Montebello News

City Council members are continuing to wrestle with a budget that relies on about $1 million in reserves to balance it.

Robert Fierro, a preschool teacher and a city council member in this industrial town of fewer than 13,000 residents, didn't fully fathom the tidal forces and the powerful family he was taking on in 2008.

"If you go after their special interests, they were going to come after you," said Fierro, who barely survived a Calderon-backed attempt to recall him from office.

A subpoena from federal prosecutors has been served at the Central Basin Municipal Water District, which has come under scrutiny amid an FBI probe of state Sen. Ronald S. Calderon .

The subpoena requested numerous documents. The request included records involving the senator's brother Tom Calderon and the Calderon Group Inc., former Bell City Councilman George Cole and the organization he once ran, the Oldtimers Foundation.

Last Wednesday, Montebello City Council members weren't following that advice when they got into a quarrel when Councilman Jack Hadjinian tried to stop Councilman Bill Molinari from talking about the budget.

A Gardena tow truck driver involved in a deadly bus crash in Los Angeles had traffic violations and led police on a high-speed chase five years ago.

Surveillance video from a camera on a building on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles shows the crash involving a tow truck and Metro bus.

Twenty-one years ago, then-Assemblyman Charles Calderon helped then-Norwalk Councilwoman Grace Napolitano get elected to the state Assembly, but now there's no love lost between Napolitano and the Calderons.

State Sen. Ron Calderon, former state Sen. Dean Florez and former Assemblyman Dario Frommer have all filed statements of intention allowing them to raise money for a possible campaign. David Evans, a Republican who was defeated in the primary election for controller in 2010, has also filed paperwork.

State Treasurer Bill Lockyer, a fixture in Democratic politics in California for more than 40 years, announced today (June 3) he will retire from elected office when his term expires in early 2015, forgoing a run for controller next year.

Police say the driver of a flat-bed tow truck was speeding about 5 a.m. this morning when he smacked head-on into a Metro bus at Broadway and 5th Street. The Metro driver, who was 47, had to be extracted from the wreckage with the Jaws of Life and died at a hospital. She was identified by Metro as Olivia Gamboa, a 13-year-veteran from Montebello. Her husband and daughter also drive buses for Metro.

He returned to the Capitol on Monday, his first visit to the building since Tuesday's raid. He took no questions after making a brief statement outside the Senate chambers before lawmakers began a floor session.

Calderon said he intended to fulfill his job as a legislator, attending committee hearings and working to pass his bills. He referred all questions to his attorney, Mark Geragos.

State Sen. Ronald Calderon returned to the state capitol Monday for the first time since his Sacramento offices were raided by the FBI last week.

Outsiders may see California's two legislative houses - the 80-member Assembly and the 40-member Senate - as duplicative bodies, essentially doing the same thing.

Sen. Ron Calderon, a Democrat from the Los Angeles County city of Montebello, said he intends to do the job he was elected to do despite having his offices searched by the FBI last week.

It's spurred talk of dynasty from their enemies but that talk is mostly poo-poohed by the Calderons themselves.

Editor's note: It's Politics reports Saturdays on the ins and outs of Whittier-area politics and government.It could be a three-headed race for next year's 32nd District state Senate race to see who succeeds Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, who is termed out.

A state senator from Southern California confirmed that he has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury, days after another senator's Capitol offices were searched by the FBI.

The subpoena came two days after the FBI raided two Sacramento offices assigned to Sen. RON CALDERON, a Democrat from Montebello. Subpoenas of other lawmakers, aides and lobbyists had been expected as part of the investigation into the business and political dealings of Calderon and his brothers. The Associated Press reported Thursday that the FBI began seeking information about Ron Calderon and his brother TOM, a former state assemblyman, as long ago as 2005.