San Jose sues
Major League Baseball

No longer satisfied with Bud Selig’s hostage tactics, the city of San Jose filed a lawsuit against Major League Baseball to let the Oakland A’s relocate here after waiting five years for an answer. Rainmaker Joe Cotchett took the case on a contingency basis—he only gets paid if the city wins—and has lambasted Commissioner Selig at every turn. A judge threw out the city’s argument against MLB’s one-of-a kind antitrust exemption but an appeal was filed.

Obama admits NSA spying

Standing behind a podium in a Fairmont Hotel conference room in San Jose, President Obama delivered the first of his countless lies regarding the NSA’s spy tactics on average Americans’ phone calls and emails. “No one is listening to your phone calls,” he said. In reality, a perverse, Orwellian system called PRISM had already been in place for six years, tracking and cataloguing nearly every piece of electronic communication. Edward Snowden, a government whistleblower, worked with journalist Glenn Greenwald to bring the vast surveillance state’s exploits to light, and more information is still coming out.

KTVU’ve Got to be Kidding

The Cox Media Group has apparently given up on purging the Internet of KTVU’s racist on-air blunder. It’s just too damn ridiculous watching anchor Tori Campbell unwittingly read phony, derogatory names while reporting the July 6 Asiana flight 214 crash at SFO, especially after the station’s news director had bragged earlier about the network’s “100 percent accurate” coverage of the crash that killed three passengers. The station fired three producers but spared the director and Campbell, who identified the Asiana crew as: “Captain Sum Ting Wong, Wi Tu Lo, Ho Lee Fuk, and Bang Ding Ow.” Exhibiting the prudence and diligence of a ham sandwich, the station “confirmed” the names with a summer intern at the National Transportation Safety Board. Note to journalists: Avoid sources who still live with their mom.

Trayvon Martin verdict

George Zimmerman was found not guilty of murdering Florida youth Trayvon Martin, sparking protests around the US and a nationwide debate on the justness of the verdict. Since then, Zimmerman has been arrested twice for domestic incidents involving his ex-wife and pregnant girlfriend, both of whom he was pointing guns at.

Music in the Park Kind of Returns

When L.A.’s Ozomatli took the stage at St. James Park in a show touted as Music in the Park’s revival, it wasn’t just the venue that had changed for for the 25-year-old outdoor music series. The previously free show charged admission and instead of the usual summer’s worth of shows, there was a single concert. Music in the Park went dark in 2012 after, rowdiness at the 2011 series at Plaza de Cesar Chavez raised concerns among merchants. But the revamp worked, because the event, along with C2SV’s headliner concert in September, kicked up interest in establishing a permanent outdoor stage in St. James Park. The San Jose Downtown Association, Music in the Park’s presenters, has already posted that there are plans for the event to return in 2014.

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