Hefty paychecks for Vernon officials rival those in Bell
Posted in News, what on August 20th, 2010 by admin – Comments Off
Bell isn’t the only city that has paid huge salaries: In neighboring Vernon, a former city administrator who now serves as a legal consultant has topped the $1-million mark for each of the last four years, records show.
Eric T. Fresch was paid nearly $1.65 million in salary and hourly billings in 2008, when he held the dual jobs of city administrator and deputy city attorney, according to documents obtained by The Times through the California Public Records Act.
Described by city officials as an experienced finance attorney, Fresch was paid nearly $1.2 million last year, records show. Through July 31 of this year, he has earned about $643,000 as “outside legal counsel.”
Working for Grandma Waters on Capitol Hill
Posted in Health, News, Politics, what on August 13th, 2010 by admin – Comments OffMany people who encounter Mikael Moore, the chief of staff for Rep. Maxine Waters, see a typical Capitol Hill aide: a young, serious, BlackBerry-toting workaholic in a business suit with an intense belief in the importance of his work.
If they know he is also Waters’ grandson, making him a rarity in Congress, it is not because he talks about it much, if at all.
Colleagues say Moore rarely offers information about his family connection, and that they have instead come to know him as a talented, politically gifted peer who has brought order to a sometimes tangled office and quickly grasped the intricacies of Washington.
Ansel Adams negatives revealed? Fresno man makes his case
Posted in Celeb, News, what on July 28th, 2010 by admin – Comments Off
A wall painter for the Fresno school district who bought a cache of antique glass-plate photographic negatives at a garage sale 10 years ago laid out his case Tuesday that they were created by Ansel Adams early in his career, offering affirmations from photographic and forensic experts he had hired.
In a Beverly Hills gallery packed with reporters and photographers, Rick Norsigian and the Beverly Hills law firm that is helping him market prints made from the negatives (and promote a documentary about his find) said the negatives of Yosemite, the San Francisco waterfront, and Carmel’s mission and nearby Point Lobos were taken by Adams from 1919 to the 1930s, before he became famous as the visual bard of America’s natural landscape.
According to David W. Streets, the gallery owner who hosted the news conference and was part of a team of appraisers, the eventual yield from selling prints struck from Norsigian’s find could amount to more than $200 million.
50 killed in Iraq attacks aimed at anti-Al Qaeda fighters
Posted in Crime, Islam, News, Politics on July 19th, 2010 by admin – Comments OffAt least 50 people were killed Sunday in attacks west of Baghdad, including a double suicide bombing against Sunni Arab paramilitary members waiting to receive their paychecks outside a military base.
The choice of victims, most of whom switched sides to take part in the U.S.-backed Awakening movement that took a stand against the militant group Al Qaeda in Iraq, highlighted Iraq’s precarious security situation as the country nears its fifth month with caretaker leadership.
Barbara Boxer strikes familiar theme and touts value of incumbents
Posted in News, economy, what on July 8th, 2010 by admin – Comments OffAs she campaigns for a fourth term in the U.S. Senate, Barbara Boxer faces a dual challenge — fending off the aggressive blows of a well-funded opponent while defusing voters’ impatience with the pace of the economic recovery and Democratic programs that have yet to have a direct impact on many voters’ lives.
To that end, Boxer this week returned to her theme in past campaigns, that she is a fighter “in the corner” of struggling Californians. At the same time, the Democrat argued that despite voters’ disgust with elected leaders in Washington, there is actually some value to having a long-term incumbent in office.
For months, her Republican opponent Carly Fiorina has contended that Boxer is a “failed senator” with little to show for her time in the Senate. Fiorina’s supporters tailed Boxer on Wednesday with signs bearing that message, and her spokeswoman, Julie Soderlund, kept up the criticism by accusing Boxer of trying to “rewrite the facts about her record and pretend she has actually accomplished something for the people of California.”
