- The Examiner reports that on the heels of the recent changes in the way San Francisco assigns students to different schools, the school board will now consider eliminating, adding, or changing the routes of the system's 44 school buses. The Committee on Student Assignment meets Wednesday at 6 p.m. at 555 Franklin Street.
Related:
-San Francisco Unified School District: Student Assignment Redesign - In Dave Newhouse's column in the Oakland Tribune, former Cal baseball players grumble about the school's recent decision to eliminate varsity baseball as part of its major cutback in athletics programs.
Related:
-No easy fixes for Cal athletics (Ann Killon, Sports Illustrated)
-Facebook: Save Cal Baseball - Not an October Surprise but potentially an October disaster could be in store for Meg Whitman as the California Dept. of Industrial Relations has scheduled an Oct. 20 date to hear Nicky Diaz Santillan's claim that Whitman owes her $6210 in unpaid wages and mileage costs. From Carla Marinucci in the Chronicle:
A spokeswoman for the agency said this week it will investigate the claim by contacting Whitman and performing an audit of payroll records before determining a course of action, which typically happens within 30 days...
We understand it's an informal process. Still, with the hearing scheduled for two weeks before the election, sources say Whitman is likely to exercise one key legal option here -- asking for a continuance of the procedure. Read the full article.
Related: How to file a wage claim (Cal. Dept of Industrial Relations)
- The Sacramento Bee reported yesterday that a former Master Sgt. with the California Army National Guard doled out to unqualified recipients up to $100 million in student loan repayments and bonuses used as recruiting incentives, according to an auditor-turned-whistleblower.
A Bee investigation – including a review of thousands of Guard documents gathered or prepared by auditors and other officials, and sworn statements from managers who replaced (Master Sgt. Toni) Jaffe – found evidence that from 2001 until last year Jaffe often provided improper or illegal bonuses and loan payments.
Documents show that her efforts were overlooked or ignored by recruiters and officers up the chain of command. Some recruiters appear to have benefited personally. The documents show that state Guard officials failed to fix the incentives program despite warning signs going back years...
Most student loan repayments, those documents show, were drawn from money designated for combat vets. Yet a large portion of those funds went to Guard members who hadn't served a day at war. Captains and majors were among those who auditors believe improperly benefited.
- Here's a chart listing the three types of violatings cited by an auditor.
- The Chronicle reports that ranked-choice voting, which allows voters to cast a ballot for multiple candidates in order of preference, has allowed Bay Area political candidates to claim media endorsements even though a newspaper has ranked them lower than first. Quote from Tim Redmond, executive editor of the San Francisco Bay Guardian:
"It amazes me when someone says they're endorsed by the Bay Guardian and don't mention they were the third choice," he said. "But there's nothing I can do but hope people check the newspaper."
- In light of recent polls showing Barbara Boxer driving a little daylight between her and Carly Fiorina in their bid for Boxer's Senate seat, Democrats may have been hoping for a GOP California surrender or at least a retreat. No such luck, reports Carolyn Lochhead in the Chronicle, as the National Republican Senatorial Committee will pump another $1 million into the race. As of last week, polling guru and N.Y. Times blogger Nate Silver, who has a scary-good track record, makes Boxer's odds of winning at 85.6 percent.
Related:
-Boxer-Fiorina first-debate video clips (Huffington Post)
-Full Boxer-Fiorina radio debate (Southern Calif. Public Radio)