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The Arson Adjustment Committee - Move over Piedmont, Lowe's sells matches

Lowe's Center

2001 Arnold Industrial Way, Concord, CA 94520

$566,280 - $9,626,760

0.52 - 13 AC | Land



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Contra Costa pipeline safety forums open to public

Hello, Mr. Arsonist!

The Independent Pipeline Safety Trust is coming to town
Learn more
    June 3rd, 2015  6:30 to 8:30
    Creekside Community Church 
    1350 Danville Blvd., Alamo
    June 6th, 2015  6:30 to 8:30
    Contra Costa County Administration building, 
    651 Pine Street, Martinez CA

    The Serial Arsonist 

    In 2004, I was an arson victim but that was my fourth incident, several months later a Fuel Line killed five, in 2010, an explosion killed eight, in 2015 I called @FERC, five hours later a line exploded in Fresno CA. 
    Becoming highly vocal was risky and nearly got me killed.  The Arsonist is likely in Law Enforcement, has connections and that leads whose getting paid. 

    Contra Costa pipeline safety forums open to public

    By Matthias Gafni mgafni@bayareanewsgroup.com
    Posted:   05/19/2015 12:44:56 PM PDT0 Comments |  

    Miles of pipeline transport gas, diesel and jet fuel beneath Contra Costa County cities and towns, and the public is invited to learn more about the infrastructure at two public forums next month.

    The Alamo Improvement Association and the Contra Costa County Hazardous Materials Commission will host the community discussions and cover topics including safety, oversight, inspection requirements and strategies for reducing risk.

    The forums will include speakers from the national nonprofit Pipeline Safety Trust, the Office of the State Fire Marshal and Kinder Morgan, the private company operating many of the petroleum pipelines throughout the region, including one beneath the Iron Horse Trail Corridor. Hazardous Materials Ombudsman Michael Kent will facilitate both forums, including a question-and-answer period.

    The first meeting will be June 3, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Creekside Community Church, 1350 Danville Blvd., Alamo. The Martinez forum is June 6 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Contra Costa County Administration building, 651 Pine St., in the board of supervisors chamber.

    The meetings are made possible by a $50,000 grant obtained by the Alamo Improvement Association from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
    Contact Matthias Gafni at 925-952-5026. Follow him at Twitter.com/mgafni.
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    Ashley Turton and Pete Bennett arson victims not accidental self-immolation stunts


    Ashley Turton and Pete Bennett arson victims not accidental self immolation stunts



    National Hate Crimes Network

    Story Links
    2004 Bennett Arson - Pathetic Fire Department Top Shelf Records
    1988 IRS Agent Car Bombed
    2009 Eiko Sugihara
    1979 Black Man Burned Alive Pleasant Hill CA Ellenwood Farms
    2014 FedEx Truck Explosion Orland CA
    2014 Mike Sevenau Alamo CA Burned Alive
    2010 PG&E San Bruno CA 8 dead
    2004 Kinder-Morgan Fuel Line Walnut Creek CA 5 dead
    2010 Hair By Jim - Firebombed Clayton CA
    2010 Piedmont Lumber dubious
    2013 Deadly Limo Fire - 5 Dead
    2013 Limo Fire Walnut Creek 7 near victims
    Immokoloee FL - Molotov Cocktails 5 dead
    Happy Nails Pleasant Hill CA - beer bottle belonged to Bennett - arson investigators trolling Bennett for weeks.
    PG&E Pipeline documents stolen
    Bennett unpaid and now homeless
     

    Turton Car Fire Caused by Low-Speed Crash, Police Say



    By Rachael Bade and Jessica Brady and Anna Palmer
    Roll Call Staff
    Jan. 10, 2011, 10:57 a.m.


    Bill Clark/Roll Call

    A D.C. fire investigator takes photos of a burned-out BMW in a garage on the 800 block of A Street Southeast on Monday morning. Ashley Turton, former chief of staff to Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and wife of White House liaison to the House of Representatives Dan Turton, was found dead in the car, according to a source.


    Updated: 4:36 p.m.

    The car fire that led to the sudden death of Ashley Turton was caused by the impact after a low-speed crash, according to the major crash investigation unit of the Metropolitan Police Department.

    "It’s quite possible that the victim was maneuvering the car and came in contact with some kind of flammable chemical materials," D.C. Fire spokesman Pete Piringer said.

    Turton, 37, was the former chief of staff to Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and wife of White House liaison to the House of Representatives Dan Turton. She worked as a lobbyist for the Raleigh, N.C.-based utility giant Progress Energy.

    Turton was found dead in her car Monday morning, which was discovered ablaze in a row house garage, presumably the Turton home, in the 800 block of A Street Southeast near Eastern Market.

    Police said there was a heavy fire in the garage at 4:45 a.m. that caused significant damage to the 2008 BMW X5, which was partially backed out into the driveway and looked singed. Fire damage could also be seen on a corner of the brick home Monday.

    When the fire was extinguished, firefighters discovered Turton’s body inside the car.

    At 9 a.m. Monday, two fire trucks were at the scene in addition to nearly a half-dozen police cars. Neighbors and passers-by stood outside as police continued to survey the wreckage in the garage attached to Turton’s home.

    Turton’s neighbors were in mourning following her unexpected death. Julie Domenick, a lobbyist who lives on the Turton’s block, said the entire neighborhood would mourn her death.

    "I, of course, was aware of Ashley’s impressive professional legacy, but I also knew Ashley as a charming, spectacular, neighborhood mom who herded her three adorable, curious young children ... with great skill and even more love," Domenick said. "This neighborhood is going to miss Ashley terribly. It leaves a hole in our hearts and a sadness on our block. Our prayers are with Dan, their children and their families."

    Turton’s co-worker and friend Caroline Choi, executive director of environmental services and strategy, was too choked up to comment on her death Monday afternoon.

    Brian Wolff, a lobbyist at Edison Electric Institute and close friend of Turton’s, called her death devastating.

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    Former speaker indicted for hush money cover-up JOHN DENNIS HASTERT

    Forrmer Speaker of the house indicted

    Washington (CNN)Federal officials have indicted former House Speaker Dennis Hastert for lying to the FBI about $3.5 million he agreed to pay to an undisclosed subject to "cover up past misconduct."

    The indictment was unsealed in the District Court of Northern Illinois on Thursday. The Justice Department alleges that Hastert made large withdrawals after agreeing to pay the money.

    The indictment does not explain precisely what the "past misconduct" is, but instead details at length various withdrawals and financial transactions he made with the unidentified subject. The payments totaling about $1.7 million occurred over a period of years beginning in 2010 and ending in 2014.

    "During the 2010 meetings and subsequent discussions, Hastert agreed to provide Individual A $3.5 million in order to compensate for and conceal his prior misconduct against Individual A," according to the indictment.

    Hastert, 73, served as House speaker from 1999 until 2007, when Democrats retook the House. Before serving in Congress he was a high school teacher and coach in Yorkville, Illinois.

    Hastert presided over a series of scandals during his time as speaker, including the resignation of former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley in 2006, and ascended to the speakership over former Rep. Bob Livingston in 1999, who was the subject of a scandal.

    A woman who answered the phone at Hastert's office on Thursday said the speaker was unavailable and took a message.

    According to the indictment, Hastert made multiple withdrawals under $10,000 -- to avoid triggering federal bank reporting requirements -- to then pay the subject.

    When he was asked by federal investigators about the withdrawals, he said it was so he could keep the money himself. When confronted by federal investigators, Hastert insisted, "Yeah ... I kept the cash. That's what I'm doing."

    Hastert served in the Illinois House of Representatives until 1986, when he was elected to Illinois' 14th congressional district. In 1999, he was elected speaker of the House and became the longest-serving Republican speaker of the House.

    In 2008 he joined the Washington lobbying firm Dickstein Shapiro as a senior adviser.

    Dickstein Shapiro had Hastert listed as a senior adviser and "co-leader of the firm's Public Policy & Political Law Practice" on their website, but after a CNN inquiry about his employment his profile was removed minutes later.

    The indictment offers little information on the subject "Individual A", other than noting that the two knew each other from before Hastert's career in politics.

    Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich declined to comment on the charges against Hastert when asked by CNN at the Champions of Jewish Values awards gala in New York City.

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    Hastert donates Abramoff Hush Money - The scandalous links to the H-1b Visas

    Former Speaker of the house indicted
    Meet his friends



    Jack Abramoff - NNDB.com

    www.nndb.com/people/646/000094364/
    Share:

    2004 Media: Companies say too few in U.S. have the needed math and science skills. Critics claim the H-1B program is misused.

    The Titan's Feel Good Story

    U.S. Firms Lament Cutback in Visas for Foreign Talent

    Companies say too few in U.S. have the needed math and science skills. Critics claim the H-1B program is misused.

    February 16, 2004|Evelyn Iritani | Times Staff Writer

    For Rockwell Scientific Co., hiring the best talent is a matter of corporate survival.

    Authors Note: During Summer 2004, my F-250 was rigged to explode. My suspects are Larry Ellison, CEO of Accenture, Fremont Group, Symantec, B of A and their outsourcing partners.

    Chief Executive Derek Cheung says he simply can't find enough professionals in the United States with the highly specialized skills to produce the sophisticated sensors and other high-technology products the Thousand Oaks company makes. And he says changes to a foreign worker visa program threaten the ability of Rockwell Scientific and other U.S. technology firms, schools and hospitals to bring in employees from abroad -- just when they are needed most.

    The H-1B visa program, designed to allow U.S. companies to hire foreign professionals on a temporary basis, was scaled back last year because of the sluggish U.S. technology job market and a political backlash in Washington over the importing of foreign labor. Now, with the economy healing, companies are scrambling to get foreign hires approved before this year's allocation of H-1B visas is exhausted.

    Pulling up the welcome mat to foreign talent when corporate America is gearing up for a turnaround poses a threat to America's global competitiveness, Cheung and other executives said recently. They predicted that a shortage of H-1B visas would force them to pass over promising foreign-born scientists, leave crucial jobs unfilled or delay projects that require special talents that can't be found in this country.

    "These are the best minds in the world," said Cheung, an American citizen who grew up in Hong Kong and received two of his degrees from Purdue and Stanford universities. "They are really helping this country."

    Immigration attorneys predict the cap on H-1Bs -- set at 65,000 this year, down from 195,000 in 2003 -- could be reached within the next few weeks. U.S. immigration authorities had approved 43,000 of the visas as of the end of December. Once the ceiling is reached, no new visas will be given out until Oct. 1, the start of the next fiscal year.

    "Come March, you're going to have companies feeling it very urgently," said Judith Golub, a senior director with the American Immigration Lawyers Assn. in Washington.

    Rockwell Scientific has applications pending for 10 visas, including one for a 30-year-old specialist in high-speed electronics who Cheung persuaded to leave his government job in Asia and move to the United States.

    Russ Knocke, a spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, confirmed last week that his agency was "on pace to reach the cap in the near future."

    It isn't just Japanese electronics experts, Chinese physicists or Indian computer programmers who could get caught in the H-1B crunch but also African fashion models, European game designers, Pakistani doctors and Filipino occupational therapists. Even accounting firms use the visa program to beef up their staffs during their peak season, noted Bernard Wolfsdorf, a Los Angeles immigration attorney.

    "This is going to provide enormous disruption for certain crucial industries," he said.

    Finding a sympathetic ear on Capitol Hill isn't easy these days. Signs of improvement in the overall economy are overshadowed by worries about the lack of job growth. The threat posed by the outsourcing of increasingly higher-skilled jobs to India and China has become a presidential campaign issue, with Democrats accusing the Bush administration of doing too little to protect American workers.

    "The anti-immigrant mood and the anti-globalization mood inside Washington is as negative as I've seen it in my 25 years working in this field," said Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Assn. of America, which is lobbying for less-restrictive immigration measures.

    The H-1B program, established in 1952, has ebbed and flowed with the economy. Initially there was no cap on visas. In 1990, Congress imposed a yearly ceiling of 65,000 visas, though some occupations such as university employees were exempt. Under pressure from high-tech employers, the ceiling was raised in 1999 and again in 2001, staying at 195,000 for three years. Applications plummeted, however, after the tech-sector bust. Last year, under pressure from anti-immigration forces, Congress reduced the cap to its original level.

    To apply for an H-1B visa, a U.S. firm must demonstrate that it is unable to find a qualified American citizen for the job and agree to pay the foreign worker a wage comparable to what a U.S. worker would earn, in addition to benefits. The visa is good for a maximum of six years.

    Critics argue that firms are using the program to replace U.S. citizens with lower-cost foreign workers. Pete Bennett, who launched the website www.no

    moreh1b.com, said he didn't oppose bringing in foreign workers with special talents when there was a genuine shortage. But, he said, the program is being abused. He pointed to the thousands of attorneys, accountants and teachers brought into the United States each year under the program.

    "There are plenty of qualified Americans who are dying to take these jobs," said Bennett, who opened a cabinetry shop in Danville, Calif., last fall after working more than 15 years as a computer programmer and website designer.

    Employers say they try to fill jobs with U.S. citizens but can't always find qualified candidates, particularly in math and science. In engineering, for example, 43% of the master's degrees and 54% of the doctoral degrees awarded by U.S. universities go to foreign-born students.

    Nearly half of the people hired on H-1B visas have graduate degrees, while only 5% of the U.S. population has the same level of education, said Thom Stohler, vice president for workforce policy for the American Electronics Assn.

    Hospitals, especially in rural areas, face a shortage of physicians and specialized healthcare workers such as occupational and physical therapists. And school officials can't find enough teachers in math, science and foreign languages.

    Stohler warned that a restriction on foreign workers could backfire, resulting in companies setting up research operations overseas where they don't face restrictions on hiring.

    "Companies might decide if they can't get this visa, they'll hire them there and keep them there," he said. "Now this person is creating intellectual property in another country."

    Belkis Muldoon, director of global immigration services for Schaumberg, Ill.-based Motorola Inc., said the cap on H-1B visas could create an "extremely difficult" situation for her firm, which employs about 90,000 people around the world. She said some foreign-born graduates of U.S. universities initially hired while on student visas needed to shift to H-1B status to stay in the country.

    "Many of the students hired by Motorola -- or other companies -- would face being sent home or terminated if unable to have their legal immigration status changed," she said.

    Groups such as the American Electronics Assn. and the Information Technology Assn. of America are asking Congress for relief. One proposed remedy would remove from the cap foreign graduates of U.S. universities holding master's degrees or doctorates. Presently, H-1B visa holders working for institutions of higher education or nonprofit groups are not counted against the ceiling.

    For Rockwell Scientific, keeping the door open to foreign talent is just part of the answer to staying ahead of competitors. Cheung said the United States must improve its K-12 educational system and find ways to encourage more young Americans to study math and science, or risk losing the competitive edge to countries such as China and India that are investing heavily in these areas. In 1999, the U.S. granted only 61,000 bachelor-level engineering degrees compared with more than 103,000 in Japan, 134,000 in Europe and 195,000 in China, according to a study by the Computer Systems Policy Project, a Washington-based group of high-tech chief executives. They have urged the Bush administration to approve new tax credits on research and development spending, allocate more funds for university research and improve education, particularly in math and science.

    The education gap is of particular concern to Rockwell Scientific, which depends on defense-related contracts for 70% of its revenue. With few exceptions, only U.S. citizens are allowed to work on those jobs.

    "In military defense, we have a clear superiority," Cheung said. "But can we maintain it with the number of graduates we are turning out?"

     


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    Piedmont Lumber and San Bruno Fire - Linking the serial arsonist - when you've been touched by arson you notice


    Linking Fire: Piedmont Lumber, San Bruno Fire, La Virage, FedEx, Limo's

    All it took in late 2011 was for San Ramon Fire Protection District was to say no while Lafayette Police said no.
    They no investigations, no reports.  I said screw you.

    When they blamed the owners now in their 80's they were blaming the person who opened my first credit line in 1978, I knew right away it was arson by others. 

    Finish the Job!


    Burning Piedmont Lumber to the ground shifts over 30 Million in business to others.  The obvious beneficiary is Lowe's new Concord Location.  There is only so much business in Contra Costa County.

    The land deal under Lowe's is 
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    Anthrax: Bruce E. Ivins, an Army microbiologist

    Quick Facts

    FBI Sued by former Agent


    WASHINGTON — When Bruce E. Ivins, an Army microbiologist, took a fatal overdose of Tylenol in 2008, the government declared that he had been responsible for the anthrax letter attacks of 2001, which killed five people and set off a nationwide panic, and closed the case.
    Now, a former senior F.B.I. agent who ran the anthrax investigation for four years says that the bureau gathered “a staggering amount of exculpatory evidence” regarding Dr. Ivins that remains secret. The former agent, Richard L. Lambert, who spent 24 years at the F.B.I., says he believes it is possible that Dr. Ivins was the anthrax mailer, but he does not think prosecutors could have convicted him had he lived to face criminal charges.
    In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Tennessee last Thursday, Mr. Lambert accused the bureau of trying “to railroad the prosecution of Ivins” and, after his suicide, creating “an elaborate perception management campaign” to bolster its claim that he was guilty. Mr. Lambert’s lawsuit accuses the bureau and the Justice Department of forcing his dismissal from a job as senior counterintelligence officer at the Energy Department’s lab in Oak Ridge, Tenn., in retaliation for his dissent on the anthrax case.





    Photo
    The late Bruce Ivins in 2003, when he was a microbiologist at Fort Detrick, Md.CreditSam Yu/Frederick News Post, via Assocaited Press

    The anthrax letters were mailed to United States senators and news organizations in the weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, causing a huge and costly disruption in the postal system and the federal government. Members of Congress and Supreme Court justices were forced from their offices while technicians in biohazard suits cleaned up the lethal anthrax powder. Decontamination costs nationwide exceeded $1 billion. At least 17 people were sickened, in addition to the five who died.
    The bureau’s investigation, one of the longest-running and most technically complex inquiries in its history, has long been seen as troubled. Investigators initially lacked the forensic skills to analyze bioterrorist attacks. For several years, agents focused on a former Army scientist and physician, Dr. Steven J. Hatfill, who was subsequently cleared and given a $4.6 million settlement to resolve a lawsuit. Reviews by the National Academy of Sciences and the Government Accountability Office faulted aspects of the F.B.I.’s scientific work on the case.
    Mr. Lambert, who was himself criticized for pursuing Dr. Hatfill for so long, has now offered, in his lawsuit and in an interview, an insider’s view of what hampered the investigation.
    “This case was hailed at the time as the most important case in the history of the F.B.I.,” Mr. Lambert said. “But it was difficult for me to get experienced investigators assigned to it.”
    He said that the effort was understaffed and plagued by turnover, and that 12 of 20 agents assigned to the case had no prior investigative experience. Senior bureau microbiologists were not made available, and two Ph.D. microbiologists who were put on the case were then removed for an 18-month Arabic language program in Israel. Fear of leaks led top officials to order the extreme compartmentalization of information, with investigators often unable to compare notes and share findings with colleagues, he said.
    Mr. Lambert said he outlined the problems in a formal complaint in 2006 to the F.B.I.’s deputy director. Some of his accusations were later included in a report on the anthrax case by the CBS News program “60 Minutes,” infuriating bureau leaders.





    Photo
    The police in Frederick, Md., spoke with a woman they identified as Diane Ivins, the wife of Bruce E. Ivins, 62, at the couple's home in Frederick, Md., in 2008. CreditRob Carr/Associated Press

    The F.B.I., which rarely comments on pending litigation, did not respond to requests for comment on Mr. Lambert’s claims.
    Although the lethal letters contained notes expressing jihadist views, investigators came to believe the mailer was an insider in the government’s biodefense labs. They eventually matched the anthrax powder to a flask in Dr. Ivins’s lab at Fort Detrick in Maryland and began intense scrutiny of his life and work.
    They discovered electronic records that showed he had spent an unusual amount of time at night in his high-security lab in the periods before the two mailings of the anthrax letters. They found that he had a pattern of sending letters and packages from remote locations under assumed names. They uncovered emails in which he described serious mental problems.
    The investigators documented Dr. Ivins’s obsession with a national sorority that had an office near the Princeton, N.J., mailbox where the letters were mailed. They detected what they believed to be coded messages directed at colleagues, hidden in the notes in the letters.
    As prosecutors prepared to charge him with the five murders in July 2008, Dr. Ivins, 62, took his own life at home in Frederick, Md. Days later, at a news conference, Jeffrey A. Taylor, then the United States attorney for the District of Columbia, said the authorities believed “that based on the evidence we had collected, we could prove his guilt to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.”
    But Mr. Lambert says the bureau also gathered a large amount of evidence pointing away from Dr. Ivins’s guilt that was never shared with the public or the news media. Had the case come to trial, he said, “I absolutely do not think they could have proved his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” He declined to be specific, saying that most of the information was protected by the Privacy Act and was unlikely to become public unless Congress carried out its own inquiry.
    After retiring from the F.B.I. in 2012, Mr. Lambert joined the Energy Department. But an F.B.I. ethics lawyer ruled that because Mr. Lambert had to work with F.B.I. agents in his new job, he was violating a conflict-of-interest law that forbade former federal employees from contacting previous colleagues for a year after they had left their government jobs.
    That ruling led to his dismissal, Mr. Lambert said, and he has not been able to find work despite applying for more than 70 jobs. His lawsuit asserts that several other former F.B.I. agents were able to take identical intelligence jobs with the Energy Department and that he was singled out for mistreatment.





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    Law Firms Launch Class Action against Bay Area Poverty

    Hello! Department of Justice

    When I found these names from on Food from the Bar

    Learn more

    The Titan's Feel Good Story

    PG&E sponsors the United Way

    I've lost everything

    PG&E's vendor is tightly connected to my story and Attorney Rick Kopf is fully informed.  He knows who blew up my truck and knows James Greenan's son who was murdered.


    Law Firms Launch Class Action against Bay Area Poverty
    Posted on September 26, 2011, by United Way in Pathways Out of Poverty
    How many lawyers in gorilla suits does it take to tackle poverty? It might sound like joke, but to the 31 Bay Area law firms competing in United Way's Koko Challenge this year, fighting poverty is something they all take very seriously.

    Every year, the legal community comes together to raise money to fight poverty. Competition is fierce, and top winners receive stuffed gorillas as a prize. Law firms have been known to station their gorillas proudly in their lobbies, symbolizing their dedication to the community.
    On September 22, we kicked-off the 24th annual Koko Challenge, Last year, 21 participating firms raised $1.5 million. With 10 new firms joining the Challenge this year, we're excited to see the legal community once again raise the bar for philanthropy in the Bay Area.

    The theme of this year's challenge is "Class action against poverty," to align with United Way's community effort to cut in half the number of local families who live in poverty by the year 2020.

    Gap, Inc. General Counsel Michelle Banks, chair of this year's Koko Cabinet, announced this year's goal to raise $1.8 million, with $700,000 directed to United Way.
    The Fremont Group General Counsel Rick Kopf chimed in, urging everyone to increase their gifts by 20% and direct it to United Way programs: SparkPoint, Community Schools, MatchBridge, 211 and Earn It! Keep It! Save It! This collective increase would raise an additional $300,000 for United Way, and enable us to continue to operate and expand our poverty fighting programs.

    The spirit and enthusiasm of Shook, Hardy and Bacon LLP Partner Kevin Haroff was hard to match as he had already purchased his own gorilla suit. To help raise spirits - as well as funds - during this year's Challenge, he offered to wear the gorilla suit to any event hosted by the 10 new participating firms.

    Many thanks to Shook, Hardy and Bacon LLP, winner of last year's Baby Koko award and host of our kick-off event. And, thank you to the Koko Koko Cabinet, a volunteer committee that oversees the Challenge (listed below). The Challenge would not be possible without your support and enthusiasm.

    For more information about how you can join the 2010-2011 Koko Challenge please contact Danielle Cohen (415) 808-4322 or dcohen@uwba.org.
    2011 - 2012 Koko Cabinet

    • Michelle Banks, EVP, General Counsel, Gap, Inc. - Chair 
    • Charles S. Custer, Partner, Gordon & Rees LLP
    • Nancy Greenan Hamill, Campus Counsel, UC Santa Barbara 
    • Kevin Haroff, Partner, Shook, Hardy & Bacon, LLP
    • David A. Hearth, Partner, Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker
    • Michael W. Kelly, Partner, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP
    • Rick Kopf, Managing Director, Operations & General Counsel, The Fremont Group
    • R. Hewitt Pate, VP, General Counsel, Chevron Corporation
    • James Potter, SVP, General Counsel, Del Monte Foods
    • Jay J. Price, Assistant General Counsel, Bank of America See Pete Bennett
    •  Bill Sawyers, EVP, CAO & General Counsel, Ernst Gallo Clinic and Research Center
    • Jim Strother, EVP, General Counsel, Wells Fargo & Co. #deadbankers
    • Vanessa Washington, Senior EVP, General Counsel & Secretary, Bank of the West  Delta Pacific Bank robbery 1986 by Albert D. Seeno
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    Grand jury probes PG&E’s relationship with state regulators

    Grand jury probes PG&E’s relationship with state regulators

    Updated 8:11 pm,Thursday, May 21, 2015

    Connections

    The Cherry Letter Strikes Again

    A federal grand jury is probing potentially illegal ties between Pacific Gas and Electric Co. executives and regulators with the California Public Utilities Commission, The Chronicle has learned.
    The investigation is looking into "PG&E’s relationship" with state regulatory officials, according to a May 15 letter to the utility from federal prosecutors.

    The probe is separate from the federal court case charging PG&E with violating pipeline safety laws and obstructing justice in connection with the 2010 pipeline explosion in San Bruno that killed eight people. Prosecutors in that case are seeking more than $1 billion in fines from the company, but have not charged individual executives.

    The latest grand jury investigation was opened after last year’s disclosure of e-mails between PG&E and the state utilities commission, which prompted probes by both state and federal prosecutors. Some of the e-mails showed a PG&E executive lobbying commissioners and their staffs for a preferred judge to oversee a $1.3 billion rate case. Others indicated that PG&E thought then-commission President Michael Peevey was dangling favorable state treatment in exchange for the utility’s backing for his pet fundraising and political causes.

    In the letter disclosing the grand jury investigation, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kim Berger and Hallie Hoffman told PG&E’s lawyers that they plan to use some of the evidence from the probe in the prosecution of the San Bruno case against the company. They did not specify what that might be.

    The letter came in response to a PG&E request that federal prosecutors turn over San Bruno-related evidence and notes gathered by state regulators with the utilities commission.
    Officials with the U.S. attorney’s office in San Francisco declined to comment on the letter, and representatives of the utilities commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
    A PG&E spokesman, Greg Snapper, said in a statement: "We’ve publicly reported that state and federal attorneys have begun investigations in connection with these communications. We’re going to keep cooperating with officials as the process moves forward."

    The state attorney general’s office opened its own investigation last fall. It has not filed criminal charges.
    As part of the probe, state agents served search warrants on the commission’s San Francisco headquarters, at Peevey’s home in Southern California and at the Orinda home of a former PG&E vice president, Brian Cherry. It was Cherry who sent many of the PG&E e-mails that prompted the state and federal probes.
    One focus of the state investigation is an apparently secret deal that Peevey outlined in 2013 to an executive of the utility he used to head, Southern California Edison, regarding costs related to the shutdown of the troubled San Onofre nuclear power plant.

    Notes that investigators seized from Peevey’s home showed that the deal included provisions for directing utility money into research to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
    When the final deal had no such funding, Peevey pressured Edison to put up money, according to a sworn statement by one company executive. Peevey separately indicated to officials at UCLA that they could be in line for a greenhouse-gas funding windfall, e-mails between them show.

    When the utility apparently did not budge, Commissioner Mike Florio — who joined Peevey during meetings with Edison — proposed in late 2014 that the commission set aside greenhouse research money from San Onofre for the University of California system. The same month Florio proposed that funding, Peevey landed a seat on an advisory panel at UCLA’s Luskin Center for Innovation.
    Additional e-mails involving back-channel communications between utilities and the state commission continue to trickle out. The most recent came Thursday, when PG&E released an e-mail that Cherry sent in March 2014 to PG&E colleagues recounting a conversation he had with Florio involving a regulatory matter.

    Cherry said he had asked Florio whether PG&E should seek to have an administrative law judge, Steve Roscow, recused from a case, which records show concerned PG&E’s efforts to obtain customer money to conduct seismic studies at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. Florio was the commission member assigned to oversee the matter.

    "I spoke with Florio about Roscow," Cherry wrote. "Mike believes there is no need to bump Steve if he is the assigned commissioner. He understands Steve’s bias."
    Florio figured in another instance of apparent PG&E judge-shopping, telling Cherry in a January 2014 e-mail that he would "do what I can on this end" to "bump" a judge PG&E didn’t want on the $1.3 billion rate-setting case. Florio, an attorney for a utility customer-advocate group before Gov. Jerry Brown appointed him to the commission in 2011, later explained that he "didn't know the rules" against back-channel communications between regulators and utilities and that he had "screwed up."
    Florio did not respond to a phone call seeking comment Thursday about the latest e-mail.

    Jaxon Van Derbeken is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jvanderbeken@sfchronicle.com

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    The Visa People Forced Me!

    The Visa People Forced Me!


    2006 H-1b Database Records 

    5/4/2006Citicorp North America, Inc.
    388 Greenwich Street
    New York NY, 10013
    Senior Programmer/Analyst
    5/4/2006Citicorp North America, Inc.
    388 Greenwich Street
    New York NY, 10013
    Senior Programmer/Analyst
    5/5/2006Citicorp Credit Services, Inc.
    One Court Square
    Long Island City NY, 11120
    Associate Program Manager
    5/5/2006Citicorp Credit Services, Inc.
    One Court Square
    Long Island City NY, 11120
    Associate Program Manager
    5/5/2006Citicorp North America, Inc.
    c/o 77 Water Street, 8th Floor
    New York NY, 10005
    Senior Programmer Analyst
    5/6/2006CITIBANK, N.A.
    399 PARK AVENUE
    NEW YORK NY, 10043
    Senior Lead Analyst
    5/8/2006Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
    77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Senior Programmer Analyst
    5/8/2006Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
    77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Associate
    5/8/2006Citibank (Banamex USA)
    2029 Century Park East
    Los Angeles CA, 90067
    AVP Decision Management Analyst
    5/8/2006Citicorp North America Inc.
    899 West Cypress Creek Road
    Ft. Lauderdale FL, 33309
    Audit Manager
    5/9/2006Citibank, N.A.
    731 Lexington Avenue,
    New York NY, 10128
    VP/Senior Research Analyst
    5/10/2006CitiFinancial - Auto
    4000 Regent Boulevard
    Irving TX, 75063
    Expense Manager
    5/10/2006Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
    77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Quantitative Analyst
    5/10/2006Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
    77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    VICE PRESIDENT
    5/11/2006Citigroup Payco I (dba CitiStreet)
    8900 Freedom Commerce Parkway
    Jacksonville FL, 32256
    Senior Software Developer
    5/11/2006Citigroup Payco I (dba CitiStreet)
    8900 Freedom Commerce Parkway
    Jacksonville FL, 32256
    Senior Software Developer
    5/13/2006Citigroup, Inc./Citigroup Information Services
    333 West 34th Street
    New York NY, 10001
    VP, Business Platform/Compu & Inform Systs Manager
    5/13/2006CITIBANK, N.A.
    14000 CITI CARDS WAY
    JACKSONVILLE FL, 32258
    Lead Analyst
    5/13/2006CITIBANK, N.A.
    14000 CITI CARDS WAY
    JACKSONVILLE FL, 32258
    Lead Analyst
    5/15/2006CITIBANK, N.A.
    399 PARK AVENUE
    NEW YORK NY, 10022
    Financial Center Manager
    5/15/2006Citibank, N.A.
    713 Lexington Avenue
    New York NY, 10022
    Assistant Vice President-Associate Sales Director
    5/15/2006Citibank, N.A.
    713 Lexington Avenue
    New York NY, 10022
    ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT-ASSOCIATE SALES DIRECTOR
    5/15/2006CITIGROUP GLOBAL MARKETS INC.
    77 WATER STREET
    NEW YORK NY, 10005
    ASSOCIATE
    5/15/2006Citibank N.A.
    c/o 77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Senior Business Analyst/VP
    5/15/2006Citibank, N.A.
    731 Lexington Avenue
    New York NY, 10022
    Portfolio Manager Vice President, Strategist
    5/15/2006Citibank, N.A.
    731 Lexington Avenue
    New York NY, 10022
    ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT-ASSOCIATE SALES DIRECTOR
    5/15/2006Citibank, N.A.
    731 Lexington Avenue
    New York NY, 10022
    PORTFOLIO MANAGER VP, STRATEGIST
    5/15/2006Citibank, N.A.
    14000 Citi Cards Way
    Jacksonville FL, 32258
    Technology Leadership Development Associate
    5/15/2006Citibank N.A.
    c/o 77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Architect
    5/15/2006CITIMORTGAGE, INC.
    1000 TECHNOLOGY DRIVE
    O'FALLON MO, 63304
    Business Rules Developer
    5/15/2006Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
    77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Vice President
    5/16/2006Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
    77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Programmer Analyst
    5/16/2006Citicorp North America, Inc.
    c/o 77 Water Street, 8th Floor
    New York NY, 10005
    VP, Foreign Exchange Sales
    5/17/2006Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
    77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Associate
    5/17/2006Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
    77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Senior Programmer Analyst
    5/17/2006Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
    77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Senior Programmer Analyst
    5/19/2006Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
    77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    ASSOCIATE, FICM
    5/20/2006Citibank, N.A.
    One Court Square
    Long Island City NY, 11120
    Marketing Manager
    5/20/2006Citibank, N.A.
    14000 Citi Cards Way
    Jacksonville FL, 32258
    Lead Analyst/Computer System Analyst
    5/20/2006Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
    77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Senior Programmer Analyst
    5/20/2006CITIZENS MORTGAGE CORPORATION
    26-01 PELLACK DRIVE
    FAIRLAWN NJ, 07410
    Computer Programmer Analyst
    5/20/2006CitiGear Wireless, Inc.
    2035B Victory Blvd.
    Staten Island NY, 10314
    Network Systems and Data Communications Analyst
    5/20/2006CitiGear Wireless, Inc.
    2035B Victory Blvd
    Staten Island NY, 10314
    Network Systems and Data Communications Analyst
    5/21/2006Citibank, N.A.
    12731 West Jefferson Blvd.
    Los Angeles CA, 90066
    Product Test Supervisor
    5/22/2006Citibank N.A.
    c/o 77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Specialist
    5/22/2006Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
    77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    TECHNICAL SPECIALIST
    5/22/2006CITIMORTGAGE, INC.
    1000 TECHNOLOGY DRIVE
    O'FALLON MO, 63304
    Sr. Application Developer/Lead
    5/22/2006Citibank, N.A.
    One Court Square
    Long Island City NY, 11120
    Business Analyst/Business Operations Specialist
    5/22/2006Citibank, N.A.
    731 Lexington Avenue
    New York NY, 10022
    VICE PRESIDENT, SENIOR ANALYST
    5/25/2006Citibank N.A.
    c/o 77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Senior Application Support Analyst
    5/26/2006Citigroup, Inc./Citi Sears Credit Services
    5500 Trillium Blvd, E2 275B
    Hoffman Estates IL, 60192
    Senior Risk Analyst/Statistician
    5/26/2006Citigroup, Inc./Citi Sears Credit Services
    5500 Trillium Blvd, E2 379B
    Hoffman Estates IL, 60192
    Senior Risk Analyst/Statistician
    5/27/2006CITIGROUP, INC./CITICARDS
    ONE COURT SQUARE
    LONG ISLAND CITY NY, 11120
    Program Manager (Vice President)
    5/27/2006CitiCorp Credit Services, Inc.
    One Court Square
    Long Island City NY, 11120
    Program Manager (Vice President)
    5/27/2006Citibank N.A.
    c/o 77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Project Leader
    5/27/2006Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
    77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Senior Programmer Analyst
    5/28/2006Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
    77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Senior Programmer Analyst
    5/29/2006CitiFinancial, Inc.
    300 St. Paul Place
    Baltimore MD, 21202
    Sr. Credit Analyst
    5/29/2006CitiFinancial Mortgage Company, Inc.
    4000 Regent Blvd.
    Irving TX, 75063
    Science Analyst II
    5/29/2006Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
    77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Associate
    5/29/2006Citicorp North America, Inc.
    c/o 77 Water Street, 8th Floor
    New York NY, 10005
    Senior Programmer Analyst
    5/30/2006Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
    77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Senior Quality Analyst
    5/31/2006Citibank, N.A.
    One Court Square
    Long Island City NY, 11120
    Manager, Sales and Marketing
    5/31/2006CITICORP NORTH AMERICA, INC.
    3800 CITIGROUP CENTER
    TAMPA FL, 33610
    Anti-Money Laudering QA Manager
    5/31/2006CITICORP NORTH AMERICA, INC.
    3800 CITIGROUP CENTER
    TAMPA FL, 33610
    Anti-Money Laundering QA Manager
    5/31/2006Citibank, N.A.
    425 Park Avenue
    New York NY, 10022
    Business Analyst
    6/1/2006Citicorp North America
    333 W. 34th Street
    New York NY, 10012
    SENIOR RISK ANALYST
    6/1/2006CITIBANK INTERNATIONAL
    899 WEST CYPRESS CREEK ROAD
    FT. LAUDERDALE FL, 33309
    SR. FINANCIAL ANALYST
    6/1/2006Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
    77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Associate, Investment Research
    6/1/2006CITIZENS MEMORIAL HEALTH CARE FOUNDATION
    1500 NORTH OAKLAND
    BOLIVAR MO, 65613
    PHYSICAL THERAPIST
    6/1/2006Citigroup Inc.
    399 Park Avenue
    New York NY, 10043
    V.P., Program Manager Product & Channel Expansion
    6/1/2006Citicorp Credit Services, Inc.
    One Court Square
    Long Island City NY, 11120
    Senior Manager/Marketing Manager
    6/1/2006Citicorp North America, Inc.
    3800 Citigroup Center
    Tampa FL, 33610
    Project Manager/Management Analyst
    6/1/2006Citicorp North America, Inc.
    3800 Citigroup Center
    Tampa FL, 33610
    Project Manager/Management Analyst
    6/1/2006Citibank N.A.
    c/o 77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Manager - Operations, VP
    6/1/2006Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
    77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Senior Credit/Risk Analyst
    6/1/2006Citibank N.A.
    c/o 77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Director
    6/1/2006Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
    77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Associate, Investment Research
    6/2/2006Citigroup Technology, Inc.
    c/o 425 Park Avenue
    New York NY, 10043
    Senior Technical Analyst
    6/3/2006CITIGROUP, INC.
    666 Fifth Avenue
    New York NY, 10103
    Senior Business Development Analyst
    6/3/2006Citigroup, Inc.
    399 Park Avenue
    New York NY, 10043
    Senior Business Development Analyst
    6/5/2006Citibank N.A.
    c/o 77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    TRUST RELATIONSHIP MANAGER, AVP
    6/5/2006Citi Habitats, Inc.
    250 Park Avenue South
    New York NY, 10010
    Business Development Associate
    6/6/2006Citibank International
    201 South Biscayne Boulevard
    Miami FL, 33131
    Private Banker, Vice President
    6/7/2006Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
    77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Associate
    6/7/2006Citibank N.A
    77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Vice President, Foreign Exchange Desk
    6/7/2006Citicorp Credit Services, Inc.
    One Court Square
    Long Island City NY, 11120
    VP, Associate Project Manager/Financial Specialist
    6/7/2006Citicorp Credit Services, Inc.
    One Court Square
    Long Island City NY, 11120
    VP, Associate Project Manager/Financial Specialist
    6/7/2006Citigroup Technology, Inc.
    c/o 425 Park Avenue
    New York NY, 10043
    Technical Analyst
    6/8/2006CITIBANK, N.A.
    425 Park Avenue
    NEW YORK NY, 10022
    Control Process Manager, Mergers & Acquisitions
    6/9/2006Citibank N.A.
    c/o 77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Investment Counselor, Director
    6/9/2006CitiCapital Commercial Corporation
    3950 Regent Blvd
    Irving TX, 75063
    Bus. User Acceptance QA Analyst
    6/10/2006Citibank N.A.
    c/o 77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Junior Trader
    6/11/2006Citibank N.A.
    c/o 77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Project Manager, Assistant Vice President
    6/12/2006Citibank, N.A.
    One Court Square
    Long Island City NY, 11120
    UAT Tester/Computer Systems Analyst
    6/12/2006Citicorp North America, Inc.
    c/o 425 Park Avenue
    New York NY, 10043
    Associate, M&A Strategy
    6/12/2006Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
    77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Senior Quantitative Analyst/Director
    6/12/2006Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
    77 Water Street
    New York NY, 10005
    Application Support Analyst
    6/12/2006Citibank, N.A.
    731 Lexington Avenue
    New York NY, 10022
    SENIOR ACCOUNTANT
    6/12/2006Citi Habitats, Inc.
    250 Park Avenue South
    New York NY, 10010
    Business Development Associate

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