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"Soviet premier, Joseph Stalin, routinely airbrushed his enemies out of images. In this photo, a commissar was removed from the original photograph after falling out of favor with Stalin."

Tuesday, New York Times: On a talk show last fall, a prominent political analyst named Mikhail G. Delyagin had some tart words about Vladimir V. Putin. When the program was later televised, Mr. Delyagin was not.
Not only were his remarks cut -- he was also digitally erased from the show, like a disgraced comrade airbrushed from an old Soviet photo.

Welcome to the machine.
Machine politics came to Montebello Tuesday night and took out a pair of incumbents who saw it coming too late and were swamped by better organization, more money and real ideas.
First of all I believe Robert Urteaga was the top vote getter for a variety of reasons. Yes he was backed by all the right people and got the early money. But more importantly, he has a winning personality. Utreaga went door to door, visited voiters in their homes, at community centers and reached out to the media.
On the other hand, Mayor Norma Lopez-Reid, who had the advantage of incumbency, had all the personality of Richard Nixon in the Final Days.
She didn't return calls and approached the election as though she was under seige. Not a good move. It hurt her and Bob Bagwell.
It will also hurt Jeff Siccama in the long run. A recall of Siccama will be held in December. Based on Tuesday's results, he's got a an uphill battle.

The West Covina City Council election couldn't have been more predictable. If you think Roger Hernandez was going to lose you haven't been paying close enough attention to West Covina politics. In my opinion, Hernandez represents a good chunk of voters in West Covina who are dissafected and dissatisfied with City Hall. That core group of about 20 percent did (and will continue to) back the outsider. Some of them also went with Fred Skyes, so Hernandez's margin of victory over Karin Armbrust appears to be less than it is.
That said, what if Rob Sotelo wasn't on the ballot?
Well, no doubt that would have pushed Armbrust into a seat.
But, the incumbents won thanks to the size of the field and the lack of consistent slates.
The numbers tell several other stories, Sotelo's loss was a loss for Mike Touhey. He and Sherri Lane pushed Sotelo, while Herfert and Shelley Sanderson backed Armbrust. Touhey's voters either didn't show up or there aren't enough of them to carry a candidate.

This is Edward again. I may restart posting in tandem with Kate, but I'm still trying to figure it out. Also reader comments might be a bit slow posting because of a spam attack.

Anyway, I just wanted to point out this story on how one town deals with the media:
1. Submit your questions, in writing, preferably via e-mail, to Judith Frazier, La Plata's town clerk.
2. Frazier will forward your questions to the appropriate town official. She also will notify the mayor and all council members of the media inquiry.
3. By the next business day, Frazier will send the official's prepared response via e-mail.

- I've reported on cities that hired a pr person; we jokingly call them flaks, as in flak jackets, because many times they are hired to protect elected officials from the media or the public. In rare cases, the pr person forces you to funnel everything through them so they can manage the media. It rarely works, because pols can't help themselves, and the $80,000 plus that pr people get hired for seems a bit high to budget hawks. I don't mean to bash all public information officers. Many take their jobs seriously and as a public trust. Some, not so much.

Pasadena Now says Councilman Steve Haderlein will be meeting with the city attorney today about a complaint filed against him.
(via Aaron Proctor)

This is a past photo, but the water still flows in West Covina, according to reporter Frank Girardot.

A local soldier was killed in Iraq Jun. 28.
La Verne resident Cory F. Hiltz, 20, was a private 1st class for the U.S. Army. He was with the 2nd BN, 12th Infantry Reg, 2d Brigade Combat Team, 2d Infantry Division. He died in Baghdad, apparently by IED and small arms fire.
fyi: A resource for tracking soldiers who are killed in combat has been this site. It also has searchable databases. This is an interesting story about the guy who runs it.

We're not going to write anything else on Arnold Alvarez-Glasman. We'll just refer people to Foothill.
OK. I'm only kidding. We'll be back.

Urban Honking. cool.

Blog Mayor Sam's Sister City notes how 'Alvarez-Glasman' came to be.
- Los Angeles Times, November 30, 1989
GLASMAN ADDS MOTHER'S MAIDEN NAME TO STRESS HIS LATINO HERITAGE
By TINA GRIEGO
"MONTEBELLO-- Arnold Glasman said it was the letter that topped it off.
Glasman, recently reelected as city councilman, told residents who attended the installation ceremony of the new council this week that he heard too many snide remarks during the campaign about his ethnic heritage. Glasman, who is half Latino and half Jewish, said he recently received an anonymous letter accusing him of "being Hispanic only every four years."
Glasman, who is a lawyer, announced at the meeting that in honor of his mother, Nellie Alvarez, and in order to silence his critics, he was changing his name.
"From now on, I will be known as Arnold Alvarez-Glasman," he said.
Glasman said he is not going to change his name legally but said his signature will change as well as the letterheads on all of his stationery at City Hall and at his law office.
"There is no real need to legally change my name," Glasman said. "This is a matter of making the public aware of who I am."
The move raised eyebrows among some who fear that Glasman may be perceived to be pandering to Latinos to gain support for future campaigns.
"Either the Hispanic community wants to claim you or they don't," one community observer said. "They don't care about a name."
"Just because I am on City Council doesn't mean I lose my identity or background or culture," Glasman said"

The announcement on the promotion of Larry Wilson, Pasadena Star News editor, to public editor for the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group, Star News, SGVTribune, Whittier Daily News, found its way to LA Observed. And deep within all the shuffling of positions, I'm mentioned. I'm famous; I'm famous. In a very minor, narrow sort of way. But famous nevertheless.

Today, we give you two stories on Arnold Alvarez-Glasman, one in West Covina, the other Rosemead, where apparently he is angling to get another job. But the most interesting name thrown in the mix is Francisco Leal, city attorney for Maywood. In this fascinating story by LA Weekly's Jeffrey Anderson, Leal has had some interesting moments:"Perhaps foremost among the many controversies in which these lawyers have been embroiled are allegations explored in a 1999 L.A. Times story that Beltran, a Stanford-educated lawyer, and Leal, a Harvard Law School graduate raised by immigrants in El Paso, were threatening to launch recall campaigns against elected officials in Lynwood, Commerce and Bell Gardens if they did not vote to retain the two men’s legal services."
That would be the Bell Gardens where Glasman is now city attorney.

It apparently is not far off, and how will this affect the illegal immigration debate.

I should have blogged on this last week. The latest calls for assassinating the author by Islamic fanatics should have, as Tim Rutten notes, been loudly condemned by every writer, blogger, newspaper and editorial in this country. Instead, it was swept aside within the next news cycle. Freedom of speech is the bedrock of democracy, and the continued threatened and real violence to end it should prompt us all to stand up and fight.

I'm not saying I agree, but David "Dave" Siegrist, of El Monte is persuasive in his argument dealing with this post.
"Since so many legislators are beholden to the "rich and powerful," why are we so surprised about the continually embarrassing decline in the numbers of people who vote?
When you see who is giving money to whom, voters ask themselves, "What's expected in return?"
And, invariably, the answer is "Access, Favors, and..."
Beyond that, let's look at what our legislators continue to do:
They pass so many laws that it boggles the mind.
The now hotly debated "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" contains a myrid of do's and don'ts. The laws that have been on the books since 1986 and before that have yet to be applied.
Why is it any wonder that there is such a lack of confidence and trust in so many elected officials?"

No, I'm not really. But would it matter? As a journalist, if I slanted everything I wrote because of my political convictions, only people who supported those positions would continue to read me. That's why I think the latest hand wringing over political contributions made by journalists is much ado over nothing. A sports reporter at the Tribune was noted on the list. And? Now, are there ethical lines here? yes. I shouldn't give money to candidate A if I'm covering candidate A. And I could probably come up with a few more if I really wanted to think about it, but I don't.
fyi: I'm a libertarian (small l) for the most part, and I have never given money to a political candidate or committee. I'm too cheap and would rather give it to a bartender or Dino's Chicken and Burger in Azusa.

UPDATE::"100,000 newsroom employees nationwide" and they find 144 who gave money.

The latest from our water reporter. " Treated water continued to pour Wednesday from an open pipe at Service Road and West Covina Parkway in West Covina.
Officials from Valley County Water District say they are waiting on certification from state health officials before they can deliver the water to customers in West Covina, Baldwin Park and portions of Irwindale and Azusa.
Millions of gallons of drinkable water have flowed through the pipe into the Walnut Creek culvert and on to the San Gabriel River since last fall. Over the past week more than 130,000 gallons have been dumped. If you are keeping score, that's about 33,000 flushes."

Reporter Frank Girardot has received a lot of complaints about the crossing arm near the intersection of Barranca Avenue and San Bernardino Road.
Earl Brown, 53, and his niece, Raven Smith, 10, were killed and Brown's daughter, Christina Brown, 12, injured when their car collided with a train there at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Metrolink officials said computer records from a crossing arm indicate it was functioning properly.
But residents who have used the railroad crossing have said that there were problems before. Police are still investigating the accident, so this story might not be over.

New blog plans to post picture a day in Monrovia. (h/t) foothill cities

Reporter Frank Girardot took this picture, though his name is misspelled. We'll keep putting this picture up until it stops. It's our contribution to water conservation.

We're going to be putting the pictures every day in the paper for the time being of the gallons of water being wasted at a West Covina site because the state won't move to allow it to be used for human consumption. With water being such a precious commodity and drought-like conditions, you would think they would be a little quicker to fix the problem.

While we are not out of the woods yet, there is a lawsuit, we're getting close to the end of saga of the' two campaign sign teens.'
"This case basically involves two opposing factions involved in a local election," Booth wrote. "The complaining witness/victim was one of the incumbents. The suspects were all backing an opposition slate" about says it all.
- So what do we know?
A mother paid her daughter and friend to put stickers on signs of her husband's political opponents.
One of those opponents decided to have them arrested.
Instead of a citation, police actually arrest the girls.
Mother calls everyone, including us, to put a tale of abuse of power in the paper on the air.
That succeeds. (eventually)
City has a sign ordinance that is used to charge the girls, but the law is ambigous, possibly unconstitutional, and never really abided by. Except in this case.
DA declines to file charges.
Police refile charges.
Teens file lawsuit.
DA again declines to file lawsuit.
- Have I missed anything? I think the only one coming out of this looking good is the DA's office.

Now you realize why I check Foothill Cities everyday. As an aside, LAObserved picked this up yesterday, though it inaccurately mentioned us as one of the papers that missed the story. We don't cover Nell Soto.

Kevin Roderick picks up on Foothill Cities noting that *Assemblywoman Nell Soto, D-Ontario, hasn't been seen for awhile, apparently because of pneumonia.. Unfortunately, Roderick also tweaks us for not noticing. I did notice, but we don't cover Soto, who represents the area to the east of the San Gabriel Valley.

*I had state senator, which she was when I was covering her.

"Your letters to the editor as well as the front (home page) have become so out of date that other then having a place to hang your advertising it really useless," says reader Robert.
- I hate to say he's right but he's right. Some local bloggers even have a more interesting homepage. All I can say is we are working on it with all the glacial speed that one can as part of a major corporation. But eventually it will change.

but I'm also not praising it. Tonight they're expected to announce a new city manager.
With solid defensive action by lobbying groups, cities are not obligated by open-meeting laws to announce before the meeting who they have picked and negotiated a contract with. They can but most don't. I find it hard to believe that the public should not be able to comment on a city's top executive position; and I don't find it hard to believe that cities don't try to be more open about it. The city's statement that the release of the new manager's name 'could jeopardize his relationship with the city that now employs him' is absurd.
On a side note, Glendora also played dumb with releasing the employee contract. That, of course, is a violation of the Ralph M. Brown Act.
UPDATE: Alison Hewitt says it's Monterey Park City Manager Chris Jeffers. Better yet, she said they introduced him before they voted hiring him or approving his contract.

The state has more than $5.1 billion in Unclaimed Property. Here's a searchable database on the state controller's Web site. I'm probably the only one that doesn't have anything there.

Living in Monrovia has a sobering photo gallery from downtown Monrovia. Apparently, high rents and hopes of franchise stores are driving the exodus of businesses. (h/t foothill cities) I passed the info to our business editor.

We did this story in connection with the Ken Burns film.

"Arcadia-Monrovia Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2070 invites the community to join with it to mark Memorial Day this Monday, May 28, at 10:00 a.m. at Live Oak Cemetery, 200 E. Duarte Road in Monrovia. The ceremony will include presentations of honors from numerous local veterans organizations and remarks from the mayors of three local communities. The keynote speaker will be 1LT Robert C. J. Parry of the California Army National Guard. A Monrovia resident and Iraq war veteran, 1LT Parry’s personal writings on the conflict have been published by the Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Daily News.
“While it is important for everyone in the community take time to acknowledge those who have died in service to our country, I’d especially like to invite families to come out and participate,” said 1LT Parry. “Today’s generations of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are paying for the freedom of tomorrow’s generation, and it is important that today’s kids learn early on about the sacrifices of people who are providing them the quality of life they will one day enjoy and be tasked with preserving.”
He added, “The sacrifices of Monrovians like Lance Corporal Raul Mercado, who was killed in Iraq, and those who served in wars generations ago, must be remembered and cherished. It is incumbent upon us to ensure that tomorrow’s generation does not forget him, or any service member or take their service for granted. (h/t Foothill Cities)

And what did Claremont learn from the reaction that Pomona received when it sent a threatening letter to a local blog? Apparently nothing.
From the DBulletin: "Former Claremont Mayor Diann Ring said she thinks the blog in her city is potentially heading toward litigation as well.
The Claremont Insider - also penned by an anonymous blogger - writes about Claremont city officials and the "goofy, too-serious, power types that run most of the town's service organizations, charities and city commissions."'
-- This all started with local blog Foothill Cities getting a 'cease and desist' letter from Pomona for posting reasons about its city manager resigning. It was overreaching by the city. And that's just from the experts. The city of Fontana should be the model for how to deal with blogs with the mayor and others posting: "Fontana's Director of Public Works Curtis Aaron also logs into the forums with regularity and answers the residents' questions.
"Most of 'em are usually people speaking out about something they don't understand or are frustrated with," Aaron said. "If there's something going on there that's an issue, we don't wait for it to get out of hand. We keep an eye on the blogs, and ... we can get on it right away."'

Some have said that we are paying a bit too much attention to the spat between the city of Pomona and local blog Foothill Cities.
The Daily Bulletin looked into the accusations about the possible reasons the city manager resigned, but couldn't substantiate them. Does that mean Foothill Cities should not have aired the comments? I don't know.
But once the government takes an official action, it becomes reportable.
I don't agree with some bloggers who think they can do better journalism day in and day out than most journalists can. They might be able to make hits now and then, but this is a fulltime job. It takes skills that take years to perfect.
But I also don't agree with the old media types who think that we are the only ones who can come to the table and play.
Bloggers fill an important niche, and as much as some people might not like it, they are truly part of the press. Protecting their free speech rights is, in the end, protecting ours.

The New York Times has an interesting reader question and answer segment with editors and reporters. The latest one is with Matthew Purdy, investigation editor: "The best reporters are humble enough to ask "dumb" questions (two or three times, if need be), smart enough to know what they don't know and brave enough to let go of their first impressions. You are right that there is a danger in getting part of a story and mistaking it for the whole story. The only way to guard against that is to report against the findings of your story, in other words to test your conclusions. The best reporters, when they are finished with an article, understand what people who disagree with their conclusions would say about the subject and make sure that it is reflected in the story."
- It's the hardest skills for reporters to learn, and some never do.

I'm not a lawyer, but Glenn Reynolds, from Instapundit and Eugene Volokh are law professors. The point they make about the cease and desist letter sent to Foothill Cities is why did a city attorney get involved: "Even assuming Alvarez-Glasman has a legal leg to stand on here -- which is far from clear -- why is the City Attorney making legal threats on behalf of a private interest? Because the city has no interest in not being libeled, and the City Manager's interest is a personal one. Does the City Attorney routinely do personal legal work for city officials?"

We always get complaints about our local coverage, sometimes deserved, sometimes unrealistic, but is this the answer?
UPDATE:
Foothill Cities picked up on the "new" way of local reporting, and LAObserved gives them a nod.

Warren Fonteneau, a reader, has asked some interesting questions about editors:
"I believe in fairness to all the SGVT readers, we should know who you are.
As an example
1) Where did you grow up....in the San Gabriel Valley? Did you go to school here.
2) What organizations do you belong to ? If you belong to the National Rifle Ass. it might explain the tone of an editorial. Just as it would if you are a member of the ACLU...or PETA
3) Do you own a business in the Valley...if so ..in what city.
- These are mostly generic questions but I am sure you get my point. I do believe a little truth in where an editorial comes from or what it says may be better understood if the public knows the background of the editorial board members. It comes down to credibility."

-- These are all interesting questions, and throughout the day will try to answer them. But first, and foremost, I'm the city editor, which means I supervise straight news. Most times I don't even know what our editorial page has written until the following day, if ever. I don't get involved in editorials, endorsements or positions. l learned that lesson as a reporter, when I became outraged that we didn't support a local school board member who had taken heat for the principled stances he took. I strode (yes, I pompously did) into the editorial page editor's office, demanding to know why. He calmly looked at me and said read the editorial. "You report; we write the opinions." He was right, and I was wrong and had crossed the line. Usually, it's the publisher, op-ed editor and executive editor decide on the positions that the paper takes. I don't particularly like editorials or endorsements. I personally think they are overrated. But...I'm just the city editor.

It's what you are going to be hearing and reading for days after the horrific killings in Virginia.
The media is going to swamp you with talking heads analyzing Cho Seung-Hui's motives, past history and psychological makeup.
Since the man was a resident alien, you will hear about immigration. You will also hear how or what police should have or could have done differently on a campus some 2,600 acres. You'll also hear those who want to ban guns or increase gun ownership.
And in the end, all that noise will never answer the question of why a 23-year-old could have decided that murdering dozens was the right way to leave this world.

Rich McKee's latest. Montebello has made some curious choices lately, and we'll be watching closely as things develop.

My only comment on this is what Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis said: "freedom to think as you will and to speak as you think are means indispensable to the discovery and spread of political truth."
UPDATE: ok maybe it won't be my only comment because here's an ominous quote that Rev. Al Sharpton reportedly said, "It is our feeling that this is only the beginning. This must be a walk that CBS now does. It must be a walk that others will do. Then we must have a broad discussion on what is permitted and what is not permitted."
- Once you decide that anyone can set a standard for allowed speech it's a slippery slope down to whatever you say that offends me can be squelched. And believe me, we're not that far off.
UPDATE II. Aram garners comments on the firing, and Michael Meyers says Let the Idiocy be Heard.

A reader asks, "Have you ever thought about asking your readers what they want and what they don't want? Or do you just assume that you know what's best?"
It's a fair question. The answer is -- it depends.
There is a balancing act between giving readers what they want and want they need. An old editor of mine said that we need to give readers information that they don't have but need to know. We and other organizations do surveys of readers' interests, and hold reader workshops where local residents give their input. Sometimes, the information we get and put into effect angers other readers. A simpler, and informal, survey is done practically everyday. It's the phones calls we get. Trust me, we listen.

Don't mess with people's comic strips. In the past few days, we dropped several comics, including Mark Trail. I'm still not sure why we dropped the comics but I'll find out. I first must say, I had nothing to do with this. I deal with the news, not the features and comics. Having said that, we have received dozens of angry callers, some of them quite eloquent. One elderly woman waxed poetically about how the joy of reading the comics was passed down by her grandfather. A family tradition, she said, that obviously the Tribune wants to end.

While I've been away, Foothill Cities slaps me upside the head and adds comments.
The story from Alison Hewitt that he's talking about, and is behind our ludicrous paywall, is copied on the jump.

LA Beat: "Rep. David Dreier, R-Glendora, is insistent that the MTA should prioritize a $1.1 billion Gold Line expansion that would extend the line from its current terminus in east Pasadena all the way to the Ontario Airport. (h/t Foothill cities)

I went to a talk by David Wallis the other day on the scarcity and slow demise of the cartoonist. I'll post more on my thoughts on that later.

Just because they're applying, doesn't mean they know what's coming.

Tim Crews is the 63-year-old owner, editor and reporter of the Sacramento Valley Mirror. While he may mix his opinions with his news reporting a tad much, his type of small town newspaper journalism is important and becoming rare.
"We're s -- disturbers. It's what a small county needs," said the bespectacled editor as he sat at his cluttered desk in his office, fielding calls and listening to a police scanner. "It is really important for a place like this to have somebody hold up a mirror."

This is going to be fun.

"And hopefully this will be some kind of subtle message to other newsrooms that if you can spare the time and the resources to turn a reporter loose for a good bit of time, then something good might happen."

Claremont Insider makes some interesting points about the growing power of local blogs and how they are becoming part of the solution in covering communities.
"It's a different time, though. There are other ways for communities to communicate and share information."
Traditional newspapers no longer have the resources to cover all of our local communities as well as we should. It's something I believe and have said before.

The idea: "an attempt to bring together professional writers and editors with citizen journalists to collaborate on reporting and writing about the rise of crowdsourcing on the Web. Inspired by the open source movement, the goal of Assignment Zero is to develop a working model of an open newsroom."
- I might still have a job if this takes off, but I don't know about reporters.

Editors need to balance what readers want and what they need. Most times stories meet both criteria, sometimes not. As I have said before, I thought these arrests were minor, a short story at best, but some believed that we should have reported on it before Election for various reasons. I still think we made the right decision. After digging through archives, finding court documents and talking, or trying to talk, to everyone involved, this is what Alison Hewitt found. And considering how some of the players in this story acted before and how some of them are acting now, it reveals an interesting tale of small town politics. But one that should have waited until after Election Day.

Our state Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, (left) gets locked out of his office when state Sen. Don Perata, president pro tem, decides to act like a juvenile.

Forget politics and editing. What about blogging and shooting video about eating food? The only thing is can I expense it. (via Claremont Insider)

Hilda Solis has been appointed to a global warming panel.

Reader Kyle also thinks we should have printed the story about the Glendora teens arrest before the election, so he joins Foothill Cities who feels the same. Another person who sent an e-mail backed my stance, so maybe I'll get a late push.

No bias. No favor.
It’s a mantra we journalists try to live by. And around election time, the standard guides us as we decide which stories to publish before Election Day and which ones to publish afterward.
Every year in the weeks heading up to the day people vote, tips of skullduggery flood our phone lines: Candidates or their supporters misusing campaign contributions, lying about their accomplishments or other candidates’ histories and destroying lawn signs. These are just a few of the usual accusations.

Hiring citizen journalists.

AP: MONTEREY PARK - "Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani asked for privacy Monday to deal with strained relationships within his family, and defended his wife as a "very loving and caring" mother and stepmother.
The Republican presidential candidate came to Southern California to speak with sheriffs about gang violence, but found himself answering questions about his family after his son, Andrew, publicly said their relationship had become distant after Giuliani's messy divorce from Andrew's mother, Donna Hanover, and his later marriage to Judith Nathan."
Considering that one of the things that softened Giuliani's tough prosecutorial image in New York was pictures of him with his son Andrew this isn't the best thing that could happen.
Update: Here's a NY Daily News article with more detail.

.

I'm not sure I like this. We were part of this public records audit as a way to show that police departments need to be transparent. While there may be a point where we would have to file a lawsuit for a particular case, a general lawsuit like this sounds counterproductive.

Health blogger critiques Board of Supervisors.

Foothill Cities has a long blog on the Glendora teen arrest story, including a swipe at our 'lack' of coverage. I have already stated our reasons for holding off on this weird story here until after the election. People may not agree with it, but considering it's Glendora, we're not going to jump before we have to. I will clear up one inaccuracy in both the LA Times story and Foothill Cities blog. The police didn't release a statement, every morning we do a round of cop calls. That's when we found out about it. Police must give us the names of people arrested, they have discretion over the victims, which they rarely if ever do.

As I said earlier, the arrest of two teens caught defacing a politician's sign apparently hanging in a public right of way, which would make it illegal, was a minor story for us. Now I see on the local CBS news that there are people protesting the arrest. This on top of Saturday's L.A. Times oddly written story. Sheesh. Sometimes you never know what people are going to rally around. I'll post the video if I can find it.

I've known Rich McKee for a few years now, and I still don't quite understand why he so zealously advocates the ideals of open-government.
He is a Pasadena City College chemistry professor, served as president of the California First Amendment Coalition and recently resigned from Californians Aware. For nearly 20 years, I think, he has challenged local municipalities and public agencies to follow the Ralph M. Brown Act and the Public Records Act. This includes filing lawsuits that he almost always won, forcing them to follow the law.
As part of our attempt to get more community voices in our paper, Rich, a La Verne resident, has become a columnist of late. It gives him a chance to spread the word about local open-government issues, and gives us unique opportunity to educate the public.
It's an experiment because Rich has to stay a chronicler and stay away from being a newsmaker. The transition so far has been smooth. But he becomes outraged quickly when he thinks someone has disregarded open-government laws, so it should be fun. Here's his latest column.

Roiled..er..not really. Unless of course you read the breathless prose of this LA Times story today.
"The 18-year-olds, Keleigh Marshall and Christina Giammalva, set out the night of Feb. 19 to engage in some mischief by putting stickers on the political signs of Glendora elected leaders. The stickers read, "This sign violates Glendora city ordinance," a reference to Glendora's law prohibiting campaign signs on public property.
Notwithstanding that law and an accompanying set of rules that regulate the placement of campaign material, the same council members who passed the regulations appeared to be violating them — and thus the protest by Marshall and Giammalva."
Notwithstanding that it's only later that you find out that Marshall is the daughter of a former council member, this reporter obviously accepted that the teens were just "protesting" the signs placement not the candidates themselves. Remember, when John Harrold, Paul Marshall and Richard Jacobs were recalled, Clifford was one of the people who replaced them and was supported by the group that was behind the recall effort.
We did a short story on the arrest, and after looking further into it decided it was a type of story that is blown out of proportion before it's near an election. There are many unanswerable questions and possible motivations. Politics as usual indeed.

Updated: put some added details in. Because we have a dumb pay wall for archives, I pasted two stories after the jump that gives some additional informatin on the recall, and other possible explanations for the "protest." Notice the attorney's name as well.

You gotta be kidding me.

Mother Jones:"The report found that locally owned television stations, on average, presented 5 1/2 minutes more local news per broadcast than stations owned by out-of-town conglomerates."

Homeland Security committee: "Jefferson insists he has an honorable explanation, which he will provide when, and if, he's charged with a crime"

Will they just make up their minds?

AP:" A dentist to the rich and famous has filed a $7 million lawsuit against the estate of late New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle, claiming his home was destroyed when the ballplayer's small airplane crashed into his apartment building."

This is the fun time for newspapers as we near Election Day next week. We get a slew of unconfirmed tips and one-sided complaints about council candidates and anything else on the ballot. Stolen and defaced signs. Campaign paraphernalia stuck in public right of ways (in violation of election code). Our task is to carefully walk the minefield and try to find the wheat from the chaff.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease, just not where expected.

It's always fun trying to get rarely asked for public records. You know city officials are going to say no, because they always do. One of those are resumes. I just asked Irwindale* for their city manager's resume, and they declined citing personnel exemptions. According to Terry Francke, general counsel for Californians Aware, that's baloney. And he cites case law. I'll be citing it too when I ask for it again. I'll put up the relevant case law when I find it.

*For some reason I had a brain-lock and put in Monrovia. I haven't (yet?) asked Monrovia for the city manager's resume.

UPDATE: Francke e-mailed the case law. Relevant part - "plaintiffs would obtain information as to the education, training, experience, awards, previous positions and publications of the auditor. Such information is routinely presented in both professional and social settings, is relatively innocuous and implicates no applicable privacy or public policy exemption."

Full decision after jump:

Missed this story from former colleague Jason Newell about the Johnson's Pasture. (via foothill) Of interest was where Claremont wanted to get some of the funding. It sounded vaguely familiar. Someone should really do a story about the program, I wish I knew someone in the news business.

"The problem of crime in the United States is not “caused” or even aggravated by immigrants, regardless of their legal status," according to the Immigrant Policy Center. Breaking the law by illegally entering is not part of the study's equation, incarceration rates are. I haven't read the study yet, but will.

(photo from here)
Correspondent Brian Day did a story last month about how the body of Rusty Tullis was still at the LAC coroner's. Apparently, Tullis, who was portrayed by Cher in the movie Mask, is still there. We are trying to track it down. There is also a forum about how to pay for the costs of cremation

UPDATE: The body of Florence “Rusty” Tullis is still at the county coroner’s office, nearly three months after she died. Los Angeles County officials said the remains are expected to be cremated at county expense within the next two weeks. They will hold the urn for a year for next of kin to claim.

-because we have a pay wall for Day's article, I pasted a copy after the jump.

A fascinating article about the city of Cudahy, to the southwest of us, by LA Weekly's Jeffrey Anderson mentions Baldwin Park Councilman David Olivas, and not in a good way:
"The methods of Beltran, Leal and Olivas left a mark on their former law partner Jesse Jauregui, who broke all ties with the group in 2001. Jauregui has this — and only this — to say about his old colleagues: “I’m glad to no longer be a part of Tammany Hall–style politics. How far it goes, I do not know. It became a seamy situation.”
The legal maneuvering that led to new leadership in Cudahy was part of a larger strategy, says former Cudahy councilwoman Araceli Gonzalez, a child of Mexican immigrants. “They were very outspoken,” says Gonzalez of the lawyers who advised Cudahy and Bell Gardens. “They were telling people they were going to take over these cities and put Latinos in power.”
Olivas, now in his own law practice while wearing two hats — as Cudahy city attorney and councilman in Baldwin Park — argues that the move to anoint Perez as Cudahy city manager was about Latino self-determination, and that change in leadership in small southeast L.A. County cities was for the better."

Of course, Assemblywoman Sally Lieber may not be done.

One city I'm familiar with and has always been forthright with its documents also posts its meeting's online. Unfortunately, I'm still trying to figure out how to post it to the blog.

Azusa City Council candidate forum on youtube.

We see so many cities that make it difficult to see their agendas or get documents. When a city actually gives the public even more access, it should be applauded. Monrovia is the only city I know of that posts its city council meetings on the Web. (hat tip to foothillcities)

What if we fired all our reporters tomorrow and depended on volunteers and community newsletters for our information? I a big believer in citizen journalism, and there are already blogs slowly covering the happenings in parts of the San Gabriel Valley. But they complement the newspaper, they can't replace it. There are stories, such as the ones we are doing about Gary Miller, that take time: piles of document reading, multiple phone calls and continual rewrites. Local breaking news may be a perfect spot for local residents armed with videos and phone cameras. An all-volunteer
army benefits the military, but it would be disastrous for the news.

Foothill Cities has some interesting links to videos and stories from Sierra Madre, Glendora and and Claremont.

I keep searching for local bloggers, and I'm wondering if I should start start a blogroll when I find them. Here are a few: Foothill Cities, written by a local resident, and another one by Amanda Wray, a Web designer and writer, has Living in Monrovia. I got to Wray's site a few weeks back because of Jay Rosen at Pressthink and his blogging about placeblogger.com . I remembered it today when I saw it on Foothill cities.

As I have said before, sometimes our letters section is a great source for potential stories. One last week caught my eye.
Brooks A. Pangburn, of Duarte wrote about our public records audit and his own wranglings with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and concealed weapon permits. The applications are public record, except for where and when an individual is vulnerable and mental health information - everything else is public. But apparently Pangburn is getting the runaround and not getting the information. I had my own experience with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. The irony is the 1985 case that gives the legal precedent forced disclosure of -- the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Interesting story about an investigation into a jail house interview with Michael Devlin. He is accused of kidnapping 13-year-old Ben Ownby just after the boy got off a school bus Jan. 8 in Missouri. Police found Ben and Shawn Hornbeck at Devlin's apartment on Jan. 12. Shawn, now 15, had been missing since 2002.
Apparently, no media was allowed to interview him. But a reporter, who did the story for the NY Post, slipped in, signing herself in as a friend, according to Devlin's lawyer and police. I was interested in the 'expert's' opinion that the reporter damaged the credibility of journalism by the subterfuge.
I did one jail house interview. And I tried to go the media designated route, but they kept sending me to a line where you could only sign up as friend or family. After a few hours arguing, the woman who arranged the times for the county jail put me down as friend. I immediately identified myself as a journalist to the inmate before I talked to him, so I believe I was on the right side of the ethical standard.
We are not bound by what lawyers or police say when we pursue a story as long as we don't break any laws. As I said about our public records audit, there are rare times when not identifying yourself is the only way you can get information. But I'm not as quick to condemn this reporter. This story is of great public interest, partially by the families own hand after the fact. I don't know the protocal in Missouri. But if the reporter identified herself to Devlin as a reporter, before she interviewed, good job, I say.

My cousin Marshall Tracy sent me a note about this the other day, but this was the first time I had a chance to look at it.
It's intended to stop corruption and *had a section that would have made hash of that little known First Amendment:
"political bloggers who make or spend $25,000 per quarter and who encourage readers to contact their elected representatives would be forced to register as lobbyists--or face up to 10 years in prison."

* - This is what happens when you're late to catch up. It appears that the section was deleted late Thursday.

Nope. But we could have done some cooler stuff online for our public record audit of law enforcement agencies. The Sacramento Bee had an interactive map. My only complaint: they should have allowed users to just rollover the dots for information.

Californians Aware hopes to revive a bill that makes it tougher for state and local agencies to stop people from gaining access to clearly public records. We'll be working on a story about in the next several days. I've heard from several people that our public records audit was important work. I expect to hear otherwise soon.

You have a right to know what your government is doing.
That right includes having access to public records, so you can verify how, and how wisely, your tax dollars are being spent.
And a part of our mission as a newspaper is to protect that right.
That’s why joining a landmark public records audit of law enforcement agencies that was released last week was so important.

Us.
- Why not? The Star Ledger in New Jersey has already started a station on the Web, akin to Youtube except specifically for the New Jersey area. The Garden State has to get their news from New York-based stations, which means it's NYC-centric. It's a smilar problem that we have here in the Valley. TV rarely covers stories out here, so there is a need. We already have a twice-daily Webcast that we hope to eventually use for breaking news as well.

The Star's Mission, "New Jersey needs a television station to call its own. Programmed by New Jerseyans, for New Jerseyans. TVJersey has no broadcast towers, no satellites. It doesn’t even have a studio. But it has you. And what you produce, we’ll promote. Just tag your videos on youtube with tvjersey, and we’ll find them. (We’re going to start using some other services soon.) We might find them even if you don’t. And you can always send us ideas and links at video [at] tvjersey dot com. Together, we’ll build the TV station we deserve."

Part of our mission as a paper is to constantly monitor how public agencies release information that the public has a right to know. That's why joining a landmark statewide audit of law enforcement agencies was so important. Most of the local, county and state agencies, we contacted did miserably. We asked for simple documents, such as police reports and statements of economic interests. Now our reporters were instructed not to represent themselves as reporters. A tactic rarely used in journalism but was the only way for us to see how the public would be treated. No one lied. If they had no other choice, they had to answer who they were. Of course, agencies have no right to ask your name or ask for identification or why you want the information. You want it because you're the taxpayer and they work for you. That is enough. Hopefully, the audit will prompt some agencies to do things differently. I hope in the future to do similar audits of other agencies.

Law enforcement agencies and politicians have played big the pursuit and extradition of Garcia, suspected in the death of a LA County sheriff's deputy. Garcia is expected to be arraigned Thursday at Pomona Superior Court. But for some odd reason, the DA is refusing to allow photo. Their refusal to allow certain media in an open courtroom truly has no good explanation.

Judge-Elect Lynn Diane Olson will be heading our way and will be presiding over cases in El Monte. Doesn't ring a bell? She owns a bagel shop in Manhattan Beach, was rated as "not qualified" by the LA County Bar Association and beat well regarded Judge Dzintra Janavs in a June election. Janavs was later appointed to an open seat by the governor (via LA Observed and heads up to Rod Leveque)

Glendora resident Army Spc. Elias Elias, 27, died Saturday in Baghdad when an explosive detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colorado. He was the 22nd soldier to die from the San Gabriel Valley. We will do a story on him, if we can.

"What you're seeing is a radical new way of doing journalism. We're back to the time of the lonely pamphleteer or the tramp printers in the Europe," said Philip Meyer, Knight Chair in Journalism professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill...
I close every semester by saying, 'I've just taught you journalism as it was practiced in my day. The journalism in your day is going to be different,' " Meyer said. " 'It's up to you to invent it, please don't mess it up.' "

There is more knowledge outside the news room than inside. Part of our problem is that we are so used to talking to our readers, we have a hard time truly listening. Some of you graciously reacted to my column today with some solid suggestions. I can't promise that we'll implement them, but I do promise to listen to them.

Here's part of an e-mail from Ernie Black from Valinda:

" I wonder why some companys make the wrong choices, trying to guess what the customers want and what they need. But they never ask why we no longer buy their product or why we went somewhere else to shop. They never want to hear what is wrong."

The complete message follows -

We miss stories every day. Sometimes it's because we make the wrong choices. Other times it's because we don't have the resources.
Buffeted by lagging advertising and shrinking circulation, papers across the country, including ours, are trying different ways to reach out to you, our readers, as newspapers undergo a transformation.

It's a time-honored tradition for readers to submit a letter to the editor, whether voicing a complaint or praise. But I rarely, whether reading for pleasure or business, have I made it a point to read those letters -- until now. It started out by accident. Reading an op-ed peice, another thing I rarely do because I don't get involved on that side, I ran across a letter about * funding for a hospital in Covina. Intrigued, , I pointed it out to a reporter who later decided it was worth a further look. I now make reading the letters printed in our pages a daily ritual, because it's one more way I know what you're thinking and know what's happening. So the tradition continues.

*correction

As a New York expatriate, I am constantly surprised by little details that make California - California. One of these came from stories about the death of Alexander Roglinov, 61, who was found shot and killed camping in the Angeles Forest above Azusa.
The L.A. Times had a story about the killing, but, outside the tragic details, the thing that caught my eye was that there were gold prospectors still up there panning for gold. Not exactly a steady gig, but no different then lotto and with better odds.

The interesting and unique part of this job is dealing with all walks of life who walk into our offices on Azusa Canyon Road. As a reporter, I went out and met people all the time but as editor, it's different. I've talked to homeless who feel they are being abused, gadflys who believe no one is paying attention and this week I had a woman come in and say we should do a story about a local Santa. Juan Angeles, a part-time custodian and full time baker, buys hundreds of toys for kids and hands them out on Christmas Eve. It's a type of story that you question because who would be that generous? A rich man perhaps. But Juan works two jobs and has a family. It's a type of community member I should be connecting with more. So if you ever have a story idea or just want to complain, give me a call or stop by. My number is (626) 962-8811 Ext. 2720.

Newspapers are falling in love with blogs, sometimes hurting the newspaper.

Chang’s Garden in Arcadia, Chung King in Monterey Park, Triumphal Palace in Alhambra and Mission 261 in San Gabriel get nice press for their food.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to make 2007 the year of healthcare. The Sacramento Bee has a blog dedicated to hearing from experts about solutions. It's moderated by the dean of California political blogs Dan Weintraub

One fee too much.

I've been a bit late on this story about Mariel Garza, a columnist for sister-paper Daily News, and her students class project to obtain public documents from the LAPD.

As soon as I find the link to the original story, I'll put it up.

Update: Her story is on the jump....

If law enforcement truly needs to find out who committed a crime, they have no other choice and a compelling reason, I can see the argument backing suponeas against journalists. But the onslaught of legal attacks lately against reporters should concern everyone. The problem is that we are undersiege at a time when we appear to have few defenders.
"Years of journalistic mis- and malfeasance have left many people thinking the Fourth Estate could use a little oversight, regardless of where it comes from."

While there a lot of good stories that can and should be done on the racial and ethnic division in this country, we should be careful of stretching certain events and saying they expose racism. As a Latino and first-generation American, I'm not ignorant of the poor educational system and income disparities that affect minorities. One radio commentator this morning mentioned an all-important yet unreported fact: Thanksgiving week is usually a slow news week, so we may be talking about this more. Too bad.

Trolling around online, looking for interesting stuff from the San Gabriel Valley, I came across a Web cam that apparently looks over the Westfield Mall in West Covina. I think I see the Washington Mutual Bank that stands
in front of Barnes and Noble. I have no idea why it exists, but they have it.

As part of a continuing move toward more online interaction, the newspaper has put comment links on the bottom of stories. Other newspapers have also dipped in this pool, sometimes without success. Ventura County Star eventually went back to giving comment links. I think it gives our online readers one more reason to become engaged.

In the past month, we have had the uneviable task of publishing stories about the death of soldiers killed in Iraq. Friday, reporter Jennifer McLain was at Ontario International Airport where Sgt. 1st Class Rudy Salcido was brought home. Some might question whether we should be covering these stories, but no matter what side of the war you are on, the deaths of San Gabriel Valley natives need to be acknowledged. Most families have welcomed us, some have not, and we take a family's feelings into account if we do cover the story. But I do think there needs to be a way of publishing stories about the soldiers who are over there now, and not wait until they are brought home to be buried. I'll be working on that in the next several weeks.

I wish I could say we thought of this headline, but it was a longtime Trib subscriber, and apparent Gershwin lover, who called in tonight.

I have a card that shows the state law that allows me, as a journalist, the right to get on to school grounds. Districts that have stopped me usually gave me the exemption "for safety reasons or disruption of class." It's an occasional fight against some administrators who forget the public pays their salaries. Bob Sipchen, from the LA Times, has a interesting read today about the hassle getting into a Halloween party. As he rightly puts it, "aside from parents' narrow experience with their own children, reporters are the only eyes, ears and noses people have to alert them when something smells - which may be why the urge to keep journalists in the dark runs so deep."
- It's also in Spanish.
-
The Times has another story about a state Supreme Court decision limiting access to police hearings now being used as a cover for others. It's a fight the legislature should take up, but doubt if they will.

Continuing to look for local bloggers who are covering events we don't, and they don't have to be text oriented. Tim from Covina has Time slices with a catalogue of photos, including a San Dimas Native American video.

I’ve been here for nearly seven weeks, and I’ve been overwhelmed, in a mostly good way, by readers’ responses to the latest changes in the paper, story placement or even lack of stories. It’s not the type of interaction I’ve ever had to deal with. As a reporter, you can decide, for the most part, what stories you write. But you still had to follow an editor’s command, the news cycle or time. As a part-time freelance editor, I just dealt with grammar, spelling and flow of story.

We had a story a few days ago about a La Mirada blogger, Tony Aeillo, who wanted to get comments for the community about a proposed aquatic center. Our political columnist Mike Sprague wondered if it was a little too late to stop the project from going forward. It’s a small step into more community-like reporting online (albeit very small with only about 30 votes in, mostly in favor.) The Aquatic Center is slated to open late 2007.