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Top Stories: Aug. 6, 2010Google Fights Age Discrimination Case; Mistrial Declared in Murder Caseby Danny Wool on Aug 06, 2010A Sunny Day for Power Integrations San Jose-based Power Integrations is doing more than its part to cut down greenhouse gas emissions. The company, which produces high-voltage circuits enhance the energy-efficiency of a wide range of electronic products has decided to go solar itself, and has just launched a $3.6 million photovoltaic installation in its parking lot. The 2,500 panels will produce 600 kilowatts of energy, more than enough to power the building that houses the company. In addition to saving the company some $180,000 in electricity per year, as an added bonus, the solar panels will provide shade for the employees’ cars in the lot. Mayor Chuck Reed and Representative Zoe Lofgren were both on hand to celebrate the launch of the new installation. Meanwhile, Stanford University announced a breakthrough that would make solar energy twice as efficient. According to initial reports, this would reduce the price sufficiently to make solar energy competitive with oil. Read More at KCBS. Read More at ABC 7. Don’t Call Me an Old Fuddy Duddy! The State Supreme Court has ruled that a former Google executive can sue the company for wrongful termination because of age discrimination. At the center of the case was the question of whether “stray comments” about the employee could serve as the basis for a discrimination case. Brian Reid was hired by Google in 2002. Before that, he was part of the team that helped to create Alta Vista, one of the internet’s first search engines. Two years later, when Reid was 54, Google fired him, claiming that he was not a good “cultural fit” for the position. With his firing came the loss of 131,917 stock options, now valued at over $67 million. Reid argued that during his time at Google, he was called an “old fuddy-duddy” by many a young whippersnapper, and that he was regularly told that his ideas were “too old to matter.” He says it was also joked that his CD cases should be labeled “LPs.” Google claims that Reid’s termination has nothing to do with Reid’s age, but with his poor performance and the fact that the program he was working on was being eliminated. “Age is not a factor for us. If you can do the work, that's all we care about,” said a Google representative. It now remains for a court to decide whether Reid was really the victim of discrimination. Many groups watching the case, including the AARP, are delighted that the “stray comment” ruling will make it easier for other victims of age discrimination to have their cases heard. As for the young’uns who allegedly commented about Reid’s age, it is worthwhile remembering what Picasso once said: “Youth has no age.” Read More at The Mercury News. Santa Clara Murder Mistrial Jason Cai is a lucky man. In 2008, attorney Xia Zhao attempted to sue Cai for the wrongful death of his wife. Cao allegedly responded by killing Zhao. Two years later, his trial ended in a mistrial. A lone holdout succeeded in preventing the jury from reaching a unanimous verdict of guilty. Some of the jury members sought to have the holdout dismissed, claiming that he had not paid attention and even slept during the trial. A judge disagreed, saying that there was insufficient evidence of that. So Cao has not yet been convicted. The District Attorney’s office has stated that it still intends to put him behind bars, and that it is planning for a retrial. Read More at KLIV. by Danny Wool on Aug 06, 2010 |
 Power Integrations has installed a massive solar array at its San Jose headquarters. |
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