The city of Bell's tale of corruption and malfeasance shocked the public, but almost as dramatic were the lengthy jury deliberations. In the end, the guilty verdicts stand even as a mstrial was declared. And on deck is the trial of the man that prosecutors allege masterminded the city's woes.
From an LAT quintet of Corina Knoll, Jeff Gottlieb, Ruben Vives, Richard Winton and Kate Mather: "Jury deliberations in the Bell corruption scandal were "very, very tense," according to a juror who described a day of rancor that the judge in the case said seemed to her like “all hell has broken loose.”
"Judge Kathleen Kennedy declared a mistrial at the end of a bizarre day in which one juror asked to reconsider the guilty verdicts reached Wednesday. Then, an anonymous juror passed a note to Kennedy urging her to “remind the jury to remain respectful and not to make false accusations and insults to one another.”
"Attorneys for the defendants said the jury deliberations leave many questions. George Cole’s attorney, Ronald Kaye, said the jury’s behavior suggested “coercion and intimidation” that throws the guilty verdicts into question."
After a lot of hoopla, appeals from 87,000 property owners and extensive media coverage, the state says it is postponing the collection of a $150-a-year fire protection fee for rural homeowners.
From the LA Daily News' Andrew Edwards:"The Board of Equalization is postponing collections of a controversial fee designed to pay for fire prevention work in areas where Cal Fire is responsible for protecting the state's wildlands."
"State officials reported that the high volume of appeals have created a heavy workload for state officials and a delay may give Cal Fire more time to make sure officials are using accurate billing information. As of Thursday, Cal Fire officials do not know how long the delay will take."
"The problem Cal Fire officials are experiencing stems from the fact that the agency's maps are designed for planning fire suppression tactics instead of showing which parcels are now subject to the fee."
Enviros and commercial beekeepers say federal regulators have failed to ban pesticides that the suit contends harm honeybees.
From the AP's Grace Wozniacka: In the suit, filed by the Center for Food Safety in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, the group asks the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to suspend the use of insecticides clothianidin and thiamethoxam - known as "neonicotinoids," a class of chemicals that act on the central nervous system of insects."
"The chemicals are used to treat corn, cotton and other crops against a variety of pests. Research shows that the chemicals build up over time in the soil, plants and trees. They are used widely in the Midwest, where many bees used for California's annual almond pollination are located. Each February, more than half of the country's honeybees - about 1.5 million hives - are trucked to California's almond orchards, the nation's biggest pollination event."
"Beekeepers and some scientists have for years blamed the pesticides for higher bee die-offs. Bees are exposed to the insecticides via residues in nectar and pollen and in contaminated dust from planting of treated seeds. Critics of neonicotinoids say they are toxic to bees, making them more susceptible to pathogens, and could be a significant factor in colony collapse disorder, in which all the adult honeybees in a colony suddenly disappear or die."
It looks like state lawmakers and statewide elected officials won't be getting a pay raise next year.
From the Bee's Torey Van Oot: "The chairman of the state panel that sets pay for California legislators and statewide officials said today he expects the salaries to remain the same next year, even if the state's finances are strong enough to justify raises."
"The California Citizens Compensation Commission met for about an hour today in Sacramento, but decided to delay a decision until after the panel gets an updated report on the state's fiscal health from the Department of Finance. By law, the commission cannot raise officials' pay unless the state shows a surplus in May."
"Commission Chairman Thomas Dalzell said he sees it as "very unlikely" that members decide to increase -- or reduce -- pay levels when they meet again on June 13. Giving raises in the first year of a projected surplus, he said, would "probably be unseemly."
The $11 billion water bond on the November 2014 ballot will be rewritten and downsized, with reservoirs among the items targeted for cuts.
From Capitol Public Radio's Ben Adler: "California Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg said lawmakers plan to rewrite the $11 billion water bond for the November 2014 ballot – and the new version will likely have less money for storage projects such as dams."
“I think there will continue to be a chapter for storage," said Steinberg. "I don’t think there will be nearly the same amount of money in that chapter as there was in the original bond. And I think there will be de-emphasis, frankly – or at least, on the same surface storage projects.”
"Steinberg said the overall size of the bond will be “significantly less” as well. In addition to storage, he said it will focus on safe drinking water, conservation efforts and restoring the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta."