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Top Stories: Dec. 28, 2009LeGuin vs. Google; DUIs Down; SJCC To Reimburse Cityby Danny Wool on Dec 29, 2009Tech Museum Head Comes Under Fire No one questions whether Peter Friess did a great job turning San Jose's Tech Museum of Innovation around. He might claim that much of that is thanks to the work of Birgit Binner, a graphic designer he hired as a consultant, whose job was "to establish The Tech Museum as an immediately recognizable brand." The problem is that Birgit Binner, who receives a $400,000 salary for her two-year contract, is also Friess's wife. While board members claim that Friess was not involved in their decision to hire Binner, some employees are not convinced. They say that of the eight contenders for the position, Binner was the only one who did not submit a formal portfolio, and that the criteria used to select a candidate clearly favored Binner over everyone else. The Board responds that Binner not only had the most extensive museum experience. She also submitted the lowest bid for her services. Critics of the choice argue that even if this is the case, her hiring at that salary comes at a time when the museum is cutting corners and letting other staff members go. Over the years, the Tech has received extensive funding from the city, including $49 million to construct the building. Even now, as the city is cutting away at its budget, it provides the museum with $1.3 million annually in operating costs, almost 10 percent of its total budget. Read More at The Mercury News. Author Fights to Keep Google Out of Fantasy Realm The Authors Guild has lost one of its best-known members. For 45 years, Ursula LeGuin has been creating vast fantasy worlds such as Earthsea and Hain. The award-winning author of fantasy and science fiction novels and short stories has written over three dozen books, many of them bestsellers in their genres. But LeGuin has decided to resign from the Guild over the settlement it has reached with Google Books. "You decided to deal with the devil, as it were," she chastised them in a recent letter, and condemned them for abandoning principles such as copyright. "You have seen fit to abandon to a corporation, on their terms, without a struggle." LeGuin is upset that the Authors Guild, which has long defended authors' rights, has adopted a pragmatic approach to Google's book-scanning project, granting the search engine exclusive rights to scan, index, and present excerpts of English-language books in the U.S. "The lessons of recent history are clear," the Authors Guild responded to her. "When digital and online technologies meet traditional media, traditional media generally wind up gutted," They went on to call the accommodation "constructive engagement," and argued that it would benefit authors, particular those of out-of-print books. LeGuin is not the sole voice opposing the agreement. Both the National Writers Union and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America reject it, with the NWU calling it "grossly unfair to writers." In September they called on Al Gore, a member of Google's Board of Directors, to urge the company to delay the implementation of its settlement. And opposition to the isn't limited to the United States. In France, publishing house La Martiniere successfully sued Google for scanning books for which it controls the rights. While French law is not as liberal in its application of the Fair Use doctrine as American law, even in the United States Fair Use could be challenged by authors like LeGuin, opposed to having a single corporation controlling internet access to their life's work. Read More at NBC Bay Area. Read More at BayNewswer. Woman's Death Raises Questions The family of Letty Martinez does not understand why the police are refusing to call her death a homicide. The battered 20-year-old from Alviso was found early Monday morning outside a church two blocks from her home, and she died shortly after in hospital. Now police are trying to determine whether she was beaten up outside her home and left for dead, or whether she was dragged behind the car; but they are not prepared to call it a murder—at least until they figure out exactly how she died. Martinez's family considers her to be the victim of a hate crime, but the SJPD is not convinced. Her family describes her as a happy young woman with a new job and a new girlfriend, but witnesses report hearing an argument in her house shortly before she died. According to her aunt, Esther Martinez, she was lured out of the house by a phone call that morning, possibly by someone unhappy with her being gay. Her mother adds that she had been threatened in the past because she was a lesbian, but the police claim that there is no direct evidence that this was a hate crime. As the investigation continued, police closed off the streets leading from her house to the church, looking for clues as to why Leticia Martinez died. Read More at ABC 7. Read More at NBC Bay Area. Read More at the Mercury News. DUIs Down Over Holiday The number of DUIs in Santa Clara County dropped sharply this holiday season, thanks largely to the Avoid the 13 campaign. Police report that only 78 people were arrested this year, and there were no DUI-related fatalities between 6:00 pm Thursday and 6:00 am Sunday. In contrast, 114 people were arrested last Christmas season for DUI offenses. read More at KLIV. Nonprofit to Compensate City for Overcharging The San Jose Conservation Corps has been contracted by the city since 1988 to provide neighborhood improvement programs, park maintenance, recycling, and other services. A recent audit, however, showed that the nonprofit organization had been overcharging the city to the amount of $174,000. On January 12, City Council will decide whether it will accept a proposed agreement by which the Corps compensates the city with $160,000 worth of work. As part of the agreement, the city's contract with the group will not be renewed when it expires at the end of the month. Instead, the organization will be contracted as necessary by the municipality's individual departments. In addition to its work for the city, the SJCC also runs a charter school for disadvantaged youth. One feature of the school is the paid, on-the-job training opportunities it offers its students who work in construction. Read More at The Mercury News. by Danny Wool on Dec 29, 2009 |
 The head of San Joe's Tech Museum of Innovation has come under fire, along with the Museum's well-paid consultant—his wife. |
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