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Top Stories: July 26, 2010by Danny Wool on Jul 26, 2010Prop 19 Gets Prominent Supporter Former SJPD Chief Joseph McNamara threw his support behind Proposition 19, which would legalize and regulate the sale of marijuana in California. McNamara, who headed the SJPD for 15 years, argues that regulating marijuana like cigarettes and alcohol would make it more difficult for children to obtain the drug, since they would be forced to show ID. Under the current ban, marijuana is easily obtainable from drug dealers he says, and there is no restriction on who can buy it. As for adults, he says that, “It does far more damage to be treating people who smoke marijuana or use marijuana as criminals than it is to have them smoke it.” Gubernatorial candidates Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman are both on record as opposing Proposition 19, as are both state senators, Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. They argue that legalization would not only make the state less safe, but that it would result in a significant loss in federal aid for failing to comply with nationwide drug-free requirements. Read More at KCBS. Pay Is Good for Those Who Have Jobs Unemployment figures may still hover at around 10 percent, but if you live in the Bay Area and have a job, chances are that you are among the highest paid people in the United States. Data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that employees in the nine-county Greater Bay Area earned 20 percent in 2009 more than their peers did nationwide in all categories. This is up slightly from 2008, where Bay Area residents earned 17 percent more. Read More at ABC 7. Fire Leaves Girl, 8, Dead Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of a fire in a Willow Glen apartment complex that left an eight-year-old girl dead and nine others injured on Sunday morning. The child, Adileni Gomez Macedo,of North Carolina, was in town for the baptism of a relative, She was found in a back room of the apartment and pronounced dead upon arrival at hospital. The Red Cross is providing temporary housing for some 25 people displaced by the blaze. The fire was the third that occurred during the early morning hours of Sunday. Half an hour after this fire was reported, a second fire was reported at another apartment complex. No one was injured. Two hours later, at 4:30 am, an assisted living center for senior citizen was evacuated because of a stove top fire. One injury from smoke inhalation was reported in that case. Of greater concern to city officials is the fact that two of the three fires, including the fire with the fatality, were serviced by fire stations that are slated to be shut down because of budget cuts. Read More at ABC 7. ]Read More at CBS 5. Palo Alto Man Wins San Francisco Marathon Keith Bechtol, 25, of Palo Alto, had never run the San Francisco marathon before, but six weeks ago, he decided it was worth a shot. He lives nearby, he explained, but he hardly gets to visit it enough. What better way is there to see the city than by running 26.2 miles through its streets? Though the final results have yet to be confirmed, unofficial results have the Stanford University grad student winning the race with a record time of 2 hours, 23 minutes, and 28 seconds. Bechol’s time shaves two and a half minutes off the previous record set by Andrew Cook in 2007. Cook did not participate in this year’s race because his wife is about to give birth. The winner of the woman’s marathon was Emily Harsin, 24, of Durham, North Carolina, with a time of two hours, 51 minutes, and 54 seconds. Morgan Robinson, 24, of San Francisco finished third. Read More at KTVU. Selig on Stadium: Slow Down If you ask Sam Liccardo, when it comes to voting on San Jose’s proposed new Major League Baseball stadium, the time to act is “now or never.” The city only has another week to get the stadium initiative listed on this November’s ballot, and the next ballot is two years away. That sense of urgency isn’t shared by MLB Commissioner Bud Selig. The stadium needs his approval before it can be built, and he is more interested in getting it “done right,” not getting it done “as fast as possible.” Selig said that the committee studying the potential new ballpark would be meeting again on Aug. 2, just one day before the deadline, but that does not ensure that a decision will be made at the meeting. The fact that the committee has already been discussing and debating the possibilities for the past 16 months does not bode well for a quick decision to be made. Nevertheless, Liccardo believes that the city should proceed with its plans to hold the ballot, even if the MLB’s final decision is uncertain. A “statement of strong support from San Jose voters would remove any hesitation by Major League Baseball in recognizing the self-determined ‘territory’ of San Jose’s residents,” he says. In other words, it is now up to the city to show MLB how much it wants the stadium. Read More at the Business Journal. by Danny Wool on Jul 26, 2010 |
 Proposition 19 would legalize and regulate the sale of marijuana. |
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