NCT Two years of controversy drives MiraCosta race
Encinitas and south Carlsbad (Area 3). Challenger Steve Scheibe is squaring off against incumbent Jacqueline Simon in a bid to represent the college district's southernmost area.

NCT High Speed Train Ballot Measure Coming
A move is under way to spread the $9 billion in a ballot measure for high-speed rail throughout the state rather than just on tracks between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

NCT Committee approves county fire tax
A regional committee of elected officials and fire chiefs on Friday approved a plan to levy a $52 parcel tax throughout the county to raise about $50 million a year to help pay for fire resources.

UT TIP Academy to argue its case against closure
TIP Academy charter school will have a chance Tuesday to try to persuade the Encinitas Union School District not to shut it down.

UT 2 to test incumbents for MiraCosta board
Two candidates have signaled their intention to run against incumbents for the MiraCosta College board of trustees.

UT MiraCosta decides fate of remaining palm trees
MiraCosta College officials hope they have written the last paragraph in the two-year saga of the palm trees.

UT Median value in May falls 23% from a year earlier
Home prices continued to tumble in San Diego County last month, with the median reaching its lowest level – $380,000 – since September 2003.

UT Ridership on Sprinter trains is down since its debut, but officials are optimistic
But since that heady March 9 opening, when those 13,000 checked out the new train, reality has taken over. Daily ridership, more than 7,000 in March, has dwindled to the mid-6,000s range since then.

UT Group wants term limits for council members
Citing unsatisfactory performance by the Escondido City Council, a group of mobile-home owners is planning to sponsor a ballot measure to end the city's practice of unlimited council tenure.

UT Bleak picture of college's palm trees emerges
There is yet another accounting of what is now the ill-fated donation of more than 2,300 palm trees a decade ago to the Oceanside-based community college. Accountants say most of the trees have died, are ailing or are too ragged to sell.

A little more than two years ago, the college had 2,328 palm trees valued at $222,370. An audit in March counted 1,377 valued at $49,000.

NCT MiraCosta's accreditation status in danger
The organization that vets community colleges across the West warned beleaguered MiraCosta College this week that it must correct problems in leadership, education and communication within two years or lose its accreditation.

UT MiraCosta promises to meet accreditation goals
If MiraCosta College loses its accreditation, more than 4,600 students also could lose their government financial aid, a school administrator said yesterday.

NCT Judge hears arguments to depose former MiraCosta College president
A Superior Court judge heard arguments Friday on a motion to force former MiraCosta College President Victoria Munoz Richart to testify under oath about details of her $1.6 million buyout settlement.

UT Deposition ordered in college settlement
A Superior Court judge has ruled that former MiraCosta College President Victoria Muñoz Richart must give a deposition to an opposing attorney in a lawsuit filed against her and the Oceanside college over a $1.6 million settlement she was given in return for resigning in June.

NCT Suit challenging MCC deal with former CEO gets green light
The public may yet hear details of how the $1.6 million deal between MiraCosta College and its former president, Victoria Munoz Richart, came to pass during a controversial all-night meeting last June.

UT New $20 million library preps for Feb. 23 debut
Nearly two years after the start of construction, Encinitas' $20 million library overlooking City Hall will open Feb. 23, a city official said yesterday.

VoSD Despite its Sales Pitch, Proposition Shortchanged Firefighting
The goal of the ad: Sell a half-cent sales tax to help California's counties and cities replenish their coffers for public safety. The initiative followed the decision by then-Gov. Pete Wilson and the state Legislature to siphon property taxes away from the local governments to help pay for schools.

It passed, and after 14 years, Proposition 172 has fallen short of replacing the $2.3 billion that Sacramento took away from the counties and cities. And leaders from local city governments and the firefighting community say fire protection has been especially shortchanged after being placed front-and-center in the marketing campaign for the tax initiative.

Instead, the bulk of money in nearly every corner of the state, including San Diego County, has gone to county law enforcement programs, such as the sheriff, district attorney and jails.

UT All aboard for Sprinter test run
...Former Encinitas Councilwoman Christy Guerin commented on how quiet the ride was. "It's great to be able to carry on a conversation,” she said.

The train's high point – figuratively and literally – arrives in San Marcos, where the tracks span state Route 78 at Woodland Parkway. The train bridge banks over the two levels, giving riders a thrill as they peer down on the traffic...

Transit district Executive Director Karen King acknowledged in her remarks that the project's cost increased from a budgeted $352 million in 2003 to $477 million today.

But, she said, “At $21 million a mile – which is a lot of money out of my pocketbook – this is still the lowest-cost new-start project in the nation by far.”

NCT A year of almost-broken promises for SANDAG
It didn't take long for a regional agency's promise to deliver $4.4 billion in road improvements to North County to teeter on the brink of being broken.

When that agency, the San Diego Association of Governments, asked voters to extend a sales-tax that funds transportation in November 2004, nine North County officials authored a guest column in the North County Times.

The column promised a "yes" vote would result in significant improvements to Interstates 5 and 15, and Highways 76 and 78, among other projects.

Then came the disclosure in the spring of this year, as the agency was preparing to roll out a new long-term transportation blueprint, that the region was running short of money and some projects were in jeopardy.

By: North County Times Opinion staff

Our view: MiraCosta board's secret meeting partly to blame for president's bloated buyout

Samuel Johnson once said, "Where secrecy begins, vice or roguery is not far off." He seems to have forgotten stupidity. In fact, it's a fair bet that most of the stupidity conducted by your elected representatives on your behalf happens in secret.

Our latest reminder of this eternal truth came in revelations that two MiraCosta College trustees secretly met with former President Victoria Munoz Richart just days before they approved her extravagent golden parachute. [more]