up and drop off passengers on two tracks that
passengers reach via a sky bridge.
There are 1,082 parking spaces, a wide circular drive that invites car dropoffs and a dozen bicycle
lockers plus additional bike racks.
Progress or 'boondoggle'
Critics, though, can't help but point out a missing component. Despite the boasting, the hub so far
has no bullet train platform — just a space allocated for it.
"It's a boondoggle," said John Moorlach, a county supervisor and an OCTA board member. "It's
just too much building for too little service."
Although the station is expected to have more than 10,000 daily boardings, the old oneroom train
depot, tucked in a parking lot beyond center field in Angel Stadium, was only lightly used.
According to OCTA records, the depot had an average of 510 weekday boardings last fiscal year,
ranking it seventh among 10 Orange County Metrolink stops. The busiest, Irvine and Fullerton,
had three times as many boardings.
The station also ranked third among six Amtrak Pacific Surfliner stops in the county, with 389
average weekday boardings.
All of which causes Supervisor Shawn Nelson, who chairs OCTA's board of directors, to wonder
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how the cavernous building will get more people involved in transit.
"There's a little delusional sort of behavior with this," he said. "They wanted this so bad they
refused to look at some of the realities."
A soaring design
The station itself is a stunning crisscross of steel pipes that form a rounded skeleton that seems to
hover above the ground like a cloud.
Translucent pillows of Teflonimpregnated plastic — the same material used in Beijing's National
Aquatics Center, or Water Cube, and Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi, Russia — fill each diamond
of the frame, allowing the sun to light 75% of the public space in the building, which is also
powered by solar panels.
More than 600 strips of LED lights will turn the pipes red for Angels games and orange when the
Ducks play. The teams will have pre and postgame shows oriented toward the center.
Inside, a large open area faces a main staircase that soars up the building's three levels, each one
recessed from the next. Hot and cold water piped through the floors controls the temperature on
each level.
On the ground floor, ticket counters with information on scrolling digital strips await passengers.
A "progressive convenience store" and a kiosk offering organic coffee are planned.
Upstairs, restaurants are scheduled to open next year that will offer passengers opportunity to
grab a bowl of quinoa and super veggies, watch oysters be shucked, or sip a handcrafted cocktail
at a bar.
Need directions?
Travelers on Monday evening said they were still taking in the spaceshiplike building.
"We're all confused!" said Judith Smith, 61, a rail commuter for 28 years. "I thought I was going
into, maybe, the airport."
Socorro Velasco, 42, who takes the train several times a week from L.A. to her job in Anaheim, said
she now has to walk a little farther to get to the depot.
Waiting on a bench outside, she said she thought commuters would like the building once they got
used to it. But she wasn't quite ready to go inside just yet.
"I didn't want to get lost in there!" she said.
12/10/2014 Storms starting to impact California drought as rain forecasted Thursday
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Storms starting to impact California drought as rainforecasted ThursdayBy Steve Scauzillo , San Gabriel Valley Tribune DailyBulletin.com
Residents walk in the raintowards the GlendoraPublic library in Glendora,Dec. 2, 2014. KeithBirmingham — Staffphotographer
The two seasons inSouthern California — dryand wet — will flipflop forthe second week in a rowThursday night as theregion seesaws from sunny
to soaked.
Warm and dry will quickly give way to wet and — for those who live near burned out hillsides— worrisome. That’s because unlike last week’s storm that dropped a steady 1.5 to 4 inchesof rainfall across the region over a continuous, 48hour stretch, this one will move quickly,dropping about the same amount of moisture but in a much shorter window, according toweather experts tracking the storm.
A storm that originated from the Gulf of Alaska is expected to drop 1 to 2 inches along thecoast and in the valleys and 2 to 4 inches of rain in the foothills and mountains, said ScottSukup, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Los Angeles.
Snow levels will start at 7,0008,000 feet for the wettest portions of the storm, then drop to5,000 feet as a blast of colder air moves in Friday morning, Sukup said. This storm is notpredicted as a major snow producer, he said.
“The last storm was a steady rain lasting for a relatively long period of time. This one will bevery quick, threetosix hours of steady rain. Most of it will occur late Thursday and in the predawn hours Friday,” Sukup explained.
Last Tuesday and Wednesday, a mixture of tropical moisture with a Pacific storm created amonotonous output of rain, allowing county workers to drain debris basins in Glendora andSanta Clarita where past firestorms had denuded hillsides. They were able to keep mudflowsfrom damaging homes.
Shorter periods of more intense rain can be more troublesome in burn areas and desertregions of Southern California prone to flooding. “You will have water coming more quickly.That is when you have a higher likelihood of flash flooding,” said climatologist Brian Fuchswith the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska.
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Last week’s slower storm allowed for more stormwater capture and helped put a dent in theregion’s drought. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works captured 1.8 billiongallons of water that can supply 11,000 families of four for an entire year, according todepartment spokesman Bob Spencer.
However, one or two wet storms won’t make up for nearly four years of extended drought thathas brought the lowest amounts of rainfall to the state in 119 years.
“Over the last three years, most of California has missed out on a year’s worth ofprecipitation. It will take consistent rain events through the rest of the winter to make up forthat,” Fuchs said.
Los Angeles gets on average 15 inches of rain a year. Last year it received 6.08 inches; in20122013, 5.86 inches and 20112012: 8.68 inches. Nancy Vogel, a spokesperson for thestate Department of Water Resources, said it would take 150 percent of an average year torecover from the drought, or about 22.5 inches for downtown Los Angeles.
Last week’s storm deposited 1.52 inches of rain in downtown Los Angeles; 1.82 inches inLong Beach; 2.67 inches in Pasadena and 4.08 inches at Mt. Wilson in the San GabrielMountains, according to the National Weather Service.
If this storm adds another 2 inches in downtown, that would make 3.52 for the two storms,about onefourth the total of an average rain year measured from July 1 through June 30.
There are some positive signs that the recent spate of storms are adding to the state’s watersupplies. For example, the U.S. Drought Monitor put 94.42 percent of California in severe,extreme or exceptional drought status as of Dec. 2, the date of the most recent report. Threemonths ago, the percentage was 95.42. The Drought Monitor will be adjusted Thursday andagain next week to include the runoff from the last two storms, Fuchs said.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s snow report for Leavitt Lake in Mono County showed anincrease in the snowwater equivalency from 4.6 inches on Dec. 6 to 7.9 inches Tuesday, asignificant rise. The snowwater equivalency represents how much water is produced if allthat snow melted.
• More: California drought, visualized with open data from the USGS
Snowstorms in the Sierra Nevada and other spots where the state captures water to sendsouth down the State Water Project have increased in December, after lagging way behindnormal for October and November, Fuchs said.
But the biggest hopeful sign is the change in weather pattern off the coast. During the pastthree or four years, a ridge of high pressure pushed storms north and east, keeping L.A. dry.“We’ve seen that ridge dissipate. That is a positive,” Fuchs said.
Reach the author at [email protected] or follow Steve on Twitter: @stevscaz.
12/10/2014 Water board adds $40 million to conservation budget as drought persists LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/lamelnwaterboard40milliondrought20141209story.html 1/3
L.A. NowCalifornia: This just in
Water board adds $40 million to conservationbudget as drought persists
By MATT STEVENS
DECEMBER 9, 2014, 5:03 PM
T he Metropolitan Water District’s board of directors added $40 million to its
conservation budget Tuesday and revised its water allocation plan in response to
California’s continuing drought.
The additional funding marks the second increase in the district's rebate budget this year, taking it
to $100 million from $60 million. The funds come out of a separate $232million water
management fund and go toward rebates for residents and businesses that replace turf with
droughttolerant landscaping and install waterefficient fixtures.
Earthen patterns are left behind from the receding waters of the droughtstricken Pine Flat Reservoir. (Allen J. Schaben /Los Angeles Times)
12/10/2014 Water board adds $40 million to conservation budget as drought persists LA Times
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Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
The district spent $18.6 million on conservation programs during the last fiscal year (from
July 2013 through June 2014), and officials say the agency has spent $17.1 million since July 1.
The turf removal program has generated extraordinary demand, officials said in a statement.
Requests for turf removal since July 2014 totaled more than $100 million as of November.
“We’ve never experienced anything like it,” agency General Manager Jeff Kightlinger said of the
public’s demand for water conservation rebates.
The department's water allocation plan defines how imported water supplies will be distributed
among 26 member agencies including cities and water districts during shortages, and it
establishes additional charges for excess use. If the drought persists, the board could impose its
allocation plan in the first quarter of 2015, a spokesman said. Doing so would place limits on the
amount of water each member agency would receive, potentially leaving them with less than their
normal supply.
“Making tough decisions about restricting supplies is one of the hardest things we do as a water
board,” Chairman Randy Record said in a statement. “By taking this action today, we are better
prepared to manage water shortages should the situation worsen.”
Follow @MattStevensLAT on Twitter for coverage of the California drought andbreaking news.
12/10/2014 Our 1,200year drought and bad water policies: Editorial
http://www.sbsun.com/opinion/20141209/our1200yeardroughtandbadwaterpolicieseditorial 1/2
Our 1,200year drought and bad water policies: EditorialPosted: 12/09/14, 3:28 PM PST Updated: 40 secs ago sbsun.com
People with professional expertise in California’s fouryear drought — plus those just lookingfor something new to worry about — get it right about expecting too much from last week’sand this week’s storms.
Even though we got a good inch and a half, and much more in some places, and even thoughthe storm bearing down on Southern California Thursday and Friday is said to hold thepromise of “significant” rainfall, both the real experts and the professional worriers correctlynote that it would be simply wrong to say our state’s severe drought is anything like over.
To do so would be like those globalwarming deniers who dismiss the scientific evidence ofclimate change because it’s snowing in Minnesota.
It’s not that these December rains aren’t great. As Mark Gold, the associate director of theInstitute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA, so nicely put it in his column at LAObserved, the first storm “brought a sense of renewal and a reminder that inexorabledesiccation isn’t the only state of our Mediterranean climate.”
But lack of total dessication does not a rain forest make. This month as well, a studypublished in the journal Geophysical Research Letters shows that “the current event is themost severe drought in the last 1,200 years, with single year (2014) and accumulatedmoisture deficits worse than any previous continuous span of dry years.”
So there goes the theory constantly spun out by Southern California armchair meteorologistswho say that dry spells come and go and that this one is no worse than others. It is worse.And we get blase about it at our peril.
The study, much of it based on historical treering data, does show that there have beenthreeyear spells in the past with as little rain as we’ve had since 2011. What’s exacerbatedthis drought is, yes, global warming: There has never been a drought like this in over amillennium because there has never been so little rain combined with such high averagetemperatures, which heat and crack the ground. (No contradiction here with this week’sNOAA report, which just says it’s not necessarily warming that has caused less rain.)
In a better world, we would be expecting California’s lawmakers to be working together onlongterm solutions to what is clearly a longterm problem. Disappearing water in California isnot just about flooding Bay Delta fields for rice or piping water into more southern CentralValley almond groves. It’s not just about using droughttolerant landscaping or not letting thetap run while brushing our teeth.
Even if too many of us hold onto old water ways, the drought is part of the Californiaconversation these days. That’s one reason quick, onesided supposed fixes such as HR5781, the “California Emergency Drought Relief Act of 2014,” passed on a 229182 vote inthe House Tuesday, are such bad public policy. Rather than the “bipartisan” plan its backers
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tout it as, the bill focuses on diverting more water to those Central Valley farmers, and waswritten with no input from Southern California members of Congress or fisheries and wildlifeexperts.
Bad shortterm water diversion is no fix for a 1,200year problem. President Obama, as hehas promised to do, should veto it so the California drought doesn’t cause even more harm.
12/10/2014 Tall freeway spans will be relatively safe in quakes, Caltrans says LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/lamecaliforniacommute20141125story.html 1/4
California Commute Tall freeway spanswill be relatively safe in quakes, Caltrans says
By LAURA J. NELSON
NOVEMBER 24, 2014, 9:46 PM
T he sweeping, graceful arches of Southern California's towering interchanges form some
of the most iconic features of the world's most famous freeway network.
But in a region crisscrossed by fault lines, the ramps that soar hundreds of feet above traffic, and
the lanes that run beneath them, can be disconcerting territory for drivers hyperaware of
earthquake risks.
Noel Vasquez of Whittier nervously eyes the carpool lane that curves and tilts high above the
Harbor Freeway before connecting with the 105 freeway.
"You see it looming, and as you get closer, it just gets taller and taller," Vasquez said. "You drive by
and you think, 'Man, I'd hate for that thing to break.'"
The 105 Freeway interchange with the 110 can be a little scary, but since 1971, Caltrans has spent more than $13 billionto reinforce the state’s bridges and interchanges. (Mel Melcon, Los Angeles Times)
12/10/2014 Tall freeway spans will be relatively safe in quakes, Caltrans says LA Times
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Engineers say the anxiety is understandable because earthquakes tend to hit California's freeways
hard. During the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, a doubledecked portion of Interstate 880
collapsed in Oakland, killing 42 people. In 1971, during the magnitude 6.7 San Fernando temblor,
ramps linking the 5 and 14 freeways in the Newhall Pass collapsed. The interchange reopened two
years later, only to break apart again during the Northridge quake in 1994.
Since 1971, Caltrans has spent more than $13 billion to reinforce the state's bridges and
interchanges. Engineers recently finished a yearslong campaign to strengthen tall, flexible bridges
and make short, strong spans more elastic. In Los Angeles County alone, Caltrans has reinforced
555 stateowned bridges, and local agencies have retrofitted about 280 more.
Despite the precarious heights, giant interchanges are safer in an earthquake than drivers may
think. That includes some of the region's bestknown junctures, such as downtown's fourlevel
interchange and the elevated East Los Angeles ramps that connect the 710 freeway with the 5
freeway.
"Tall bridges are more flexible," said Tom Ostrom, the chief of Caltrans' earthquake engineering
office. "They have the potential to move around more during an earthquake, but they can also
absorb more movement."
At the downtown fourlevel and other major interchanges, crews have encased support columns in
steel jackets to prevent the concrete from cracking and falling off. Concrete can lose its strength
when it fractures and breaks apart because of seismic pulling or twisting.
Meaghan Murphy, 46, drives from downtown L.A. to Altadena to hike with her Chihuahua, Frank.
She said the fourlevel always makes her wonder: What if?
"There's three layers on top of you, so you have three chances to get squished," Murphy said. "If
we had some kind of freeway Tetris situation, my little car wouldn't fare so well. It's not a pleasant
thought."
To that, Ostrom says: Don't worry. "These columns are very, very tough," he said. "We're done with
work on all the bridges that we believe are the most vulnerable."
Shorter bridges generally don't induce the same degree of driver anxiety. But those spans across
rail yards, streets and rivers tend to be more brittle, like the portion of the 10 Freeway that
collapsed onto La Cienega Boulevard in 1994. To add more flexibility, crews have added deeper
underground support columns designed to make the bridges "act taller," Ostrom said.
The bridge and overpass upgrades don't guarantee freeways will survive unscathed in an
earthquake. In every major modern California temblor, freeways have sustained significant
12/10/2014 Tall freeway spans will be relatively safe in quakes, Caltrans says LA Times
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Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
damage. Still, improvements made over the last 20 years have made engineers "very confident"
freeways will not collapse, Ostrom said.
"The goal is to keep things from coming down immediately," he said. "Some older bridges that are
near an epicenter may have to be torn down afterward, but they won't collapse."
Newer projects, including the widened 405 Freeway, are strong and flexible, Ostrom said, and can
withstand increased twisting during a major earthquake. Joints now allow for more movement.
And extra steel mesh and pipes have been incorporated into designs to prevent spans from
crashing to the ground, even if primary support columns fail.
"We used to think that bridges just needed to be very strong, but it's pretty hard to compete with
the magnitude that we face here," Ostrom said. "We've changed our philosophy to make bridges
that are very flexible. They'll move quite a bit."
Drivers who are caught on or near a high connecting ramp or bridge during an earthquake should
wait and stay calm.
When the shaking stops, if there is visible damage, drivers should stay in the car. "You're much
more vulnerable when you leave your vehicle," Ostrom said.
If no cracks or holes are visible, he said, drivers on the bridge should continue forward at a
cautious pace.
Of course, if you're not on an elevated span when a quake hits, you should avoid them until
officials have time to complete safety inspections.
Have an idea, gripe or question? Times staff writers Laura J. Nelson and Dan Weikel write
California Commute and are looking for leads. Send them along.
For more transportation news, follow @laura_nelson on Twitter.
12/10/2014 Professor floats idea of threeyear B.A. to cut college costs LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/local/education/lametuitioncolumn20141210story.html 1/4
Professor floats idea of three-year B.A. to cutcollege costs
By JASON SONG
DECEMBER 10, 2014, 4:30 AM
I n theory, it's a simple idea. With the cost of attending college rising, why not reduce the
typical time for a bachelor's degree from four years to three?
That's the proposal floated by Johns Hopkins University professor Paul Weinstein in the latest
edition of the Progressive Policy Institute. In his paper, Weinstein found that a fouryear degree at
a public school costs, on average, $35,572 in 2013. A threeyear degree at a similar institution
would cost $26,679 — a 25% savings.
Weinstein's idea isn't original. Some campuses, including Bates College in Maine and Wesleyan
University in Connecticut, have instituted similar programs, but widespread implementation is
rare, Weinstein said. In the last five years, 22 private, nonprofit colleges have begun offering three
California Gov. Jerry Brown supports the idea of offering more threeyear track degrees at colleges. (Eric Risberg /Associated Press)
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year degrees, according to the National Assn. of Independent Colleges and Universities.
Gov. Jerry Brown supports the idea of offering more threeyear track degrees, and a University of
California special panel — the Commission on the Future — suggested that fasttrack degrees were
worth exploring in 2010, but the UC system has never tried to implement or experiment with a
threeyear model.
"Colleges and universities are a little like the healthcare industry," Weinstein said. "They're not very
transparent and tend to be risk averse. Changing them isn't going to be a grassroots movement
among the universities; it's going to take a visionary to implement it from the top down."
Tuition costs have risen precipitously in recent years. The average bill at a U.S. college for tuition,
room and board and other fees was nearly $20,000 in 2012, more than double the cost in 1981,
according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Student loan debt has tripled since 2004
to $1.1 trillion, and many experts, parents, educators and others say the rising costs are making
higher education unaffordable for many U.S. residents.
"We can't price the middle class and everybody working to get into the middle class out of college,"
President Obama said two years ago when proposing a plan to withhold federal money from
schools that raise tuition too quickly.
Yet, for all the handwringing, there's been little progress at reining in the cost of college. A
handful of smaller, private colleges, however, has slashed tuition; officials at Grace College in
Winona Lake, Ind., recently decided to lower tuition by 9% next year. (The school also offers a
threeyear degree).
But others have continued to charge more. At Harvard University, tuition and fees went up nearly
4% this year to nearly $58,600.
UC regents have proposed the first increase in tuition in three years. Beginning next year, students
could be hit with the first of five annual increases of 5%, depending on state funding. And the UC
Commission on the Future hasn't issued followups to its 2010 reports on fasttrack degrees, much
less started a pilot program.
"It seems like it just withered and died on the vine," said Robert Shireman, executive director of
California Competes, a nonpartisan higher education advocacy group in Oakland.
Many students don't finish in four years, let alone three. According to a 2014 study by the
nonprofit research group Complete College America that examined data from 34 states and
Washington, D.C., 19% to 36% of students at public colleges finish their bachelor's degrees within
four years.
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Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times
Weinstein argues that if colleges adopted the threeyear model, they could lose some money in the
short term but would make up for it by being able to accept more students.
Yet colleges have little incentive to be leaders when it comes to slashing tuition or reducing the
time to graduation, Weinstein said — and not because campuses would suffer financially.
Instead, cutting the time to graduation could put colleges at a competitive disadvantage by
creating the perception that the college is less prestigious or wouldn't offer as many electives or
enough time for students to go abroad.
Weinstein acknowledges that not all students should be pushed to graduate faster. The UC
subcommittee proposed streamlining requirements for only some majors.
"It's not for everyone," Weinstein said.
But Weinstein imagined that students would have no trouble studying abroad on their own,
especially if they got to keep some of the savings from a shortened college schedule.
"I think you could take a year off and find yourself and volunteer for a lot cheaper than the
$50,000 you'd have to pay a college for the privilege of going abroad," he said.
Twitter: @latjasonsong
12/10/2014 Congress should end wind subsidy: Guest commentary
http://www.sbsun.com/opinion/20141209/congressshouldendwindsubsidyguestcommentary 1/2
Congress should end wind subsidy: Guest commentaryBy Tom Pyle sbsun.com
With Election Day behind us, Congress must now turn its attention to the raft of issues thatlegislators have ignored over the past year. Chief among them: Whether to revive theProduction Tax Credit (PTC), a massive, taxpayerfunded handout that in 2012 gougedCalifornia taxpayers for $330 million.
That fact alone should be enough for Congress to kill the PTC. But there’s another reasonthat Californians should want it dead: It’s a central component for President Obama’sdestructive climate agenda.
Here’s how it works. The PTC, which was first created by Congress in 1992, subsidizesrenewable energy producers — especially wind companies — for the electricity theygenerate. This cost taxpayers some $1.6 billion in 2012, including California’s $330 millionshare.
The foundation of the president’s climate plan is the Environmental Protection Agency’s(EPA) greenhouse gas emissions rule for existing power plants — the president’s attempt toshut down America’s coal industry. A recent analysis finds that residents in 43 states will facedoubledigit increases in electricity prices under the rule. For all that pain, the rule wouldreduce global carbon dioxide emissions by just 1.5 percent by 2050.
One of the central “building blocks” of EPA’s power plant regulation is increased use of windand solar for electricity generation. But wind and solar are uncompetitive without massivetaxpayer subsidies — for wind, that takes the form of the PTC.
Thus, a vote for the PTC is a vote for the president’s climate agenda.
The wind industry’s top lobbyist put it best: “Wind energy is one of the biggest, fastest,cheapest ways states can comply with the forthcoming EPA rule.”
There’s just one problem with this “cheap” wind energy: It isn’t cheap. Wind power is morethan 125 percent more expensive than natural gasgenerated electricity and more than 90percent more expensive than coalgenerated electricity. The only way wind producers stay inbusiness is with the taxpayer’s help — a la the PTC.
Wind’s recent history bears this out. When the credit is active, new wind installations soar.When it temporarily expires, new installations plummet.
That was the case in 2013 when the PTC expired. New wind installations plunged from an alltime high of 13,000 megawatts in 2012 to a mere 1,100 MW in 2013 — a 92 percent drop in asingle year. Similar declines occurred following previous temporary expirations in 2000, 2002,and 2004, when new installations dropped by 92, 76, and 76 percent, respectively.
The lesson is clear: Without government handouts, wind energy doesn’t fly. It’s simply tooexpensive compared to the cheap traditional fuels that currently power Americans’ daily lives.
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The PTC seeks to hide this fact, but only by charging consumers once in their taxes andagain in their utility bills.
Congress can end this farce by refusing to renew the PTC. President Obama needs windenergy to advance his climate agenda, and wind energy needs the subsidies that Californianshave been paying for more than two decades.
Congress members should put their constituents’ interests above the president’s climateagenda. That starts with rejecting any attempt to revive the PTC.
Tom Pyle is president of the American Energy Alliance.
