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April, 2012

Violence increasing at California state mental hospitals

Written on 16 Apr, 2012 in Daily Briefs, Featured | 3 comments

Assaults by patients at California’s state mental hospitals have escalated and confinements times have increased while  a costly federal effort to reduce heavy drugging and improper restraining failed to improve care and help patients control violent impulses. [LATimes] In 2006,... (Continue reading)

Cal Poly faculty to vote on strike

Written on 16 Apr, 2012 in Daily Briefs, Featured | 30 comments

Faculty at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo will begin voting today on whether the faculty will grant their union, the California Faculty Association, the authority to call a strike, according to the association’s website. The end of mediation sets... (Continue reading)

Former Arroyo Grande teacher arrested for child sex

Written on 14 Apr, 2012 in Daily Briefs, Featured | 6 comments

A former Arroyo Grande High School music teacher was arrested last week in Bakersfield and charged with two felony counts of child sex abuse. [BakersfieldNow] Luke Youngs, 34, is being charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child and lewd... (Continue reading)

Solomon costs taxpayers more than $300,000

Written on 13 Apr, 2012 in Daily Briefs, Featured | 131 comments

Paso Robles city officials have already spent about $330,000 dealing with allegations of sexual and managerial misconduct by former police Chief Lisa Solomon. [Tribune] A cost that is likely to increase as the city battles lawsuits already filed or in... (Continue reading)

Scolari’s to close California stores

Written on 13 Apr, 2012 in Daily Briefs, Featured | 6 comments

Scolari’s Markets announced Thursday they plan to close all four Central Coast locations in the next 60 days. On Thursday after lunch, managers informed employees at the San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles, Pismo Beach and Santa Barbara stores that the... (Continue reading)

Workers’ comp premiums may rise

Written on 13 Apr, 2012 in Daily Briefs, Featured | 19 comments

A proposal Thursday by a state insurance rating agency may cost employers more for their employees’ work-related injury and illness premiums. The planned rate of increase, 4.1 percent, is smaller than in previous years but is expected to ignite yet... (Continue reading)

Big-box stores abet hate groups?

Written on 12 Apr, 2012 in Daily Briefs, Featured | 56 comments

Walmart, the biggest of the big-box stores, creates some big problems for communities, including a surge in the formation of hate groups, a major university study suggests. [San Francisco Chronicle] The study’s lead author, Dr. Stephan Goetz of Penn State,... (Continue reading)

New plans for Sunny Acres

Written on 12 Apr, 2012 in Daily Briefs, Featured | 6 comments

After years of battling over code requirements, Dan De Vaul, community members, public officials, and a group of students are working together to makeover Sunny Acres, a sober living facility that sets north of San Luis Obispo on Los Osos... (Continue reading)

Popular teacher arrested for criminal threats

Written on 12 Apr, 2012 in Daily Briefs, Featured | 18 comments

Police arrested a popular San Luis Obispo High School teacher on March 29 after he sent threatening emails and then created a ruckus when he refused to leave the district’s continuation campus. Brian Sanford Miller, 55, had been on voluntary... (Continue reading)

Deputy Sheriff’s Association endorses Debbie Arnold and Adam Hill

Written on 11 Apr, 2012 in Daily Briefs, Featured | 21 comments

Supervisor candidates Debbie Arnold and Adam Hill collected endorsements from the San Luis Obispo Deputy Sheriff’s Association on Tuesday. In March, members of the employee union group, which represents correctional officers and dispatchers, interviewed candidates from both the 5th and... (Continue reading)