The modest and picturesque town of Hercules in the Bay Area spent millions of dollars during a five-year period in transactions that have raised the suspicions of just about everybody -- including the state auditor.
From the Chronicle's Wyatt Buchanan: "City leaders in Hercules spent nearly $50 million of the city's redevelopment agency funds on questionable transactions, many of which had missing or nonexistent records, according to a pair of audits released Wednesday by state Controller John Chiang. Chiang called the findings "absolutely incredible."
"The audits largely point to a former city manager, who also was director of the redevelopment agency, as the source for the problems, and said that he directed millions of dollars to a firm he controlled and essentially issued loans that amounted to a giveaway of public funds."
"Chiang said a lack of information from the city makes it impossible to know if money was actually stolen. The audits cover a five-year period, from 2005 to 2010, and also found that the city had almost no internal oversight of management and spending from 2007 to 2010."
The San Onofre nuclear plant will not be restarting any time soon, and anti-nuclear activists are using the hiatus to make the case for keeping the plant shuttered permanently.
From the LAT's Abby Sewell: "The darkened San Onofre power plant will not restart even one of its two reactors for months, the head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday."
"In the meantime, anti-nuclear advocates stepped up pressure to keep the plant shut down, with the release of an analysis showing that the issues with San Onofre’s steam generators are among the worst in the industry."
"The plant has been shuttered since Jan. 31, when a tube in one of the plant's newly replaced steam generators leaked, releasing a small amount of radioactive steam, and leading to the discovery that hundreds of other tubes were wearing out more rapidly than expected."
The nation's largest public pension fund, CalPERS, has pulled the plug on one of its investment management companies.
From the Bee's Dale Kasler: "CalPERS has fired a firm entrusted with managing $1 billion of the pension fund's money – five months after the firm accused CalPERS of racial discrimination."
"The California Public Employees' Retirement System confirmed Wednesday it is severing ties with Centinela Capital Partners, a Los Angeles firm founded by two Latinos and an African American."
"Joe Dear, CalPERS chief investment officer, said Centinela's duties will be transferred Oct. 9 to Credit Suisse."
Meanwhile, the makers of an anti-Muslin film that has sparked violence in the Middle East had a received a filming permit last year in Duarte.
From Jessica Garrison in the LAT: "Duarte-based Christian nonprofit pulled the filming permit to shoot an anti-Muslim movie that has been blamed for violent protests in Libya and Egypt, according to Deputy City Manager Karen Herrera."
"A trailer for "Innocence of Muslims" depicts the the prophet Muhammad in a negative light and has sparked anger and condemnation around the world since it was posted on YouTube, then translated into Arabic and reposted earlier this month."
"Herrera said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officials told her that Duarte-based Media for Christ pulled a permit to shoot the film last year, but she stressed the the film was not shot in that city as some media have reported."
In one of the hottest state Senate races in the state, the GOP is surpassing Democrats in registration in an Inland Empire district, but the Dems say something funny is going on.
From the Press-Enterprise's Jim Miller: "Republicans have overtaken Democrats in Riverside County’s targeted 31st Senate District following a summer-long paid push that Democrats contend has reregistered dozens of voters as Republicans without their knowledge."
"As of earlier this week, Republicans had a 162-voter edge in the Senate district that extends from Corona to Moreno Valley. Democrats had a four percentage-point registration advantage in the district – almost 15,000 voters -- as recently as May."
“The numbers are changing because Sacramento hasn’t addressed the problems facing the district,” Assemblyman Jeff Miller, R-Corona, said in a statement within hours of the county election office posting a registration update."
