San Benito is one of two counties in California listed as noncompliant with a state mandate to submit salary records for public perusal – and could face $5,000 in fines if it doesn't turn in the data in coming weeks. Two special districts in the county – the San Benito Resource Conservation District and the Tres Pinos Water District – also failed to file the documents.
A dozen Republican congressman have asked the nonpartisan U.S. Government Accountability Office to study California's controversial high-speed rail project, citing "questionable ridership and cost projections."
With jail overcrowding a problem that is only expected to get worse as the state moves lower-risk inmates from state prisons to the counties where they committed their crimes, San Benito County Sheriff Darren Thompson is hopeful a jail expansion grant can stem that coming tide.