Squid dives into media coverage of Monterey County, coming in waves from outside the area.

Mass Media…Squid has a well-established Sunday afternoon routine. Spruce up the lair; do laundry, making sure to add lavender-scented fabric softener to the batch containing jammies, sheets and tentacle warmers; prepare a few freezer meals for when the work week gets too hectic; and catch up on news from outside the area.

Squid had a pot of clam chowder bubbling on the stove when Squid sat down to do the latter—catch up with news from elsewhere. But much to Squid’s surprise, Squid found the more Squid read papers from outside the area, the more Squid was reading about Monterey County.

First up, the New York Times invaded Carmel-by-the-Sea, but not to cover its somewhat manic politics or the bizarre controversy surrounding the removal of a centennial banner from a war memorial bell structure. Instead, the Times tackled the conundrum of where to shop in Carmel, which it called “an alluring seaside town.” Recommendations, though, were ones Squid could get behind: The Cheese Shop (Squid loves gouda), The Hat Shop (Squid looks dashing in a bowler), Bittner (Squid loves fancy pens and ink), Eco Carmel (yes, Squid is hooked on those spendy insulated S’well bottles too) and Weston Gallery (Squid’s favorite art form is photography).

Then Squid snagged a San Francisco Chronicle, and found even more news about Carmel, only this time, it wasn’t so swell. According to a report this weekend, a former PG&E official turned whistle-blower claims she lost her job when she refused to let PG&E managers gain access to records in a 2014 explosion that destroyed a vacant cottage at Third and Guadalupe in Carmel. The testimony of whistle-blower Leslie Banach McNiece suggests PG&E may have been trying to tamper with records showing the utility was to blame for the blast, which occurred when a work crew replacing a gas line hit something they shouldn’t have because of improper mapping, the Chron reports.

The Public Utilities Commission levied a $10.8 million fine against PG&E for the Carmel explosion, related to the company’s emergency response. On Tuesday, the PUC will hold a hearing to determine if the company should be penalized for record-keeping problems on the gas distribution system in Carmel and elsewhere.

Carmel Mayor Jason Burnett told Chron reporter Jaxon Van Derbeken he hopes the state will look into whether there was “some sort of cover-up. Did PG&E not come clean with what happened, and finally, was someone fired because they wouldn’t go along with the cover-up?”

PG&E, natch, denies any wrongdoing.

And then Squid turned to a somewhat obscure legal journal called The Recorder, because Squid is obsessed with legal obscurities, and found another case that hit close to home. A story last week by Ross Todd covered the case of Joshua Claypole, the 20-year-old Big Sur man who stabbed cab driver Daniel Garcia Huerta to death in Monterey in 2013, then hanged himself at the Monterey County Jail a few days later.

Claypole’s mother filed a wrongful death suit in her mentally ill son’s death, alleging the didn’t receive proper care, including medication, while in custody.

As the case wends its way through the system, a federal judge last week sanctioned the attorney representing jail medical provider California Forensic Medical Group and its founder, Dr. Taylor Fithian, a Monterey resident and the psychiatrist who evaluated Claypole.

The reason for the sanction against attorney Peter Bertling? He couldn’t keep his big-man, big-mouth shut and made a sexist remark to Lori Rifkin, the attorney who filed the suit, saying “It wasn’t becoming of a woman” to raise her voice at him during a deposition. According to The Recorder, U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal ordered Bertling to donate $250 to the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles Foundation. Not a particularly impressive sum, Squid thought, but as Squid read on, Squid found Grewal also ordered Bertling to pay the cost of the deposition for, among other sins, repeatedly failing to hand over relevant documents.

Squid can hardly wait for next Sunday’s laundry/cooking/newspaper reading. Maybe Squid will find out early who’s been donating to Monterey County supervisor candidates in the name of weed in the next issue of Rolling Stone. Squid swears Squid saw Sean Penn sniffing around the County Elections Department.