Education Policy: What John Kitzhaber Needs to Learn from OEA
12.03.10
A good start on the discussion. A few thoughts (and a disclaimer that I'm from AFT, not OEA, but we have similar concerns):
Any plan, to be successful also needs the Superintendent of Instruction full engaged. K-12 policy can not be driven solely by the Governor. That is further complicated by having K-12 Boards locally elected. So, we have local control, state-funding and state "reform" movements.
The sad reality is that we have two conflicting political histories involved: one is the long period where teachers were paid little better than poverty wages, largely due to a lack of legal ability to unionize. The other is the right-wing lunatics wanting to use "education reform" to push their anti-union and anti-education platforms through the political process.
When teachers not only have to do their jobs, but also get to be the targets of everything from the anti-evolutionists pushing religion in the schools, the Sizemore crowd who simply want to take away their health care and pensions and the well-meaning policy wonks with no actual experience in the classroom who think they have the next great "teaching method", is it any wonder vague references to "reform" from a candidate for office raise skeptical eyebrows?
Source: BlueOregon (blog)
Prosecutors say money had role in Rebecca Riley's death
12.03.10
During his first-degree murder trial, Plymouth County prosecutors portrayed Michael Riley on March 9 as a manipulator who caused his four-year-old daughter Rebecca to die from a series of prescription medicine overdoses, but defense attorney John Darrell said that his client is “terribly flawed from mental illnesses.”
“It’s all about the money,” Assistant District Attorney Frank Middleton said.
Prosecutors allege that Michael Riley and his wife Carolyn schemed to persuade Dr. Kayoko Kifuji, a former Tuft-New England Medical Center psychiatrist, to needlessly prescribe medications for Rebecca in an attempt to get Social Security disability payments for her.
A jury convicted Carolyn Riley of second-degree murder in connection with Rebecca’s Dec. 13, 2006 death in Hull, where the Rileys lived for a short time before they moved to Weymouth the following year.
Prosecutors allege that the Rileys concocted symptoms of bipolar disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) for Rebecca and her two siblings to get Social Security disability payments.
Source: Weymouth News
PEOPLE v. LEWIS
10.03.10
PEOPLE v. LEWIS
THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,
v.
GERALD RAYNARD LEWIS, Defendant and Appellant.
B217677.
Court of Appeals of California, Second Appellate District, Division Eight.
March 9, 2010.
Richard L. Fitzer, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Pamela C. Hamanaka, Assistant Attorney General, Keith H. Borjon and Sharlene A. Honnaka, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
Not to be Published in the Official Reports
RUBIN, J.
Gerald Raynard Lewis appeals from the judgment following the trial court's denial of his motion to suppress illegal drugs found on him. We affirm.
FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS On April 1, 2009, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Jason Molina and his partner pulled a car over for a traffic stop. Appellant Gerald Raynard Lewis was sitting in the car's front passenger seat. Deputy Molina saw a "darkish brown" inch-long screw-top glass vial on appellant's lap. Based on his training and experience, Deputy Molina suspected the vial might contain PCP. Deputy Molina directed appellant to step out of the car. As appellant got out, the vial fell onto the front seat. Deputy Molina picked up the vial and, without unscrewing its cap, smelled PCP. The deputy asked appellant what was in the vial; appellant answered PCP. Deputy Molina arrested appellant and, while searching him, found rock cocaine in his shirt pocket.
Source: Leagle.com