A new report finds plenty of problems in the city’s schools: teachers who are rarely fired, administrators whose numbers go up as the student population dips, and kids who aren’t learning what they’re supposed to.
Good to know, even if much of the report isn’t surprising.
The reaction so far? In some parts, it can be summed up in one word: Meh. Part of the problem: It’s not clear what needs to be done next to fix things. One option — putting the mayor in charge of schools — even made a spokeswoman burst out in laughter.
In other news:
- You’ve read about people’s identities being stolen. But you haven’t seen a story like this one, about a sibling who allegedly went rogue — for 30 years.
A man in Massachusetts says his name is William John Marley. And so, say authorities, did a Chula Vista man who’s now in a local jail.
Only one of them — the one on the East Coast — is really named Marley. The (alleged) fake Marley (his real name is Richard Burbank) is the real Marley’s half-brother, say authorities, who accuse him of stealing the real Marley’s identity for a long time.
The big question: Why? It’s not clear what benefits Burbank may have gotten from his alleged identity poaching.
- For people who say they were left out of a very important loop, the folks who own the Wonder Bread building in downtown San Diego sure are being polite about it.
“Welcome to the neighborhood!” they cheerily write in an open letter to Mayor Jerry Sanders and Chargers team president Dean Spanos. Then they got down to business: “Imagine our surprise to find out the city’s plans for our property in the newspaper!”
- Today’s lesson: Tweet in leisure, regret in haste.
Yesterday, a spokesman for Mayor Sanders — perhaps the region’s most prominent Republican — posted a message on Twitter about the state of the GOP. He likened it to the Heaven’s Gate cult, saying he’s seeing “more and more similarities.”
This did not go over well. An explanation and an apology promptly followed.
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Also on our site today:
- Downtown San Diego’s redevelopment agency is moving forward with plans to remove contaminated soil from city-owned property that was to be the site of a big hotel/condo project until things went awry.
- San Diego’s pension administrator is moving on.
- We explain how a school principal, a bowl of cherry tomatoes and an inquisitive reporter led us to the story of a City Heights man who’s turned a decrepit house into a showcase for greenery.
Elsewhere:
- County supervisors yesterday approved a deal that could lead to a new courthouse downtown. (NCT)
- CityBeat looks at Congressman Brian Bilbray’s habit of putting relatives — his daughter and wife — on the payroll.
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Also on the congressional front, local Congressman Bob Filner was one of only 36 representatives to vote against condemning a U.N. report that “accuses Israeli forces and Palestinian militants of war crimes in the Gaza Strip last winter.” Other local reps voted to condemn. (WaPo)
- The North County public bus service offers trips for the disabled to local casinos, and critics are not pleased. (NCT)
Earlier this year, we examined the troubled efforts to bring more effective transportation services to disabled and elderly people in North County.
- Finally, KFMB-TV takes a look at the FAA’s letter to those two pilots who took Minneapolis-bound passengers on a ride 150 miles past their destination.
The letter says “you were on a frolic of your own.”
It sounds like they will get to repent in leisure. Lots of leisure.
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