Free Republic

Just as there are times that restore one's faith in human nature, there also are times that make one so sickened that it's hard to know what to say. Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting fits into the latter category - an event so revolting I only wish that all Orange County voters had been there to see and hear it with me. I don't wish ill stomachs on my readers. But had every Orange Countian attended the meeting, everyone would know exactly how the county is run. They would have watched three supervisors - Chairman Tom Wilson, Bill Campbell and...

Orange County supervisors will do more than help county employees if they agree to increase pension benefits next week — they will fatten their own retirement checks as well. On Tuesday, the board is scheduled to consider a proposal to substantially increase pensions for most of the county's nearly 17,000 workers — benefits upon which the supervisors' own are modeled. The deal would allow the county to improve worker compensation without spending any money, officials say. Supervisor Jim Silva would stand to benefit the most from the increase. His county pension would jump by about $8,400 to about $37,000 annually...

WOODLAND, Calif. (AP) - Environmentalists sued the Yolo County Board of Supervisors on Thursday for approving the expansion of the Cache Creek Dairy without a permit. The Sierra Club said supervisors caved to pressure from the dairy's owner to give their blessing to nearly double the size of the county's largest dairy - from 1,500 to 2,800 cows. The environmental group said that if the county required a permit it would have triggered an environmental review to determine how much air and water pollution the expansion would create. Four years ago, in response to the dairy's creation, the board amended...

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday placed three complicated measures on the Nov. 2 ballot that could help determine how county employees are compensated -- and the cost to taxpayers. Just below the surface of the three densely worded initiatives lies a bitter battle between county officials and the unions representing attorneys, nurses and correctional officers. The unions want to boost their power at the bargaining table with a new rule that would allow an independent arbitrator to settle contract disputes. They succeeded recently in collecting 59,000 signatures, which is far more than the 42,000 needed to...

<p>Led by Supervisor Matt Gonzalez, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors last week once again showed why the city is considered to be unfriendly to business.</p> <p>By enacting legislation to ban chain stores in Hayes Valley and restricting their expansion in other neighborhoods in the City, the board was responsible for San Francisco's ranking near the bottom of Inc. magazine's 2004 list of the big cities in the United States with the best climate for businesses.</p>

<p>A group of South Bay residents who oppose war with Iraq is hopeful that the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors will pass a resolution today declaring its opposition to a unilateral or first strike war.</p> <p>In recent weeks, a group called Cities For Peace has urged local municipalities to pass anti-war resolutions. Nearly 60 cities, from Santa Cruz to Chicago to Baltimore, have done so, and campaigns in other cities are under way.</p>

<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) --  County supervisors voted to close 11 of 18 public health clinics and eliminate 5,000 jobs in what could become the largest cuts ever made to Los Angeles County's health care system.</p> <p>Wednesday's vote came a week after county Health Director Dr. Thomas Garthwaite recommended shuttering the health clinics to help the county pull itself out of a $800 million deficit.</p>