BART workers and management settled their differences at the bargaining table, but a key issue remains for employees -- they are exempt from cost-cutting changes that apply to other public employees.
From Calpensions' Ed Mendel: "The deal reportedly would phase in an employee pension contribution of 4 percent of pay over four years. That’s less than the 7 percent of employee pay called for in the regular CalPERS formula for most BART employees."
"Moreover, the new pension bite from paychecks is offset by a 15.4 percent pay raise over four years. But BART wants to cut rising employer pension costs projected to reach 14.3 percent of pay in fiscal 2015, up about 50 percent since fiscal 2009."
"Like many local government employers, BART has been paying the employee share of pension costs in what is sometimes called a “pension pickup” or more formally an “employer paid member contribution.”
The case of how a patient disappeared at SF General Hospital and wound up being discovered weeks later dead in a little-used area of the building is getting more tangled and confused.
From the Chronicle's Jaxon Van Derbeken: "San Francisco General Hospital officials made four requests for sheriff's deputies to comb the medical center for a missing patient who was eventually found dead in a stairwell, but sheriff's officials have not told them whether searches were conducted or what deputies may have seen, an attorney for the patient's family said Friday."
"One or two is bad enough," said Haig Harris, an attorney for the family of Lynne Spalding. "They certainly did not conduct a thorough search."
"Spalding, 57, was admitted to San Francisco General on Sept. 19 for treatment of a bladder infection and disappeared from her room two days later. On Oct. 8, her body was found in a locked stairwell during a routine check of door alarms."
The more times change, the more they stay the same: Some people in California's far north want to split off and form their own state, reflecting a long-held view that their voice counts for little in the state's existing configuration.
From Capitol Public Radio's Katie Orr: "It’s a fire that’s been burning for generations. At the local Black Bear diner a group of men from the nearby Church of the Nazareneenjoy an early morning breakfast. Bill Golden has lived in Yreka for 18 years and he’s used to the secessionist talk."
"Across the table, Elliott Carroll, who’s lived here for 60 years, is blunt about his opposition to the plan."
“I don’t think we can support highways or freeways, keep them maintained,” he said. “We’d have to have a governor, we’d have to have a capitol, The same people that are running the county now would be running the state. And I’m not too fond of those people.”
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, cattle rustling is making a comeback.
From the Bee's Edward Ortiz: "Cattle rustling, it turns out, has never gone away. And it’s on the rise in California and nationwide."
“It’s a terrible crime when you steal someone’s livelihood,” said Owen, whose husband’s family has been ranching in and around Tehama County for generations."
"Last year, 1,317 head of cattle were reported stolen or missing in California, said Greg Lawley, chief of the state’s Bureau of Livestock Identification. That’s a 22 percent increase from what was reported before the recession."
The Brown administration appears to be backing up local school districts in a dispute over funding for disadvantaged students.
From Cabinet Report's Tom Chorneau: "In settling a simmering dispute between schools and civil rights groups over the use of new state funding targeting disadvantaged students, the Brown administration appears to have decided to give local officials authority to define the mission."
"Civil rights and community groups had been lobbying the governor’s office, state schools chief Tom Torlakson and members of the California State Board of Education most of the summer to impose greater restrictions on the funds provided under the new Local Control Funding Formula – directives that would better ensure the money is being used to help English learners, low income students and foster youth."
"But a staff report set for consideration by the state board next week on how the state board might craft LCFF spending regulations suggests the governor has sided with schools."
