On the hook?

The battle between San Bernardino and CalPERS over the city's pension payments ultimately may wind up in CalPERS' favor. In the world of finance and public pensions, this is the most closely watched case in the country.

From Calpensions' Ed Mendel: "A federal judge last week rejected a CalPERS request to sue bankrupt San Bernardino for a growing unpaid bill, but gave preliminary support to the argument that the bill must be paid in full before the city can leave bankruptcy."

"The widely watched question of whether the bankruptcy will reduce pensions promised retirees or payments made by the city to CalPERS may now turn on the ability of the city to pay. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Meredith Jury agreed to a 60-day discovery period sought by CalPERS to probe city finances. City officials said they plan to hire a half-dozen persons to help a skeleton staff provide information to the big pension system."

"The judge rejected a CalPERS motion to lift the automatic stay on debt collection imposed when San Bernardino filed for bankruptcy Aug. 1. She said employee pay would be threatened and the attempt to reorganize under bankruptcy law undercut."

PG&E, which has been under attack since the deadly September 2010 gas blast, is proposing to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to resolve the issues.

From the Chronicle's Matier & Ross: "Pacific Gas and Electric Co. offered to pay a $550 million fine to resolve state regulatory charges connected to the San Bruno pipeline explosion, but government and consumer groups rejected the deal because the utility wouldn't admit it failed to maintain a safe gas system, according to sources close to the talks."

"PG&E is facing a potentially huge fine for the September 2010 explosion of its gas-transmission line in San Bruno, which killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes. The case is unfolding before the California Public Utilities Commission, but other parties besides the commission have a stake in the outcome - including the cities of San Bruno and San Francisco and the consumer group The Utility Reform Network."

"A chunk of the $550 million that PG&E offered to settle the case would have gone to the state's general fund - but with the caveat that the utility would not have to admit to violating a state law requiring it to maintain a safe system."

Meanwhile, the UC Davis Medical Center was slammed in a federal report on an array of issues that stemmed from patient deaths.

From Marje Lundstrom and Sam Stanton in the Sacramento Bee: "Nurses weren't told what was going on in the operating room. Top hospital leaders were kept in the dark, or avoided asking questions. Hospital policies and federal regulations were violated."

"These are the stark conclusions of a widening federal probe of the UC Davis Medical Center and the deaths of three patients."

"Investigators found hospital staff repeatedly failed to intervene or raise questions about three highly unusual surgeries on brain cancer patients, according to a Bee analysis of the findings, released earlier this month by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services."

The state-local realignment is now the law, but complaints about its effectiveness continue to reverberate.

From the LA Daily News' Christina Villacorte: "The first wave of felons sent to county jails instead of state prisons under Gov. Jerry Brown's public safety realignment plan are back on the streets after serving their sentences, and local law enforcement officials are worried they will trigger a spike in crime."

"Almost all of the felons are under no obligation to report to a parole agent or probation officer, and many did not get job training and other rehabilitation services while behind bars."

"Of those 9,000 who have been sentenced to jail in lieu of prison, about 90 percent of them are going to come out without supervision by a probation officer or a parole agent," county Chief Probation Officer Jerry Powers said during a recent meeting of the Southern California Association of Governments."