Hundreds of jobs coming to Tesla

ABC News has a story about Tesla receiving a half billion loan guarantee from the US Energy Department. Tesla already has orders in the pipeline and incentives are being offered if you buy a Tesla, so one would expect that this won’t be another Solyndra. I’m still having Solyndra nightmares…but think of all the jobs that will be created.

Mary Hayashi’s next court date

Patch has a story on Mary Hayashi. Her next court date has been postponed until December 7, 2011.

Ro Khanna raises $250K at fundraiser

Ro Khanna raised $250,000 at a east bay fundraiser hosted at a Hayward restaurant Saturday. Amongst the attendees was Secretary Norm Mineta. Khanna’s success is certain to give indigestion to his competitors.

Update: Here’s a story in the East Bay Citizen.

Media News / Bay Area News Group bullies the TriCity Voice

Media News Group (AKA The Argus AKA Oakland Tribune AKA San Jose Mercury) has sued The Tri-City Voice<a. Apparently the big corporate boys feel that they are the only ones worthy of collecting money for publishing legal notices.

I don't know about you, but I've noticed the tension building up for some time. Below is an impassioned letter from Sharon Marshak, owner of the Tri-City Voice.

We need all the people we can get into court. We need them to be a witness only. They will only sit and listen. We are hoping that if the Judge can see the community is interested in having Tri-City Voice Newspaper… that she may not let the Media News people put us out of business.

Thank you for your help…

Court date Friday November 18th 2:30pm
Department 516 – Judge Brenda Harbin-Forte
Hayward Hall of Justice
24405 Amador Street
Hayward, CA 94544

A major source of income for newspapers is legal notices that make the community at large aware of court regulated actions. An example of this is when a business opens under a “fictitious” name or a city is about to enact a new ordinance. The public is notified through a notice in a “Newspaper of General Circulation.” This designation is gained through a court process (adjudication) certifying the newspaper as one that is able to circulate information so it is reasonable to assume that the public is informed. These notices, required by law, are a major source of income for many newspapers and therefore, jealously guarded.

Tri-City Voice was awarded such adjudication but subsequently denied through a legal challenge by Bay Area News Group (which includes Oakland Tribune, Hayward Review, The Argus, Milpitas Post, Fremont Bulletin, San Jose Mercury and many other Bay Area newspapers). Archaic laws and the business model of Tri-City Voice have been a point of contention, but now Tri-City Voice is fully qualified for such adjudication in the City of Fremont even under these outdated statutes.

A series of questionable rulings by the courts has blocked adjudication for Tri-City Voice in Fremont. Courtrooms without public witnesses are a recipe for interesting developments in which arguments, comments and judicial actions are hidden from public view. This has happened repeatedly when Tri-City Voice has made its simple request for acknowledgement as a Newspaper of General Circulation. In every instance, BANG has challenged in order to maintain its monopoly. Since the public has been absent from prior courtroom performances and therefore uninformed of this process, an astounding amount of time, energy and money has been spent on this simple request.

The real reason for all of this is corporate greed, maintenance of a monopoly and an attempt to deprive Tri-City Voice of vital income, hopefully driving it out of business. In response, we are informing people of an upcoming court appearance scheduled for Superior Court in Hayward (Dept. 516) on November 18 at 2:30 p.m. Judge Brenda Harbin-Forte ruled that Tri-City Voice cannot move forward to present evidence of its qualification for status as a Newspaper of General Circulation, referring to a previous decision by Judge Hernandez. This court appearance is to ask for a reassessment of this decision.

Tri-City Voice vigorously disagrees with the conduct and arguments of BANG’s attorney Duffy Carolan of Davis Wright Tremain, LLP (San Francisco) and the prior ruling of Judge Harbin-Forte. We have filed another motion for trial and feel there should be public presence in the courtroom to bear witness. It is imperative that those who attend, simply watch the proceedings and maintain a neutral manner since judges have ultimate power and can use any emotional display to derail Tri-City Voice efforts. This is simply an opportunity for the public to see a courtroom in action and understand some of the processes that have been used to block our efforts. Also, it helps to have a few friends in the courtroom for moral support.

Sharon Marshak
What’s Happening Magazine
Tri-City Voice Newspaper
http://www.tricityvoice.com
sharon@tricityvoice.com
510-494-1999 Voice
510-796-2462 Fax

Al Nagy is the new Mayor of Newark

Al Nagy has won the Newark Mayor’s election as all six precincts have reported final results.

Two precincts counted in Newark

The results of the second precinct have been counted and the results are:

Apodaca. 1050
Nagy. 1608
Rodriguez 614

The ratios haven’t changed significantly. Nagy is holding his lead.

Mayor Dave Smith steps down

Here’s a nice segment on Mayor Dave Smith stepping down as Newark’s Mayor.

Mayor Ed Lee is winning

My man,Mayor Ed lee, is kicking some butt in San Francisco. Let’s hope the lead continues.

Newark Mayor’s preliminary election results – VBM

I hope it’s not a long night with election results. I’m rooting for Ed Lee in San Francisco. How can you not like the little guy with the big bigotes?

Early VBM results so far have Al Nagy ahead of Ana Apodaca (1519 vs 986) but its way too soon to make any predictions. I’d expect more of Nagy’s supporters to vote absentee ballot while Apodaca’s would most likely show up at the polls. As suspected, Rodriguez has so far pulled some votes away from the others (587 so far). Stay tuned as the precincts begin reporting.

Bay Area News Group cuts 34 editorial positions

According to The Patch, 34 editorial positions were cut. Amongst the victims, was the editor of The Argus and The Daily Review, Steve Waterhouse. Waterhouse had paid his dues as a long time editor of The Argus. Hopefully, this will be a beginning of a new chapter for him.

So who’s running the show?