5/23/2017 Ontario airport’s passenger traffic continues to ascend

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San Bernardino County Sun (http://www.sbsun.com)

Ontar io airpor t’s passenger traffic continues to ascend

By Liset Márquez, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

Monday, May 22, 2017

ONTARIO >> Passenger traffic figures at Ontario InternationalAirport continue to report a steady ascent.

For the first months, Ontario airport saw a 6.1 percent jump from 1.3million passengers in 2016 to 1.4 million in 2017, according to figuresreleased Monday by the Ontario International Airport Authority.

Air cargo freight continues to experience growth, with a 12 percentgrowth for the first four months, from 165,756 tons in 2016 to186,046 tons in 2017.

Looking at the month of April, 356,948 passengers travel in and out ofthe Inland facility versus the 344,467 in the same month the previous year, an increase of 3.6 percent.

There was a 17 percent increase in air cargo freight handled in April versus the same month last year.

URL: http://www.sbsun.com/business/20170522/ontario-airports-passenger-traffic-continues-to-ascend

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5/23/2017 Almost 1 million affordable homes needed for Southern California poor, report says

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San Bernardino County Sun (http://www.sbsun.com)

Almost 1 million affordable homes needed for Southern California poor, repor t says

By Jeff Collins, JeffCollins@scng.com, @RegJeffCollins on Twitter

Monday, May 22, 2017

A decline in government spending, rising rents and falling incomeshave created a shortage of nearly one million affordable homes in fiveSouthern California counties, the nonprofit California HousingPartnership Corp. reported Monday, May 22.

The five-county area needs 949,016 more affordable rentals to meetthe needs of families earning 50 percent or less of the medianhousehold income, the report said.

The report is the latest “housing needs” assessment by the CaliforniaHousing Partnership, a state-sponsored agency created to preserve affordable housing and advise leaders onhousing policies. The report includes policy recommendations, including support for proposed legislationdesigned to raise money low-income housing.

Earlier this month, the organization issued a similar report showing a shortage of more than 134,000 affordablehomes in four counties surrounding San Francisco: Alameda, San Mateo, Contra Costa and Sonoma counties.

Los Angeles County has Southern California’s steepest shortage: 551,807, the advocacy group reported. L.A.County’s shortfall increased by 8,500 rental units from 2016.

Orange County needs 109,965 more affordable units to meet the housing needs of its lowest-income families.The shortfall is 2,600 units higher this year.

Riverside County needs 66,209 more affordable units to meet its local low-income housing needs (down byabout 200 units from 2015, the latest year available); and San Bernardino County needs 78,983 more affordableunits to meet its shortfall (up by 15,000 from 2015, also the latest year available). San Diego County accountedfor the balance, with a shortage of 142,052 affordable units.

The report is based on an analysis of 2015 data by the National Low-Income Housing Coalition.

The shortage means the lowest-income families in the region are spending two-thirds or more of their monthlyincome on rent, with very little left over for food and other needs, the report said.

Rents have climbed between 28 percent in Orange and San Bernardino counties since 2000 and 32 percent inLos Angeles and Riverside counties in inflation-adjusted dollars, the report said. But real incomes after inflationhave gone down in the region between 3 percent and 9 percent.

At the same time, the elimination of redevelopment agencies in 2012 cut nearly $618 million in funding foraffordable housing each year, the report said. Together with expiring state housing bonds and federal aid cuts,affordable housing investment fell by $986 million a year from 2009 to 2016 in Los Angeles, Orange, Riversideand San Bernardino counties.

5/23/2017 Second key witness testifies about plea deal with prosecutors, Colonies juries hear

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San Bernardino County Sun (http://www.sbsun.com)

Second key witness testifies about plea deal with prosecutors, Colonies jur ies hear

By Richard K. De Atley, The Press-Enterprise

Monday, May 22, 2017

SAN BERNARDINO >> Former San Bernardino County AssistantAssessor Adam Aleman told jurors Monday in the Colonies briberytrial that, like his former boss Bill Postmus, he was testifying under aplea agreement with prosecutors.

Aleman, who followed Postmus to the witness stand, described underquestioning by Deputy Attorney General Melissa Mandel how hedestroyed a computer hard drive and altered records to thwart aninvestigation into corruption at the county Assessor’s Office afterPostmus was elected to that position in 2006.

“Mr. Aleman, you personally were involved in criminal activity while you were working for Mr. Postmus?”Mandel asked.

“Yes,” Aleman answered. He said he worked to cover up Postmus’ office as it became a hotbed of political-favor hires and work-rule violations, including political work done on county time.

Aleman described his decision to turn state’s evidence after his June 30, 2008 arrest, including making secretrecordings for District Attorney investigators.

He originally was cooperating for the Assessor’s Office investigation, but then volunteered allegations aboutColonies. Aleman said he was hoping for leniency in his case, and agreed with Mandel that no promises weremade to him at the outset.

Aleman and Postmus are the two key witnesses for the prosecution in the Colonies case, which alleges threecounty officials each allegedly took $100,000 in bribes from a developer to gain approval for a favorable $102million court settlement with developer Colonies Partners LP over flood control work at a 434-acre residentialand commercial development in Upland.

Defendants are former county Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin, Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum, a co-managing partner at Colonies Partners, former county Supervisor Paul Biane and Mark Kirk, the former chief ofstaff for county Supervisor Gary Ovitt.

All have denied any wrongdoing, saying the contributions that prosecutors call bribes were made as publicdonations to political action committees and were easily traceable online.

Aleman on Monday described in Judge Michael A. Smith’s San Bernardino courtroom his manipulation of oneof those political action committees a decade ago.

Postmus, he said, created two PACSs, each set up to receive $50,000 from Colonies Partners, in 2007. Thepublic filing documents, he told Mandel, did not connect the PACs to Postmus.

5/23/2017 Second key witness testifies about plea deal with prosecutors, Colonies juries hear

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One of them was the Inland Empire PAC, and its filing papers claimed it would be overseen by land developerand Postmus business associate Dino DeFazio.

Aleman told Mandel he created an email address for DeFazio and had it on his BlackBerry. He would sendemails as DeFazio to contract treasurer Betty Presley, he testified. In one case, Aleman testified he signedDeFazio’s name to a fax document.

As DeFazio, he requested a $12,000 check made out to the Biane for Supervisor campaign on March 1, 2007, hetold Mandel. The decision for the contribution actually came from Postmus, he testified.

Aleman told Mandel his BlackBerry had three email addresses on it -- his government address, his personaladdress, and the one he had created as the De Fazio email. Toggling between the three sometimes createdcomplications.

“Adam was helping me with my BlackBerry,” Aleman, posing as De Fazio, said in one email to excuse anearlier email that came from Aleman.

When he relayed one email that appeared to be directly from Postmus ordering some checks to be cut for variouscandidates, Aleman had to send a second email to Presley.

“These are me correcting the error because Dino De Fazio as the president or chairman of the committee neededto be the one to make the decision on who received the money,” Aleman testified.

“So this is you posing as Mr. DeFazio?” Mandel asked

“Yes, ma’am”

“With the intention of making Ms. Presley believe you were Mr. De Fazio?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Aleman pleaded no contest on June 30, 2009 to four felonies: vandalism over $400, two counts of theft,destruction, alteration or falsification of a public document, and presenting a false claim to a public board orofficer. He agreed to testify against the defendants at trial in exchange for his charges being reduced tomisdemeanors.

Postmus in March 2011 plead guilty to 10 felonies in connection with the Colonies corruption case and anunrelated corruption case in which he was convicted of abusing his elected position as county assessor forpolitical gain. He agreed to testify against the defendants in exchange for having some of the charges againsthim dropped.

Aleman’s half-day of testimony Monday in the five-month-old Colonies trial is the last for this week. The trialwill resume May 30 with Aleman still on the witness stand.

URL: http://www.sbsun.com/general-news/20170522/second-key-witness-testifies-about-plea-deal-with-prosecutors-colonies-juries-hear

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5/23/2017 Winter rains bring new wildfire dangers in Southern California - LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-wildfire-predictions-20170522-htmlstory.html 1/6

Looking at the data, what is this year’s outlook?

Q&A Winter rains bring new wildfire dangers inSouthern California

By Louis Sahagun

MAY 23, 2017, 3:00 AM

Richard Minnich didn’t have to go far on a recent weekday morning to find an immensefire hazard surrounding the resort town of Lake Arrowhead and nearby communities inthe San Bernardino Mountains.

Standing on a roadside pullout, Minnich eyed the culprit: a dense forest of pines andthickets that gives an alpine look to Lake Arrowhead. The site, historically known asLittle Bear Valley, is home to about 12,000 permanent residents and attracts summercrowds of up to 80,000.

The unbroken vista of lush green is the result of more than a century of fire suppression.Each time firefighters put out a small blaze, unburned brush and timber was left to fuelfuture fires.

“People here want to live . . . in the majesty of nature,” Minnich, a fire ecologist at UCRiverside, said with a sigh. “But the forest all around them is ripe for a massive fire thatis going to wipe it out and take thousands of homes nestled in the woods along with it.”

Minnich, 71, forecasts the probability of fire risks throughout Southern California basedon meteorological and historical records, aerial photographs and ecological studies.

With the long Memorial Day weekend approaching, The Times grabbed a stump andlistened to Minnich’s predictions for Southern California’s 2017 fire season.

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5/23/2017 Winter rains bring new wildfire dangers in Southern California - LA Times

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Why are you so edgy about Lake Arrowhead?

Wet winter increases the risk for early fires in grassy hillsides, followed by postponedchaparral and forest fires in areas that have not burned for more than a century.

Lake Arrowhead has not burned since 1879. So, the thick forest of old pines toweringover thickets of younger trees and chaparral there is capable of burning the entire forestto the tree tops. This is what happened in a San Gorgonio Mountain fire in 2015, wherenearly 10,000 acres were charred, leaving a massive gap in the forest that will persistfor a century or longer.

Areas with extreme forest fire danger in the San Bernardino Mountains. (Richard Minnich)

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5/23/2017 Winter rains bring new wildfire dangers in Southern California - LA Times

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Didn’t our recent heavy winter rains make trees and brush lessflammable?

Which areas face the greatest risk for forest fires?

Yes, up to a point.

The overall fire hazard varies year by year, depending on winter rainfall. For example,the onset of fire season comes later in summer and fall after a wet winter, and arrivesearlier in spring and summer after dry winters like the ones we had during the recentfive-year drought.

Regardless of rainfall, however, the fire hazard in a specific region is defined by its firehistory and the effect it has had on the landscape.

That’s because fires preferentially burn old chaparral and conifers. Hence, the oldeststands of trees are always the next in line to burn.

I’m most concerned about communities in pine forests that haven’t burned since the

19th century: Big Bear Lake and Lake Arrowhead in the eastern San BernardinoMountains, and Idyllwild in the San Jacinto Mountains.

These areas have hundreds of trees per acre with trunks more than 4 inches in diameterand an understory of young conifers and brush. By way of comparison, a healthy, saferforest has about 13 such trees per acre.

“The oldest stands of trees are always the

next in line to burn.— Richard Minnich, fire ecologist at UC Riverside

In the event of a fire, the heavy understory will create what foresters call a “fuel ladder”that sends flames climbing up into the canopy, triggering a massive blaze.Plan your retirement wisely2 months free! Sale ends 5/25 TRY NOW ›

5/23/2017 Winter rains bring new wildfire dangers in Southern California - LA Times

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What about the intersections where open grasslands and the suburbsclash head­on?

Where is the risk of wildfires lowest?

Also worrisome are stands of chaparral blanketing the San Bernardino Mountains eastof Redlands, which haven’t burned in 60 to 120 years. This situation predicts futureburns in those areas for decades to come.

Grass that flourished on hillsides during the rains is already drying out and becomingkindling for extensive and frequent fires in places such as the Perris Basin in RiversideCounty, the Puente Hills-La Habra Heights area in eastern Los Angeles County, and therolling hills of the northern San Fernando Valley.

The good news is that if the grass doesn’t burn this summer, it will break down in thenext winter rains.

Helicopter drops water on forest fire in Duarte, Calif., on June 20, 2016 (Allen Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

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5/23/2017 Winter rains bring new wildfire dangers in Southern California - LA Times

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Should firefighters just give up, knowing that fire is inevitable inforests of old trees towering over thickets?

Support our journalism

Copyright © 2017, Los Angeles Times

Areas that have less risk already burned fires over the past 10 to 20 years. They includemuch of the chaparral in the western San Bernardino Mountains and most of the SanGabriel Mountains, with the exception of the Sierra Madre and Mount Wilson areas,which haven’t burned since 1924.

Here’s the ecological bottom line: The more burns in a given forested area, the smallerand more manageable fires will be there in the future.

Already a subscriber? Thank you for your support. If you are not, please

consider subscribing today. Get full access to our signature journalism for

just 99 cents for the first four weeks.

louis.sahagun@latimes.com

Twitter: @LouisSahagun

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5/23/2017 Air quality suffers as smog and fire seasons start in Southern California – Press Enterprise

http://www.pe.com/2017/05/22/air-quality-suffers-as-smog-and-fire-seasons-start-in-southern-california/ 1/7

By BEATRIZ E. VALENZUELA and ALI TADAYON |atadayon@scng.com |PUBLISHED: May 22, 2017 at 6:53 pm | UPDATED: May 22, 2017 at 7:17 pm

Redlands Fire Department and Cal Fire fight a brush fire near the 210 Freeway andeast of Palm Ave., in Redlands, Ca., Sunday, May 21, 2017. (Photo by JohnValenzuela, The Facts/SCNG)

If you noticed something in the air Monday, you weren’t imagining things.

NEWS

Air quality suffers as smog andre seasons start in Southern

California

5/23/2017 Air quality suffers as smog and fire seasons start in Southern California – Press Enterprise

http://www.pe.com/2017/05/22/air-quality-suffers-as-smog-and-fire-seasons-start-in-southern-california/ 2/7

Smoky classrooms

Smog season, and 툁re season, have begun, contributing to potentially unhealthy

air quality across parts of the Inland Empire.

A 툁re that burned about 13 acres in the Santa Ana River bottom near the

Redlands-Highland border Sunday, and continued smoldering Monday, put out

enough smoke to affect several schools in the San Bernardino area.

Dr. Cameron Nouri, emergency medicine director at Community Hospital of San

Bernardino, said the facility had more asthma patients Monday than he’s seen in

weeks.

Another 툁re at the south end of Reche Canyon near Moreno Valley charred 35

acres Sunday, fueled by tall grasses, a prime concern of 툁re of툁cials this year

following a drought-busting rainy season.

Related: How will rainy winter affect 툁re season? More summer grass 툁res,

of툁cials predict

But Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department spokeswoman Jody Hagemann

didn’t think that 툁re would have affected air quality Monday because it burned

out Sunday evening and the wind since then fanned out the smoke.

San Bernardino County Fire Department spokeswoman Tracey Martinez said the

agency responded to more than a dozen calls for vegetation 툁res Sunday and

Monday.

“It was de툁nitely a busy weekend, but it’s going to get worse as it heats up and the

vegetation starts drying out,” Martinez said.

The upcoming Memorial Day weekend and the outdoor barbecues that go along

with it are another concern for 툁re authorities, who remind people to be vigilant

in containing their open-ퟏame cooking 툁res.

“We want people to know to be careful,” Cal Fire Capt. Liz Brown said. “We are

going to have a lot of these quick pop-up 툁res, but when the winds start, they can

get worse.”

Several schools on the west side of San Bernardino were affected by smoke that

blew into the city, according to the San Bernardino City Uni툁ed School District

Of툁ce of Safety & Emergency Management.

5/23/2017 Air quality suffers as smog and fire seasons start in Southern California – Press Enterprise

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Ozone in the air

Used syringes hamper re ghters

Most of the reports involved a smoky smell in some classrooms, but as soon as the

툁ltered air conditioners — which are turned off over the weekend — began

running, the smoke dissipated, said Eric Vetere, the district’s safety and

emergency manager.

“We sent out two alerts to the schools to keep them up to date on heat and air

quality,” he said.

The district advised school of툁cials to keep students inside if things got worse and

limit strenuous activity. It was up to each school to decide what actions to

take, Vetere said.

The Redlands Uni툁ed School District “carefully monitored” the South Coast Air

Quality Management District website Monday because of the 툁res, of툁cials said in

an evening statement.

Colton Joint Uni툁ed School District did not put out any alerts Monday, a

spokeswoman said.

The Air Quality Management District tracks air quality across Southern

California.

Its forecast for Tuesday predicts that ozone air pollution will be unhealthy for

sensitive groups, such as those with respiratory or cardiac conditions, in eastern

and central San Bernardino, and moderate or good in the rest of the Inland area.

Ozone is the hallmark pollutant of summer smog. It forms when different kinds

of pollutants react with each other in the atmosphere. Smog season lasts through

September.

So far this year, Southern California failed to meet the federal health standard for

ozone during 26 days — three more days than last year at this time of the year,

according to state data.

Fire툁ghters battling Sunday’s Redlands blaze found an illegal medical waste

dump that included used needles, which prevented crews from entering the area,

the Redlands Fire Department said via Facebook.

5/23/2017 Air quality suffers as smog and fire seasons start in Southern California – Press Enterprise

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Tall grasses fuel re

The 툁re was reported about 1:50 p.m. just north of the 210/10 interchange. The

210 was soon shut down in both directions between San Bernardino Avenue and

5th Street because of the smoke billowing across the highway and the

large 툁re툁ghting response.

The ퟏames crept toward the eastbound side’s guardrail, then jumped the freeway

about 3 p.m., but soon aퟁer 툁re툁ghters began to get a good handle on it. Freeway

lanes were gradually opened through the aퟁernoon and evening.

Despite the safety hindrance posed by the syringes, crews got the 툁re 100 percent

contained. Within the containment lines, however, the 툁re was still burning

Monday.

An investigation into the dumping cannot be launched until the ퟏames are

completely out, said Redlands spokesman Carl Baker.

The cause of the 툁re also is under investigation. Battalion Chief David Graves said

Sunday that the blaze started near several homeless encampments, and was likely

human-caused. “There are really no natural ignition sources out there,” he said.

High temperatures, low relative humidity and tall, dry grass helped fuel the Reche

Canyon 툁re, which started about 4 p.m. Sunday near the northern border of

Moreno Valley.

It spread rapidly up a hill and immediately threatened one home, Cal

Fire/Riverside County Fire Department Battalion Chief Josh Janssen said.

Fire툁ghters attacked “aggressively” with ground crews and air tankers, which

dropped retardant on the threatened house and saved it from the ퟏames.

Fire툁ghters also stopped the 툁re before it burned over a ridge where 12 more

houses were located, Janssen said. The 툁re was fully contained about 10 p.m.

Janssen said the tall grass that grew in abundance this winter and early spring

will likely become a 툁re hazard as conditions get hot and dry.

“We have far more grasses than we have had in the last 툁ve years,” he said. “That

is a very receptive area to 툁re.”

Janssen urges people living in grassy areas to be mindful of the potential wild툁re

threat, and to mow lawns and use weed whackers early in the morning to reduce

the risk that could be posed by any sparks.

5/23/2017 Trump’s Budget Seeks Cuts to Taxes, Safety-Net Programs - WSJ

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-budget-seeks-cuts-to-taxes-safety-net-programs-1495501200 1/6

President Donald Trump on Tuesday will propose a plan he says will balance the federalbudget in a decade on the strength of substantially faster economic growth and cuts totaxes and government safety-net programs.

Programs that would see dramatic cuts include Medicaid, food stamps, disabilitybenefits, welfare and student loans. The White House says the planned tax cuts cangenerate more revenue for the government rather than reduce it.

Mr. Trump’s budget proposal—the clearest window yet into the new president’sexpectations and priorities—now goes to Congress, which will decide whether to turnthe vision into reality. It is sure to face a difficult road on Capitol Hill, despiteRepublican control, given competing factions within the GOP and the near certainty ofblowback from Democrats.

“It’ll face a tough sled over here,” Rep. Hal Rogers (R., Ky.), a former chairman of theHouse Appropriations Committee, said of the Trump budget.

Budget director Mick Mulvaney, briefing reporters on Monday, described how Mr.Trump arrived at the blueprint, personally going over proposed cuts line by line anddelivering a verdict: “Yes” or “No.”

Mr. Trump himself won’t be on hand to sell the plan in Washington. He is on his maidenoverseas trip as president, traveling through the Middle East and Europe.

“I can’t remember a major budget submission that wasn’t scheduled around apresidential availability and the president using it as an opportunity to drive hismessage forward,” said Jason Furman, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers visithttp://www.djreprints.com.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-budget-seeks-cuts-to-taxes-safety-net-programs-1495501200

POLITICS

Trump’s Budget Seeks Cuts to Taxes,Safety-Net ProgramsPlan would reduce spending by $4.5 trillion, including cuts to Medicaid, food stamps, welfareand student loans

The White House says the planned tax cuts can generate more revenue for the government rather than reduce it. Above,copies of the 2018 budget. PHOTO: JIM LO SCALZO/EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY

Updated May 22, 2017 9:16 p.m. ETBy Peter Nicholas, Kate Davidson and Nick Timiraos

5/23/2017 Trump’s Budget Seeks Cuts to Taxes, Safety-Net Programs - WSJ

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-budget-seeks-cuts-to-taxes-safety-net-programs-1495501200 2/6

International Economics anda former top Obamaadministration economicadviser.

The budget would cut overallspending by $4.5 trillion overa decade. That includesreductions to decades-oldsafety-net programs mostidentified with LyndonJohnson’s Great Society pushof the 1960s. Those cuts wouldmore than offset a short-termboost in funding to themilitary, $200 billion on

infrastructure investment and $19 billion on a new parental leave program.

Among the reductions, the president’s budget proposes $250 billion in saving over adecade through the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act, President BarackObama’s signature legislative policy. Those savings would come largely throughreductions to Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for low-incomepeople. Other unspecified reforms to Medicaid and the federal Children’s HealthInsurance Program would shave another $616 billion from government spendingthrough 2027.

As a candidate, Mr. Trumppromised not to cut Medicaid.Asked about that pledge, Mr.Mulvaney said that much of theMedicaid cuts spring fromchanges included in the health-care overhaul that has passedthe House and which Mr.Trump favors.

“It probably is the most conservative budget that we’ve had under a Republican orDemocrat administration in decades,” said Rep. Mark Meadows (R., N.C.), chairman ofthe House Freedom Caucus, a group of roughly three-dozen conservative House GOPlawmakers.

Some budget analysts said Republicans mayresist spending cuts for safety-net programs,particularly as they pursue tax cuts thatwould lower rates for businesses and high-income households.

“Politically that is extremely difficult,” saidWilliam Hoagland, a former congressionalRepublican budget aide who is now at theBipartisan Policy Center in Washington.“You’re talking about tax reform that wouldappear on the face of it to benefit the upper-income brackets while you’re reducingsupport to the lower-income groups.”

Underlying the plan to eliminate the budget deficit, the White House is projecting adecade of rosy economic conditions—3% growth, steady inflation of 2%, the jobless raterising slightly to 4.8% and modest interest rate increase—the kind of environment thatwould typically go in hand with strong worker productivity growth and a pickup in thelabor force.

Impact of the Trump BudgetClick to see more graphics on the proposed budget

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White House Budget Proposal to Kick Off Next Fiscal Fight

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5/23/2017 Trump’s Budget Seeks Cuts to Taxes, Safety-Net Programs - WSJ

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“The ugly truth is this: You can never balance the budget at 1.9% growth,” Mr. Mulvaneysaid. “It’s just not going to happen.”

One big question is whether much faster growth is achievable; the U.S. is already nearlyeight years into an economic expansion with a low unemployment rate of 4.4% and theFederal Reserve raising short-term interest rates, which tends to curb growth. Noexpansion in history has lasted longer than 10 years. Moreover the economy has beenheld back by slow productivity growth and declining labor-force participation as thebaby boom generation retires.

The Fed projects the economy will grow at a 1.8% annual rate in the coming years andthe Congressional Budget Office projects 1.9% growth.

The administration is counting on tax and regulatory changes to stimulate growth.Faster growth, in turn, is projected to help reduce demand for safety-net programs suchas food stamps and welfare.

Taken together with aggressive spending cuts the Trump administration says it canbalance the budget by reducing outlays by $4.5 trillion over 10 years and increasingrevenues—even with cuts in tax rates—by $1 trillion. Republicans have yet to coalescearound a common plan for cutting corporate and individual tax rates and faceprocedural hurdles to advancing a program, leaving the tax strategy a work in process.

At Mr. Trump’s direction, the budget includes no cuts to the most popular entitlementprograms: Medicare and Social Security’s retirement insurance program, Mr. Mulvaneysaid.

The president’s budget would impose new work requirements for able-bodiedindividuals to participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, alsoknown as food stamps. It would also phase in a requirement that states match federalfunding for the program, changes aimed at saving roughly $193 billion over the comingdecade. In the recession triggered by the financial collapse in 2008 as many as 47 millionpeople used the food-stamp program. That number has dropped by about three millionas the economy has gradually recovered.

The budget would also limit eligibility for the earned-income tax credit and the child taxcredit, trimming $40 billion of spending over the next 10 years, and would slash fundingfor disability insurance by $72 billion. Other spending cuts include $143 billion fromchanges to student-loan programs, $63 billion in reduced retirement benefits for federalemployees, and $38 billion to curb certain farm subsidies.

Nondefense spending as a share of the economy would fall to just 1.5% by the end of thenext decade, well below the lowest level in records going back to 1962.

“There’s a certain philosophy wrapped up in the budget,” Mr. Mulvaney said. “And thatis we are no longer going to measure compassion by the number of programs and thenumber of people on those programs. We’re going to measure compassion and successby the number of people we helped get off those programs and get back in charge of theirown lives.”

—Kristina Peterson contributed to this article.

Write to Peter Nicholas at peter.nicholas@wsj.com, Kate Davidson atkate.davidson@wsj.com and Nick Timiraos at nick.timiraos@wsj.com

Appeared in the May. 23, 2017, print edition as 'Budget Aims To Cut Taxes, Programs.'

5/23/2017 Trump’s Budget Seeks Cuts to Taxes, Safety-Net Programs - WSJ

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-budget-seeks-cuts-to-taxes-safety-net-programs-1495501200 5/6

5/23/2017 Trump’s Budget Seeks Cuts to Taxes, Safety-Net Programs - WSJ

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Copyright ©2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers visithttp://www.djreprints.com.

5/22/2017 Governor Brown Appoints Two to San Bernardino County Superior Court - Highland Community News: Crime/Fire

http://www.highlandnews.net/news/crime_and_fire/governor-brown-appoints-two-to-san-bernardino-county-superior-court/article_7d0a060e-3f41-11e7-b10b-8b… 1/1

Governor Brown Appoints Two to San BernardinoCounty Superior CourtPosted: Monday, May 22, 2017 3:53 pm

SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. todayannounced the appointment of Winston S. Keh and AntoineF. Raphael to judgeships in the San Bernardino CountySuperior Court.

Keh, 54, of Stevenson Ranch, has served as a commissionerat the San Bernardino County Superior Court since 2015. Hewas senior litigation attorney at Tharpe and Howell LLP in2015, senior counsel at Diederich and Associates from 2012to 2015 and an associate at R. Rex Parris Law Firm in 2012.Keh was a partner at Murphy, Pearson, Bradley and Feeneyfrom 2008 to 2012, senior litigation attorney at SelmanBreitman LLP from 2004 to 2008, where he was an associatefrom 2001 to 2003, and an associate at Weston Herzog in2005 and at Rapkin, Gitlin and Beaumont from 2003 to2004. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University ofLa Verne College of Law and a Bachelor of Science degreefrom the University of West Los Angeles. Keh fills thevacancy created by the retirement of Judge Joseph R. Brisco. He is a Republican.

Raphael, 47, of Chino Hills, has been a sole practitioner since 2014. He served as an Assistant U.S.Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California from 2003 to 2013 and as a law clerkfor the Honorable Lourdes G. Baird at the U.S. District Court, Central District of California from 2002 to2003. Raphael was an associate at Sidley and Austin LLP from 2001 to 2002. He earned a Juris Doctordegree from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles and a Bachelor of Science degree from Cal Poly, Pomona.Raphael fills the vacancy created by the elevation of Judge Marsha G. Slough to the Court of Appeal. He isa Democrat.

The compensation for each of these positions is $191,612.

Antoine Raphael

5/23/2017 Cal State San Bernardino rocked by allegations of racism during leadership fight

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San Bernardino County Sun (http://www.sbsun.com)

Cal State San Bernardino rocked by allegations of racism dur ing leadership fight

By Mark Muckenfuss, The Press-Enterprise

Monday, May 22, 2017

SAN BERNARDINO >> Charges of racism in the conflict betweenCal State San Bernardino President Tomás Morales and theuniversity’s faculty senate escalated over the weekend as a long-timefaculty member jumped into the fray.

Faculty senate members voted May 9 to pass a no-confidenceresolution on Morales’ leadership, saying he had failed to addressserious concerns on campus during the past year. The resolution calledfor a campus-wide no-confidence referendum, which will be voted onby full-time faculty members this week.

Some supporters of Morales, who has been president since 2012, sayhe’s being held to a higher standard because he is Latino. The studentpopulation of the campus is majority Latino.

Enrique Murillo, a professor of education at the school for 18 years,said he thinks if Morales was white, the campus would be giving himmore time and leeway to address its problems. In an open letter to hiscolleagues, Murillo blasted the actions of the faculty senate and raisedhis concerns about how race plays into the current conflict.

“Just in the last couple of weeks, members of, or apologists of the clique,” Murillo wrote, referring to what hebelieves is a small group of faculty members driving the no-confidence vote, “have chimed in, criticizing mybold messages for ‘dividing the campus along racial lines,’ apparently ignoring evidence that our campus wasalready divided. I also was called a troll, a bigot, a sexist; all but left unsaid was a ‘you damn Mexican.’”

Murillo said he thinks Cal State San Bernardino has “improved tremendously” over the past decade when itcomes to racism. He recalled being dressed in a suit on his first day on campus and having a white facultymember approach him in the dining area. The professor asked why the food he’d ordered hadn’t been deliveredto his table.

Murillo believes racism still persists on campus in “small pockets.” One of which he believes is the facultysenate. He even warned his colleagues of potential subterfuge.

“They are even capable of ballot stuffing and fraud,” he wrote.

Murillo said his statement was conjecture.

“I don’t have evidence of that,” he said, “But they’re willing to stoop to any means.”

Karen Kolehmainen, president of the faculty senate, said the racial issue is further separating an already dividedcampus. She said she has refrained from responding to such comments, but that “it’s very difficult to stay quiet

5/23/2017 Cal State San Bernardino rocked by allegations of racism during leadership fight

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in the face of such accusations.”

English professor Jim Brown has been at the campus for 30 years. He said neither he nor the students he haspolled — many of whom are minorities — feel racism is a problem on campus. He said he’s never seen the kindof division the campus faculty is experiencing.

“The place is going crazy. It really is,” Brown said.

And the tenor has changed.

“This is the first time the race card has been pulled and played,” he said. “It’s just a way of defending Morales.The charges of racism are entirely bogus.”

URL: http://www.sbsun.com/social-affairs/20170522/cal-state-san-bernardino-rocked-by-allegations-of-racism-during-leadership-fight

© 2017 San Bernardino County Sun (http://www.sbsun.com)

5/22/2017 How this San Bernardino Valley pioneer became known for his orange production

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San Bernardino County Sun (http://www.sbsun.com)

How this San Bernardino Valley pioneer became known for his orange production

By Nicholas R. Cataldo

Monday, May 22, 2017

Of all the noteworthy pioneers who operated in and around the SanBernardino Valley during the second half of the 19th century, fewaccomplished more for the benefit of the area than Anson VanLeuven. A man of many talents — San Bernardino County sheriff,Deputy U.S. Marshal, state representative, rancher and citrus grower— he seemed to be involved in everything.

Born in Camden, Canada on October 16, 1829, and soon afterwardsmoving with his family to Illinois and Missouri, Anson was 24 yearsold when he and his brother, Lewis, came to San Bernardino in 1853.The following year, Anson’s father, Benjamin (along with his wife andsix younger children) and uncle, Frederick (including his wife and 10children) arrived in town. Within a couple years, the two families

bought up acreage a few miles east of town in what was known as “Old San Bernardino” (today’s Loma Linda)and settled along the banks of the Mill Creek Zanja — an old irrigation ditch dug out by Serrano and CahuillaIndians under the supervision of Pedro Alvarez and Chief Solano, in 1820, which brought water from Mill CreekCanyon along Cottonwood Row (now called Mission Road) to the San Gabriel Mission Rancho.

Anson Van Leuven became “the” pioneer orange grower in the San Bernardino Valley in 1857 when he broughta few seedling trees from William Wolfskill in Los Angeles, who had previously started Southern California’sfirst orange grove in 1841, and planted them on his ranch on the east side of today’s Mountain View Avenuenear Cottonwood Row.

His first crop amounted to only 20 oranges in 1861, but they were such a novelty that residents hitched up anddrove for miles just to see them growing in “Old San Bernardino.” Van Leuven sold his “crop” for 50 cents eachand planted four acres in 1862.

Meanwhile, he became actively involved with civic affairs. During its first 10 years, from 1853 to 1863, SanBernardino County had 10 sheriffs. The sixth of these — and the third to serve in the calendar year of 1860 —was Van Leuven.

His two-year term coincided with a period of high anxiety as secessionist sentiment ran high and the Civil Warwas heating up. The gold strike in the San Bernardino Mountains at Holcomb Valley seemed to be a breedingground for ruffians who occasionally ventured down into San Bernardino, causing him a lot of grief.

One such encounter with the “rowdy element” occurred in 1861, when Van Leuven led a posse of 17 men intothe Mojave Desert in search of two fugitive horse thieves — Lot Huntington and William Alma (Al) Williams— who had been stealing livestock and threatening vengeance against anyone who resisted the gang of rustlers.

While en route to the outlaws’ location, an argument broke out amongst the posse members and boiled over intoa gunfight. Four of the members were shot, two sustaining wounds so seriously that Van Leuven had to call offthe manhunt and return to San Bernardino to have the wounded tended to.

5/22/2017 How this San Bernardino Valley pioneer became known for his orange production

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On January 14, 1863, Van Leuven, who was finishing up a stint as Deputy U.S. Marshal, married ElizabethRobinson.

While making their home on the 80-acre spread, Anson and Elizabeth eventually became the parents of fivechildren, Myron Franklin, born November 25, 1863; Sarah, born June 8, 1865; Byron, born April 2, 1869;Henry, born April 21, 1871; and Maude, born March 2, 1883.

Also in 1863, Van Leuven, a staunch Republican and loyal to the Union, was elected to represent SanBernardino County in the California Legislature, and as a member of the Lower House provided a record ofservice in the General Assembly the following year.

In 1865, Van Leuven retired from political and civic affairs, so he could devote more time to devote to hisorange trees.

His first orange grove, which was planted in 1862, bore fruit in 1867 — thus crediting him with the first grove tobear oranges within the borders of San Bernardino County.

In December of 1868, Van Leuven’s house and wine cellar (which included 1,260 gallons of wine and a largequantity of fruit) were destroyed in a fire. But while plans were being made to build a new home, his orangeproduction continued to thrive… big time.

In 1873, the San Bernardino Argus boasted:

We are well acquainted with orange culture, from personal observation, in every section of the United States andCuba, and we have never seen anything that can compare with those raised in Old San Bernardino.

It was not long before orange growing spread to other parts of the valley. Lewis Cram planted a grove in what isnow East Highlands and Colonel William R. Tolles planted seeds that grew into his early day orchard at Crafton.But Van Leuven’s oranges seemed to get the all of the attention.

In 1876, Judge W.D. Frazee mentioned in “San Bernardino County: Its Climate and Resources”, published in theSan Bernardino Argus:

The finest oranges we have ever seen, grew at Old San Bernardino; they were brought us a dozen of a brightgolden yellow, the largest one weighed about a pound and a quarter… Mr. Van Leuven has gathered more than1,500 oranges from a single tree, and sold them at $5.00 a hundred. … (Van Leuven) weighed twelve orangesoff of his trees that weighed eleven and a half pounds.

He would enjoy the “fruits” of his orange production for the next two decades. After suffering from a stroke,Van Leuven died on May 23, 1896, at the age of 66.

His rebuilt home — a huge two-story, clay brick mansion — was completed in 1874 and still stands today at10664 Mt. View Avenue.

You can contact Nick Cataldo at Yankeenut15@gmail.com and read more of his local history articles atFacebook.com/BackRoadsPress.

URL: http://www.sbsun.com/business/20170522/how-this-san-bernardino-valley-pioneer-became-known-for-his-orange-production

© 2017 San Bernardino County Sun (http://www.sbsun.com)

http://voiceofoc.org/2017/05/homelessness-and-poverty-keep-growing-in-orange-county-studies-find/ 1/4

JEFF ANTENORE, Voice of OC ContributingPhotographer

Mariestelle Olague, who lives in the homelessencampment along the Santa Ana River inAnaheim, sets up her tent again after cleaning itout on Wednesday, May 17, 2017.

NICK GRDA (HTTP://VOICOFOC.ORG/AUTHOR/NGRDA/) h (HTTP://TWITTR.COM/NICHOLAGRDA) Ma 19, 2017

More and more Orange County residents are struggling to a. ord rising housing costs and end up livingon the streets, according to new reports from public agencies and nonproែts.

韊e two studies, both of which were overseen by the county government, conែrmed a series of troublingtrends.

韊ere’s been a 54-percent increase in homeless people living on the streets in the past four years,according to data released last week from the county’s Point in Time count. From January 2013 to thisJanuary, the count of “unsheltered” homeless people grew from 1,678 to 2,584(http://www.ocgov.com/civicax/ែlebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=64596) . Organizers of the count said the actualnumber of homeless people on the streets is almost certainly higher, because the count’s volunteers aren’table to cover the whole county.

And the region’s shortage of homes, paired with stagnant employee wages, has fueled a housing crisis thatis pushing families into poverty and homelessness, according to the 2017 Community Indicators Report(http://occhildrenandfamilies.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/OCCIR_2017_web.pdf ) .

(Recommended reading: Memorial service in homeless encampment remembers 18-year-old woman(http://voiceofoc.org/2017/05/memorial-service-in-homeless-encampment-remembers-18-year-old-woman/) .)

If this isn’t addressed, through bringing earnings up or costs down, the result will be “a persistent andgrowing underclass,” the indicators report states.

“It’s a struggle for the workforce to [aord] housing,” said Susan Price, who oversees the county’shomeless services as its director of care coordination, in an interview.

Many people in the county have income and other ែnancial beneែts, she added, but “that is not asustainable income for [our] housing market,” she added.

“Certainly there’s a sense in our communities that there’s an increase in homelessness.”

She emphasized the importance of collaboration by everyone, including leaders in county government,cities, business, advocates, and nonproែts.

Homelene and Povert KeepGrowing in Orange Count, tudieFind

COUNTYWID

http://voiceofoc.org/2017/05/homelessness-and-poverty-keep-growing-in-orange-county-studies-find/ 2/4

“韊ere’s room for everyone at the table, and that’s my message to the community, [which] is get involvedand start working on the solutions,” said Price.

According to the indicators report (http://occhildrenandfamilies.com/wp-

content/uploads/2014/12/OCCIR_2017_web.pdf ) , a household needs to earn $27.62 per hour to be able to renta median-priced one-bedroom housing unit. But 68 percent of jobs in OC pay less than that, with themedian hourly wage being $19.12, according to the report.

“To support the workforce, there must be enough housing at diverse price points to meet workers’needs,” the report states.

“As Orange County competes with less costly communities that have adequate housing and job growth,it will become harder to retain or attract a skilled workforce. If housing and rental markets remainundersupplied, residents with lower-paying jobs will continue to be priced out of the market.”

“For those with low-paying service jobs, overcrowding and homelessness will continue to grow,perpetuating a persistent and growing underclass with diminished opportunity for personaladvancement.”

January’s point in time census counted a total of 4,792 homeless people across Orange County(http://www.ocgov.com/civicax/ែlebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=64596) , when including people who are in sheltersand those who are not.

韊e vast majority of unsheltered homeless people – 89 percent – live in north and central OrangeCounty, according to the ែgures, though 289 unsheltered homeless people were counted in SouthCounty.

韊e new annual estimate of the number of people who are homeless at some point each year in OrangeCounty – which was over 15,000 in 2015 – hasn’t yet been released.

韊ere appears to be a growing consensus about what’s needed to help chornically homeless people get oof the streets – while also saving taxpayer dollars.

“Certainly housing is the period at the end of the sentence on solving homelessness…It’s health andhousing,” said Price, who added there also is a need for specialized housing like recuperative care, mentalhealth crisis stabilization units, and drug detox centers.

A recent cost study by UC Irvine researchers found that housing with health and support services – known as permanent supportive housing – actually saves money for the public, mostly because of majorreductions in emergency room visits that the public is currently paying for.

In Orange County, the public currently pays an average of $85,000 per year for each chronicallyhomeless person living on the streets or in a shelter, according to UC Irvine sociology professor DavidSnow.

But when they’re in permanent supportive housing, that total cost to the public drops to an average of$51,000 per person – a reduction of over $30,000. And the outcomes are better for the homeless person,with signiែcant drops in emergency hospitalizations, arrests, and tickets.

“韊ere’s a decline in uses of services across the board, once people are housed,” Snow said during apresentation about his research last week.

http://voiceofoc.org/2017/05/homelessness-and-poverty-keep-growing-in-orange-county-studies-find/ 3/4

韊e savings become even more dramatic when it comes to the most costly 10 percent of homeless people.

“In each case, you’re talking about an over $300,000 reduction on cost if these folks can be housed withsome kind of wrap-around support,” Snow said.

Expansion of permanent supportive housing has support from local leaders.

Asked at the Irvine meeting if they supported a plan to create a housing trust fund to expand permanentsupportive housing and identify the source of money to ែnance it, Max Gardner, the outgoing head ofOrange County United Way, said “generally I think it’s an excellent idea.”

Added Karen Williams, president and CEO of 2-1-1 Orange County, “I think absolutely it’s one of thepieces of the puzzle.”

韊is type of housing already is happening in Orange County, albeit on a relatively small scale.

韊e Irvine-based Illumination Foundation has gone directly to a health foundation(http://www.unihealthfoundation.org/) to fund a permanent supportive housing program, known asStreet2Home, for 108 of the most-expensive homeless utilizers of hospitals.

A similar pilot program has housed about three dozen homeless people in recent years, while savingmillions of dollars even when including the program’s costs, according to Paul Leon, president and CEOof the Illumination Foundation.

http://voiceofoc.org/2017/05/homelessness-and-poverty-keep-growing-in-orange-county-studies-find/ 4/4

“Since January, we’ve housed about 160 people,” said Leon. “To us, it’s a race to try to get more availablehousing…We’re renovating places as fast as we can.”

Another program, Whole Person Care, which is overseen by the county (http://voiceofoc.org/2017/03/orange-

county-allocates-33-million-to-whole-person-care-program/) and funded mainly through state and federal dollars, hasa goal of housing 1,000 people in Orange County, he added.

“We’re really excited,” Leon said. “If cities would jump in, and the Board of Supervisors, with additionalfunding (and land), eventually we’re gonna cross over.”

None of the ែve county supervisors returned calls to discuss the issue.

“We are dedicated in our cooperation with city governments, local agencies, non-proែts, and localcommunities to reduce the number of homeless individuals as well as [ែnding] feasible solutions to endhomelessness and increase the quality of life for all residents,” said supervisors’ Chairwoman MichelleSteel in an email statement.

At least one county supervisor has shown support for expanded housing.

“If you don’t have a way to process people out [of homelessness], it’s just a band-aid approach,”Supervisor Andrew Do said in December at a meeting of the county’s commission to end homelessness.“Now we’re going to have to think about some kind of housing.”

Nick Gerda covers county government and Santa Ana for Voice of OC. You can contact himat ngerda@voiceofoc.org (mailto:ngerda@voiceofoc.org) .

5/23/2017 San Diego Wants to Go From Cacophony to One Voice on Homelessness | PublicCEO

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San Diego Wants to Go FromCacophony to One Voice on

HomelessnessPOSTED BY : VOICE OF SAN DIEGO MAY 22, 2017

SAN DIEGO’S HOMELESS-SERVING APPROACH HAS LONGSUFFERED FROM A LACK OF COORDINATION. REGIONAL LEADERS

NOW HOPE TO GET EVERYONE TO FOLLOW A SINGLE PLAN.

BY LISA HALVERSTADT.

In the absence of a broad countywide action plan to address homelessness, a patchwork of strategies

has emerged.

Cities, business districts and nonprofits have responded to the growing crisis with sometimes

contradictory tacks; in other cases, they’ve taken steps that have simply shifted homelessness to

neighboring communities. Community groups and power brokers have pushed their own plans.

Multiple groups, including a new City Council committee on homelessness, have tried to fill what many

agree has been a gaping leadership void.

But now, a wide-ranging regional plan to address San Diego’s growing homelessness crisis is actually in

the works, and leaders hope they can persuade all those disparate groups to get behind a single plan.

The Regional Task Force on the Homeless, the countywide group trying to coordinate San Diego’s

response to homelessness, has enlisted Focus Strategies, a Sacramento-based firm that’s produced

similar plans for other communities, to create a plan for San Diego. At the end of next month, it’s set to

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5/23/2017 San Diego Wants to Go From Cacophony to One Voice on Homelessness | PublicCEO

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share an overarching vision for an overhauled system and suggestions on early steps it can take to

better aid homeless San Diegans.

“We’re building the plane while we’re flying the plane,” Focus Strategies principal Megan Kurteff Schatz

said last week.

The move to offer quick actions San Diego can take now reflects a quandary that’s played out over the

last year about what San Diego should do to address exploding homelessness in the absence of more

immediate, permanent solutions. Kurteff Schatz expects to propose more temporary rental assistance

as well as diversion programs to keep people off the streets in the first place. She didn’t mention more

short-term shelter beds, which some advocates and leaders, namely Mayor Kevin Faulconer, have

championed.

The firm’s promising a more comprehensive plan by June 2018 that will follow months of analysis of

San Diego’s many homeless service programs and a series of community feedback sessions. The plan

will detail everything from the characteristics of those living on the streets to the number of housing

units and rental assistance stipends needed to help them.

Last Thursday, Kurteff Schatz told a packed room of San Diego homeless-service providers and

advocates she believed San Diego could see a dramatic drop in homelessness within five years – if it

applies lessons learned in the grueling process ahead.

“Most places, even with very high rental markets and very low vacancy rates, can get somewhere close

to functional zero within five years if you’re willing to make the hardest changes. That’s what we’ve

seen in our work, even in other very high-cost places,” Kurteff Schatz said. “That takes a lot of

commitment.”

Commitment and political will to line up behind a single strategy has long bedeviled San Diego’s efforts

to reduce homelessness. The county’s become home to the nation’s fourth-largest homeless

population while other communities, including Houston and Long Beach, have made major progress.

Leaders in communities that have made the most dramatic reductions in homelessness have

encouraged nonprofits to make uncomfortable changes to their programs and even to abandon some

of their programs. They directly confronted tension along the way.

San Diego, meanwhile, has been slow to shift away from transitional housing programs that have

fallen out of favor with national experts and the federal government.

San Diego groups and governments have over the years introduced dozens of initiatives and plans.

“We’re not sure that we’ve seen a community engage in as many initiatives as San Diego has,” Kurteff

Schatz said.

Problem is, those plans didn’t come with teeth or get regional support necessary to succeed.

The sheer number of efforts already under way in San Diego complicate the process to create a broad

plan and get the community behind it. It’s going to take longer to evaluate all those efforts and to

ensure those behind them ultimately align their work with the community plan proposals.

Apprehension about the new homelessness plan is already palpable among nonprofit leaders.

PATH CEO Joel John Roberts, whose organization operates a homeless housing facility in downtown

San Diego, questioned whether agencies will be open to new approaches as their programs are

scrutinized.

Roberts said it could be difficult to get nonprofits to embrace significant changes to their programs if

those programs are being evaluated before administrators have had a chance to make adjustments

based on new expectations set by Focus Strategies.

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“It’s kind of hard to get them on board on a new paradigm and new rules if you’re already judging

them based on the new rules and paradigm when they’re on the old rules and paradigm,” Roberts

said.

Kurteff Schatz and County Supervisor Ron Roberts, who chairs the Regional Task Force board,

emphasized the importance of holding nonprofits to performance measures and using data to make

decisions about the best approaches for San Diego.

“We’re not going to be trying to put people out of business overnight but we are going to expect

people to begin to change and to accomplish that in relatively short time,” said Roberts. “There is no

excuse for noncompliance.”

Roberts said he’s committed to ensuring county contracts achieve outcomes and policies laid out in

the forthcoming plan. He acknowledged it will require significant effort on behalf of the Regional Task

Force to ensure cities and large funders understand and hold nonprofits to those standards too.

Speaking to the Regional Task Force last week, Kurteff Schatz doubled down on the importance of

leadership enforcing the plan’s objectives rather than bending to individual agency or community

concerns. They’ll have to persuade many advocates, agency leaders and politicians who vote on

homeless service contracts in each of the county’s 18 cities to make program changes necessary to

drastically reduce homelessness.

“There’s not a community in the country, to my knowledge, that has really reduced homelessness

significantly without the funders being in alignment and clear about what the new requirements are

and holding to them,” Kurteff Schatz said.

Originally posted at Voice of San Diego.

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5/23/2017 Manchester attack points to vulnerabilities even at venues with high security, counter-terrorism experts say - LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-security-manchester-local-20170522-story.html 1/3

T

Manchester attack points to vulnerabilities even atvenues with high security, counter-terrorismexperts say

By Richard Winton

MAY 22, 2017, 8:20 PM

he explosion at an Ariana Grande concert in the British city of Manchester killed at least 19 people

and injured dozens. It is raising new questions about how authorities can better protect large venues.

What we knowThe explosion happened near an entrance to the 21,000-seat Manchester Arena just minutes after Grande’s

concert ended with the song “Dangerous Woman” and the singer left the stage, witnesses said.

A May 22 explosion at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England left at least 22 people dead and 59 others injured. (Sign up forour free video newsletter here)

Plan your retirement wisely2 months free! Sale ends 5/25 TRY NOW ›

5/23/2017 Manchester attack points to vulnerabilities even at venues with high security, counter-terrorism experts say - LA Times

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British counter-terrorism investigators think the attack may have been the work of a suicide bomber who

entered a crowded area outside the performance space where attendees were streaming out of the concert,

according to U.S. law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation.

They cautioned that all information is preliminary and video from security cameras will allow investigators to

reconstruct the deadly events. A law enforcement official and a witness said the explosion happened near an

entrance where fans typically pick up tickets.

Protecting vulnerable points in the crowdMichael Downing, executive vice president of security for Prevent Advisors, which specializes in arena and

stadium security, said many American and European venues already use metal detectors, bomb detection

technology and armies of security guards and cameras inside the facilities.

But the Manchester incident shows the need for more vigilance in areas outside those security zones, such as

transportation centers, walkways and parking lots, said Downing, the former head of counter-terrorism for the

Los Angeles Police Department.

"Obviously, we are going to have look at ingress and egress," he said.

He said Los Angeles law enforcement already monitors ingress and egress points at major events such as award

shows and special sporting events such as world championships. But Manchester and recent acts of terrorism

in Europe suggest more needs to be done, he said.

Terrorists tend to target areas where large crowds gather. Attacks in recent years in Berlin, Paris and Nice,

France, have prompted Southern California law enforcement officials to review security measure at train

stations and venues such as Staples Center and Dodger Stadium.

But this is a long-running issue that dates back to at least the 9/11 attacks. Security experts have long expressed

concerns about a possible terrorism incident at Los Angeles International Airport not inside the terminals but

outside where passengers sometimes are forced to line up. LAX has been working to reduce lines forming

outside.

Are ‘vapor wake’ dogs the answer?Downing said “vapor wake” dogs with more sensitive noses and different training from traditional bomb-

sniffing canines can detect suicide bombers.

Traditional bomb-sniffing dogs are trained to smell specific objects. Vapor wake dogs are trained to smell

particles in the air and can detect explosives worn on a person even in crowded areas and venues. Such dogs

are already employed by the New York Police Department's counter-terrorism operations, he said. The Los

Angeles Police Department also has two of the dogs.Plan your retirement wisely2 months free! Sale ends 5/25 TRY NOW ›

5/23/2017 Manchester attack points to vulnerabilities even at venues with high security, counter-terrorism experts say - LA Times

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Brian Levin, a terrorism expert and professor at Cal State San Bernardino, said the British have some of the

most sophisticated security practices of anywhere. But the incident in Manchester, he said, shows that

whenever thousands of people gather at one place, it create targets that are difficult to protect.

"Even if you harden the perimeters, they will hit at whatever choke points exist,” he said. “So there is always

somewhere to hit."

ALSO

Islamic State claims responsibility after po lice make an arrest

Mourning Manchester victims, Trump condemns 'evil lo sers ' behind terror ist acts

There have been more than half a dozen terror ist incidents in Britain since 2005

Copyright © 2017, Los Angeles Times

This article is related to: Terrorism, Ariana Grande, Los Angeles International Airport

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5/23/2017 Lessons of slain San Bernardino teacher Karen Smith extend past her death

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San Bernardino County Sun (http://www.sbsun.com)

Lessons of slain San Bernardino teacher Karen Smith extend past her death

Victim of North Park Elementary shooting posthumously honored at Brandman University graduation

By Greg Mellen, San Bernardino County Sun

Monday, May 22, 2017

ORANGE >> Karen Smith spent a lifetime teaching until her life wascut tragically short. She was from a family of educator — her mother,Irma Sykes, taught for 41 years, and Karen steered her daughter,Jennifer Smith, into the field.

So it was fitting when Brandman University posthumously honoredthe life-long teacher Sunday at commencement ceremonies atChapman University. Receiving the honor was Jennifer Smith, whowas also bestowed with a master’s degree she earned in 2014, butnever picked up.

“My mom and I took the master’s program together and began ourteaching careers at the same time,” Jennifer Smith said. She added that it seemed only fitting that mother anddaughter take this last step together.

Jennifer Smith, 31, accompanied by a large contingent of family members, was among about 400 students at theceremony. Brandman is affiliated with Chapman and caters primarily to adult learners.

Adam Smith, 25, of Riverside and Jennifer’s younger brother, said it was particularly touching to see his motherand sister recognized together.

Karen Smith, was the victim of a murder-suicide at San Bernardino’s North Park Elementary School in earlyApril. She was killed in front of her class of special needs students by her estranged husband, Cedric Anderson.Student Jonathan Martinez, 8, was also killed in the shooting and Nolan Brandy, 9, was wounded.

She was a popular figure in the school and community. After her death there was an outpouring of grief andsupport as at least four vigils were held in the memory of Karen Smith and the children.

Karen Smith was a 10-year veteran of the San Bernardino school district.

“She was an educator,” Sykes said. “She liked working with children.”

And it didn’t stop in the classroom. Karen Smith also taught Sunday school and was a praise leader at herchurch. She also home-schooled two of her children before going to school to earn her teaching degreesincluding certificates to work with children with special needs and autism.

Sykes said she couldn’t “overemphasize” the role the church played in making her daughter a communityservant.

The voice of Lynn Larsen, who was Karen Smith’s mentor at the school, cracked when she talked about KarenSmith, saying “a bright light has bee extinguished.”

5/23/2017 Lessons of slain San Bernardino teacher Karen Smith extend past her death

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“She came of a family of teachers,” Sykes said. “Our family was raised to have value and give back to thecommunity.”

Jennifer Smith wanted to stress how her mother lived rather than her death with this lesson: “Just make sure totake the time you have in life to live with purpose and passion. And realize you live in service to other people.”

URL: http://www.sbsun.com/social-affairs/20170522/lessons-of-slain-san-bernardino-teacher-karen-smith-extend-past-her-death

© 2017 San Bernardino County Sun (http://www.sbsun.com)

5/22/2017 Is bigger better for number of state legislators, county supervisors? Thomas Elias

http://www.sbsun.com/article/20170522/LOCAL1/170529885&template=printart 1/2

San Bernardino County Sun (http://www.sbsun.com)

Is bigger better for number of state legislators, county supervisors? Thomas Elias

By Thomas D. Elias, San Bernardino County Sun

Monday, May 22, 2017

Bigger, California has learned through long experience, isn’t alwaysbetter. In fact, it can be downright destructive, as when a cityoutgrows its water or freeway system.

The question of whether bigger can actually be better, moreresponsive and cost-effective arises again this spring, in a pair ofproposals that could fundamentally change politics both statewide andin California’s largest county.

One of these plans, purveyed in a proposed 2018 initiative nowcirculating in some areas, would essentially make the Legislature 100times bigger than it is today, while cutting its pay and reducing thesize of Assembly and Senate districts to about 1 percent of their

current dimensions.

The other would expand county boards of supervisors from five members to seven where population tops 5million, which today means only Los Angeles County, which would also get an elected chief executive similarto a mayor.

This one is aimed to improve government in L.A., sponsors saying it would modernize the state’s most powerfullocal government, where open county board seats can attract sitting members of Congress who already occupyvery secure jobs, as when Democratic former San Pedro Rep. Janice Hahn won a seat on the board last year.

The more wide-ranging of these plans comes from John Cox, a San Diego County real estate investor who justnow is the only 2018 Republican candidate for governor. As such, he drew 18 percent support in one recentmajor poll, topping the better-known Democratic likes of former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa andcurrent state Treasurer John Chiang. He trailed only Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the Democratic former mayor ofSan Francisco, who scored 28 percent.

Cox’s current initiative is a rehash of an idea he floated in 2012 which failed to draw enough petition signaturesto make the 2014 ballot. It would essentially divide the current 80 Assembly and 40 state Senate districts by 100,creating neighborhood micro-districts of 5,000 and 10,000 persons each. Every district would get arepresentative — 12,000 in all.

Recognizing this might be just a tad unwieldy, Cox would have the 12,000 new legislators elect “workingcommittees” of 80 Assembly members and 40 senators — oddly enough, the exact sizes of today’s twolegislative houses.

The working committees would perform most tasks of the current Legislature, but the full bodies of 8,000 in theAssembly and 4,000 for the Senate would vote on all non-urgent matters and proposed laws. Lawmakers’ paywould be cut to $1,000 yearly.

5/22/2017 Is bigger better for number of state legislators, county supervisors? Thomas Elias

http://www.sbsun.com/article/20170522/LOCAL1/170529885&template=printart 2/2

Cox is convinced this would take most of the big money out of legislative politics, forcing candidates to go doorto door in their small districts rather than flooding airwaves and mailboxes with advertising. The actual, workinglawmakers on the two active committees would then have just 99 constituents each (other neighborhoodlegislators) to please and pander to.

Don’t expect this one to go very far once voters realize they wouldn’t even be changing the number of people inthe Capitol, but would add a whole new layer of government.

Meanwhile, the county proposal sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Tony Mendoza of Artesia could create thesecond most powerful political job in California in the Los Angeles County executive, and two other posts alsocertain to draw big-name candidates and big-money campaigns.

His plan to add two county supervisors to the current five would reduce each Los Angeles County supervisor’sdistrict population to 1.4 million from today’s 2 million.

“By increasing representation and creating a professional management position, we will address multiple issuesand actively improve local government,” Mendoza said.

This one needs a two-thirds vote in both current legislative houses to make the 2020 ballot and become effectivein 2022. A similar proposal failed in 2015 after drawing opposition from the then-current Los Angeles Countyboard.

The Mendoza plan also raises the question of whether it’s right for voters in the rest of California to decide thestructure of politics in Los Angeles, when it won’t affect anyone but Angelenos.

Either of these plans would make for major upheaval, something voters historically have not been inclined toapprove. But no one can predict the outcome of such a vote in today’s volatile political climate, not when itinvolves creation of thousands of new political positions for ambitious Californians to occupy.

Thomas D. Elias is a writer in Southern California. tdelias@aol.com

URL: http://www.sbsun.com/opinion/20170522/is-bigger-better-for-number-of-state-legislators-county-supervisors-thomas-elias

© 2017 San Bernardino County Sun (http://www.sbsun.com)

5/23/2017 California’s Real Budgetary Sin—We Spend Too Little, Not Too Much | PublicCEO

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California’s Real Budgetary Sin—WeSpend Too Little, Not Too Much

POSTED BY : JOE MATHEWS MAY 22, 2017

Our State’s Fear of Deficits Leads to Bad Management andUnforeseen CostsBy Joe Mathews.

We have reached the high holy days of California’s budget season, as our governor and legislative

leaders decide which programs will gain new life, and which will be sacrificed. And so our state

government’s ministers have begun their ritual sermons on the dangers of overspending.

They are preaching nonsense. California’s real problem is underspending.

Go ahead and dismiss my claim as blasphemy. After so many years of budget crises and big deficits,

Californians have adopted a budget theology grounded in self-flagellation, even though our recent

budgets contain small surpluses. You can probably recite the catechism yourself: We’re still sinners

who spend too much on state services! Far more than we take in! So save us, Non-Denominational

Higher Power, from our profligate selves! Punish us with budget cuts or spending limits or a rainy day

fund!

I’m sorry, but what our spending religion really needs is reformation.

And that requires genuine revelation. Our state’s tendency to produce big deficits is not caused by big

spending. We have had big deficits because our state budget is based on volatile formulas that tend to

expand deficits in unpredictable ways. In fact, California has long been on par with other states in

expenditures per capita and in spending as a percentage of state GDP. Still, we cling to our budget

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religion and, fearing overspending, we take the cheaper path—which often costs the state more

money in the long run.

The problems of underspending are most obvious when it comes to pension obligations. California

governments and employees have long spent too little money on contributions to pension funds,

which are underfunded. So, to try to catch up to our pension obligations, California taxpayers are

having to make much bigger contributions now. And those catch-up contributions are leading to even

more underspending on critical services, as money that should go to schools or health care or

infrastructure is used to cover pensions.

The costliness of underspending is also the story behind rising public higher education costs in

California. Over generations, the state has cut back its relative contribution to the University of

California and California State University systems. This underspending has been made up for in part

with ever-higher tuition fees for students. And, despite what you may read, the latest UC scandal is

also about underspending; a state audit’s central allegation is that UC’s office of the president

accumulated more than $100 million in funds that it wasn’t spending.

That scandal reveals a hypocrisy in our budget religion; overspending may be the stated enemy, but

underspending gets you into far more trouble. The state parks department kept a secret reserve of

unspent funds that became a major scandal in 2012. In California’s prisons, underspending led to an

intervention by the federal courts, which ordered the state to spend more on its unconstitutionally

overcrowded prisons and reduce its prison population.

Our state’s leaders understand the problem with underspending, but they haven’t been successful at

explaining the problem, credibly, to the public. It also hasn’t helped that when state officials do need to

spend big, they haven’t been very good at it.

Underspending also explains problems with our basic services. Studies have found that the state

spends tens of billions less on schools than would be necessary to provide all Californians with an

adequate education. And that underspending has real costs: California is not producing enough

college graduates and skilled workers.

The state has made bold promises on child care and early childhood education that it hasn’t

adequately funded, leaving citizens to pay for the rest. Child care now costs more than college tuition

here. And housing costs more than just about anything, in part because we’ve spent so little on

housing that we have a massive shortage, which forces Californians to pay housing prices more than

twice the national average.

That the state has failed for generations to spend enough to build and maintain infrastructure is

obvious in the degraded condition of roads, bridges, and waterways. The state’s failure to create

strong enough spillways at Oroville Dam is forcing California to make hundreds of millions of dollars’

worth of repairs and upgrades before the next rainy season.

Our state’s leaders understand the problem with underspending, but they haven’t been successful at

explaining the problem, credibly, to the public. It also hasn’t helped that when state officials do need to

spend big, they haven’t been very good at it. Examples include the new Bay Bridge, with its delays, cost

overruns, and questions about the integrity of its steel rods, and the high-speed rail project, where

spending and construction has been so slow that many people think the project will die.

In recent budgets, Gov. Jerry Brown and the legislature have sought to counter the state’s tendency to

underspend now and pay later. They’ve made a great show of efforts to pay down debt. In his current

budget proposal, Brown suggests making a large advance contribution to pensions now, in order to

reduce liabilities later.

But that payment, unfortunately, is achieved in a questionable manner: by borrowing billions from a

state special fund. As Stanford lecturer and former Schwarzenegger advisor David Crane wrote

recently, since pension contributions get invested, that payment amounts to a “leveraged bet” on a

stock market that Governor Brown himself has warned is overdue for a correction.

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ABOUT JOE MATHEWS

Joe Mathews is California editor of Zócalo Public Square.

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Brown has grown popular as a proselytizer of the credo that California can be managed on the cheap.

That’s appealing dogma for a state whose people struggle with a very high cost of living.

But the realities of our state should remind us that successfully running California on the cheap is a

fantasy that has curdled into a costly article of faith. And we parishioners are being stuck with the tab.

Originally posted at Zocalo Public Square.

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5/22/2017 Who’s directing SLO County’s marijuana laws?

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Who’s directing SLO County’s marijuana laws?May 19, 2017

By KAREN VELIE

Editor’s note: This is the f irst in a series of articles about how high-endinvestors, small marijuana growers and fortune hunters are battl ing for a placein California’s new gold/ green rush.

Three San Luis Obispo County supervisors were stunned last week to read a new draftordinance on marijuana. The draft bore almost no resemblance to the ordinance the boardhad directed staff to modify.

While the supervisors had assigned Assistant County Administrator Guy Savage to make afew changes to a previous draft ordinance, two county planners, James Caruso and BrandiCummings, took it upon themselves to produce their own version of a marijuana ordinance.

Caruso and Cummings’s draft of the marijuana ordinance appears to favor some growerswhile putting other marijuana enterprises out of business. Caruso and Cummings did notreturn several requests for comment.

Supervisor John Peschong noted the different treatment of some growers.

“Our government needs to draft ordinances that treat everyone fairly,” Peschong said. “Iam against any ordinance that picks winners and losers.”

Persons looking for a windfall from California’s legal marijuana industry have come to thestate from throughout the nation. Multi-million-dollar crops have led to threats, back roomdeals, cheating and corruption, growers complain.

In September 2016, the SLO County Board of Supervisors passed an urgency ordinancethat banned new marijuana grows, but allowed growers that could prove they werecultivating as of Aug. 23, 2016 to remain. However, the grows cannot expand in size.

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At that time, the board directed staff to begin working on a permanent ordinance.

On February 28, the SLO County Board of Supervisors reviewed a draft ordinance and gavedirection for Savage to make changes and then to put it out for public review.

However, on May 1, Caruso and Cummings posted a revised draft ordinance which borealmost no resemblance to the earlier ordinance. The planners gave the public until May 12to comment.

Caruso and Cummings’s draft prohibits mobile delivery services which do not have adispensary from making deliveries. If enacted, more than 90 percent of all deliveryservices would be put out of business and those who win the battle to open brick andmortar stores would pick up the extra business.

Caruso and Cummings’s draft restricts cultivation on properties under 5 acres in Nipomo.That would favor several large property owners and put many of the small growers out ofbusiness.

Even though the supervisors had directed staff to write an ordinance that permits non-volatile cannabis manufacturing facilities while forbidding volatile manufacturing, Carusoand Cummings’s draft allows volatile manufacturing facilities.

On May 12, growers voiced their concerns to supervisors who were previously unawarethat their directions for an ordinance had not been followed. After several supervisorsbrought their concerns to county administration Dan Buckshi, Buckshi said the draftordinance would be fixed, officials said.

“This is not the direction we gave staff in a board meeting,” Compton said. “In fact, thereis nothing in this draft ordinance that resembles the original draft ordinance.”

At a SLO Normal meeting Thursday evening, when asked by concerned marijuana growersabout the dramatic changes from the draft directed by the SLO County Board ofSupervisors and what planners created, building division supervisor Art Trinidade saidseveral county supervisors were upset about the direction staff took in creating the latestdraft.

“At least one of the legislators threw a shoe at us,” Trinidade said.

Nevertheless, Trinidade said that county staffers would not be making changes to the draft.

“It will be at the planning commission before you see any changes,” Trinidade said.

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5/22/2017 Sacramento County assessor resigns amid investigations into alleged wrongdoing | The Sacramento Bee

http://www.sacbee.com/news/investigations/the-public-eye/article151155387.html#emlnl=Morning_Newsletter 1/8

MAY 17, 2017 4:50 PMTHE PUBLIC EYE

Did the Sacramento County assessor and her staff get lower tax bills?BY BRAD BRANAN AND ELLEN GARRISONbbranan@sacbee.com

Sacramento County has ordered three investigations this year into the office of Assessor Kathleen Kelleher, who resigned Friday and cited healthreasons, The Sacramento Bee has learned.

The county hired an outside law firm in January to investigate whether top officials in the Assessor’s Office benefited from lower tax bills, amongdozens of other claims. The county also launched two internal probes on May 8 to examine issues that remain undisclosed.

Kelleher, who was first elected to the $168,000 post in 2010, denied all allegations of wrongdoing in an interview with The Bee. She pointed to astate review that found properties owned by her and others in her office were properly appraised.

She faces allegations that a friend on staff lowballed the value of her new pool and that managers in her office received generous appraisals. TheAssessor’s Office determines property values in the county for tax collection.

In a Jan. 13 email, county personnel manager Cori Stillson summarized 50 allegations made by employees against Kelleher’s office, includingimpropriety, harassment, favoritism and management issues. Employees claim they were wrongly passed over for promotions and enduredharassment as they pressed forward with complaints of “illegalities and corruption.”

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“Some of these things are pretty serious,” said Don Nottoli, chairman of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors. “We need to be thorough.”

Kelleher, 59, did not describe her health matter, saying it is a personal issue. She left in the middle of her second term, which runs through January2019.

Supervisors were told that she cited “health issues,” an explanation Supervisor Phil Serna said lacks necessary detail for an elected official leaving 19months before her term ends.

“I’m very concerned and I want to understand what the hell is going on,” Serna said. “To not fulfill your full term is a big deal.”

Kelleher said that she previously asked the state Board of Equalization to review appraisals of property owned by her and others in her departmentwhen she first heard allegations of impropriety. She made that request in December 2015, according to the BOE’s report.

Sacramento County has investigated the department 13 times in the past decade, according to county spokeswoman Kim Nava. Nine investigationsclosed without finding policy violations and one found a violation that Nava said is confidential.

The three current investigations do not overlap with one another, Nava said. The county hired Sacramento law firm Ellis Buehler Makus in January toinvestigate the 50 allegations in the Stillson email because the list involves a mix of old and new allegations, Nava said. Firm partner Eli Makus didnot respond to a request for comment.

“Bringing in an outside investigator would give the complainants an opportunity to present any new information they had regarding allegations thathad already been investigated,” Nava said in an email.

That indicates the county executive wants to ensure “we don’t leave any stone unturned,” Serna said.

The low appraisal allegations are only a piece of the outside investigation, based on the Stillson email. Other claims include whistleblower retaliation,undeserved promotions, sexual harassment and employees taking long lunch breaks.

City, county government salary database for the Sacramento CA region

Seth Jarrett-Lee, a union steward in the Assessor’s Office for United Public Employees, said he has met with an investigator from the SacramentoCounty District Attorney’s Office. Shelly Orio, the DA’s spokeswoman, would not say whether an investigation is taking place.

Jarrett-Lee said he and other employees in the office are frustrated by what they consider the county’s failure to thoroughly investigate theirallegations. He said county investigators did not interview him or other employees who made the claims.

On April 26, Jarrett-Lee and other employees in the office sent an email to a manager in the Assessor’s Office, saying they had reported allegations of“fraud, malfeasance, or wrongdoing” to outside government authorities.

Kelleher announced her retirement to county employees in an email on April 27. The county didn’t notify the public for 12 days, when it issued apress release explaining how supervisors would replace Kelleher. That release did not say why she left.

Assistant Assessor Christina Wynn will run the office until the Board of Supervisors chooses Kelleher’s replacement. The county is acceptingapplications for the job until the end of next week, and the board will interview qualified candidates in a subsequent meeting.

According to Stillson’s email, employees allege that four pieces of property were undervalued for tax purposes. That includes a pool owned byKelleher and property owned by two supervisors in her office. The email also refers to a “Mohammad Property” whose connection to the Assessor’sOffice was unclear from the document.

Kelleher added a pool and spa that cost $46,000 at the Natomas home she owned in 2013, according to Sacramento building records. The sameyear, the Assessor’s Office valued the addition at $19,000. That amount was added to the assessed value of her home and was used to determine herproperty tax bill. She sold the home last year for $496,000.

Kelleher disputes the pool allegation. She said the full cost of a pool cannot be recouped when a home is sold, so her office always sets the assessedvalue below the construction cost.

She said she implemented a policy when she became assessor in 2011 to have appraisers from other counties conduct assessments for propertyowned by employees in her office. But Kelleher said her own pool assessment was done by Joanne Knauer, a friend who works in the office. She saidthe addition did not require an outside appraisal because it was done through a standard formula.

A copy of the Board of Equalization report, provided to The Bee by Kelleher, says she eventually provided the state agency with records for 38properties. The state report concludes that the pool assessment was “reasonable” but provides no detail about that conclusion.

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Board of Equalization spokeswoman Venus Stromberg said such a report would be confidential, and she could neither confirm nor deny the existenceof the report provided by Kelleher.

A longtime employee of the Assessor’s Office, who asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation, said the appraisal of the pool and spa, whichrepresented 41 percent of the construction cost, goes against the office’s general practice of assessing pools at 82 percent of construction cost. If true,the lower estimate would have saved Kelleher nearly $200 a year in property taxes.

Knauer did not return a message seeking comment about her evaluation.

A document that Kelleher provided The Bee mentions the 82 percent of construction cost method, but it also provides a different formula based onthe estimated sales price (ESP) of the home. According to a 2013 email thread that Kelleher provided, Knauer calculated the $19,000 pool valuebased on 7 percent of a $271,043 sales price – nearly $225,000 less than the home sold for three years later.

In the same “Kathy’s pool” email chain, Barbara Boyce, a supervising appraiser, says “the value just seems kind of low but I guess the pool is a littleof an over improvement based on the ESP.”

Under state law, additions such as swimming pools are assessed at their market value when they are built and can increase in value up to 2 percenteach subsequent year. Market value, though, can differ from the cost of construction.

“If it costs $50,000 to install, it doesn’t mean that someone is going to come in and pay an extra $50,000” for a house with a swimming pool, saidRyan Lundquist of Lundquist Appraisal Company.

Much depends on the neighborhood, Lundquist said. In neighborhoods where pools are common and even expected, a home with a pool adds a lot ofmarket value. By contrast, adding a pool where they are rare may add less value.

Another property under investigation by the outside law firm is a commercial building on Watt Avenue in Antelope previously owned by ChiefAppraiser Larry Grose.

Grose co-owned the land, which was vacant until he and his partner added commercial buildings in 2007, giving the property a base-year value of$760,000, according to the Board of Equalization review. The property was sold in May 2008 for $1.7 million, although Grose maintained anownership interest until 2013.

The property received regular reductions in value and in 2015 was assessed by Sacramento County at $576,000, according to the state review.

Noting that the property had been subject to a state law allowing for recessionary reductions in property value, the Board of Equalization found thatthe assessments were “reasonable.”

Grose said the property sold for more than it was worth because he guaranteed the buyer rental income for a certain period. He said the reductions invalues were warranted because the market was tanking.

Also under investigation is an Orangevale lot that was split and developed with a home on one part by William Silva, who until recently worked as amanager in the Assessor’s Office. The development was approved in 2010. It is not clear why the property is under investigation.

Silva said he was not aware of any allegations about the property and nothing improper was done in its assessment. The Board of Equalization foundthe property was properly assessed.

Phillip Reese contributed to this report.

Brad Branan: 916-321-1065, @BradB_at_SacBee

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5/23/2017 O.C. Supervisor Todd Spitzer calls for federal oversight of district attorney's office - LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-oc-spitzer-rackauckas-20170522-story.html 1/3

O

O.C. Supervisor Todd Spitzer calls for federaloversight of district attorney's office

By Frank Shyong

MAY 22, 2017, 7:00 PM

range County Supervisor Todd Spitzer asked federal authorities Monday for an emergency takeover

of the Orange County district attorney’s office, citing what he called “continuing revelations of

scandal.”

Spitzer’s letter to U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions noted a recent liability claim filed by the office’s former lead

investigator that accuses Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas of campaign misconduct and interfering

in political corruption investigations.

That investigator, Craig Hunter, left the office in April amid accusations that he sent sexually explicit texts

while on duty.

Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer answers questions at a 2016 news conference. (Anh Do / Los Angeles Times)

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5/23/2017 O.C. Supervisor Todd Spitzer calls for federal oversight of district attorney's office - LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-oc-spitzer-rackauckas-20170522-story.html 2/3

Spitzer’s letter also cited a May 17 ruling by an Orange County judge that said Orange County prosecutors

engaged in “serious misconduct” during the 2008 murder trial of Cole Wilkins, who is facing retrial in the 2006

death of an off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy.

“The district attorney’s actions have left the county, the courts, the judicial system and the public no other

course of action,” Spitzer wrote.

Spitzer urged Sessions to take control of the district attorney’s office by emergency consent decree, a legally

binding agreement in which federal authorities can force reforms at an agency.

Rackauckas’ office fired back with a statement accusing Spitzer of misusing his office as supervisor and

“slandering prosecutors and OCDA personnel” in an attempt to regain credibility and win reelection. Spitzer’s

term ends in 2020.

“It is unfortunate that Todd Spitzer is using his current position as a county supervisor to campaign for the

office of the district attorney, a position he so desperately covets,” said spokeswoman Michelle Van Der Linden.

The California state attorney general and the U.S. Department of Justice are investigating allegations that

Rackauckas’ office used a network of jailhouse informants to obtain incriminating evidence and harsher

convictions against defendants in high-profile murder cases.

Spitzer and Rackauckas have been engaged in a bitter public feud for years. Their disagreements can be traced

to 2010, when Rackauckas fired Spitzer — then an assistant district attorney who was being groomed as his

replacement — amid accusations that Spitzer had misused his position.

As a supervisor, Spitzer has repeatedly called for greater oversight of Rackauckas’ office, calling it “probably the

most disrespected district attorney executive team in California.”

Rackauckas’ office, for its part, characterizes Spitzer as a nakedly ambitious, grandstanding politician who has

long wanted the district attorney job. Last year, Rackauckas accused Spitzer of falsely identifying himself as an

assistant district attorney on a robocall promoting a campaign ethics ballot measure.

Spitzer, at a dueling news conference that day, said he clearly identified himself as a supervisor on the call and

called Rackauckas paranoid.

“It is unfortunate that Todd Spitzer is using his

current position ... to campaign for the office ofthe district attorney, a position he so desperately

covets.— Michelle Van Der Linden, D.A. spokeswoman

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5/23/2017 LA County wants more people to sign up for food stamps as Trump budget threatens cuts

http://www.dailynews.com/health/20170522/la-county-wants-more-people-to-sign-up-for-food-stamps-as-trump-budget-threatens-cuts?source=most_viewed&t… 1/2

LA Daily News (http://www.dailynews.com)

LA County wants more people to sign up for food stamps as Trump budget threatens cuts

By Susan Abram, Los Angeles Daily News

Monday, May 22, 2017

Under the threat of federal spending cuts for food stamps, the LosAngeles County supervisors on Tuesday will call for the formation ofa special unit to increase enrollment into a local food assistanceprogram.

The discussion by the Board of Supervisors had been planned prior toTuesday’s formal release of President Donald Trump’s budgetblueprint, which reportedly calls for $193 billion in cuts to food stampprograms nationwide. Locally, county officials need to boostenrollment into the CalFresh program to maintain existing andproposed funding.

Los Angeles County ranks among the lowest in the state in the number of participants enrolled in CalFresh,otherwise known nationwide as food stamps, when compared to the state average and nearby counties. Thecounty’s participation rate is 66 percent compared to the state average of nearly 70 percent. Most are familieswith children.

San Bernardino County’s participation rate is almost 93 percent, according to state data.

Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Janice Hahn plan to call on the county’s Department of Public Social Services tocreate a unit with existing staff to develop ways to increase enrollment. At stake is an estimated $1.8 billion inadditional federal funding, but only if participation reaches 100 percent.

“There are families in LA County struggling to put food on the table,” Hahn said. “We need them to know thatthey are eligible for help.”

The supervisors also said in their joint motion that increased participation will result in a $2.1 billion growth ineconomic activity within the county.

• RELATED STORY: Deportation fears stop some LA County immigrants from applying for EBT program

They want to see how the department can improve the process of enrollment, customer service and call lines, aswell as see a 20 percent increase in two years.

Social service officials have said one of the reasons why enrollment is low is because some Los Angeles Countyimmigrants who are eligible for food assistance programs are staying away because they fear enrollment willhurt their chances of becoming a permanent U.S. citizen or even lead to deportation.

The annual CalFresh Awareness campaign is launched in May by the department of Public Social Services. Theprogram helps low-income families and individuals buy fresh food with an Electronic Benefit Transfer or EBTcard in stores, farmers markets and participating restaurant chains. U.S. citizens and legal residents are eligibleto apply for the CalFresh program.

5/23/2017 LA County wants more people to sign up for food stamps as Trump budget threatens cuts

http://www.dailynews.com/health/20170522/la-county-wants-more-people-to-sign-up-for-food-stamps-as-trump-budget-threatens-cuts?source=most_viewed&t… 2/2

In their motion, Kuehl and Hahn note a study that found 561,000 households across the county experienced foodinsecurity in 2015, which has gone unchanged since 2011.

“Studies show that adults who received CalFresh as children, have greater high school completion rates andlower rates of stunted growth, obesity and heart disease than non-CalFresh counterparts,” they wrote in theirmotion.

A spokeswoman at the Department of Public Social Services said it was too soon to comment on how Trump’sproposed cuts would affect the county’s program.

“In addition, it is important to note that this is only a budget proposal,” spokeswoman Gabriela Herrera said in astatement. “The budget package still has to clear both the House and the Senate before it can be approved. Wewill continue to monitor the situation accordingly.”

Trump’s proposed budget includes $1.7 trillion in cuts over the next decade from so-called mandatory programs,according to reports by the Associated Press who used information from an unnamed source. That includes a$193 billion cut from food stamps, a 25 percent reduction. The program currently serves about 42 million peoplenationwide, according to the Associated Press.

“This is and will continue to be an important program that helps families afford food and we need to expandaccess to it,” Hahn said, regarding the CalFresh program. “I sincerely hope that our Congress rejects theseproposed cuts but I am going to continue to work to get our most vulnerable residents connected to the help theyneed.”

URL: http://www.dailynews.com/health/20170522/la-county-wants-more-people-to-sign-up-for-food-stamps-as-trump-budget-threatens-cuts

© 2017 LA Daily News (http://www.dailynews.com)

5/23/2017 How LA County’s new mental health director plans to help heal troubled minds

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LA Daily News (http://www.dailynews.com)

How LA County’s new mental health director plans to help heal troubled minds

New mental health director eyes shift to peer-to-peer counseling

By Susan Abram, Los Angeles Daily News

Sunday, May 21, 2017

For as long as people who lived in the neighborhood could remember,the bottom floor of the Los Angeles County Department of MentalHealth’s headquarters was surrounded by a chain-link fence, closedoff from their view.

Then a few months ago, something changed. The fence was pushedaway. The space inside cleaned, painted and furnished. On May 1, thedoors at Vermont Avenue and Sixth Street opened to the county’s firstpeer-resource center for people who need help finding peace of mindfrom those who understand them best.

For Dr. Jonathan Sherin, the new center in Koreatown symbolizes a shift in the way he plans to lead the largestmental health department in the nation.

“I see this space as one where we’ll have peers of all kinds to be trained and certified and part of the workforce,”Sherin said recently. “It’s exciting for me. It’s a resource we needed in this neighborhood.”

Sherin wants to see veterans who have made peace with the horrors of war lift fellow veterans who still suffer.He’d like former homeless people who have survived the trauma of living on the streets to help homeless menand women find comfort and trust. He hopes those once addicted to alcohol, heroin or pills can share their painand triumphs of sobriety with those who continue to struggle.

Those peer-to-peer relationships, Sherin added, will be key to transforming mental health treatment. It’s apractice he’d like to see replicated across Los Angeles County.

“One of the things that is a very high priority item is the importance of incorporating peers into our work,”Sherin said. “Whether you’ve been in the military or the streets, or in jails, those shared experiences createaffinity.”

Sherin, 51, was appointed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors six months ago to replace Dr.Marvin Southard, who retired after 17 years. In addition to expanding peer-resource centers, Sherin would liketo see more of what he calls intentional communities, or places created at the Veteran’s Affairs campus in WestLos Angeles, for example, with the intent to help people with anxiety, depression and other mental healthconcerns.

But his work doesn’t come without challenges. He heads a department that serves more than 250,000 people.With 10 million residents, Los Angeles County is one of the nation’s most ethnically and culturally diverseregions. With that, comes the stigma and cultural barriers that still exist for people seeking mental healthservices. The county jails have been called the largest de facto mental institution in the nation. And there aredemands from a public who want to know why local government can’t do more to help the homeless who sufferwith mental health issues.

5/23/2017 How LA County’s new mental health director plans to help heal troubled minds

http://www.dailynews.com/health/20170521/how-la-countys-new-mental-health-director-plans-to-help-heal-troubled-minds&template=printart 2/2

With a proposed budget of about $2.5 billion for the next fiscal year to hire more staff and peer workers, Sherinsaid he believes he is prepared to take on all those challenges, especially since mental health has gained moreattention.

“I think it’s a great time,“ he said. “I think it’s a time when we can transform the entire landscape by dismantlingcultural barriers and setting up a streamlined system. Obviously, a lot of this work depends on having resources.That said, I believe there’s going to be an opportunity for public/private partnership that could blow the roof ofthe whole formula.”

If anyone is up for the challenge, it’s Sherin, said Dr. Mitch Katz, director of the Los Angeles County HealthAgency. Katz oversees the nearly 2-year-old consolidation of the public health, health services and mental healthdepartments.

“The big goal for an agency as big as the mental health department is to work collaboratively with those patientswhose life situations are the most challenging,” Katz said. “The homeless, the people who have been releasedfrom prisons or jail, foster kids, these are the groups of people who most need mental health services. These arethe people we want DMH to focus on. I think under John Sherin that’s really happening.”

Sherin, a psychiatrist and neurobiologist by trade, served as the chief medical officer and executive vicepresident of military communities for Volunteers of America and a long career in the Department of VeteranAffairs. He holds a degree in neuroscience from Brown University and finished graduate work at the Universityof Chicago and Harvard, and postgraduate training at UCLA.

Although he chose to pursue science and the medical field, Sherin said the entertainment industry was never farfrom home. His father, Ed Sherin, was an Emmy-winning director and producer for the series “Law & Order.”Ed Sherin also directed episodes of “Hill Street Blues,” “Moonlighting,” “LA Law” and “Homicide: Life on theStreet,” and “Medium.” Ed Sherin died on May 4 at age 87.

“My Dad was a passionate guy,” Sherin said. “He really stood on principal.”

Sherin said he wants to lead the department under a renewed set of principles that places people first.

“It’s important we hold ourselves accountable to be as efficient and effective as possible, to fairly assess ourperformance,” Sherin said.

He said he has called on his staff to have a “heart forward” approach to the way they help those who seekservices. The new peer-resource center represents that approach, Sherin added.

“That corner has to be the heart of this building,” Sherin said. “The only way to connect with someone is toconnect with your heart.”

URL: http://www.dailynews.com/health/20170521/how-la-countys-new-mental-health-director-plans-to-help-heal-troubled-minds

© 2017 LA Daily News (http://www.dailynews.com)

5/23/2017 CalPERS May Cut Trinity Water District Pensions | PublicCEO

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CalPERS May Cut Trinity WaterDistrict Pensions

POSTED BY : ED MENDEL MAY 22, 2017

Swinging the blade for the third time, CalPERS may cut the pensions of five current and former

employees of a water district serving the small town of Hayfork in Trinity County, a rugged area in the

northwest part of the state with heavily forested mountains.

Trinity County Waterworks District No. 1, which wanted to negotiate an installment plan, does not

intend to pay a $1.5 million CalPERS lump sum termination fee required by CalPERS, said Craig Hair,

the district.manager.

A CalPERS committee was told last week that a $1.5 million bill was sent to the Trinity district in March,

followed by a final collection letter earlier this month. A final demand letter will be sent soon.

CalPERS cut pensions for the first time last November, a 60 percent reduction for five former

employees of Loyalton, a small northern Sierra town. In March CalPERS voted to cut the pensions of

200 employees of a disbanded job-training agency, LA Works, by 63 percent.

Now CalPERS wants to improve oversight and monitoring to reduce the risk of pension cuts. A staff

report last week gave a broad overview of the funding status of the plans for 1,521 local employers or

“public agencies.”

The latest data, as of June 30, 2015, is not current due to a two-year lag in actuarial valuations. Pension

fund investment gains and losses since then are not reflected, nor is the drop in funding levels from

lowering the earnings forecast from 7.5 to 7 percent last December.

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5/23/2017 CalPERS May Cut Trinity Water District Pensions | PublicCEO

http://www.publicceo.com/2017/05/calpers-may-cut-trinity-water-district-pensions/ 2/4

The report shows the average funding level for the public agencies at 74.4 percent, well above the

current 65 percent average for all CalPERS funds. But the snapshot shown in the report is not all

gloom.

Two-thirds of the public agencies had 75 to 100 percent of the projected assets needed to pay future

pension obligations. A surprising 41 of the public agencies, including four small cities, were more than

100 percent funded.

“Sort of what this reinforces is things look a little bit better than I think we thought — the

presumptions that may have existed,” said Richard Costigan, chairman of the CalPERS finance

committee.

After a decade, the California Public Employees Retirement System has not recovered from a huge

investment loss during the financial crisis. It was 101 percent funded with a portfolio valued at $260

billion in 2007, before plunging to 61 percent funded with $160 billion in 2009.

CalPERS was 65 percent funded last week with a $321 billion portfolio. A bull market that began in

2009 may be nearing an end. Last year experts predicted CalPERS investments will earn 6.2 percent

during the next decade, below the long-term 7 percent forecast.

Making recovery more difficult, CalPERS is a maturing pension system. Retirees are living longer and

soon will outnumber active workers. Some investments must be sold to help pay pensions, cutting into

earnings expected to pay nearly two-thirds of future pensions.

Because the investment fund is now much larger than the total payroll, the employer rate increases

needed to replace investment losses must take a much larger bite from government budgets.

(Employee rates do not increase to pay for debt or “unfunded liability.”)

Most employer rates doubled during the last decade, reaching an all-time high, and are scheduled to

continue increasing for a half dozen years. The Highway Patrol rate, for example, is 54 percent of pay

in the new fiscal year and projected to increase to 69 percent by 2023.

Half of CalPERS investments are in stocks and other assets at risk of major losses in a sharp economic

downturn. A shift from stocks and growth investments in September reduced risk and recent gains. A

long-term risk management plan will make gradual shifts over decades.

These are uneasy times for the giant pension system that covers half of all California state and local

government workers. Experts have told CalPERS that dropping below 50 percent funding could be

crippling, making recovery very difficult.

Public agencies only have 31 percent of the total active and retired CalPERS members, 1,856,554 last

fiscal year. State workers also are 31 percent. The largest group, 38 percent, is the non-teaching

employees of 1,496 school districts.

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But by far, the 1,521 public agencies have the largest number of pension plans — and the widest range

of funding levels, resulting in part from various workforce demographics and differences in pay and

pension formulas bargained by unions.

Among other funding factors, said CalPERS, is what actuaries call “experience,” such as an

unexpectedly large number of retirements. Employers joined CalPERS at different times in the past,

giving their investments different histories of gains and losses.

Employers can make their annual payment in a lump sum or monthly installments. Employers also can

choose to pay off their debt or unfunded liability over 30 years, 20 years, or 15 years. Other options

can be discussed with the plan’s actuary.

The four cities that were fully funded two years ago do not seem to have a lot in common. Adelanto,

known for having three prisons, contracts for police and firefighter services with San Bernardino

County, which has its own retirement system.

Coalinga left CalPERS for two decades, then rejoined to aid recruiting and to lower costs. Orange Cove

disbanded its police force in 1992, then restarted the police force in 2009. Tulelake, population 1,000,

had a small reported payroll, $137,353.

The lone employer with less than 50 percent funding, the Southern Sonoma County Resource

Conservation District, has a CalPERS plan with no active members and an annual unfunded liability

payment of $51,801 next fiscal year.

In one of the first steps to improve oversight, the CalPERS board was told last week that audit teams

looked at 59 public agency plans that have no active members, but are making their required

payments to CalPERS.

CalPERS staff is expected to look in the future at another potential risk: Some of the 173 joint powers

authorities and 63 non-profit agencies in CalPERS may have no taxing authority or revenue of their

own.

The risk was revealed when the East San Gabriel Valley consortium, doing business as LA Works,

closed after losing a large Los Angeles County job-training contract. The consortium is a joint powers

authority with no revenue of its own.

The four cities that formed the consortium (Asuza, Covina, Glendora, and West Covina) declined to

make a $406,345 CalPERS payment covering two fiscal years or pay a $19.4 million fee to terminate the

plan and avoid pension cuts.

The 63 percent cut in the pensions of 200 former LA Works employees is scheduled to begin in July.

The CalPERS board was told last week that the Trinity County Waterworks pensions may come up for

action in July.

The Trinity district manager, Hair, said he is the only staff member remaining after four staff members

left. Finding adequate replacements was difficult, he said, so he and three employees of his general

contracting business are working for the district under a county contract.

Hair said the district does not plan to borrow $1.5 million to pay the CalPERS termination fee and avoid

pension cuts. He said he thought installment payments or an alternative solution could be negotiated.

“I would never have gone down this road if we hadn’t been given misinformation,” Hair said.

If there is no solution and CalPERS cuts the pensions of the five Trinity district members, Trinity County

or the district may follow the example of Loyalton and use its own funds to restore the pension cuts.

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