"And that financial hole could grow deeper, cautioned Steve Heminger, executive director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Bay Area transportation planning and financing agency."
"We may not have seen the end of it," he said. "This is a very costly project. The commission learned of the nearly 19 percent cost overrun as it agreed to let theTransbay Joint Powers Authority building the downtown transit center shift $47.8 million in toll bridge funds for future expenses to help cover the cost of a structural steel contract that came in over budget."
"There are 14 of them, all Republicans, according to the report Miller's office issued this week. Titled "Pork Barrel Politics," it names names. This rogues' gallery of hypocrisy has a total net worth of up to $124.5 million (the exact figure isn't public, because members of Congress only have to declare their wealth in ranges). They've received a total of at least $7.2 million in government subsidies since 1995."
"And they've voted to gut the food stamp program, which is formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. That amounts to taking the food out of the mouths of children of the unemployed and working poor, while lining their own suit coats with bacon."
A band of producers at KTVU have been fired for botching the the identifications of Asiana airlines pilots -- a gaffe that drew widespread attention.
From the Chronicle's Matier and Ross: "KTVU-TV has dismissed at least three veteran producers over the on-air gaffe involving the fake names of those Asiana airline pilots that became an instant YouTube hit - and a major embarrassment to the station."
"Station sources confirmed late Wednesday that investigative producer Roland DeWolk, special projects producer Cristina Gasteluand producer Brad Belstock were all sent packing following an in-house investigation into the July 12 broadcast of four fake names of the pilots involved in the Asiana Flight 214 crash at San Francisco International Airport on July 6."
"A fourth - noon news producer Elvin Sledge - told colleagues he was leaving for health reasons."
The feds had threatened to cut funding to California unless it improved its drinking water system. The state did, and the money will flow after all.
From the LAT's Emily Foxhall: "In April, the EPA issued a noncompliance warning to the California Department of Public Health, amid complaints that funds were not being distributed promptly or efficiently. Californians in many communities have suffered from a lack of potable water while the state left $455 million in federal funds unspent and failed to pursue an additional $260 million in loan repayments, EPA officials found..."
"The state submitted its “corrective action plan” on June 24. The EPA requested that the state revise and clarify various aspects, and a new plan was submitted on July 12."
"Under the new commitments approved Tuesday, the state must distribute at least $878 million to projects by mid-2016. That would be more than double the amount of funding disbursed during the past four years."
More ballots remain to be tallied, but the Democrat who sought to replace Michael Rubio in the 16th Senate District announced her defeat.
From the AP's Laura Olson: "While tallying those ballots is expected to take until the end of the week, Democrat Leticia Perez ceded the contest late Wednesday.
"The voters have spoken and I want to congratulate Andy on his victory," Perez said in a statement."
"Perez also had conceded the May primary to Vidak, only to learn she had earned a runoff when all the late ballots were tallied."
"Vidak's campaign issued a statement in response, saying he looks forward to representing the district in Sacramento and to working with Perez, a Kern County supervisor."
And from our "Walk Down Memory Lane" file comes the tale of Tulsa's penchant for naming local landmarks after a KKK leader, the late Wyatt Tate Brady.
"But a lesser-known side of Brady has become the focus of debate in his adopted hometown nearly 90 years after his death. The son of a Confederate veteran, Brady was a member of the local Ku Klux Klan. And new questions have emerged about his involvement in the most notorious event in Tulsa history, a 1921 race riot that left 300 black residents dead."
"The issue is especially sensitive because Brady's name is all over town — on a street, a mansion, a theater and a historic neighborhood. It's also the name of the city's most ambitious development effort in a generation — a glitzy downtown entertainment district."
"Brady's membership in the Klan was never a secret. It had been noted in Tulsa's historical records but was largely forgotten until a new Tulsa-based literary magazine, This Land, published a long article in late 2011 by author Lee Roy Chapman, who detailed Klan activities and Brady's involvement with the group."
