Today's Fresh Meat

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

The Central Valley Business Times reports that a California asphalt refinery has been fined $1 million by the EPAfor violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act.  The Santa MariaRefining Co., a subsidiary of the Greka Energy Corporation of New YorkCity, dumped contaminated wastewater into wells, threateninggroundwater supplies.  Greka has not commented yet.  Maybe they'retrying to find a good catchphrase?

The immigration bill might be back, says the Sacramento Bee.  After a week of negotiationswith President Bush, Senate leaders agreed to send it back to thefloor, now with a $4.4 billion shot in the arm to border security.  Itdoesn't look like that will be enough to placate the Republican Party'santi-immigration hardliners.  "This is like a horse with four brokenlegs that the president keeps trying to put back on the track," saidBob Dane, a spokesman for the Federation for American ImmigrationReform.

Also in today's Sacramento Bee, "From blowing whistle to calling the shots:a study in mixed metaphors."  Richard Krupp headed the personnelautomation  section at headquartes in Sacramento.  When asked to replyto an independent audit, he refused to fudge numbers on sick leave andovertime for the state prison system in 1999.  As a result, managementgave him the important task of reviewing student requests to interviewinmates.  Krupp sued under whistleblower status, and won in court. Krupp will take over on Monday as the head of audits and compliance for California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

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