Santa Monica board members ask Malibu to delay divorce … and threaten to lawyer up.

Some Malibu water system ratepayers are getting charged more for water system repairs … and will get nothing.

A Malibu woman gets one year in county jail for running over a Pepperdine student and her mother… killing the mom.

This is Malibu’s only local daily news.

It’s the   ((((  final  ))) edition of the (((  Friday ))) news … from Radio Malibu  ….

99 point 1 K B U U.

——

Good morning Malibu!

Board Member Shoves Reporter Asking About Conflict Of Interest

School board member Maria Leon-Vasquez was silent last night …. no comment from her in her first appearance since the L A Times reported she has been casting votes that financially benefitted her husband.

Before the meeting … in a public hallway … the board member shoved a reporter’s arm and pushed his microphone away … when the reporter asked her why she had cast the votes.

Leon-Vasquez has … according to the L A Times …. voted for contracts to two consulting firms that were employing her husband … a Santa Monica city council member … up to 8 thousand dollars a month.

Her vote was not needed on these votes … the measures usually passed unanimously on a consent agenda.

But Malibu interests have seized on this sloppiness as evidence of self dealing and of the business as usual at the Santa Monica-dominated school board.

School superintendent Ben Drati said last night the district will self-investigate the conflict of interest.

DRATI 16NOV  :12 QQQ: INVESTIGATION REGARDING THIS MATTER.

“At this time … we are in the proc of gathering information and facts related to the boards’ votes, and are working with legal counsel.

“We will fully cooperate with any external investigation regarding this matter. “

SM Board Member Wants Malibu To Delay County Petition for Divorce

Swords were drawn by the Santa Monica school board members last night.

The board says if the legal process for a separate school district is not delayed …. it will hire attorneys to fight.

Board members asked Superintendent Ben Drati to come up with a separation plan … that continues payments from Malibu to Santa Monica for 50 years.

And the board said it would need until February 15th to come up with that plan.

The district is asking Malibu’s city council to hold back on the formal petition it has filed .. to separate Malibu out from the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District.

School board members again suggested that Malibu schools go the charter school route … a legal construction that would leave overall control of the campuses … and of Malibu’s property tax revenues …held in Santa Monica.

A city council member from the City of Santa Monica entered the complicated negotiations.

Gleam Davis told the board members …. don’t look to the cash-rich City of Santa Monica to bail out the school district if Malibu departs with its rich property tax revenues.

NEWSCART 77386 GLEAM  :19 QQQ: MAY NOT WELL BE THERE.

“I cannot unfortunately commit any city councils – the city council I sit on or any future city council – to fill that gap.

“And so I just want to make it clear that, as you engage in these discussions, that you don’t assume that there is money that may not well be there.”

The consensus of the decision-makers … they hear Malibu loud and clear.

Board members said they recognize … with regrets … that Malibu voters will not accept limited autonomy instead of a full divorce.

And they asked Malibu to “hang tight” on its petition for divorce …

now working its way through the county bureaucracy …

——

You are listening to the latest news from Radio Malibu … 99 point 1 K B U U.  ((( time  ))))County 

County Can Build Only 1/4 Of Needed Water Pipes/Tanks

Malibu residents are paying higher water bills … for the past few years water rates were raised to pay for system imorovements.

But the latest set of construction plans shows that many areas of Malibu will get short-changed … higher water rates … no addition supply capacity.

And that may mean the fire department will not allow people to rebuild their homes … after a fire of any sort.

The existing L-A County Waterworks District 29 system is a patched-together system of old private water companies … and decades-old water mains and tanks that are too small and leaky.

The county has unveiled it’s latest plan last night in Malibu.

Waterworks 29 spokesman Dave Rydman.

RYDMAN AAA  : :21 QQQQ DISTRICT COULD AFFORD

“When the district took a look at the avail funding … we prioritized which ones could be built without doing any kind of a rate increase … and with the avail funding that the district both had on reserve and were able to get through loans … and found the highest priority projects that could be constructed.

“So we’re not constructing 266 million dollars worth of projects … we’re constructing what the district can afford.”

And the district can afford only about one quarter of what needs to be done.

So …. that leads to the question …. one agency in the county is saying the pipes and tanks have to be this big … and the agency that runs the pipes and tanks says you can;’t have that.

Rydman says … in effect … go to  the fire department … not Waterworks 29.

RYDMAN BBBBB :22     QQQQ FOR AN EXISTING HOMEWOWNER

“That’s a decision for the fire department … that is not the water district’s responsibility.

“I’m gg to put that off on the fire department every time.

“If the customer wants to rebuild they gotta go the the fire department and determine what the requirements are for their home.

Our system is built based .. we determine what the fire department’s requiremenTS are and whether our system can … as it exists can meet the demands for an existing homeowner.”

And if that means your home is NOT in the area getting rebuilt …. and there’s a fire … well … tough luck and thank you for paying the higher water bills.

The entire issue is only in early stages of planning … final decision rests with the L A County Board of Supervisors.

Malibu Woman Gets 1 Year Jail For Vehicular Manslaughter

A Malibu woman has confessed to hitting two women in a crosswalk on Las Virgenes Road …

dragging a dying woman out of the street … and then lying to traffic investigators …

She was sentenced yesterday to one year in county jail.

Misdemeanor manslaughter.

And the woman from China … who saw her mother mowed down in the crosswalk … is still furious that misdemanor charges were filed against the Malibu woman.

Nicole Herschel, 36, was sobbing in a Van Nuys courtroom yesterday … there’s a picture of her in the LA Times …. as she pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter.

She apologized to Yijing Chen, the daughter of the woman who died.

Yijing Chen was also seriously injured in the crash.

“I’m sorry,” Herschel said, standing in court and looking at Chen. “I think about your mom every day…. I’m very sorry. I didn’t see you guys and I didn’t know.”

The L A Times reports that Chen was a Pepperdine University graduate student from China,.

She had unsuccessfully pleaded for more serious charges to be brought.

After the crash … witnesses say Herschel slammed her pickup truck into reverse thru traffic … ran back to the scene …. dragged the dead woman out of the crosswalk …  and then lied to the C H P  that she had been a witness to the crash … and not involved in it.

Malibu MD Accused In Medicare Kickback Scheme

A Malibu doctor has entered a not guilty plea in federal court … and faces trial for his role in a home health agency scheme to pay illegal kickbacks for patient referrals,

Doctor Kain Kumar, 54, of Malibu, had operated medical clinics in Palmdale, Rosamond and Ridgecrest.

A home health agency called Star Home Health Resources received more than $8.5 million from Medicare …. after Star submitted bills for patient services referred through the illegal kickback scheme, according to the US Attorney for Central California.

A 47-year-old woman from Fontana was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison this month … for her role in the kickback scheme.

Arts Festival Reincarnated As Art Walk This Weekend

This weekend — it’s Malibu ArtWalk.

The shops and restaurants on both sides of Cross Creek are the place.

Free …

And … remember the malibu Arts Fetsical??

used to be every summer … but not this year.

Now … it’s the Malibu Art Walk …   

Malibu Village and the Malibu Film Society are sponsoring FREE outdoor movies Friday evening and Saturday evening. 

Friday …  they’ll be showing FRIDA – the amazing magical realism-style biography of famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. 

Then on Saturday evening … they’ll be showing Surf’s Up – the hysterical animated feature which uses a documentary-style approach to the Penguin World Surfing Championship. 

Both will be held in the parking lot outside Malibu Burger Company.

Starting at 5:30. 

Hay bales and blankets will be provided, but you can also bring your own beach chairs.

Be sure to dress warmly. 

That’s free movies — Friday night and Saturday night at Malibu Village … northeast corner of PCH and Cross Creek. Starting at 5:30.

And the Malibu Art Walk … all weekend … on Cross Creek Road.

Document Shredding Party, City Hall, 10-2 Saturday

Saturday is America Recycles Day.

The city is bringing in a big truck … and will be happy to grind up your financial documents and old love letters.

This Saturday …. 10 to 2 … at Malibu City Hall.

The free secure document shredding on Saturday, November 18, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM in the People can drop off up to five boxes per person.

That’s five of those big plastic bags.

This prevents identity theft while recycling paper and protecting the environment.

Free document shredding is Saturday 10 to 2 in the upper parking lot of Malibu City Hall.

We’ll be shredding all our old 97 point 5 stuff.

——

Traffic …

——

Weather for the Malibu ….

then mostly sunny later today … with a high near 68    degrees today on the beach … ((((      )))) in the mountains above Malibu.

Winds will be strong.

Downcoast winds gust up top    (((  40   )))) miles per hour this afternoon.

Sunset tonight is at   ((((   6:48    )))).

After that … expect it to be (((   mostly clear  )))) tonight … a low of  ((((   48    )))) on the beach … down to  ((((   47 )))) in the mountains.

Tomorrow should be   ((((   sunny and nice  )))).

Right now … at Trancas it’s ((((    64   )))) degrees.

In upper Malibu Canyon … ((((    63   )))) .

And at Civic Center Los Angeles … ((((     56   )))).

In the ocean … it’s ((((    61   )))) degrees in the water at Zuma Beach.

The lifeguards say the waves today are   ((((   1 to 3   )))) feet high ….

((((  Small S swell. Small WNW pulse.Those are ((((  favorable )))) surfing conditions …. according to the lifeguards.

(((((  High tide is at  7:57 AM  6.07H

2:47 PM  -0.17L

8:59 PM  4.26H

   ))))

——

The KBU Newswire is posted midmornings … at RadioMalibu.net and at the MalibuTimes.com .

Remember…  breaking news  goes first to the radio …  at 99 point 1 in western Malibu….

Our web player is simple …. you can hear Radio Malibu in your phone or stream it to your car.

Navigate to k-b-u dot f-m. … and we’re streaming in your ear anywhere in the world.

——