With Hurricane Irene bearing down on the East coast, California is lending a helping hand by deploying experts trained in search & rescue, emergency operations, planning and logistics to help with state and local emergency response efforts.

“We’re hoping for the best for all of those in the path of Hurricane Irene and we urge residents to take this storm seriously,” said Cal EMA Acting Secretary Mike Dayton. “California stands ready to provide assistance to our sister states as they prepare for this natural disaster,” said Dayton. “We’re appreciative of the help we received in the past and are glad to provide help in their time of need.”

In anticipation of the storm’s impact, several eastern states have requested assistance through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), a congressionally ratified agreement that provides form and structure to interstate mutual aid.

Through EMAC, Cal EMA is in discussions with New York state to deploy possibly six emergency service coordinators with experience in Emergency Operation Centers and an Incident Management Team (IMT) to assist in emergency response, remaining there until the situation stabilizes. The IMT is the Easy Bay Type 3 Incident Management Team and consists of 36 first responders from Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. Expenses for the deployment will be covered by the state(s) requesting assistance. Cal EMA will be in constant contact with emergency management staff on the East coast for future requests.

California has also deployed several members to form an Urban Search and Rescue Task Force (US&R). These are common requested organized by FEMA and have responded to various disasters around the world. California Task Force members deployed to the east coast include one member from CA-TF6 (Riverside), two members from CA-TF2 (Los Angeles), three members from CA-TF8 (San Diego).

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It’s bad enough when people think they can outrun the police – some people think they can incapacitate a police force with a wet towel.

Kenny Barba, 41, was tracked down as the thief of a cell phone from a car in the parking lot of a Salinas grocery store. The victim used the GPS to ping its location to an Archer Street apartment.

When asked, Barba denied having the phone. The victim offered him $50 and offered to get back just the SIM card. The supposed thief told him to come back later.

The next day, the victim came back with two Salinas cops in tow. The police eventually convinced the stubborn Barba to give up the phone, which he said was in an apartment below. As one officer went downstairs to get the phone, the other found himself under attack by way of soaked bath towel. Yes, scared and nervous, Barba chose the most unlikely weapon to attack the officers.

Needless to say the cop wasn’t injured, and Barba was thrown in Monterey County Jail on charges of battery of a peace officer and possession of stolen property.

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A random attack led to an 18 year old being thrown off a highway overpass in Salinas this morning.

As the teen was walking across the overpass at 1:17 am, he was met by Ysidro Madrigal and Juan Barajas, 21 and 18 respectively. They beat him up and proceeded to throw him off of the North Main Street overpass, where he landed on the median between the US 101 on ramp and the highway 22 feet below.

The victim, with severe injuries to his upper body, crawled to the side of the ramp where a passerby spotted him and called 911.

The attackers were caught near the scene of the crime and were thrown into the Monterey County Jail on attempted murder charges. Madrigal was apparently on probation, and was hit with an additional charge.

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Five men have been arrested for spreading child porn images across the Internet – some images victimizing children as young as two years old.

The men in custody are as follows: Robert Paris, 54, of Santa  Cruz, Keegan Knutson, 26, of Monterey, Eryk McGill, 21, of Aptos, Kyle Unger, 19, of Boulder Creek, and an unidentified 17-year-old Santa Cruz kid.

The men posted thousands of these pictures and videos, which are being sifted through by authorities. They were caught when detectives downloaded some of the images from the men with file sharing programs. The fortunate arrests come after a month-long investigation by the San Jose Internet Crimes Against Children and Santa Cruz District Attorney’s Office.

Police ask anyone with information to call (831) 420-5820 or leave a tip at www.santacruzpolice.com.

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Forty-three employees of Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula will be out of a job Thursday courtesy of cost cutting decisions. Factoring in 14 employees who quit, 57 total workers are no longer with the hospital – 77 since the beginning of 2010.

The layoffs will run the gamut of positions – nurses, nutritionists, lab techs and security guards mostly working at the main campus will get the axe. Few are from the Ryan Ranch Outpatient Campus, Hartnell Professional Center and Westland House.

The layoffs are a small part of a $21 million cost cutting effort put in place by hospital officials. If all continues as planned, they will outdo themselves by $2 million. The layoffs will save the hospital $12 million, with those who were  given the boot getting two weeks of severance pay for every year worked with the hospital. The hospital earned $6 million from employees paying more for their own health insurance premiums and getting rid of subsidized meals in the cafeteria. Another $3 million came from reduced spending on medical supplies.

Since last year, the total number of layoffs has increased to 258 positions, which brings the number of hospital employees down to 2,060. In the beginning, the hospital planned to cut $12 million, but failed cutbacks from the past made them raise that number to $21 million, cutting  more jobs and leaving the hospital further understaffed.

So just how short did they have fall of their goal  last year to warrant so many layoffs? Thirty million. The cuts they’ve made thus far aren’t expected to reach their goal, but they don’t plan on laying more workers off.

While the hospital has closed some area clinics, somehow they still plan to expand with new clinics.

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Twenty eight year old Scott Callan is in hot water for allegedly sexually assaulting a teenage girl. It has now been revealed that the youth leader and employee of the Salinas Police Department impregnated the teen.

The laundry list of allegations against Callan includes a special one that says he caused the pregnant girl bodily harm. Other charges unrelated to the pregnancy are five counts of lewd acts with a child younger than 16, three counts of statutory rape, and one count each of sodomy and oral copulation with a person younger than 16, sexual exploitation of a child and possession of child porn, which was found on his cell phone.

He apparently met the girl through the police explorer’s program, and the sexual assault allegedly occurred from December of last year to March of 2010.

Callan isn’t the only member of the Salinas police under investigation – three others are currently facing allegations of sex crimes and he is one of five who have been charged as criminals over the past year and a half. Former officer Jesus Sanchez is charged with two counts  of sexual battery against a woman who said he assaulted her on duty between 2002 and 2005 – he was subsequently fired.

Lance Mosher is on paid leave accused of lewd acts with a 12 year old girl. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for October 28.

Not all of the employees are under investigation for sex crimes. Sgt. Jay Malispina is charged with stealing $40,000 from his mother while overseeing her bank accounts – he’s been on leave since last June. Former officer Chris Swanson pleaded no contest to recklessly firing his weapon into a car containing two unarmed people last February. He served three months in jail and was fired.

In 2007, another police officer swindled over $50,000 from the Salinas Police Activities League.

Deputy Police Chief Cassie McSorley told the Monterey Herald that all of these crimes from the police department are “certainly unusual and cause for concern, but we haven’t found any commonality in terms of propensity for unlawful behavior.”

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Cassandra Peterson, the actress that hosted the horror movie show “Elvira, Mistress of the Dark,” will be hosting a reception for members of the California Education Technology Professionals Association’s 50th annual conference and swap meet in Monterey.

The macabre hostess will be at a haunted mansion reception – right at home – at the Naval Postgraduate School on October 21.

The conference and swap meet will run from October 19 to October 22 at the Monterey Conference Center and Portola Hotel and Spa. If you are interested, get there to register at 10 am next Tuesday. There will be a breakfast at 7 am every day of the conference, and the keynote address will be at 1pm.

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Baret News announces the launch of CaliforniaConsumerBanking.com, a specialty news and information site for anyone conducting their banking in California.

CaliforniaConsumerBanking.com reports on the highest bank interest rates available on California CDs (certificates of deposit), savings accounts, checking accounts and money markets. If you are looking for a California bank with high interest rates and low fees, you will be kept abreast of the latest offerings throughout the state.

The team of writers and the management team are dedicated to bringing the most current interesting and useful consumer banking information to California savers.

Subjects covered include frugal personal finance as well as California bank rates, mortgages, credit cards, real estate and insurance.

In addition to current California banking news, CaliforniaConsumerBanking.com also connects consumers to the best California banks for the best deals, whether that be credit cards, debit cards, savings accounts, checking accounts or credit repair.

“If you are looking for a California savings bank, the best California CD rates, California checking accounts or want the pulse of California interest rates, this is the site to visit on a regular basis,” said Alan Gray, Baret News Editor-in-Chief.

About Baret News
Founded in 2005 by a partnership of news writers and editors, Baret News covers US news, US Business News and consumer news. Baret News has a network of local news sites spanning the country and touching upon topics of interest to local communities.

California Consumer Banking
c/o Baret News
1805 N. Carson Street #323
Carson City
NV 89701

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Next Sunday, is the Deadline to Qualify for 2010 Tax Deduction for Vehicle Business Use, if you use the 90 day estimate method of documentation.

If you use your personal vehicles for business purposes in 2010, you may claim 50-cents per business-mile tax deduction, but only if you keep proper records, according to Home Business Tax Savings, Inc. (HBTS), a specialist in home-business tax law.

“If a home-based business owner drives 8,000 miles in 2010 for business purposes, that’s a $4,000 tax deduction. If that taxpayer is in the 25 percent tax bracket, the deduction will add $1,000 to their Tax Refund.”

- Dr. Ronald R. Mueller

To document the deduction, the Tax Code says taxpayers must maintain proper records for “a typical 90 consecutive day period.” [IRS Regulation 1.274-5T(c)(3)(ii)]

After Sunday, Oct. 3, there no longer will be 90 days remaining in 2010. Therefore, any taxpayer who has not begun a vehicle-use log by Oct. 3, will not qualify to use the IRS “90 day rule,” which can cost them $4,000 or more in lost tax deductions.

What constitutes ‘proper records’ for tax purposes? “Each time the driver starts the ignition – even if the trip will be for a non-business purpose – he or she must record four pieces of data — date, destination, primary purpose, and number of miles traveled,” Dr. Mueller says.

“Then what? First, you add up all business-miles for your 90 day period, and the IRS will accept that number as an accurate sampling of your business-use for the entire year. Since 90 days is 25 percent of a full year, the taxpayer may then multiply that number times four, and the IRS will let you to deduct that number of business miles for 2010,” according to Dr. Mueller.

The above example applies if you operated an active home-based business for the entire year of 2010. If the business was established during the year, the numbers would be prorated.

You can get a free Vehicle Mileage Log and further details about this deduction, as free downloads at www.HomeBusinessTaxSavings.com

Ronald R. Mueller, MBA, Ph.D., is the author of “Home Business Tax Savings, Made Easy,” the only ‘plain English’ guide to home-business tax deductions approved by Congress, and now included in the Tax Code. For more information, visit http://www.HomeBusinessTaxSavings.com

News source: RushPRnews http://rushprnews.com/2010/09/26/deadline-looms-for-business-vehicle-use-tax-

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