- A sample ballot for the City of Santa Clarita Council election arrived in my mailbox yesterday here in the heart of Precinct 40. The 11 candidates are sufficiently jumbled up but the the three Davids (Henriquez, Gauny and Galvan) all appear at the top. Gauny is listed as a “Business Owner,” while TBB gets the title “Executive Director” but not “Former Councilman.” Ferry is listed as “Councilman/Educator.” Get your sample ballot at VOTE SANTA CLARITA.COM
- At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Councilmembers will discuss applying for a $240,000 grant that would help the City do outreach on behalf of the Orangeline Development Authority. The Orangeline is a proposed MagLev high speed train that would whisk commuters throughout SoCal. Also, the City is looking at raising taxes on hotel occupants by 2% in order to create a “Tourism Marketing District” program. The tax increase would raise approximately $400,000. All that and more in the COUNCIL AGENDA
- FOX 11 traveled up to the SCV to see if there really is a problem with our massage parlors. Bob Kellar said there are some “issues” with them, but the Sheriff’s station said that while some arrests for prostitution have been made in the past, most businesses are operating within the law. Council Candidate TimBen Boydston was also in the report saying that parlors have sprouted up like mushrooms. The report says the issue will be discussed at Tuesday’s council meeting, but there’s no mention of that in the agenda. FOX 11
- My First Mailer of 2010! In these troubling times, you have to economize, which explains why residents of the 91355 are currently getting spammed by City Council candidates but condo-dwelling slobs in the 91321 like me are being ignored. Well no longer! If I was an ignorant SCV resident I would know two things: There is an election April 13 and TimBen Boydston will stand between a dark world of heavy traffic, dense (but still suburban) housing, and multi-racial gang members on the one hand and green parks and fine family living on the other. Included in the mailer is an “Action Plan” that says TBB will “increase funding for Sheriff’s because in 2009 crime in Santa Clarita increased in 7 out of 8 categories.” Bonus points for TBB because he includes a kids bicycle in the mailer.
- SCVMomsBlog members push to save independent coffee shops in SCV KCAL 9 *
- Einstein Academy gets charter school status after school organizers drop Hebrew language requirement. The school may open in the fall with 225 students. SIGNAL, KHTS
- West Nile case found in Stevenson Ranch, one of the first this year SIGNAL
- Sheriff’s Detectives are asking for ID-fraud victims to come forward after uncovering ID-theft crime at Specialty Labs, a major local company. A Palmdale woman at the company was arrested March 11 and is charged with “obtaining credit information with the intent of using it fraudulently.” DAILY NEWS, KHTS
- Local Universities dispute Congressman McKeon’s contention that student loan reform will hurt students and colleges. “We did our research and realized this was probably the best product for our students. For students, it will put money in their hands quicker. … We’re thinking, all the way around, it will be a benefit,” said a financial aid worker at Cal Poly Pomona SB SUN
- For the first time in years, two Republicans in the State Assembly have been named chairs of important committees by Democratic leadership. Who cares you say? Well we should, because our own Cameron Smyth, a Republican, was named chair of the Local Government Committee. SAC BEE
- Three men arrested in rural Ventura County for digging up Native American artifacts from an old Chumash burial ground. CAMARILLO ACORN
- KHTS Jon Dell provides some tantalizing evidence that automotive freedom and independence is on the horizon in Santa Clarita. Yes, the Cross Valley Connector is set to open one week from today. But if you can’t wait, head on over to KHTS to get a sneak peak of the road KHTS
- The Signal has more details on the resolution of the 34 year old Castaic murder of Marcia Lynn Christian, then 19. I just find the whole story sad. I suppose it’s resolved but there was no justice for Marcia SIGNAL
- Deputies to remember Deputy Arthur Pelino, who was shot and killed in the line of duty 32 years ago today. KHTS
- Someone or some gang is setting up anti-police booby traps in Riverside County. That may or may not be related to the arrests of 30 of the Vagos motorcycle group earlier this week. LA TIMES
- Octomom’s house might be foreclosed on LA TIMES
- Reminder: Hit the Trail Bike ride tomorrow. Come on out and join us from one of three starting points across the valley. Details at CITY BRIEFS
- This letter writer sums up the angst some voters have about City Hall and explains why a vote for TBB is a vote for change SIGNAL
- The United States is a broken society in which both market and the polis have failed us says David Brooks NY TIMES
Daily Brief
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March 19, 2010 – Daily Brief *
Friday, March 19th, 2010March 18, 2010 – Daily Brief
Thursday, March 18th, 2010- Bruce McFarland has filed a complaint with Public Integrity Division of County DA over Mayor Dude, alleging that the 2009 campaign constituted a “misuse of public funds” and violated Fair Political Practices Commission code 18901, which regulates mass mailings. Mass mailings you say? Mayor Dude was a bus stop billboard and advertising campaign. Well, actually it turns out the FPPC can regulate taxpayer-funded advertisements as well, if they mention the name of the elected official (but was Frank Ferry’s name ever used in Mayor Dude?) Read Bruce’s complaint here and check out this FAQ from the League of California Cities for more background on 18901
- Sheriff Homicide Detectives solve the 34 year old murder of 19 year old nursing student Marcia Lynn Christian, whose body was found partially buried in Castaic in July 1976. They solved it by matching DNA with a “mentally disordered sex offender” named Mark David Jackson, who died in Oregon in 1997. The announcement was made on the first day of Captain Paul Becker’s new command at the SCV Sheriff’s station SCV SHERIFFS
- Speaking of Captain Paul Becker, the Signal interviewed him and outgoing Command Anthony Laberge, and they touched on unsolved murders and law enforcement in the SCV. There are some 4,000 unsolved murders in Los Angeles County, and Becker used to lead the Cold Case unit charged with solving them. SIGNAL‘
- The Santa Clarita Valley Economic Development Corporation, paid for with $200,000 of our dollars, has a barebones website now. If you’re a recently laid-off executive director sitting at home in your jammies reading this blog, polish up your resume and head over there now! SCVEDC.ORG
- TimBen Boydston may be the first City Council candidate in Santa Clarita to buy a Facebook ad. A reader tells me that if you look at Marsha McLean’s page, you may see an Elect TBB ad on the right side
- The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County finally gets protected status in the Angeles National Forest SIGNAL
- OLPH expansion project approved on 5-0 vote. Arcadia street residents will soon have no way in or out and will essentially be imprisoned in their homes by the Roman Catholics. SIGNAL
- Man in need of insulin decides to drive and crashes into a fire hydrant KHTS
- The latest Franken Ferry video leaves me speechless and stupified YOU TUBE
- But the “Hitler Hates Valencia!” made me laugh YOU TUBE
- The quake that struck the LA area on Tuesday is capable of much larger quakes, up to 7.5 magnitude according to researchers KTLA
- Congressman McKeon held a press conference with District reporters yesterday to attack the Democrat’s health care reform plan and companion legislation that would reform the student loan system. Jonathan Randles has a balanced article SIGNAL
- 30 members of the Vagos motorcycle gang were arrested in Riverside County. You’ll remember the Vagos crew occasionally rolls up Sierra Highway to roast pigs and rev their engines on Sundays. The police say they are an “extreme threat” to law enforcement LA TIMES
- Cam Noltemeyer asks why the County may approve 1,200 new houses in Canyon Country when foreclosures are still high and the unemployment rate remains above 12 percent SIGNAL
March 17, 2010 – Daily Brief
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010- OLPH is the new HMNMH? That’s the feeling I get when I read The Signal’s description of the Planning Commissioners discussing the expansion of the 50+ year old Catholic church in Newhall. Nearby residents are upset that the church wants to grow, with one woman claiming the City is behind the development and dramatically stating that her street, Arcadia, is becoming “an island surrounded by traffic with no way out.” What is Newhall like Lost now?? SIGNAL
- But if they’re being dramatic about a church in Newhall, they’re absolutely hyperventilating elsewhere in the SCV. Yet another anonymous letter has burned its way through the SCV’s congregations and inboxes; this one claims that the SCV’s numerous massage parlors are staffed with imported sex slaves and drugs and that the City is covering it up because of the election. Not true says the Sheriff’s station and City. SIGNAL, KHTS, LA WEEKLY
- Dave Bossert is quick to indict City Hall, saying “under the leadership of the current Santa Clarita City Council there has been an obvious exponential increase in these City massage parlors over the last four years.” So whether the letter is true or not, it’s become a political hot potato the same week we start sending our votes in. WRB
- Speaking of the election, I am in receipt of City of Santa Clarita invoices and check stubs that show the City spent over $11,000 on the Mayor Dude campaign in 2009. If you recall, Mayor Dude was a youth outreach program in 2009 for Mayor Frank Ferry. Obviously this is timed for electoral impact, so I put it to you: was Mayor Dude a legitimate outreach exercise to get youth involved in their City or was it taxpayer-funded promotion of a politician just months before the election?
- Back to Newhall, the city broke out several golden shovels for the groundbreaking of the Newhall Library yesterday. The two story structure at Lyons & Main Street will be about six times the size of the old one on Walnut and will have nearly 100 public computers SIGNAL, KHTS
- 35% of mortgage defaults in the US may be strategic ones, where the homeowner has the ability to pay but walks away from his mortgage anyway. The risk of that number “exploding” upwards is significant says one analyst LA TIMES
- Hundreds of workers will be laid off and a dozen courtrooms will close as the LA County Superior Court system tries to grapple with a $79 million budget shortfall. No courthouses in Santa Clarita are effected. SIGNAL
- Captain Paul Becker has officially taken charge at the Santa Clarita Sheriff’s Station according to KHTS
- Buck McKeon’s mind is boggled by a Democratic proposal to overhaul the student loan program. The move would cut $62 billion from the deficit by 2020. Buck is worried about private lender jobs, not students. WAPO
- Buck McKeon slams Democrats for not allowing an “up or down” vote on Health Care reform while his Republican colleagues in the Senate threaten a filibuster to prevent just such an up or down vote. KHTS
- Kevin Korenthal, conservative, union-buster, amputee, blogger, and long distance cycling impresario, is running for a seat on the Castaic Lake Water Agency board. We have our differences but he’s good people and a hell of a cyclist FACEBOOK SITE
- Candidate forum tonight at the Canyon Country Advisory Committee will feature Frank Ferry, Laurene Weste and maybe, just maybe, Johnny Pride who hasn’t been seen or heard from since his arrest and release on rape charges SIGNAL
- The City of Burbank wants the future California High Speed rail line to have a stop at Bob Hope Airport. Not that it’d do us much good because while the HSR line will go through Santa Clarita, the nearest stop will be in Sylmar. LA TIMES
- Hey is Mulligan’s the best place in the SCV to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?
March 15, 2010 – Daily Brief
Monday, March 15th, 2010- Subversive joker-like Vote No on Franken O’Ferry posters are popping up over town according to WRB
- Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Newhall is looking to build a new church building twice the size of its current one. The building is proposed for some vacant land the church owns, but would also require the demolition of 9 houses and a few oak trees on its property SIGNAL
- In case you missed it, blogger Michael Yon investigates the circumstances surrounding Sgt. Ian Gelig’s death two weeks ago in Afghanistan. He finds that Gelig died after an insurgent attacked his vehicle on a strategic bridge leading into Kandahar. But finding out who was responsible for securing the bridge turned out to be a difficult task BIG JOURNALISM
- I love it when out-of-town media focuses on SCV issues and can’t get their bearings; the SFVBJ wrote about last week’s Council Candidates forum and spent three entire paragraphs on Johnny Pride’s ideas for Santa Clarita but the article didn’t mention TimBen Boydston at all SFVBJ (Subscription)
- At least 50-100 supporters of President Obama’s health care reform demonstrated yesterday at the mall. Is there any media coverage? Not as far as I can tell.
- Five people have died in the last eight months on Bouquet Canyon road but the Signal article and the CHP don’t use the word “racing” once. One motorcyclist says speeders wouldn’t use Bouquet Canyon if we built them a private race track SIGNAL
- As winter homeless shelter closes this week, organizers ponder creating a year-round shelter. One shelter organizer says 90% of the people who stayed in the shelter this year had their last residence in Santa Clarita SIGNAL
- Someone or some group has created an Anti-Buck McKeon website called “The Buck Stops Now.org.” The site lists what it sees as McKeon’s lies and distortions over the years and says he will be defeated in 2010. By Jackie Conaway? Ha! The site was registered anonymously in February BUCKSTOPSNOW.ORG
- GOP Gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman pushed Senator Tony Strickland into running for state Controller, says the VC Star. As for leaving his hard-fought Senate seat should he win? It was a “big consideration” but I guess when Meg calls you don’t hang up that phone, you Buy It Now! VC STAR
- California’s GOP is trying to get the Tea Party on board. Somehow I don’t think they’ll have to try very hard LA TIMES
- Santa Clarita suing state board of equalization over $170,000 in decades old tax case SIGNAL
- CLWA spending $4 million on a new HQ building and several million more on water pipes and storage SIGNAL
- Some great opinion columns in the Signal this weekend: Tim Myers on City Council election history (and how strange is 2010?), Nate Imhoff on net neutrality, Roger Gitlin recommending a bullet vote for Dave Gauny, and Bruce McFarland discussing the same topic.
- Dave Bossert on voting and why you should kick the incumbents out of office WRB
- And oh yeah, the fine folks at SantaClaritaCentury.com have commissioned an official cycling jersey for the rides they’re planning on April 3. Really snazzy and good looking jersey I think. Show your pride in SCV and join us on April 3! Take a look:
March 12, 2010 – Daily Brief
Friday, March 12th, 2010- City Council candidates debated last night at City Hall for about 90 minutes. The Signal has a brief article, I can’t find any video yet. But there was at least one sports-related Oh Snap! moment by David Gauny SIGNAL
- The City of Santa Clarita has put a car audio business owner in Old Town Newhall in a difficult spot: one ordinance bans him from working on cars outdoors, and the other bans him from constructing a garage so he can work on cars indoors. The City has a “tremendous disliking” of auto-related businesses in Old Town, says the owner. He may have to close or move soon SIGNAL
- Speaking of undesirable businesses, KHTS’ Jon Dell examines the City’s ordinances regarding massage parlors and finds that there are actually two of them. The first bans the “treatment, manipulation, or service related thereto [on] specified anatomical areas” (aka the “Happy Ending” clause) which happens at massage parlors sometimes, the second says they massage parlors be licensed by the County. Why the difference? Check out KHTS
- A new coffee house is coming to Newhall. Something called the “Newhall Coffee House” will open in June at the old Coffee Cafe place on Lyons & Apple and will offer coffee, tea, sandwiches and more. I pinged Mitch McMullen to see if it was his shop but haven’t heard back yet.
- State Senator Tony Strickland, just elected in 2008, wants to run for State Controller this year, the VC STAR says.
- Beggars can’t be choosers so the CLWA voted 10-0 to support Schwarzenegger’s ambitious water infrastructure and management plan SIGNAL
- Social and religious conservatives are increasingly co-opting and taking over Tea Part movements says the Times. Christians, tax haters and gun lovers all “just want to be left alone,” says Grover Norquist. LA TIMES
- Speaking of gun lovers, have any “open carry” enthusiasts appeared at Starbucks in Santa Clarita packing heat, as they are doing in the rest of California? Warren Olney discusses gun issues on TO THE POINT
- West Creek school’s innovative curriculum results in a flood of applications from parents SIGNAL
- Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator Charles Shumer presented a 3 page blueprint for immigration reform to the President yesterday, but Graham says the GOP won’t play ball if Dems pass HCR. LA TIMES
- The hilarious guy on the Old Spice commercial was on Ellen Degeneres yesterday ELLEN
- The new TV show Justified is being filmed in Santa Clarita, just like the old Deadwood show was. The connection? They both feature Timothy Olyphant as a law man in a troubled town says an Indian newspaper PAPER
- Wow, I totally forgot to mention the 82nd anniversary of the St. Francis Dam Disaster on March 11. Fortunately John Boston is there to remind me of that and other interesting bits of SCV history WRB
- Stop picking on unions, they didn’t bankrupt the country letter writer says SIGNAL
March 11, 2010 – Daily Brief
Thursday, March 11th, 2010- Specialist Ian Gelig’s funeral mass will be held at noon on Saturday at Blessed Kateri Tekawitha Catholic church on Copperhill. The public is invited to pay their respects by lining the procession route after the funeral. A memorial service, also open to the public, will be at San Fernando Mission Hills Cemetary at 2pm. Full details at the SIGNAL, KHTS
- Facing budget challenges, Metrolink is pondering massive cuts to the Antelope Valley line, which stops at three stations in Santa Clarita. At least 17 trains, including 11 on weekdays, may be cut even though the Antelope Valley line is one of Metrolink’s more productive lines. In addition, fares may go up. DAILY NEWS, METROLINK
- Los Angeles County supervisors get millions of dollars a year in discretionary funds and spend that money however they like, the LA Times reports. Our supervisor, Antonovich, seems to spend his funds mostly on donations to various charities and institutions in the 5th District. But what’s the $275,000 given to the City of Santa Clarita over the course of 3 years about? LA TIMES, PROJECT SITE
- To really appreciate Captain Anthony LaBerge, captain of the SCV Sheriff’s Station, you have to realize what it was like before he came on board. A station commander out on medical live, a website from the mid 1990s and fewer outreach programs. KHTS has a good report
- A Facebook group seeking to ban pet stores from selling puppies and kittens for profit in Santa Clarita has over 220 members. The group, led by a woman named Caroline Squires, says its goal is to get the City of Santa Clarita to create an ordinance banning the sale of puppies and kittens that come from ‘puppy mills.’ You can watch the group’s video at their FACEBOOK PAGE
- Dave Bossert says that you can thank David Gauny for leading the Santa Clarita City Council on anti illegal immigration. I suppose that’s one way to look at it (or the City decided to strip Gauny of this issue). On the other hand, three cheers for Laurie Ender for standing up to the mob and having the courage of her convictions in her vote on Tuesday night. WRB
- Canyon Country Burglar arrested after chase SIGNAL
- That 65 year old man who suffers from Alzheimers and got lost last week has received a LoJack bracelet that should help relatives find him if he gets lost or disoriented again. No this is not a joke, they actually make LoJack bracelets CITY BRIEFS
- The new murals for the Golden Valley Bridge over Soledad Canyon Road are ready and they look really good. Special Children’s Art Foundation helped design them KHTS
- That church built into the ground in the Birdgeport area is nearing completion WRB says
- The wind was so powerful yesterday it blew a truck carrying a modular house on its side north of Castaic. Thankfully, today’s winds won’t be so fierce SIGNAL
- Reminder about the Santa Clarita Century bike ride coming up on April 3 SIGNAL
- Interesting column about Villaraigosa’s push to condense 30 years of rail and road building into 10 by getting loans from the Feds and repaying them with Measure R money, which was approved by voters in 2008 WAPO
- Beware email scams that appear to come from friends and family SCV Sheriff’s station says WRB
- Lynne Plambeck preemptively blames Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for any future problems in water supply to new developments SIGNAL
- Tony Newhall opines on that Signal editorial last week, the one the Signal tried to explain this week SIGNAL
- Cool YouTube time lapse video of a “Lenticular” cloud formation over Santa Clarita YOUTUBE
March 10, 2010 – Daily Brief
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010- After some debate, the City of Santa Clarita unanimously supported five of seven anti-immigration and anti-ACORN bills currently circulating in Congress. But two of the bills, both which would strip birthright citizenship from babies born to illegal immigrants, were voted on separately and Councilwoman Laurie Ender voted no on those. SIGNAL, I HEART SCV, KHTS
- Council candidate TimBen Boydston says the City isn’t enforcing codes restricting the size of the incumbent’s signs. “The City Attorney, in direct contradiction to the rules that we were given and had clarified, said that what we were told was not applicable because that would be a violation of free speech,” he wrote to supporters in an email. Boydston says the sign size limit is 12 square feet but some of the incumbents have signs as large as 32 sq. ft.
- “It’s been hair, teeth, and eyeball, ” David Gauny says of his fundraising efforts. SIGNAL
- Councilwoman Laurie Ender pens a primer on the City Council election for the ladies over at SCVMOMSBLOG.COM
- Hart District issues layoff notices to all 37 assistant principles as it tries to cut $15 million from its budget SIGNAL
- Environmental group says Santa Clara River “belongs to the world” and says SCV has an “obligation not to destroy the river.” All that in relation to the Newhall Ranch project. Newhall Land disputes that it will harm the river SIGNAL
- 7 year old Norwalk boy calls 911 after armed men break into his home and threaten his parents. “They’re going to shoot my mom and dad. Bring cops, a lot of them, and soldiers too!” he said to the dispatcher LA TIMES
- Buck McKeon co-authors Politico piece with Democrat Ike Skelton on why the US should not withdraw troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2010. The President isn’t proposing that but Rep. Dennis Kucinich is POLITICO
- Reminder: City Council candidate debate tomorrow hosted by The Signal, KHTS, and SCVTV. KHTS
- ABC News profiles the family of Jani Schofield, the seven year old Schizophrenic girl who was on Oprah a few months ago ABC NEWS
- The State Senate will take up the appointment of Assemblywoman Sharon Runner to something called the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board where she’ll earn $128,000 per year. Her husband George is running for the Board of Equalization in November SAC BEE
- No break from these awful arctic winds. In fact, we may have gusts up to 60 mph today LA TIMES
- “We can all learn something from the SCV’s monthlong social-studies session,” says columnist Gary Horton on the ”proud racist” issue SIGNAL
- WRB writer Chris Sharp says TimBen Boydston is a class act WRB
March 9, 2010 – Daily Brief *
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
Giddyup Dave Gauny, giddyup. Incredible shot huh? I had to wait like 20 minutes for the horse (stallion?mustang?) to do that in Sand Canyon
- City Council candidate David Gauny smashes all incumbent and challenger fundraising between 1/1/10 and 2/27/10 raising $14,259 in contributions. He also received loans in the amount of $15,789 and has the most funds on hand of all candidates at $24,279. Last time the City Clerk’s office released information, Gauny had only raised a few hundred dollars
- As for the other challengers and incumbents, Boydston received $9,039 and has $13,980 on hand, Frank Ferry received $980 (not a typo) and has $16,987 on hand, McLean received $5993 and has $17,430 on hand, and Weste received $7,325 and has $21,762 in da bank. Harrison Katz raised over $2,000. All data from VOTESANTACLARITA.COM
- Not a Ferry Fan pretends he’s God in his latest condemnation of Frank Ferry and the incumbents. He’s also outraged at TMS, as usual YOU TUBE
- 1,260 new homes north of Soledad and west of Sierra Highway? It’s possible if LA County approves the Skyline Ranch development SIGNAL *
- Sheriff’s spokesman says he doesn’t believe arresting Deputies were aware that Johnny Pride was a Council candidate at the time of his arrest, says The Signal. Also, independent eyewitnesses saw the two fourteen year old girls in his apartment. The Sheriff’s Department “anticipate(s) refiling the case with the DA again.” SIGNAL
- The 47 year old motorcyclist who crashed his bike and was killed Sunday in Bouquet Canyon had a wife and two daughters and is described by a friend as a “good family man.” Both the Signal and KHTS say he was travelling at a high rate of speed, but the CHP can’t say whether he was speeding or not. Was he alone or riding through the canyon with a group, as one witness reported here? SIGNAL, KHTS
- The City Council will vote tonight whether to support a number of regressive and loony anti-immigration bills in Congress, including ones that defund ACORN, make English the national language and remove birthright Citizenship of American babies born of illegal immigrant parents, as guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. Shameful if you ask me. I wish we had the numbers to show up in the Council chambers and turn our backs on them as they vote. KHTS
- An off-duty Los Angeles Police Department officer was robbed by two men on bicycles near Bouquet Canyon Road and Newhall Ranch yesterday. Deputies arrested one 20 year old man, but the other escaped SIGNAL
- A Santa Clarita man was among three arrested yesterday after a four year long FBI/LASD investigation into a credit card skimming operation that occurred in Santa Clarita and throughout Los Angeles County. The skimming devices were installed at gas pumps and are very difficult to detect, authorities say Some 15,000 accounts were compromised resulting in $3 million lost LAIST, LA TIMES
- A combination of “public apathy and corporate greed” will destroy the Santa Clara river valley unless you act now to stop Newhall Land from building Newhall Ranch, a group called Animals on the Edge says in a press release today. The group has made Newhall Ranch one of their causes and has posted a photojournal of various places along the river on their website PRESS RELEASE, WEBSITE
- LAist hikes Whitney Canyon Park in Newhall, which looks incredibly lush right now LAIST
- If you listen to just one radio show this week, make sure it’s This American Life’s broadcast on March 5. The opening act of the show is all about a scummy real estate developer who built and sold ‘luxury’ condos in a trendy Chicago neighborhood. But underneath the granite countertops and hardwood floor lurked…a building with no concrete foundation and bad plumbing. The developer? No where to be found! THIS AMERICAN LIFE
- Kevin Buck, Signal columnist, says local politics is too boring to write about. No, you just lack imagination Kevin SIGNAL
March 8, 2010 – Daily Brief
Monday, March 8th, 2010- No updates yet in Johnny Pride case, we’ll keep our ears to the ground today however
- SCV is home to at least 13 private schools and their appeal is growing, reports the Signal. More than a few of them teach “evolution as a theory” alongside creationism. Enrollment in the schools seems to be growing, with one (Trinity) set to open a full high school in a few years SIGNAL
- The Signal’s Jonathan Randles had a one-on-one interview with Congressman Buck McKeon on health care, immigration, and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell SIGNAL
- Second round of campaign finance disclosure forms will be visible on VoteSantaClarita.com by close of business tomorrow, March 9 I’m told. We may have some numbers for you today however.
- TimBen Boydston opens campaign HQ on Old Town Newhall TIMBEN.COM
- Go Weste the SCV Congress of Republicans says. SIGNAL
- Newhall Land officials must be tickled pink with the success of Awesometown and how the term has entered the SCV vernacular SIGNAL
- Mother thought man arrested for molesting her boy was a “weird guy,” but gave him the benefit of the doubt because he was in her church. That and more details in the Signal’s thorough story SIGNAL
- New Sheriff’s Captain ran cold case and unsolved murder team. He also has run the LASD’s city contracting bureau SIGNAL
- The two giant Texas oil companies who are apparently funding a California ballot initiative to overturn our landmark Greenhouse Gas law are staying quiet about the issue says the NY TIMES
- State Senate bill would forbid cyclists from riding while using their cell phone. Streetsblog is upset but I say what’s good for the goose is good for the gander STREETSBLOG
- Leasing companies and owners are using the SCV’s 25% of vacant office space for film production SIGNAL
- The motorcyclist killed in Bouquet Canyon on Sunday was a 47 year old man from Northridge. The CHP says his motorcycle collided with a car but no one else was injured SIGNAL
- Los Angeles International airport and its “faded, cramped domestic terminal” is us, the people of “the United States of Deferred Maintenance,” writes Thomas Friedman
- I should have seen this coming: Roger Gitlin quotes from my round-up of last week’s Minuteman Rally. Let me just reply with the Bob Kellar defense. The quote is completely taken out of context. SIGNAL
- Speaking of that rally, blogger Blazing Monk has put together an interesting highlight video of the rally BLAZINGMONK
- A perfect storm of media, crime, and the City of Santa Clarita in Dave Bossert’s commentary this week WRB
- About that editorial last week that hinted at the existence of a “Crime is Rising!!1!” hit mailer by one of the Council challengers, the Signal says it messed up and didn’t mean to cause such a fuss. There is no mailer…yet the paper says SIGNAL
March 5, 2010 – Daily Brief (where to start edition)
Friday, March 5th, 2010
Awesometown shows its activist side by protesting against education cuts at CSUN. MAKE BOOKS NOT BOMBS! (image courtesy Daily Sundial)
- Seven candidates for City Council, including all three incumbents, were at a SCV Chamber luncheon yesterday to discuss and debate the issues. Of course illegal immigration was a topic and points to longshot Henry Shultz for calling it like it is at the SCV Chamber no less: “A lot of people here have probably used illegal labor. Sometimes they’re part of the labor pool you need to run a successful business, so it’s a trade-off. But a lot of people don’t want to admit that,” he said. More issues were discussed of course, Jonathan Randles has a good report SIGNAL
- 36,000 jobs were lost in February the Bureau of Labor Statistics says. It’s less than economists were expecting given winter storms over much of the country, but the slide continues. The unemployment rate holds at 9.7% NY TIMES
- Tens of thousands of students protest education cuts nationwide. In Oakland, students occupied a freeway, halting traffic for hours. In Los Angeles, UCLA students occupied the Chancellor’s office and CSUN students marched through the valley while a group of 2,000 downtown clogged traffic and slowed commuters. Even in Santa Clarita, some teachers protested education cuts in front of Sulphur Springs Schools. LA TIMES, KHTS , DAILY SUNDIAL
- Think community colleges are immune from the budget cuts? Want to save money while sending your student to COC? Think again. Per unit fees are set to rise from $26 to $40, for California’s community colleges according to the STOCKTON RECORD
- Instead of holding a “study session” on illegal immigration as it promised, the City of Santa Clarita is set to show support for a number of regressive and backwards anti-illegal immigration bills in Congress even as President Obama meets with Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat Charles Shumer to see if he can get an immigration reform bill passed by the election. LA TIMES, SIGNAL
- Sloan Canyon homeowners say they’ll sue to stop the Hart District from building Castaic High in their neighborhood and they have local power attorney Hunt Braly representing them SIGNAL
- So many individuals used the Santa Clarita winter homeless shelter this winter that the organization faces a $15,000 deficit the SIGNAL says
- Congressman Buck McKeon is “leading the charge” against integrating gays and lesbians in the United States military says a Huffington Post blogger HUFFPO
- GOP Senate hopefuls Carly Fiorina and Chuck DeVore will debate today. Tom Campbell aims to upset the balance LA TIMES
- Sheriff’s Deputies looking for 65 year old man who went missing while walking his dog. He suffers from Alzheimers and may be confused and distraught KHTS EDIT: He was found alive early this morning! Yay! KPCC
- College of the Canyons to host talk on same-sex marriage titled “Til Death Do Us Part : A Legal Perspective of Same Sex Marriage in the Golden State.” SIGNAL
- Signal gets a re-design. I like! The Eagle remind me of the screaming eagle on the Colbert Report. SIGNAL
- Los Angeles County releases Emergency Survival Guide WRB
- The SCV Moms Blog team are a hot property right now and soon they’ll have their own show on SCVTV SCVMOMSBLOG
- Santa Clarita Velo, the local cycling club and the guys who are helping to organize the Santa Clarita Century next month, have developed a new website. Check it out!
- Local businessman Rob Gardner starts a new blog and reflects on the Council candidate discussion yesterday. Finding that only two candidates inspired him, he says you should write him in when you vote SCV BLOGS
- Economics is the reason for illegal immigration LTE writer says
