Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. The sweetheart deal that Governor Jerry Brown awarded to the state’s powerful prison guard’s union earlier this year is even sweeter than we realized. The SacBee reports that the deal calls for taxpayers to pay the salaries of hundreds of prison guard union members while they party in Las Vegas later this month, attending their annual confab. The pricetag for the unusual perk, known as “activist release time,” could cost taxpayers at least $350,000.
The SacBee reports that no other state union enjoys such a provision.
2. East Bay state Senator Mark DeSaulnier is demanding an investigation into a plan by MTC to leave Oakland and buy an old post office building in San Francisco for $180 million, the Chron reports. DeSaulnier questions whether MTC’s plan to use bridge toll funds to buy the building is legal. But MTC says it has a legal opinion from outside counsel that blesses its proposal. MTC plans to upgrade the building and share it with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the Bay Conservation and Development Commission.
