Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA) articles from July 2003

Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA) archives from July 2003

Richmond, Calif., Council Discusses Report on Possible Casino.
July 31, 2003... Byline: Rebecca Rosen Lum Jul. 31--RICHMOND, Calif.--A gambling casino could generate revenues in the millions, jobs in the thousands, and new businesses by the score, says a $100,000 feasibility study the City Council commissioned...

California Budget Compromise Slashes Funding for Higher Education.
July 31, 2003... Byline: Suzanne Pardington Jul. 31--Up to 30,000 new students will be turned away from Cal State University campuses in the spring, the University of California will delay opening its new Merced campus for a year and students in both...

Attention in California Gubernatorial Recall Turns from Terminator to Ex-Mayor.
July 31, 2003... Jul. 31--In California, it's not quite time for the rise of the machines. A mere mortal ex-mayor seems to pose a greater threat to the governor. With the Terminator sending signals this week that he's on his way out, attention shifted...

Besieged California Governor Claims Democrats Will Not Participate in Recall.
July 31, 2003... Byline: Daniel Borenstein Jul. 31--SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--Gov. Gray Davis predicted Wednesday that Democrats will maintain unity and not place a prominent party member on the ballot in the upcoming Oct. 7 recall election. His...

Wal-Mart Forces Public Vote on Contra Costa County, Calif., Restrictions.
July 31, 2003... Byline: Peter Felsenfeld Jul. 31--Contra Costa elections officials announced Wednesday that retail giant Wal-Mart had collected enough petition signatures to force a public vote on a county ordinance that would restrict its grocery...

Workers' Comp Costs Could Soar for California Employers, Insurance Chief Warns.
July 31, 2003... Byline: George Avalos Jul. 31--SAN FRANCISCO--California employers can expect to be jolted by yet another big jump in the cost of a workers' compensation system that is near collapse, the state's insurance chief warned Wednesday. An...

Banks Fail to Kill Privacy Laws Approved in Contra Costa County, Calif., Area.
July 30, 2003... Byline: Peter Felsenfeld Jul. 30--Two of the nation's largest banks have failed in their attempt to squash local privacy ordinances approved last year in Contra Costa and San Mateo counties and Daly City. The measures required...

California Assembly Passes Budget Relying on Heavy Borrowing.
July 30, 2003... Jul. 30--SACRAMENTO -- The seven-month battle over how to plug California's record deficit ended Tuesday as the Assembly passed a $100 billion state budget that relies on heavy borrowing, hefty fee increases and deep cost-cutting. The...

University of California, Berkeley, Football Team Opens Training Camp.
July 30, 2003... Byline: Jay Heater Jul. 30--BERKELEY -- With only nine returning starters and national powerhouse Kansas State looming in the Aug. 23 season opener, Cal's football team opens training camp today at 3:30 p.m. at Witter Field on campus....

Venture Financing Picks Up in Walnut Creek, Calif., Area.
July 30, 2003... Byline: George Avalos Jul. 30--The bleeding may finally be stopping for battered venture capitalists. Venture financing for privately held companies in the Bay Area and the East Bay rose in the second quarter, compared with funding...

California Budget Battle Moves to State Assembly.
July 29, 2003... Byline: Andrew LaMar Jul. 29--SACRAMENTO, Calif.--The battle to win passage of a state budget moved Monday to the Assembly, where Gov. Gray Davis and legislative leaders lobbied lawmakers to end a standoff that has endured four weeks...

Oakland, Calif.-Based Telecommunications Firm Announces Merger Deal.
July 29, 2003... Byline: Jessica Guynn Jul. 29--In a move that will make it a public company, one-time telecommunications high-flier Zhone Technologies Inc. agreed to buy publicly traded networking equipment maker Tellium Inc. Zhone shareholders will...

Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif., Retirement Planner Column.
July 28, 2003... Byline: Steve Butler Jul. 28--How does anyone make any sense of the future when so many of the traditional economic indicators appear to be in conflict? Most perplexing is the fact that the economy seems to be growing while employment...

Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif., Business Listing Column.
July 27, 2003... Jul. 27--The following individuals or corporations filed fictitious-business-name statements in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The Times makes every effort to ensure accuracy but cannot be held responsible if there are errors or omissions...

Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif., People in Motion Column.
July 27, 2003... Jul. 27--Longs Drug Stores Corp. in Walnut Creek has added two executives. Richard Dreiling has been named executive vice president, chief operations officer; and Bruce Schwallie is executive vice president, chief merchandising officer....

San Francisco Bay Area Found to Have Nation's Weakest Job Market.
July 27, 2003... Byline: George Avalos Jul. 27--To find the bottom of America's economic barrel, you don't have to go very far. No question, it's not that much of a shock to learn the Bay Area has a soft employment picture. The evidence, after all,...

Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif., Tapan Munroe Column.
July 27, 2003... Byline: Tapan Munroe Jul. 27--Since the U.S. recession began in March 2001, the economy has lost nearly 2.6 million jobs. These losses have continued for more than two years, and unemployment in June stood at a nine-year high of 6.4...

Contra Costa County, Calif., Officials See Election as Logistical Nightmare.
July 26, 2003... Byline: Peter Felsenfeld Jul. 26--Charged with conducting an unprecedented gubernatorial recall election this fall, county officials find themselves mired in a logistical and financial nightmare. None of California's 58 counties...

California Lawmaker Challenges Bush Administration's Decisions on Iraq.
July 26, 2003... Byline: Sandy Kleffman Jul. 26--Rep. Ellen Tauscher fired a series of questions at Army Gen. Tommy Franks. Zeroing in on a map of Iraq with a triangle showing where American troops have been attacked, she agreed the triangle...

Credit-Rating Agency Assigns California Its Lowest Bond Rating Ever.
July 25, 2003... Byline: Rick Jurgens Jul. 25--California's move to subject Gov. Gray Davis to a recall election weakened a key Wall Street analyst's already wavering faith in the state's credit, and helped prompt a rating cut that will cost state...

California PUC Releases Final Draft of Consumers' Telecom 'Bill of Rights'.
July 25, 2003... Byline: Ellen Lee Jul. 25--The California Public Utilities Commission, after more than a year of wrangling, released on Thursday the final draft of a proposal to protect consumers' telecommunications "rights." If adopted, the rules could...

San Francisco-Area Commuter Rail Seeks Changes to Electronic Fare Card System.
July 25, 2003... Byline: Lisa Vorderbrueggen Jul. 25--OAKLAND, Calif.--BART will close its doors to TransLink, the universal electronic fare card, until the program's administrators make it meet the transit system's demands, its elected directors agreed...

Students Sue University of California Regents to Halt Fee Hikes, Get Refunds.
July 25, 2003... Byline: Brian Anderson Jul. 25--Arguing that recent fee increases broke a contract, a handful of students sued the University of California Regents Tuesday in an effort to cancel the hikes and secure refunds for those who already paid...

San Francisco Bay-Area Transit Group Seeks Remedies to Lure Back Passengers.
July 25, 2003... Byline: Lisa Vorderbrueggen Jul. 25--OAKLAND, Calif.--Economists claim the recession has eased but you wouldn't know it at BART. The agency lost another 14,000 riders a day in April, May and June compared with the same quarter last...

Fish from San Francisco Bay Become Safer to Eat, EPA Study Finds.
July 24, 2003... Byline: Mike Taugher Jul. 24--In the most detailed look yet at whether San Francisco Bay fish are becoming safer to eat, scientists have found that despite decades spent trying to control toxic chemicals many are stubbornly persisting in...

California Politicians Search for Where Governor Went Wrong.
July 24, 2003... Byline: Andrew LaMar Jul. 24--California has had 15 governors since voters in 1911 added recall to the state Constitution as part of the Progressive era reforms of Gov. Hiram Johnson. Gray Davis is the first one to face a vote for...

Homeland Security Chief Visits Livermore Lab, Assures Audience of Vigilance.
July 24, 2003... Jul. 24--SAN FRANCISCO--Tom Ridge, chief of Homeland Security, said Wednesday that America's wide-ranging response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has made the country more secure from terrorist threats than ever before. "We are more...

San Francisco Transportation Officials Stall New Fare-Card Program.
July 24, 2003... Byline: Lisa Vorderbrueggen Jul. 24--BART and San Francisco MUNI have balked at a plan to permanently roll out TransLink, a long-awaited universal fare card that users declared a rousing success after its trial run last year. MUNI...

Legal Issues Remain in Way of California Governor-Recall Process.
July 24, 2003... Byline: Daniel Borenstein Jul. 24--The certification of recall petition signatures is just one step in the process. Before voters get to the polls, other legal issues remain. Among them: Signature fraud? A small group of Davis...

CEO of Dublin, Calif., Software Firm Says Oracle-PeopleSoft Flap Helped Sales.
July 24, 2003... Byline: Ellen Lee Jul. 24--Oracle Corp.'s $6.3 billion hostile takeover bid for rival business software maker PeopleSoft Inc. has at least in one instance sent business in Sybase's direction, Sybase CEO John Chen said in an interview...

Grant Will Help Richmond, Calif., Immigrants Get Healthcare.
July 23, 2003... Byline: Rebecca Rosen Lum Jul. 23--When a county raid on Latino markets turned up hundreds of bootlegged pharmaceuticals, it brought to light one of the region's most severe health care problems: There simply aren't enough doctors to go...

California Budget Crisis Puts More Pressure on Transportation Agency.
July 23, 2003... Byline: Lisa Vorderbrueggen Jul. 23--SACRAMENTO, Calif.--The California Department of Transportation's financial house of cards appears headed straight for a monsoon. Even after the Legislature passes a budget, the account that pays...

Study Shows San Francisco-Area Commuters Spend Less Income on Transit Costs.
July 23, 2003... Byline: Lisa Vorderbrueggen Jul. 23--Transit investment in the Bay Area has left a little more jingle in residents' pockets, according to a national study to be released today. Bay Area residents spend less of their paychecks on...

California's Transportation Funding Faces Inevitable Shortfalls.
July 23, 2003... Byline: Lisa Vorderbrueggen Jul. 23--SACRAMENTO, Calif.--The California Department of Transportation's financial house of cards appears headed straight for a monsoon. Even after the Legislature passes a budget, the account that pays...

Oracle's Hostile Bid Backfires, Says PeopleSoft's CEO.
July 18, 2003... Jul. 18--In what could be a turning point in the epic battle of the business software makers, PeopleSoft Inc. is on the verge of completing its $1.8 billion friendly merger with smaller rival J.D. Edwards & Co. because of -- not in spite of...

California Highway Contractors to Strike, Citing Budget Impasse.
July 17, 2003... Byline: Lisa Vorderbrueggen Jul. 17--WALNUT CREEK, Calif.--Dozens of highway contractors throughout California have informed Caltrans that they will walk off the job Monday if state lawmakers have failed to end the budget impasse. ...

Security Officers Keep Losing Keys to Livermore, Calif., Laboratory.
July 16, 2003... Byline: Andrea Widener Jul. 16--LIVERMORE, Calif.--For the third time in four months, a Lawrence Livermore Laboratory security officer has lost a set of keys to lab gates and offices. This time, an intensive search, which included...

PeopleSoft Takeover Bid Grows Difficult for Oracle.
July 16, 2003... Jul. 16--PeopleSoft Inc. has pulled out all the stops in its high-stakes contest of wills with Oracle Corp. Can Oracle break through PeopleSoft's defenses? Since Oracle launched a hostile takeover bid last month, PeopleSoft has thrown up...

PeopleSoft, J.D. Edwards Merger Might Happen Any Day.
July 16, 2003... Jul. 16--J.D. Edwards & Co. could become part of PeopleSoft Inc. as early as tonight, creating the largest business software company in the United States and strengthening the "brick wall" the two companies have built to fend off Oracle...

California State Senators Continue to Squabble over Details of Budget Deal.
July 16, 2003... Jul. 16--SACRAMENTO, Calif.--Fifteen days into the new fiscal year, legislative leaders are back to square one in their quest to solve the state's budget crisis. The Senate defeated a Republican budget proposal Tuesday that sought to...

IBM to Help California Streamline Child-Support Collection System.
July 15, 2003... Byline: Peter Felsenfeld Jul. 15--The state signed an eight-year, $801 million deal with IBM on Monday for a statewide computer system to streamline the child support collection process. The powerful technology will enable officials...

Two Former U.S. Wireless Executives Are Indicted on Securities Fraud Charges.
July 15, 2003... Byline: Ellen Lee Jul. 15--Two former executives from San Ramon's now-defunct U.S. Wireless Corp. were indicted Monday, charged with looting hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and several million in stock and stock options from the...

Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif., Business Listing Column.
July 13, 2003... Jul. 13--The following individuals or corporations filed fictitious-business-name statements in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The Times makes every effort to ensure accuracy but cannot be held responsible if there are errors or omissions...

Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif., Tapan Munroe Column.
July 13, 2003... Byline: Tapan Munroe Jul. 13--Since the collapse of the technology boom nearly 2 1/2 years ago, the Federal Reserve System has worked valiantly to bail out the American economy by lowering short-term interest rates 13 times. A key Fed...

Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif., Retirement Planner Column.
July 13, 2003... Byline: Steve Butler Jul. 13--The amount of money in money market funds today tops $2.2 trillion with $40 billion more having come in over just the past month. That statistic reminded me of Norman G. Fosbach, the founder of the...

San Francisco Bay Area Sees Big Job Losses.
July 12, 2003... Byline: George Avalos Jul. 12--The pain has yet to end for Bay Area job seekers. In the latest reading on the reeling region's economy, state officials Friday reported a big increase in the jobless rates in the Bay Area's three major...

True Believers, Truly Curious Trek to Solano County, Calif., Crop Circle.
July 11, 2003... Byline: John Simerman Jul. 11--ROCKVILLE, Calif.--Extraterrestrial calling card, super-magnetic power force, or elaborate student agriprank? Inquiring minds -- some donning tinfoil hats with wings -- want to know so badly that they...

San Francisco-Area Public Television, Radio Broadcaster Tackles Money Woes.
July 11, 2003... Byline: Judy Silber Jul. 11--Hard times have finally caught up to KQED, the Bay Area's public television and radio stations. Reductions in corporate donations this year will force KQED to cut operating expenses by about 10 percent,...

Environmentalists in California Say that Governor Recall Could Be 'Disastrous'.
July 10, 2003... Byline: Mike Taugher Jul. 10--Fewer than one in seven Californians say it would be bad for the environment if voters recall Gov. Gray Davis, who made protecting natural resources one of his campaign themes, a new poll shows. Poor...

California Board of Education Delays High School Exit-Exam Requirement.
July 10, 2003... Byline: Kara Shire Jul. 10--SACRAMENTO, Calif.--The State Board of Education on Wednesday delayed for two years the high school exit exam's high-stakes consequences, excusing next year's juniors and seniors from passing it to earn a...

McDonald's Pilots Wireless High-Speed Internet Service in California.
July 9, 2003... Byline: Ellen Lee Jul. 9--McDonald's Corp. launched a super-sized offering of wireless high-speed Internet service in the Bay Area on Tuesday, the largest and most extensive of the restaurant chain's deployments so far. The world's...

Three Generations of Mexican Americans Run Northern California Eatery.
July 9, 2003... Byline: Jack Chang Jul. 9--As owner Ernie Guerrero sees it, three generations of Mexican Americans keep La Tapatia restaurant running. There's Guerrero, a third-generation immigrant who was born in Southern California and speaks...

Agency Says Nuclear Lab's Security Breaches Do Not Warrant Takeover.
July 9, 2003... Byline: Andrea Widener Jul. 9--Lawrence Livermore Laboratory's problems with lost keys and electronic keycards do not warrant a federal takeover of the nuclear site's security operation, the lab's overseer said Tuesday. A high-level...

California Football Team Owner Says He Never Read Reports of Shortfalls.
July 8, 2003... Byline: Guy Ashley Jul. 8--SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A blizzard of bad press about disappointing ticket sales marred the weeks after the Oakland Raiders finalized their decision to return to the Bay Area in 1995. But Al Davis says he was...

Travelers to Hong Kong Can Find Deep Discounts Post-SARS.
July 8, 2003... Byline: John Simerman Jul. 8--Airlines are stepping up flights to Asia and tour agents are hawking ridiculously low Hong Kong discounts, scrambling to restore a travel trade mutilated by fears of a mysterious illness. Nowhere has...

Concord, Calif., Non-Profit Operation Takes Care of Children Temporarily.
July 7, 2003... Byline: Randy Myers Jul. 7--For 22 years, stressed-out parents in dire need of an emergency time-out from their children have found help at the Bay Area Crisis Nursery. No matter the hour, the modest but attractive house in Concord...

Walnut Creek, Calif., Mexican Eatery Sees Passage of Wisdom to New Immigrants.
July 7, 2003... Byline: Jack Chang Jul. 7--WALNUT CREEK, Calif.--As owner Ernie Guerrero sees it, three generations of Mexican Americans keep La Tapatia restaurant running. There's Guerrero, a third-generation immigrant who was born in Southern...

Troubled Concord, Calif., Art Pavilion Cancels Programming.
July 7, 2003... Byline: Denis Cuff Jul. 7--CONCORD, Calif.--This city elevated culture in the suburbs in 1975 by carving an outdoor pavilion out of the hills to stage the Concord jazz festival, other popular music concerts and community events like a...

California Officials Consider Ways to Keep Students Healthier.
July 7, 2003... Byline: Eric Louie Jul. 7--PLEASANTON, Calif.--Comedian Chris Rock once pointed out that only in American do people die from eating too much. So while children go hungry across the world, California legislators, food companies and...

Refinery Worker Strike Shuts Down Crockett, Calif., Sugar Plant.
July 7, 2003... Byline: Mike Taugher Jul. 7--CROCKETT, Calif.--Nearly 400 sugar refinery workers went on strike Sunday, forcing managers to shut down an historic plant that produces hundreds of millions of tons of cane sugar each year. It is the...

Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif., Business Listing Column.
July 6, 2003... Jul. 6--The following individuals or corporations filed fictitious-business-name statements in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The Times makes every effort to ensure accuracy but cannot be held responsible if there are errors or omissions...

Benicia, Calif.-Based Environmental Consulting Firm Sets Global Goals.
July 6, 2003... Byline: David Whelan Jul. 6--On March 8, two weeks before the United States invaded Iraq, Nick Patz sat down at his computer and banged out an e-mail to Riley Bechtel, the billionaire boss of the fourth-generation family-owned...

Danville, Calif., Pastor Creates Partnership with South African Community.
July 6, 2003... Byline: Randy Myers Jul. 6--On the surface, the coiffed 'burbs of Danville share little if anything in common with the far less tidy farming village of Lwamondo, tucked in the northern region of South Africa. One community struggles...

Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif., Retirement Planner Column.
July 6, 2003... Byline: Steve Butler Jul. 6--For owners and key employees of small companies, the opportunities to shelter money in retirement plans have never been greater. To many who have suffered a depletion of retirement assets over the past three...

Wal-Mart Claims Names to Force Vote on Contra Costa, Calif., Grocery Ordinance.
July 6, 2003... Byline: Sandy Kleffman Jul. 6--Wal-Mart officials say they have turned in enough signatures to force a public vote on a Contra Costa County ordinance that restricts their ability to sell groceries. Wal-Mart submitted 40,735...

Danville, Calif., Group Uses Volunteers to Help Beautify Homes.
July 4, 2003... Byline: Linda Davis Jul. 4--DANVILLE, Calif. -- The angel with the paint brush was at it again this weekend, transforming a careworn room into a decorator's delight -- for free. Ileana Evans does not do this for money, but rather for...

Oracle Extends Deadline for Takeover Offer.
July 4, 2003... Byline: Ellen Lee Jul. 4--Oracle Corp., which is facing renewed pressure to raise its $6.3 billion bid for rival PeopleSoft Inc., pushed back the deadline for investors to decide about its hostile takeover offer. Oracle said Thursday...

California Cities to Repeal Unconstitutional Taxes.
July 4, 2003... Byline: Alan Lopez Jul. 4--As California faces the worst fiscal crisis in its history and cities cut programs and issue layoff notices, El Cerrito and possibly Hercules are eliminating taxes they continued to collect two years after the...

California Officials Say Unemployment Fund Could Lurch into Insolvency.
July 4, 2003... Byline: George Avalos Jul. 4--California officials disclosed Thursday evening that the state's $3 billion fund to pay unemployment benefits could lurch into insolvency by the end of this year without hefty new taxes or a federal...

Non-Tenured Lecturers Get Offer of Pact at University of California.
July 4, 2003... Byline: Carrie Sturrock Jul. 4--Non-tenure track lecturers, who teach a good share of the University of California's undergraduate classes, recently won more job security and better pay. Last fall, the lecturers held a one-day strike...