L.A. high school built on top of contaminated
material
The developer of a new high school near downtown Los Angeles
violated the school district’s environmental rules by using
hundreds of cubic yards of contaminated debris under the campus
administration building and gymnasium, according to the Los Angeles
Times on Sunday.
The new campus, South Central L.A. New High School No. 1, is
scheduled to open in about a month, and district officials are
scrambling to test the potential toxicity at the 19-acre site.
Public and confidential records obtained by the Times showed
that fill from a stockpile contaminated with carcinogenic PCBs and
harmful petroleum by-products was used at the campus, despite
environmental regulations.
Records also showed that school officials for two years failed
to tell state environmental regulators about the contaminated fill,
despite a state law requiring that regulators be notified.
Tribes seek to add gambling to San Joaquin
Valley
MERCED “”mdash; Two Native American tribes want to bring gambling
to the San Joaquin Valley, creating an enticing source of jobs but
also worries to the agricultural area.
The 1,350-member North Fork Mono tribe has an agreement with
Madera County to build a casino on Highway 99 outside Madera. The
foothills tribe is working on federal and state approvals to
operate a gaming facility off a reservation.
The California Valley Miwok tribe, a small, landless tribe based
in Stockton, wants to build a major casino in western Merced near
the town of Los Banos. Los Banos Mayor Mike Amabile described it as
a $300 million project that would create up to 2,000 jobs.
The proposal is so new that some county supervisors didn’t
even know about it. The Miwok tribe recently dropped a proposal to
build a casino in San Benito County because of opposition from
local elected leaders.
“There have been no formal discussions that have taken
place at this time,” county Board of Supervisors Chairman
Jerry O’Banion said after participating in a meeting with
tribe members last week.
“I think it’s worth looking into. Whether it occurs
in the future, time will tell.”
Because the Miwok don’t have a reservation, they would
have to prove they are indigenous to the area where they want to
build and show they have local support for the project before the
government could consider granting them a gaming compact, said
Vince Sollitto, a spokesman for Gov. Schwarzenegger.
Securing that support could prove difficult. Some communities
are reluctant to let casinos open, fearing they would serve as
magnets for crime.
“What’s to say the 99 strip won’t look like
the Las Vegas strip?” said state Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter,
who held a community forum in Madera last month to discuss the
North Fork plan.
Florez said tribes should seek referendums in the communities
where they want to build to make sure they have local support.
Compiled from Bruin wire reports.