Scott Morris

"Vallejo police have a pattern of giving...awards to officers who have used force or been involved in allegations of civil rights violations. A 2021 analysis showed that two-thirds of officers who were involved in incidents that led to settlements and payouts received a promotion or award after."

It's been quite a ride for Jarrett Tonn. He killed Sean Monterrosa in 2020, Vallejo police tried to fire him in 2021, but he won his job back in 2023. Now he's been promoted.

bsky.app/profile/vall...

I’m looking forward to when the tech industry finally puts the news gathering out of business once and for all and all news is just AI generated feedback loops of misinformation

Google got off easy

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Vallejo police shoot man allegedly holding pellet gun Alexander Schumann was wounded in the shooting and expected to survive.

Vallejo police officers shot and wounded a man who allegedly pointed a pellet gun at officers on Friday evening.
www.vallejosun.com/vallejo-poli...

Graffiti of "Trump 2028" and swastikas was spotted today after a recent Vallejo homeless encampment sweep on Valle Vista Avenue. Photos via @vallejojustice.bsky.social

Digital Solutions for Local Business We help local businesses get discovered online through SEO-optimized websites, video content, and fully branded social media profiles. Our services include Google Business Profile scans, voice search ...

The sponsorship sales for the podcast direct back to Kim Kersten, a Solano-based marketing consultant, and "KKC Media" appears to refer to Kim Kersten Consulting. Kersten is selling "DFY Podcast" as a service to local businesses. kimkersten.com

Nice catch, that goes to show how closely I read through that AI slop

The webpage indicates that this was created by the "KKC Media Agency" which links back to "Content DFY" an Arkansas-based business founded by "AI Enthusiast and Digital Marketing Expert" Ben Adkins
contentdfy.com

It is supposedly hosted by Dennis Williams, a Vallejo native and lifelong Solano County resident and former journalist who worked for "over a decade writing for regional publications." I can't find any byline for Dennis Williams in Bay Area media or any other reference to him.

Been seeing a new "podcast" popping up on Instagram called "Vallejo Spotlight," which is supposedly highlighting small businesses. This is entirely AI generated and in the first few videos couldn't even pronounce Vallejo correctly.

At one point I used to turn up to 15 stories per day. They were all just 2-3 graf stories about homicides, fires, car accidents and things like that, but it was still crazy.

Testimony describes systematic coverup of Vallejo police misconduct and culture of retaliation Deposition testimony from former Vallejo Police Department leadership describes a broken, toxic culture.

In recent deposition testimony former Vallejo police Capt. John Whitney alleged that Potts was part of a scheme in Vallejo to shield misconduct complaints from courts -- and that he ate a murder victim's corn dog out of his freezer hours after he died.
www.vallejosun.com/vallejo-poli...

Las Vegas public safety chief accused of trying to control social media comments in new lawsuit 13 Investigates is following new court records alleging the head of the city marshals engaged in "viewpoint discrimination"

Vallejo's former police Capt. Jason Potts is being sued at his new role of public safety chief in Las Vegas for "viewpoint discrimination" because he only allows comments on X from people follows.
www.ktnv.com/13-investiga...

We're very happy to voluntarily recognize the Mission Local Guild!

We'll work in good faith with our staff on upcoming negotiations, & look forward to ironing out a contract.

Eventually, there were so few staff remaining on the for-profit side, that they voted to dissolve the union.

This organization gets a ton of grants and effectively used its nonprofit structure to bust its union.

Here's a particularly insidious illustration of this: A longstanding for-profit media company with a unionized staff established a nonprofit arm. All new staff was hired on the nonprofit side, part time, without benefits and no union protection.
bsky.app/profile/scot...

It's not every nonprofit and I've been treated very well by some nonprofit news outlets. But it doesn't do the space any favors to reward well known bad actors that have no hope of improvement.

Journalists talk to each other and the reputations of these places are well known and a lot of talent know to stay away.

So when is the "save journalism" crowd going to start showing any concern for the actual welfare of journalists?

One of the saddest things I've realized over the last few years is how little working conditions seem to matter to the nonprofit journalism world.

Publications that struggle to recruit and retain staff are treated as darlings in that world and rewarded with substantial grants and funding.

She was in Berkeley for a while and I'd see her from time to time but it's been a minute

I didn't catch the whole thing but that's a classmate's book in the top left there

Damn I'd forgotten all about this one too. I remember being more interested in it than Empire though

Still on the shelf

Man I have forgotten everything about this book. I still think about James Scott sometimes though

PACER and CM/ECF are a Threat to National Security and Must be Urgently Overhauled Why Congress must finally act to urgently and properly fix PACER/CM/ECF.

Well, PACER was hacked again, probably by a nation state: www.politico.com/news/2025/08...

Luckily, our blog post from 2021 still holds up. If only we could have known this might happen. free.law/2021/10/05/p...

I took a Jim class almost every semester I was there, but I missed that one unfortunately

Vallejo passed a police oversight ordinance with a catch -- the police union had to sign off before the commission could do any work. Nearly three years later, it hasn't done anything. One attorney called it a "poison pill."
bsky.app/profile/nhan...

Vallejo contracts outside law firm for review after ACLU letter The city will contract with Renne Public Law Group to review what councilmembers called “recent allegations.”

We called for an independent investigation of the Vallejo City Attorney’s Office due to serious allegations of misconduct. Instead, the council tasked a law firm with close ties to the city atty's office to investigate whether a "formal" investigation is even warranted.

In a word, this is a sham.

Avram Frey, deputy director of the criminal law and immigration project at the ACLU, called the City Council's action a "sham" in a statement late Tuesday.
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