NewsWatch: Cities and Counties -- Butt-Shaking Employee Hit by Truck, More ...

Restaurants Complain About New Health Postings
The new requirement that New York City's 24,000 restaurants prominently display letter grades for cleanliness has provoked dire predictions that would-be customers will flee when they see a big green B or dreaded yellow C in the window. But a potentially more powerful -- and, restaurateurs say, misleading -- tool is already in use: a health department website that has made a wealth of older inspection data easily accessible. New York Times

Butt-Shaking Employee Hit By Truck, Wins Workers' Comp Appeal
A water district employee who said "hello" to a co-worker by shaking his butt might be entitled to workers' compensation benefits after the co-worker accidentally hit him with a truck trying to return the unusual greeting, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled. Courthouse News Service

Michigan Towns Using Electronic Pollbooks
More Michigan towns are using electronic pollbooks for elections this year. The E-Pollbook is similar to a traditional paper pollbook, but with the electronic version, voters have their driver's license or state identification card swiped when they vote. The electronic pollbook helps precinct workers verify eligibility to vote and if a voter is at the wrong polling place, it can show the correct precinct, It also helps precinct workers issue ballots more quickly. Detroit Free Press

Local Government Pensions Under Suspicion
Two Illinois lawmakers on Monday called for hearings to look into local government pension practices after learning how officials with the Park District of Highland Park intentionally used large bonuses to hike the pension of a district executive by more than $50,000. State Rep. Karen May, said she was "upset" to find out that salaries for executives at the Park District were far higher than the Chicago-area norm for similar posts -- in part to boost pensions for those executives. Chicago Tribune

Los Angeles Voting to Outsource Ambulance Service
The clout of Los Angeles' municipal employees will be put to a test when the City Council decides whether to allow outside companies to take over billing duties for the Fire Department's emergency ambulance service. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has urged the council to approve the contracts, saying the department will be left with a $15.9-million hole in its budget unless the plan to automate and outsource billing operations moves forward. Los Angeles Times

Deer Deterring Devices to Prevent Traffic Accidents
Electronic devices have been installed on county roads in Essex County, N.J., to prevent deer from wandering onto roadways and causing motor vehicle accidents. A total of 417 "Deer Deter" devices have been installed in Livingston, Millburn and West Orange, county officials announced. When a motor vehicle's headlights are detected by the device, a high-frequency noise is activated that scares off the deer, according to an Essex County press release. The devices are being used in Europe, in Denver and in Fort Dix, officials said. New Jersey Star-Ledger

Chicago City Workers Refusing Overtime Face Discipline
The Daley administration is preparing to take disciplinary action against scores of city laborers who refused to work extra hours after last month's flooding rains because they no longer get cash overtime. Lou Phillips, business manager for Laborers Union Local 1001, said the union's contract makes extra

work mandatory whenever the city declares an emergency and gives his members at least 16 hours' notice. But Phillips said the cost-cutting agreement that substituted compensatory time for cash overtime has made some rank-and-file laborers either reluctant to or unable to work extra time. Chicago Sun-Times

City Loses Challenge to Affirmative Action Ban
The California Supreme Court rejected San Francisco's constitutional challenge to the state's ban on race-conscious affirmative action programs Monday, saying the government is not required to allow racial preferences. But the court gave the city another chance to defend a now-suspended program that gave bidding advantages to minority and female contractors. San Francisco Chronicle

Birthplace of the Drive-Thru Bans Them to Curb Obesity
Baldwin Park, Calif., home of the first-ever drive-through restaurant -- an In N Out Burger -- has banned construction of new ones for nine months in an effort to curb obesity. Christian Science Monitor

Long Island Town Uses Google Earth to Find Unpermitted Pools
A town on New York's Long Island is using Google Earth to find backyard pools that don't have the proper permits. The town of Riverhead has used the satellite image service to find about 250 pools whose owners never filled out the required paperwork. Fox News

Cleveland Can't Sue Wall St.
Cleveland can't sue Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan and other Wall Street players involved in the subprime mortgage mess for devastating its economy, the 6th Circuit ruled, because the "connection between the alleged harm and the alleged misconduct is too indirect to warrant recovery." Courthouse News Service

California Cities and Counties Ordered to Report Salaries
In the wake of the pay scandal in the city of Bell, state Controller John Chiang ordered cities and counties to report to him salaries of top elected and appointed officials. Chiang, a Democrat running for re-election in November, said in a prepared release that posting the information on the department website "will make sure that excessive pay is no longer able to escape public scrutiny and accountability." Sacramento Bee
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Calif. Campaign Watchdog Eyes new Internet Rules
Politicians' tweets and status updates should be held to the same standards as paid advertising that voters see on television, hear on radio or find in their mailboxes, California's campaign watchdog agency says in a report being released Monday. The Fair Political Practices Commission is considering how to regulate new forms of political activity such as appeals on a voter's Facebook page or in a text message. Sacramento Bee