AOL Patch continues to hire

The AOL Patch network of city blogs continues to expand in Southern California.

Redmond Carolipio, formerly night editor at the San Bernardino Sun, will take over as assistant regional editor for San Gabriel Valley Patch sites.

Melanie Johnson, who got laid off from the Press-Enterprise in Riverside and was a former Sun reporter, will edit the city of Walnut and City of Industry patch sites - expect a good deal of news about Ed Roski Jr.'s planned football stadium project.

Gina Tenorio, who worked at the Desert Sun in Palm Springs, will become editor of the Loma Linda Patch.

Apparently, AOL wants these two Patch sites up and running by Dec. 13.

After the storms

Guy McCarthy at Watershed News photographed parts of the San Gabriel Valley foothills and mountains on Saturday and Sunday mornings to show what the storms had done. Ducks, snow, mud and more.

(photo courtesy of Watershed News)

Superfund settlment in San Gabriel Valley

Northrop Grumman has agreed to pay $21 million to clean volatile organics from groundwater under the Southern California cities of Industry, La Puente and Walnut, the Environmental Protection Agency has announced. The settlement was brokered by the EPA as part of a larger Superfund project.

From the press release:

Northrop Grumman, representing all of the settling defendants, will spend an estimated $21 million to build a groundwater cleanup system that uses wells to pump out contaminated groundwater, preventing it from further migration. Northrop Grumman will also install water conveyance pipelines and construct a treatment plant to remove Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) contaminants from the groundwater. The treated water will be used for drinking water supply, water reclamation projects, or discharged to surface water.

Hey, big spender

A Los Angeles Times search of public records found that, in the last six years, state Sen. Gil Cedillo spent $125,000 out of his campaign funds for fancy hotels, expensive meals and extravagant shopping sprees. Cedillo is running for the congressional seat recently vacated by Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.

From the LAT:

Cedillo's expenses include $7,022 at Nordstrom; $3,483 at Banana Republic; $1,418 at Ann Taylor; $498 at Bloomingdale's; $450 at Crate & Barrel; and $375 at Macy's.

-snip-

All told, Cedillo has spent about $77,000 on restaurants, $29,000 on hotels and $21,000 on airline tickets over six years in the Senate. (That does not include tens of thousands of dollars spent on fundraising events at restaurants, hotels or banquet halls.)

The restaurant charges that Cedillo reported as meetings, office or travel expenses include $424 at Ristorante Buca Mario in Florence; $298 at Ristorante San Francesco in Assisi, Italy; $501 at Emporio da Gula in Foz do Iguacu, Brazil; and in Los Angeles, $964 at Cicada; $559 at La Serenata de Garibaldi; $229 at Blair's; and $1,373 at the Palm.

Cedillo told the Times that all of the items he bought were gifts for others and called his many overseas excursions "relevant to the extent that they enrich my capacity as a legislator." Good government advocated Bob Stern said "it sounds like he is using campaign funds to supplement his lifestyle."

Chu makes it official

Judy Chu, chairwoman of the state Board of Equalization, announced today she will run for the congressional seat now held by Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte. Solis is President-elect Barack Obama's nominee for Secretary of Labor.

Chu released the following statement minutes ago:

Today I am announcing my intention to run for the seat representing the 32nd Congressional District, parts of which I have represented for the last 23 years.

In the past few days I have received many encouraging calls and e-mails from supporters and constituents urging me to run and I have decided to heed those calls.

I have a long history of being a coalition builder, with a track record of working well with others to fight for change. I have successfully passed bills protecting working class families. I’ve successfully tackled budget deficit problems through my tax amnesty bill, and through my work at the helm of the BOE, the main revenue generating agency of the state of California.

I believe my experience is what this country needs at this most crucial point in our nation’s history.

Over the weekend, the Sacramento Bee reported that the brothers Calderon - Ron and Charles - might have their eyes on the seat as well. But Chu and state Sen. Gloria Romero are the clear favorites, since they have both represented large portions of the 32nd and are better known there than the Calderons. Romero, D-East Los Angeles, threw her hat in the ring within hours of the Solis announcement.

Chu and Romero have had a tense relationship at times over the years. In 1998, the two women faced off in a race for the state Assembly. Romero won out.

Stinking badges

Recently, the California attorney general held that a county sheriff could be held liable for issuing badges to civilians that too closely resemble the hardware carried by sworn peace officers.

This prompted a few of the cities that had issued realistic-looking badges to their city council members to rethink their policies - however, rethinking is not the same as reversing, as the San Gabriel Valley Tribune points out.

The central question reporters never seem to ask (Trib included) is why council members need badges in the first place?

Let me hazard a guess: Police like for council members feel a part of their exclusive club. It creates the kind of kinship that can be useful when contract negotiations come up.

On the other side, council members like to feel they are somehow above the laws they pass. Plus, an "official" badge is a handy thing to have when you get pulled over for weaving down Main Street.

Maybe the Trib will do a follow-up and ask the council members directly why they find it so hard to gives up their toys.