YOUR HOMETOWN WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
Vol. 17, No. 26
WWW.THEPRESS.NET | WE’VE GONE MOBILE!
Critical loss for tunnels opponents Stewardship council approves amendment
HAPPY
June 30, 2017
New Leader At Liberty
by Tony Kukulich Staff Writer
Opponents of the California WaterFix project may have lost a recent battle in the fight for the preservation of the Delta, but the war is far from over. During a long and sometimes volatile public meeting in Sacramento on Thursday, June 22, the Delta Stewardship Council (DSC) voted 5-1 to approve the Conveyance, Storage and Operations (CSO) amendment – effectively green-lighting the WaterFix project, also known as the Delta tunnels project. “While the council improved their amendment some by requiring new conveyance and storage projects to address the state’s required human right to water policy analysis in their language, the edited amendment ignores the full breadth of laws and policies that should be evaluated for see Tunnels page 26A
New Liberty High School Principal Heather Harper ready to take the helm. Page 5A
It’s Time For Harvest Fest
Photo by Tony Kukulich
Linda Solipen of Antioch protests the approval of the amended Delta Plan during the Delta Stewardship Council meeting in Sacramento on Thursday, June 22.
Harvest Time Festival returns to downtown Brentwood, July 8 and 9. Page 9A
Former owners sentenced for wage crime Canseco At by Kyle Szymanski Staff Writer
The former owners of two Bay Area restaurants, including Golden Dragon Buffet in Brentwood, were recently sentenced to three years and four months in jail and ordered to pay $4.5 million in unpaid minimum wage and overtime to their workers and another $1.5 million in unpaid taxes. Yu Chen, Feng Gu and Rongdi Zheng are alleged to have forced at least 40 employees, many recruited from Los Angeles, to work at Golden Dragon Buffet or Golden Wok Buffet in Roseville for 12 hours a day, six days a week, at less than minimum wage, while also being kept in crowded housing nearby the restaurants and bused to and from work. The trio also filed tax returns that under-report-
“ This (prosecution) was thanks to some
workers having the courage and the knowledge to complain about their situation to the labor commissioner’s office in Oakland.
”
Paola Laverde, director of communications, Department of Industrial Relations ed payroll and sales tax, according to the Contra Costa District Attorney’s office. The Department of Industrial Relations conducted an investigation into the misdoings in 2013, before forwarding the case to the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office for prosecution. “This (prosecution) was thanks to some workers having the courage and the knowledge to
complain about their situation to the labor commissioner’s office in Oakland,” said Paola Laverde, the director of communications for the Department of Industrial Relations. The initial investigation looked into the operations of 10 Bay Area restaurants, including Golden Dragon, finding some instances in which employees weren’t paid at all, while others were given only $200
POST AN EVENT! FIND AN EVENT! Connect with The Press!
Scan QR code with your mobile device.
www.thepress.net /calendar
a month or $1.15 an hour for a 72hour work week. Chen, Gu and Zheng pled guilty to charges of conspiracy to violate the minimum-wage law and payroll tax, sales tax and insurance premium fraud and were sentenced earlier this month. A fourth defendant, Shao Rong Zhang, has been sentenced to 120 days in jail and probation after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor charge of enforcing a policy on behalf of her employer that employees not report minimum-wage violations, in violation of Labor Code section 1102.5. “(The employees) are entitled to their minimum wage for eight hours a day, and when you go beyond that eight hours a day, it’s one and a half times the wage that you are entitled to for the additional see Restaurant page 26A
BART Expansion www.thepress.net/news/webextras
BART board sets groundwork for system improvements and expansion.
The Bat
Jose Canseco draws a crowd, signs autographs at Pittsburg Diamonds game. Page 17A Calendar.............................27A Classifieds..........................21A Cop Logs.............................25A Entertainment.................... 8A Food....................................... 9A Health & Beauty...............10A Milestones.........................20A Opinion...............................16A Pets......................................12A Sports..................................17A
DA Vacancy
www.thepress.net/news/press_releases
The county is looking to fill the position of interim district attorney.