Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Ed talks out of school
Looks like Judge Ana Espana will manage to continue giving away the store without having to do any trial management work at all. While I realize the DA's office is complicit with the 'give it all away' plea bargains, the Judge has the discretion to accept them or not...Who wants to litigate anything when we can settle, settle, settle, which is oh so much easier on everyone. Justice is now 'easy' and does not necessarily prevail. Who is looking out for the public interest in these matters. As I have pointed out before, these were NOT victimless crimes. It is too bad that Judge Espana is not able, or willing to visualize the victim -- the entire South County community that depends on the school systems to educate its populace.— April 3, 2014 12:28 p.m.
Ed talks out of school
Don't have a crystal ball bbq, but agree heartily with your concerns. The timing of what happens next with Cartmill and Lopez will be critical....once (and if) they are bounced out via pleas or trials, then the County Office will appoint their own members to fill the vacancies. We can hope that which of the seated County Board members will not pass such egregious measures as you suggest, although anything is possible with Fast Eddy in the picture. By the way, I don't see Berth Lopez agreeing to any of the possibilities you suggest, which will render the mini board powerless to take any action at all...seems the votes would be 2 -1. Rather, I would suspect that Ed and Co would ply their underhanded shell games to proceed with the real estate deals without board sanction. I would also hope that any such 'deals' would be rendered null and void if done without proper board action. How they might be rescinded is another question, perhaps one for the 'reconstituted' board to consider once the temporary replacements are seated by the CBOE. It is truly one heck of a mess.— April 2, 2014 3:03 p.m.
Ed talks out of school
That's a rhetorical question bbq? We know the following: The Brown Act is a state law, and violations should be enforced by the DA; the County Board of Education is charged with fiscal oversight of all the public school districts in its jurisdiction; the State Superintendent of Public Instruction must have some responsibility here.... However, and ultimately, it is we, the electorate, who are the authorities and have the power of the ballot. That is why the upcoming (tick tock....tick tock) elections in November are so critical to cleaning up this pitiful situation. Let's not mess it up at the ballot box this time.— April 2, 2014 2:04 p.m.
Ed talks out of school
I would not hire that attorney for anything! A quorum is a quorum is a quorum required for a vote on ANYTHING. I believe that at least the County Office of Ed has that one right. By the way, note today's article in the LA Times about the very high salary of the Supt. of the Centinela Valley Union High School District. What is of interest is that the California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson is quoted on the matter, saying he believes it is excessive. Now, if Mr. Torlakson can come out of his cave to comment on the Centinela School District paying their supt. too much, SURELY he can comment on the perfidy that pervades at Sweetwater! So, Torlakson, we are waiting to hear from you at long last.— April 1, 2014 10:25 a.m.
Ed talks out of school
I agree miagd that we have been waiting way too long for this perfidy to come to an end. However, we have experienced that the 'wheels of justice do turn slowly' . If the April trials, pleas, or whatever turn out as the Ricasa and Quinones did, we can look forward to interim new board members appointed from the sitting members of the County Board of Education to steer the ship until the November election. Not the best scenario we could have hoped for, or as soon as we would like, but at least that is something certain we can count on. All of our collective outrage is just that....collective outrage. I am sure it can get worse before it gets better, but the optimist in me is looking toward the getting better part. It does mean that our collective outrage has, in fact, brought attention to the perfidy. Justice just takes too long these days.— March 31, 2014 5:27 p.m.
Ed talks out of school
There will be most, if not all, of the SUHSD board seats up in November. There are already two vacancies ( Ricasa and Quinones); Cartmill's and Lopez's fates yet to be determined in court, possible pleas, etc. (Cartmill's seat would have been up anyway); and McCann's term is up and it looks as though he is not going to run for the SUHSD board, as he has already declared for CV. However, don't be surprised if he doesn't make the November run off round for CV Council in June, he may decide to continue to try and milk the SUHSD for yet another term. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have an entirely clean slate to be sworn in December?— March 31, 2014 3:17 p.m.
Ed talks out of school
It seems to me that the 'closed' press conference (allowing only the media in) somehow violates the spirit, if not the letter, of the Brown Act. Where does it say that the public can be excluded from anything except a closed session, and the reasons for that are very well outlined in the act. Press conferences do not fit the description of closed session! Tick tock, tick tock.....Trials in April, elections in November... tick tock, tick tock— March 31, 2014 1:42 p.m.
Quinones, Ricasa, Cartmill, Cabello weigh pleas vs. fighting
Call the City in which the signs are posted on public property.— March 27, 2014 8:12 p.m.
Quinones, Ricasa, Cartmill, Cabello weigh pleas vs. fighting
That is exactly why the Brown Act requires notice in advance of public meetings, even those for so-called emergencies.— March 25, 2014 7:57 p.m.
Quinones, Ricasa, Cartmill, Cabello weigh pleas vs. fighting
Per law, as administered by the FPPC, a public agency may NOT use district funds to 'feature' any single member of the agency's governing board in any print medium that has more than 200 copies. Go to the FPPC website and search for "mass mailings" there for additional information. The penalty is a fine levied against the individual member so featured and may not be paid by the agency itself.— March 25, 2014 9:46 a.m.