Remember Greg Mortenson and the whole “Three Cups of Tea”/”Three Cups of Deceit” controversy? If you don’t, here’s some background.
Mortenson and the Central Asia Institute agreed to a settlement yesterday with the Montana Attorney General. Here’s the entire NYT story.
And here’s the entire LAT story. One paragraph in the NYT, two pages in the LAT. (To be fair, the LAT does bring in some non-CAI related issues, like Kony 2012.)
Summarizing: Mortenson will reimburse $1 million to CAI, CAI’s two remaining board members will leave and a new seven-member board will take over, and Mortenson will no longer be on that board.
The article states that the settlement will “toss Mortenson out of his own charity’, but quotes the “interim executive director” saying:
…that Mortenson would remain a paid employee of the charity but would not serve on the new board.
“He’s the heart and soul of the organization,” Beyersdorfer said. “He’s the co-founder, and I think we all think of him as our chief inspiration officer.”
More parking problems at the Long Center over the weekend.
Although a study conducted by the city during planning for the Long Center recommended 2,400 parking spaces, neighborhood groups objected and urged a three-story garage with half the spaces.
The notoriously corrupt California city of Vernon is holding city council elections next Tuesday. Hilarity has ensued.
“I don’t like answering the dang door when I come home from work, it gets irritating,” said resident Gabriel Early 35, who has lived in Vernon for three years. “I’ve got more knocks in the last two weeks than the last three years.”
Amen, brother. I don’t get people knocking on my door for elections, thank Ghu, but the phone calls really make me angry.
A few weeks ago, Vernon officials learned there were nine voters registered at one small home the city owns. The city launched an investigation and hired private investigators, who are interviewing voters to make sure they actually live in Vernon. The city is also looking into three people who suddenly registered to vote at an apartment above La Villa Basque, one of Vernon’s few restaurants.
Candidates have raised concerns about two people who are registered at addresses that do not exist. A “street index” published by the Los Angeles County Registrar this week shows about 30 occupied residences in the city.
Worth noting: recent reforms (adopted in an attempt to keep the state from disincorporating Vernon) cut council salaries from $70,000 a year to $25,000 a year, eliminated subsidized rent for council members, and imposed term limits.
