When the state orders fines against assisted living facilities for violations, they are supposed to pay up in 10 days. They rarely do.
From the U-T's Jeff McDonald and Matt Clark: "Since July 2007, the department has collected only half of the $2.9 million in penalties it levied against facilities statewide, according to a U-T Watchdog review of state data."
"The majority of fines either don’t get paid or are satisfied weeks, months or even years after they are billed. One factor at play: There’s no penalty for late payment."
A former utility worker who complained about safety issues and was fired has received a $1 million award in his wrongful termination suit.
From the Santa Cruz Sentinel's Stephen Baxter: "Matthew Niswonger, of Live Oak, worked for PG&E for about eight years. His crew was asked to replace a broken electrical pole on Hihn Road in Ben Lomond in July 2011."
"His supervisor said the repair could be done without shutting down power, so Niswonger and two others did it -- but it was harrowing work. A cross arm broke as they were working, and live, high-voltage wires came "within inches" of touching each other, Niswonger said."
Meanwhile, Hollywood Park, tinseltown's iconic race track where filmdom's greats came to see and be seen, is shutting down after 75 years.
From the NYT's John Branch: "Most of the track’s 600 original shareholders had a direct connection to Hollywood and the track chairman, Jack Warner. The track itself, built in a bean field, was 11 miles south of Warner Bros. Studios on Sunset Boulevard. About five weeks after opening day, Hollywood Park held its first Gold Cup, which became the biggest annual race on the track’s calendar. It was won by a horse named Seabiscuit."
"Hollywood Park’s last race is scheduled for Dec. 22. Among the relative few likely to witness the track’s final moments are those who still remember the serendipitous synchronization of the golden eras of horse racing and Hollywood."
If you come to San Francisco, forget the flowers in your hair, bring your smartphone -- there's free WiFI.
From the Chronicle's John Coté: "After announcing a deal in July to bring free Wi-Fi to San Francisco's public parks, the city will officially roll out free wireless connectivity Monday along a main transit spine - Market Street."
"It's not the sweeping citywide access that then-Mayor Gavin Newsom proposed in 2007, but it is 3 miles of coverage along the city's main thoroughfare from Castro Street to the Embarcadero."
Speaking of San Francisco, it has a waterfront ball park and Oakland doesn't. But Oakland may be getting one.
From the Chronicle's Matier and Ross: "The $500 million waterfront ballpark is being proposed by a team led by Clorox chairman and CEO Don Knauss and former Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream boss T. Gary Rogers - with the blessing of Oakland Mayor Jean Quan."
"It's one of the two sites we promised Major League Baseball we would offer, and it will be available early next year," Quan told us Friday - the other being the current Coliseum site."
"Trust me, Oakland is hot now," Quan said, "and a lot of developers would love that (waterfront) site if it doesn't become a baseball stadium."
And finally, from our "That Was The Year That Was" file comes our selection of top state political stories for 2013.
"For the followers of California politics, non-election years usually are yawns. Not so 2013: One would be hard pressed to find a year with more hot-button events fraught with statewide political ramifications, and even local stories — the trials in Bell, for example — capturing wide attention."
"Here’s our roundup of the year’s top state political tales, a subjective compilation to be sure but one which was fun to put together. It was more fun to do when we had a print edition, but you can’t have everything."
"The Calderon Raid – An FBI raid in June on the Capitol offices of state Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, disclosed a corruption investigation of the Capitol with links to southern California. The raid was the first since an August night in 1988, when agents with warrants searched several offices in a “sting” that wound up sending several lawmakers to prison. The basic FBI playbook doesn’t seem to have changed in 25 years: Then, undercover FBI agents pretended to be businessmen looking for tax breaks for their shrimp processing plant. This time around, an undercover FBI agent pretended to be a film producer looking for tax credits for the movie industry..."
