If you have just shy of a million bucks to spend and are ready to "enjoy the 'Surf City' lifestyle," you might be interested in the City of Bell's former City Manager Robert Rizzo's swanky "executive home" now on the market in Huntington Beach. more ›

34-year-old Miguel Sanchez, a special-ed teacher's aide, part-time parks and recreation employee, and candidate for Bell City Council, died Friday afternoon after complaining of flu-like symptoms, reports the LA Times. Sanchez was to run in the city's general and special recall election on March 8 to replace former Councilman Luis Artiga who, amid allegations of misappropriation of public funds, resigned last fall. more ›

Bell's mayor, Oscar Hernandez, says that he's been staying away from his "civic duties," including City Council meetings, because death threats have him "fearing for his life," according to LA Now. more ›

Ousted former City Manager for Bell, and the purported ringleader of the corrupt "Bell 8," Robert Rizzo has a new job, as reported by the LA Times' Steve Lopez, who met up with the disgraced civic leader while he worked a shift as a parking lot guard at the International Surfing Museum in Huntington Beach. more ›

The City of Bell's financial troubles--namely the sky-high salaries of their top officials--were not unknown to their auditors, according to a review published today by State Controller John Chiang. In his quality-control review of the audits conducted by Bell's audit firm, Mayer Hoffman McCann (MHM), Chiang found that the auditor "appears to have been a rubberstamp rather than a responsible auditor committed to providing the public with the transparency and accountability that could have prevented the mismanagement of the City’s finances by Bell officials." more ›

Despite attempts to oust him from his position, Bell's interim City Manager Pedro Carrillo will keep his seat, according to LA Now. Angry Bell residents had been pushing for Carrillo's termination, as was Lorenzo Velez, who is "the only council member not charged in a sweeping public corruption case." A concern to many was how close Carrillo was tied to Bell's scandalized former civic leader Robert Rizzo, considered the "ringleader" of the group nicknamed the "Bell 8." more ›

The momentum was there, and now residents in the troubled city of Bell "have gathered enough signatures to put an initiative on the ballot aimed at ousting three City Council members accused of participating in a pay scandal," reports the Long Beach Press-Telegram. more ›

As promised in August, State Controller John Chiang has launched a website detailing the salaries and other compensation of city and county governments throughout California. The move followed the city of Bell scandal, in which employees and part-time city councilmembers of the Southeastern L.A. County municipality were found to be earning sky high salaries and now face charges. more ›

The City of Bell's mayor, Oscar Hernandez, was released from Los Angeles County Jail at around 2:30 this morning, reports abc7. Hernandez posted a $250,000 bond in order to be released. Hernandez was among the "Bell 8" arrested on September 21st on charges of corruption. The current and former city employees have been trickling out of custody as they post bail; one condition, however... more ›

As initially rumored, eight former and current employees of the City of Bell were arrested yesterday, booked, and now face arraignment on a variety of corruption charges. more ›

You can predict the cheers from residents on this one. Citing an anonymous source, the LA Times says at least eight city of Bell officials and employees have been arrested. Who and what charges will be brought against them will be announced later today at a press conference, but it's likely that among the arrested include City Manager Robert Rizzo and at least four of the five city councilmembers. more ›

State Attorney General Jerry Brown today announced sweeping efforts to curtail highly paid local officials around California. In a series of announcements, the gubernatorial candidate said he was taking filing lawsuits against eight city of Bell officials while serving a subpoena to neighboring city of Vernon where one employee apparently made $1.64 million a year (another highly paid one was recently let go). Meanwhile, Brown, who apparently earns a considerable pension himself, is also looking into sky-high salaries and pensions across the state, from hospital to county administrators. Brown will formally announce his plans at 10 a.m., but the news was given early to the LA Times, which broke the Bell salary scandal story in July. more ›

The recent salary scandals in the city of Bell has prompted an outcry from its residents, including members of a group called the Bell Association to Stop the Abuse (BASTA), who have just announced they are gathering signatures to initiate a recall of City Council members, cbs2 reports. more ›

In wake of the city of Bell sky high salary scandal, everyone wants more transparency. State controller John Chiang will post all city and county salaries from around the state online in November, but to get elected state officials to post their own salaries, as well as their staffs', that's a harder proposition. Here's what happening, per the LA Times: more ›

Oh Bell, your story never ends! The latest from the scandal-ridden city of Bell, where city officials were earning some of the highest municipal salaries in the country, are the loans they received. Yes, in addition to their sky-high salaries, they asked for loans, finds the LA Times. more ›

Talking about pensions isn't exactly sexy, but when you get angry about potholes not getting fixed, lack of public transit and other downsized city services, many would point to the unattractive word is one big part of the problem. more ›

State Controller John Chiang announced yesterday that he has ordered the City of Bell to return $2.9 million in property tax revenue that has been collected illegally--and in excess--since 2007, according to the LA Times. more ›

News about the city of Bell isn't just about the salary scandal and possible voter fraud these days, there's also the case of 35-year-old Feliciano Sanchez, a former police officer for the small working class Los Angeles suburb. Sanchez plead guilty to "depriving a woman of her civil rights" and will be sentenced next month following an incident back in 2007, according to the Whittier Daily News. more ›

Subpoenas for testimony and personal financial records were added to Attorney General Jerry Browns' investigation into the city of Bell's financial scandal. A number of past and present Bell officials and city councilmembers will be deposed under oath later this month after some officials produce records, including tax returns, gifts received, bank accounts and other information. more ›

A news conference held yesterday in the city of Bell signaled that the heat is not off the city officials who remain on the payroll, after more administrators "were found to have six-figure salaries in newly released salary documents," reports abc7. more ›

As promised, L.A. City Controller Wendy Greuel has posted the salaries of all city employees to her website in wake of the city of Bell scandal where its city manager, for example, was being paid nearly $800,000. The 547-page document (.pdf) only shows approved annual salaries and not actual compensation, which may be affected by voluntary salary cuts, furloughs, overtime, etc. Greuel says the list will soon be updated to reflect those changes. But the list also hides what each City Councilmember pays their staffs. Instead of listing salaries by Council District, all city council staff is listed together as one unit. more ›

Just a day after L.A. City Controller Wendy Greuel announced that she will publish city salaries online, California State Controller John Chiang said he will be doing the same. “The absence of transparency is a breeding ground for waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars,” said Chiang... more ›

In the wake of the sky high salaries scandal in the city of Bell, city of Los Angeles officials got a heads up yesterday: their salaries, along with all of their staffs, would be published online as soon as possible. more ›

It's not just Bell, which pays the second highest property taxes in Los Angeles County, many cities with median household incomes below $50,000 are found have some of the highest property taxes, finds the LA Times, which has published data from each of the county's 88 cities. more ›

The city of Bell is the story that keeps on giving. However, that's unfortunate news. Today's development is that residents have been paying the second highest property taxes in Los Angeles County as part-time elected officials and top city staff we're paid some of the highest salaries for the type of job in the country, finds the LA Times and Bloomberg News. more ›

District Attorney Steve Cooley yesterday said his office has been investigating the city of Bell since March, but until now, the focus was only towards the $100,000 part-time salaries given to City Councilmembers, according to the LA Times. His investigation included how councilmembers were able to make such a high salary when the meetings that earned them that amount -- council meetings earned them very little, per state law, the money was made by serving on commissions and other panels -- rarely took place, and if they did, reportedly lasted shortly. more ›

Bell City Councilmembers yesterday voted to decrease their part-times salaries by 90%. That means their $96,000 salaries will now be just over $8,000. The move comes after a LA Times investigation that revealed their and top officials' salaries -- for example, the city manager was being paid nearly $800,000 a year -- prompting community anger and a movement to remove elected officials from office. Two councilmembers, Mayor Oscar Hernandez and Vice Mayor Teresa Jacobo said they would finish their terms without pay. more ›

Following the Bell City Council pay scandal that broke recently, other cities are finding that their elected officials' paychecks are under scrutiny from their constituents. In Pasadena, City Council members, most of whom work other jobs as well, earn "a flat stipend of about $16,410 a year," and the Mayor gets around $24,600, according to the Star-News. more ›