MVUSD BOARD TRUSTEE IS CONVICTED

Origianlly Published in the Riverside Press Enterprise
Written by Lora Hines

Moreno Valley school board member Mike Rios was convicted Friday, Feb. 8, of pimping, pandering and insurance fraud. Jurors found Rios, 42, not guilty on one rape charge. They hung on a second rape charge and one pandering charge. During the trial, Rios cried and engaged in sharp exchanges with the prosecutor. Jurors got the case Thursday.

State law says Rios’ school board seat will not become vacant until his sentencing on March 8.

John Hall, spokesman for the Riverside County district attorney’s office, said it was unclear whether Rios would be retried on the two charges on which the jury hung.

Rios was taken into custody following his conviction. His bail was revoked. He faces up to 33 years in prison during sentencing

Deputy Riverside County Public Defender Michael Micallef couldn’t be reached for comment Friday following Rios’ conviction

Moreno Valley Unified School District board president Cleveland Johnson said he’s hopeful Rios’ conviction will allow the school district to move forward and focus on the work of its students and teachers. 

“There are a lot of good things going on in Moreno Valley,” said Johnson, who cited recent state Golden Bell awards for Hidden Springs Elementary and Valley View High schools. “We want to get this behind us.”

Johnson said the board has had to operate under the premise that Rios was innocent. However, he said he became concerned after it was disclosed in court that Rios said he ran a private dancing/stripping business. Johnson said he began thinking about what the board could do if Rios was acquitted.“There’s nothing we could have done prior to today,” Johnson said. “This put a whole new light on everything.” 

Rios had been free and continued to attend school board meetings. Elected in 2010, Rios remains a member of the school board, which could not oust him. He refused to resign.Superintendent Judy White said the board at its Tuesday, Feb. 12, meeting will discuss its next steps regarding Rios’ seat. In a written statement, she said the district remains focused on “providing the best education possible for all of our students.” 

Within 60 days of a vacancy, the board must make a provisional appointment or order an election, she said. “We ask for patience as the board, the district and the community work through this long and difficult process together,” White said. 

Rios, who faced multiple charges of pimping and pandering, plus two counts of rape and six counts of insurance fraud, denied he was a pimp, procurer and rapist. He insisted on the witness stand that he did nothing illegal. Rios called “ridiculous” the charges that he ran a prostitution ring out of his home, worked to get more women to join the operation, raped two of the prostitutes involved in it and committed insurance fraud by allegedly making false claims stemming from a December 2011 vehicle accident.

His arrest last April in the pimping case resulted from the investigation into a separate attempted murder case in which Rios is accused of shooting at two men who followed him to his house after they got into an argument at a Moreno Valley bar in February 2012. Those charges still are pending. He has also pleaded not guilty in that case, and has steadfastly insisted that all of the charges were fabricated to kill his political career. 

City political activists, residents and school employees fell short of collecting enough (10,000) signatures to place a vote calling for Rios’ recall on the Nov. 6, 2012, ballot.

After Rios’ arrests, the school board censured him, meaning it issued a severe statement of disapproval. It also changed its bylaws, limiting access to schools and school activities for board members who are charged with crimes, including those that involve children.

Moreno Valley School Board Trustee Mike Rios, to Take the Stand?

by mvgordie

The decision for Mr. Rios to take the stand in his defense Wednesday in his Pimping, Pandering, Rape and Insurance Fraud case is either a sign of desperation on the part of the defense, or the inability of the Public Defender to control the ego and narcissistic behavior and desires of his client.

For Mr. Rios to testify in his own defense is a dangerous move on their part as it would open Mike Rios up to cross examination and challenges of his credibility as a witness.

Rios who is well known for his blatant outright lies to the public could have those prior statements used against him by the Deputy District Attorney to show that Mr. Rios is someone who’s statements and overall credibility have proven to show him as a habitual liar, and as such his testimony in the trail should be question by the jury.

In cross examination of Rios, the prosecutor would be free to bring in prior unrelated statements (not related to this case) made by Rios as a showing of his lack of truthfulness, this is allowed as a challenge to the witness’s credibility.

As is well known Mr. Rios has in the past claimed to have been an elected member of the Moreno Valley City Council, this was done for him to gain news coverage for himself in is then upcoming bid for a seat upon the MVUSD Board. This claim was also used to gain entry and trust of the family of the late Norma Lopez, who as soon as they found out he was not who he had claimed to asked him to leave their, a request he refused and had to be subsequently removed by member of the Moreno Valley Police department.

Mr. Rios also used the same claim of being a City Council member with a local business owner, who later boasted on Facebook about how he and “Councilman Rios,” were to be having a news conference regarding the Norma Lopez disappearance.

There is also the claims he made during his 2008, and 2010 campaigns, and several times during the years in between of his owning his own investigation company which involved the investigations into fraud and embezzlement, and how as such he put “white collar criminals in jail,” however this was untrue, as Mr. Rios held no such license as an investigator (a requirement under California law) nor was he in the employee of any firm or business which was licensed as an investigation company, of which he could operate under their license.

Mr. Rios has also stated his daughter from his first marriage was accepted to Harvard University, prior to her graduation from high school, however this too was a mere fabrication on Rios’ part, his daughter did however go on to go to college, but in Long Beach, CA…

We also have the shooting event for which he is to stand trial for starting February 8^th, in which his first account to the police (by way of 911 as well as to the responding officers) he was the one who was shot at. His first account was that he was rushed at his front door of his home, where one of the two individuals (who later became the true victims) pulled out a firearm and opened fire on him.

This same statement of the was used by Mr. Rios that same morning in early February of 2012, at the Moreno Valley Unified School District offices, where Mr. Rios went to seek protection at the expense of the taxpayer, a request which was denied.

Mr. Rios even alleged that Gordon Tucker, also known as mvgordie, was somehow involved in the shooting attack on him in front of his home. However as it was later discovered through the investigation, and later admittance, of Mike Rios, there was no such attack on him, and that he himself used a firearm to shoot at the two individuals who were sitting in a car on the street near his home.

There are many other others issues surround Mr. Rios and his inability to tell the truth, that if the prosecutor’s office were to wish to use them, they could, and Mr., Rios’ desire to show his conman skills from the witness stand gives them that open opportunity.

One more issues is Mr. Rios’ narcissistic personality disorder, coupled with his off the wall beliefs in self-ordained God like powers, could cause Rios to go off on the stand in some form of temper tantrum, anyone in the public that has watched School Board meetings, past Moreno Valley City Council meetings or have seen his personal web blog, would know full well, Mr. Rios doesn’t deal from a full deck.

I will refer readers to MVGordie's blog on the MORENO VALLEY USD BOARD TRUSTEE MIKE RIOS DEBACLE. Gordie's coverage is the best to be had on this subject, Press Enterprise included.

Almost a Quarter of Californians Now Live in Poverty - California Now hasHhighest Poverty Rate in the U.S., According to the Latest Census Report.

California has highest poverty rate in the U.S., new Census Bureau report reveals

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

 The U.S. poverty rate is higher than previously thought.

The US Census Bureau is testing a new way to measure poverty – and the new measurement indicates that California has the highest poverty rate in the nation.

Almost a quarter of Californians now live in poverty, according to the new Supplemental Poverty Measure, released Wednesday. Under the new measure, California's poverty rate increases from 16.3 percent to 23.5 percent of the population. Not only is that the highest in the nation, but it represents the largest jump from the official rate. The increase is driven in part by California's high cost of living.

The numbers released by the Census Bureau are part of the newly developed measure, which was devised a year ago. It provides a fuller picture of poverty that the government believes can be used to assess safety-net programs by factoring in living expenses and taxpayer-provided benefits that the official formula leaves out. It looks at broader data, including housing costs, child care and medical expenses. It also adjusts for income earned from federal assistance, such as school lunch subsidies and the earned income tax credit.

The Census Bureau is testing the supplemental measure as a replacement for the current system, which hasn't changed since the early 1960s.

Nationally the rate increased from 15 percent to 15.8 percent under the new measure. Overall, the ranks of America's poor edged up last year to a high of 49.7 million, the Associated Press reported.

Based on the revised formula, the number of poor people exceeded the 49 million who were living below the poverty line in 2010.
That came as more people in the slowly improving economy picked up low-wage jobs last year but still struggled to pay living expenses. The revised poverty rate of 16.1 percent also is higher than the record 46.2 million, or 15 percent, that the government's official estimate reported in September.
You can view the full report below.
U.S. Census Bureau Supplemental Poverty Measure

Cut welfare if students get bad grades?

Cut welfare if students get bad grades? I disagree.

Originally Posted by skrashen at 11:37 AM 

Schools Matter 

"State Sen. in Tennessee proposes cutting welfare payments to families with students with bad report card. We respond. "

Campfield proposal would hurt youths
Published in Knoxville News Sentinel, Knoxville, TN, Feb 3,2013.
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/feb/03/letters-feb-3-2013/
State Sen. Stacey Campfield's proposal to cut welfare payments for students with bad report cards is backwards. Poverty is the major cause of poor school performance. Poverty means inadequate diet, poor health care and lack of access to books at home, school and in the community: All of these are associated with low school achievement. The best teaching in the world will not help if children are hungry, ill and have little or nothing to read. Campfield's bill will make things worse, not better. Benefits to families whose children have low school achievement should be increased, not decreased, in order to protect these children from the effects of poverty, and we should take some of the money we are so eager to spend on "tough" standards and tests and invest in food programs, health care and libraries.

Michelle Shory, Knoxville, Clara Lee Brown, Knoxville, and Stephen Krashen, Los Angeles, Calif.