Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

The clerk-recorder’s office issued this press release:

In a report released on May 13th, 2011, the Nevada County Grand Jury commended the Nevada County Elections Office for “a job well done” during the General Election last November.

Gregory J. Diaz, Nevada County Clerk-Recorder, would like to publicly thank all of the seasonal staff and Poll Workers that participated in November‘s Gubernatorial Election.

“Much of the good work that was done is a credit to all of the seasonal staff and Poll Workers who pitched in tirelessly and seamlessly with our professional elections office staff.” Diaz said.

“Poll Worker and staff duties aren’t easy, and they may not have known that their efforts were being scrutinized, but they demonstrated to the Grand Jury that:

They knew intimately the complex rules and regulations as well as the practicalities of the voting process, and they enforced the rules in an environment that was sometimes difficult.

They assured that all ballots were guarded securely, a crucial responsibility.

They helped voters cast ballots properly, answered their questions knowledgeably, showed voters how to operate electronic voting equipment, and fixed any problems that cropped up in that equipment.” Diaz continued.

The conduct of fair and accurate elections is a hallmark of American democracy. The Nevada County Grand Jury examined the election thoroughly, placing observers in all 57 polling places, attending training, as well as carefully auditing the Elections Office and staff.

The Jury’s conclusion: [We are] pleased to report to the citizens of Nevada County that the November 2, 2010 Nevada County General Election ran smoothly, problems were minor, and the election was conducted effectively.

“In other words, good work, trouble free. I can only add to that fine report my personal thanks to each and every person who worked so hard, and so professionally, on this election,” Diaz added.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Sheila Cameron is a local artist who is having a show celebrating her 365 days of blogging and painting this weekend:

Art by Sheila Cameron at Diamond Baker Mitchell
Saturday, June 4
4 PM
132 East Main St.
Grass Valley, CA

Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Editor’s note: Another season passed without a permanent homeless shelter in our town, as neighbors rejected a proposed site in a light industrial area. Now the homeless are back on the street, and we’re looking again. We can’t seem to stop arguing about the topic. The government wants to help us too, with a $1 million grant. Meanwhile, the Seattle Times and freelance journalists produced a series titled “Invisible families: the Homeless we don’t see,” thanks to funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The foundation said it sponsored the fellowship to focus attention on homeless families. Here’s a video titled “A child’s perspective on homelessness”:

Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Chris Christie won’t commit to whether he’s running for president, but his expensive helicopter travel is, well, presidential:

“June 2 (Bloomberg) — Governor Chris Christie’s image as a cost-cutter may have started cracking the moment he boarded a state police helicopter to get to his son’s high-school baseball game, leaving New Jersey with a $2,500 bill.

“Christie, 48, joined the line-up of past governors whose personal use of state aircraft led to public outcry — and in one case, an apology and reimbursement for the costs.

“Christie took office in January 2010 pledging to bring fiscal restraint to a state with the fourth-highest public-debt burden in the U.S. at $3,940 per capita, according to a report from Moody’s Investors Service. For fiscal 2012, which starts in July, he has urged ‘shared sacrifice’ under a $29.4 billion spending plan that Democrats say skimps on education and health.

“The helicopter ride, plus a trooper-driven arrival at the ballfield with his wife, Mary Pat, before two varsity teams, fans and family, drew focus to the Republican’s use of such gubernatorial perks. Neither the game nor a later meeting he flew to was state business, said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute in West Long Branch.

“‘He has been asking everyone else in the state to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and share in the sacrifice of all these budget cuts to education and so forth,’ Murray said by telephone. ‘There were so many pieces to this that should have screamed out, ‘Don’t do it!’ It makes the governor seem that he’s tone deaf.”

The rest of the article is here.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 10 Comments »

“Checks and balances” at work:

“WASHINGTON — The Health and Human Services Department has rejected the state of Indiana’s request to block Medicaid recipients from receiving care at Planned Parenthood,” according to the Huffington Post.

“Indiana lawmakers passed a bill in May that prevents Medicaid from contracting with any entity that provides abortions, which effectively cut millions of dollars in funding from Planned Parenthood. But Donald Berwick, head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), sent a letter to Indiana’s Medicaid office on Wednesday saying that the bill violates federal Medicaid law because it discriminates against Planned Parenthood for reasons other than its ability to provide quality health services.

“‘We assume this decision is not unexpected,’ the letter says. ‘As the Indiana Legislative Services Agency indicated in its April 19, 2011, fiscal impact statement, ‘While States are permitted to waive a recipient’s freedom of choice of a provider to implement managed care, restricting freedom of choice with respect to providers of family planning services is prohibited.’”

The rest of the article is here.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »