- That was fast: Assemblyman Cameron Smyth has withdrawn his support of the Einstein Academy charter school according to the Signal. The Einstein Academy got a letter of support from him on September 6, but by September 7 he's on record with the Signal saying "There's something that's not working that's preventing [Einstein] from getting their approval." The parents behind the Einstein Academy will try for charter status for the third time at the SUSD board meeting on September 19. SIGNAL
- Signal writer Perry Smith, meanwhile, investigated the growth of charter schools in the SCV in a nice piece over the weekend and actually got an educator to go on record as being opposed to charters. NSD Superintendent Marc Winger told the Signal that he thinks it's a "mistake to bring any charters into the Santa Clarita Valley," and believes that charter schools will ruin public schools. More on Winger's comments later SIGNAL
- And today, Smith has a report on something I've heard COC educators groan about for years: COC spends a large amount of time and money educating incoming students from the Hart district and elsewhere on remedial math and English. "The majority of my students are not prepared" for college one teacher told the SIGNAL
- The Santa Clarita Valley will not get a new County courthouse after all, according to a news site that covers the California court system. How this news will affect the future of the Civic Center and the Sheriff's station is up in the air, but the California court system left a tiny door open for Santa Clarita, saying that in six months there might be some funds for a new courthouse here. Leon Worden has more at SCVNEWS. Also COURTHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
- The City of Santa Clarita's credit rating has been upgraded to AAA status, the highest available credit rating. The new rating will make it cheaper and easier for Santa Clarita to borrow money. SCVNEWS, LA TIMES
- Reminder, City Council meeting tomorrow night, the first one following the rapid hiring of Ken Striplin as City Manager. AGENDA
- Leon Worden has a more measured crime statistics report covering January - August 2012. He says "there's been much more violent crime in SCV this year than last year, but it's not increasing as rapidly as it was earlier this year." He also says over five years, crime is down 14.7%. KHTS
- It's not just crime that's up this year over last: 45 rabid bats have been found in the County this year, and 15 of them have been found between Stevenson Ranch and Acton SCVNEWS
- Speaking of crime, a rapist who assaulted a Castaic woman in 2009 was sentenced earlier this year to 208 years in prison SIGNAL
- Congressman Buck McKeon held his women's conference this weekend and only about 60 people showed up. A group protesting the military's sponsorship of UFC fight matches also showed up to pester the Congrssman as well. SIGNAL, KHTS
- McKeon has also been pressured by women's and veteran's groups to hold formal hearings on the systematic sex abuse allegations coming out of Lackland Air base in Texas. It doesn't look like he's close to hold hearings on the matter, but on Sunday, on his way home from the district, he stopped by Lackland and discussed the matter with base commanders, telling the AP that there are hundreds of investigators on the case. He also met with some female recruits. USA TODAY, AP
- Dr. Gene Dorio has a commentary on McKeon's recent visit to the Senior Center and the questions McKeon got about Medicare. Not sure I follow his argument completely but Dorio says the first step to fixing Medicare is to ensure that every member of the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branch becomes a Medicare beneficiary. SCV BEACON
- The Federal government will auction off drilling and fracking rights to a huge chunk of land in Monterey, San Benito, and Fresno counties this fall. SF GATE
- Dr. Alan Pollack of the SCV Historical Society found quite the treasure trove on eBay recently: five rare not-seen-in-these-parts photographs of the immediate aftermath of the St. Francis Dam collapse in 1928. The photos are all in great condition and he's posted them to the Santa Clarita History Buffs Facebook group, which, if you're not a member of, you should definitely become one. Awesome find Alan! FACEBOOK
- Speaking of SCV History, authors of the new "Legendary Locals of the Santa Clarita Valley" book will be on hand to answer questions and give a talk about their new book on September 30 at the Saugus Train Station in Hart Park. The handsome mug of Tiburcio Vasquez, famed Californio bandito, adorns the cover alongside several other less-worthy Legendary Locals EVENT DETAILS
- More on Einstein: An anonymous op/ed writer at the SCV Beacon says there's no reason for SUSD to deny charter status to Einstein for the third time SCV BEACON
- Paul Strickland lets loose: The Hart Board member and recent failed candidate for 38th Assembly tells-all in a piece in which he says he hasn't violated
the IHOP Covenantlocal Republicans' Unity Pledge to never speak ill of a fellow Republican and says that the attacks on his character and service amount to political bullying. Recall that the local Republican group wanted to excommunicate Strickland for his support of Ed Headington recently. Joe Messina responds to his fellow Board member in the Signal comments SIGNAL - Dave Bossert calls for Roger Seaver to commission an independent review and survey of Mayo's performance following all those anonymous horror stories he's posted on SCV BEACON
- The Notes from Newhall/SCV social media meetup this Saturday at Bricks in Newhall was a hit, with more than a dozen people showing up. Thanks to Ray of SCV LTE and Mike Cruz for putting it together; there's talk of monthly meet ups now. Pics at Ray's SCV LTE group
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