California Media at a New Low

If you were a resident in the state with the nation’s highest poverty rate, wouldn’t you think you’d be aware of that fact? That a higher percentage of your family, friends, neighbors and others in your community struggled to make ends meet than the same folks in any of the other 49 states?

Of course. But here in California, where the incompetence of the media can scarcely be exaggerated, almost nobody is aware that the Golden State is no. 1 in economic misery.

This malpractice is nothing new. On the debate over whether California should encourage hydraulic fracturing of its massive oil reserves, the state media never note that the Obama administration considers fracking safe. On the debate over education policy, the state media never note that Gov. Brown’s prescription for education reform — local control — is the same flawed, status-quo-reinforcing policy choice that led to the two big education reform moments of the past 30 years. On AB 32, the state’s landmark 2006 climate-change law, the Los Angeles Times waited until March 2012 to note that it was a risk to California’s economic competitiveness to force its energy costs to be higher than rival states and nations. On this front, the L.A. Times trailed the New York Times by years.

So on the economy, why would the fact that California has the highest effective poverty rate in the nation be mentioned? If key details are routinely ignored on other big stories, why change the template on poverty and human misery?

The governor thinks he’s the bomb. Why won’t media push back?

Which brings me to my Sunday U-T San Diego editorial.

“… what one would never guess from his press clippings is that Brown presides over the state with by far the nation’s highest poverty rate. According to a 2012 Census report, once the cost of living is factored in, nearly one in four state residents — 23.5 percent — live below the poverty line. And according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics measure that includes those who have given up looking for work, California has the second worst unemployment rate in the nation. More than one in six Californians who want to work full-time — 18.3 percent — can’t find such jobs.

Via: California Political Review

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Filner guilty plea: Ex-San Diego mayor banned from public office

SAN DIEGO -- Former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner on Tuesday agreed to give up most of his mayoral pension and never again run for office in exchange for avoiding jail time related to criminal charges that grew out of the sexual harassment allegations that drove him from office.

Under the plea agreement, Filner on Tuesday pleaded guilty to one felony count of false imprisonment and two misdemeanor counts of battery. The charges, filed by the state attorney general's office in San Diego County Superior Court, relate to three alleged victims, identified in court papers as Jane Doe 1, 2 and 3.

The felony count involves allegations of false imprisonment by violence, fraud, menace and deceit.

The count alleges that Filner used "undue" force to hold a woman against her will.

The battery counts involve accusations that he kissed one woman and grabbed another by the buttocks.

In addition to the agreement on running for office and his pension, Filner also agreed to spend three months in home confinement. He will also undergo treatment as “directed by a mental health professional” during his three years of probation.

The felony count could have brought a maximum sentence of three years in prison, each misdemeanor count a maximum of 12 months in jail.

Via: LA Times

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DOCTOR SPEAKS OUT AGAINST JERRY BROWN'S NEW ABORTION LAW

ABC 10: SAN DIEGO - We sat down with San Diego Assemblymember Toni Atkins after her controversial abortion bill, which was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last week. While Atkins argues that AB154 is all about access to abortion for women, a San Diego doctor says its more about profits for groups like Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry. AB154 was authored by Atkins, who represents the 78th district. Brown signed the controversial legislation as soon as it crossed his desk, giving California women more access to abortion. “AB154 allows nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives and physicians assistants to do the abortion procedure in the first trimester up to 12 weeks,” said Atkins. At 12 weeks, the baby's brain starts to make hormones and hair and nails begin to grow. Six weeks before that, the baby's heart first begins to beat. Atkins said the landmark legislation that has also been enacted in New Hampshire, Vermont, Oregon and Montana is all about access for women. “There are fewer and fewer and fewer providers who doing the procedure every year and it really impacts women's ability to get a legal abortion," said Atkins. "The medical society supports it, nurses groups support it, the medical establishment supports it because they know that this is good legislation." But Dr. George Delgado, who practices family medicine here San Diego is against AB154 because he said it will put women at serious risk. “Our California women deserve better," said Delgado. "We will have inadequately trained non physicians performing surgical abortions and they don't have the depth of training necessary to handle the complications such as bleeding, damage to the uterus and severe infection. The study underlying this law show that the non-physicians had twice the number of complications compared to the physicians and this was in a very highly controlled environment,." The bill's supporters included the California Medical Association, the California Women's Health Alliance and the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Project of Los Angeles County. The bill’s opponents include the California Catholic Conference and the Traditional Values Coalition. Brian Johnston, executive director of the California Pro-Life Council, said his group and others are considering a referendum or other legal challenge to the measure. The coalition said the governor "has put profits of the abortion industry above the health and well-being of women and children." Forty-seven nurse practitioners and other non-doctors have already been trained to provide abortions when the new law takes effect January 1, 2014.

Via: Breitbart

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The Real Crisis in California’s Public Schools

Journalistic curmudgeon H.L. Mencken once remarked that the main purpose of modern politics was to keep the public alarmed and eager to be led to safety “by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

A cynic might hear the echoes of Mencken after California Attorney General Kamala Harris this week released a report calling attention to an elementary-school truancy “crisis” – and asking for far-reaching measures to deal with parents who let their kids repeatedly skip school.

California’s “shocking” levels of truancy are “at the root of the state’s chronic criminal-justice problems,” according to Harris. No one wants youngsters skipping school, hanging out in gangs, and heading for a life of crime, of course. But a closer look at the report raises the question: Is this a full-fledged crisis or a hobgoblin?

“In California, students are marked truant when they miss school or come late by more than 30 minutes without a valid excuse at least three times during an academic year,” according to a recent report in U-T San Diego. A “habitual truant” is someone who misses five days of school without an excuse over the course of, say, a 175-day school year.

Many kids have serious truancy problems, but sky-high truancy rates – more than 19 percent in San Diego County districts, and much higher in some other parts of the state – are inflated because of such broad definitions.

I recall receiving a truancy warning letter from a school principal because my daughter was late a couple of times. She was a straight-A student and active in extracurricular events, but had issues getting ready in the morning.

“Schools lose money every time kids are truant,” explains Larry Sand, president of the California Teachers Empowerment Network, which is critical of teachers' unions. “There’s a need for different categories of truancy.”

Via: The Reason

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Documents: Former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner gave staff $86K in raises before resigning

SAN DIEGO - Bob Filner gave raises to several staff members totaling $86,000 just before he resigned as mayor of San Diego, according to documents obtained by Team 10.

Filner authorized the raises before leaving office amid a lawsuit and several allegations he sexually harassed city staff and other women in the community.

The largest raise went to former Filner press secretary Lena Lewis. Her salary was $82,500 in July, and it rose to $115,000 by August.

In July, Filner protocol officer Molly Chase earned $50,000. On August 1, her pay was bumped up to $65,000.

Filner binational affairs manager Mario Lopez also had a $15,000 increase. His annual salary went from $70,000 in July, to $85,000 in August.

Chase, Lopez and Lewis continue to work for the city of San Diego under interim mayor Todd Gloria. Gloria adjusted the trio's salaries once he took office.

Chase, now the director of appointments and protocol, is earning $60,000. Lopez remains the director of binational affairs and earns his original salary of $70,000. Lewis now serves as a council liaison, with a current salary of $95,000.

Filner also gave three administrative staff raises -- Adriana Martinez, Kimberly Ricci, and Antoinette Duran. The three saw their pay go from $30,000 each in July to $35,000 in August.

Gloria did not adjust their raises, and according to Gloria's spokesperson, all three staffers continue working as community outreach representatives.

The seventh Filner staffer to receive a raise was former council liaison Francisco Estrada. He salary went from $101,500 in July to $110,000 in August.

Via: ABC 10 San Diego

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