Articles Posted in 2011
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Herrera Moves to Sue CPUC, Feds Over San Bruno Tragedy
“In the aftermath of the San Bruno tragedy, it has become increasingly obvious that blame must be shared by regulators who were either asleep at the switch or too cozy with the industry they’re supposed to regulate,” said Herrera. “The potential threat to human life and safety demands the strictest enforcement of federal pipeline standards. Yet while PG&E was flouting federal law, regulators did little to hold the company accountable. Congress enacted the Pipeline Safety Act to allow for legal actions like the one I am initiating to protect public safety, and I am confident a federal court order will help accomplish that. The potential risks to San Franciscans and others from further gas pipeline failures can no longer be ignored.”
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Closing the Loophole in SF Health Care Ordinance
The amendment, introduced by Supervisor David Campos, simply re-affirms the layman’s traditional understanding of a “health care expenditure” by allowing employees to carry over funds from health reimbursement accounts from year to year. At present, some employers are taking back unspent HRA balances at the end of the year, denying employees the use of those funds.
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BART Protest Delays Evening Commute
Chanting “Cops, Pigs, Murderers,” “No justice, no peace, disband the BART police,” the demonstrators were able to prevent an eastbound train from leaving the Civic Center station for 15 minutes forcing BART managers to halt services in both directions.
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Libya and US Debt: Another Treasury-Draining War
Yet, the bill for U.S. participation in the NATO-led Libya mission is projected to reach at least $844 million by September with the U.S. funding about three quarters of the military spending by all NATO countries. This expenditure is on top of $1.2 trillion and counting, we are spending on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Clearly, we cannot continue these enormous war expenditures ad infinitum, especially with our faltering economy. This money could be better spent elsewhere.
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Oh, For the Good Old Days…
What better way to escape today’s realities than by slipping back to a supposedly better time. Which is what Woody Allen’s alter ego did when he got a magical opportunity to do just that. But to his great chagrin, he discovered that those people in his romanticized times also longed for the good old days.
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Fair Shelter Initiative Hearing On July 14
Care Not Cash or Proposition N was passed by voters in 2002 and was promoted as a means to increase mental health, substance abuse treatment and housing in exchange for County Assistance Program (CAAP, previously known as GA) benefits. Under current law, the $422 allotted monthly to homeless people enrolled in CAAP is reduced to $59; the rest is redistributed to city-funded shelter services through a fund managed by the Human Services Agency.
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This is currently a hot topic
Mayor Lee Rejects Adachi Overture
for Pension Reform CompromiseBoth Adachi and the Mayor are sponsoring competing pension reform proposals that are expected to go before voters in November in an effort to correct a structural imbalance between pension costs and city revenues, an imbalance which has forced the city to cut services and layoff city workers year after year to make up for spiraling pension costs.
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