Has City Councilman Rudy Salas gone too far with his negative attack ads on opponent Pedro Rios? And did The Californian show bias by running a picture of President Obama?

 * ... ELECTION: At this point in the campaign most of us just want this election to be over, but there will be plenty of drama on election day. Several local races are razor tight and there are a number of controversial propositions on the ballot. Former Kern County supervisor and longtime political consultant Gene Tackett will join me on Californian Radio KERN 1180 to discuss the general election and what is at stake. We'll be chatting about the presidential race as well as the City Council and Supervisor races. Join us at 9 a.m. Monday.

 * ... BIAS: Reader Randy Grigg took me to task for allegedly showing liberal bias by showing a picture of President Obama comforting a storm victim in New York. "As a subscriber for over 30 years and local small businessman I'm appalled at the picture on the front page of Obama holding an emotionally distraught woman because of the storm that hit the East coast. Why didn't you have a front page picture of the father whose son was killed because of lack of appropriate military action in Benghazi... and his comments?  Why aren't you covering the developments of this horrible incident?" Randy: You have to cut me some slack here. The story of Hurricane Sandy and its trail of devastation in New York and New Jersey was the big story of the way. We didn't mean to imply bias by running a picture of the president.

 * ... SALAS-RIOS: Politics is not for the faint of heart, and perhaps the nastiest local race this year is between City Councilman Rudy Salas and former Delano Mayor Pedro Rios who are competing for the 32nd Assembly District. The negative and clearly misleading attack ads by Salas on Rios have been unrelenting, and now it appears they have created a small backlash from folks who question if Salas has gone too far. Is going negative a smart strategy? On Tuesday, we will see.

 * ... TRASH: Keith Key is a local businessman who shares a growing frustration with the trash that litters our roads and parks. "I was reflecting on my recent trip to the World (skeet shooting) Championships in San Antonio, Texas. My wife and I really noticed the lack of trash on the Texas highways. Why can’t the people of California, take the same kind of pride as the people of Texas?"

 * ... HUSKERS: Kelsey Fien is a graduate of Frontier High School who is making quite a name for herself on the Nebraska Cornhuskers volleyball team. She helped lead the No. 4 Huskers to an important upset victory over top-ranked Penn State and is one of the team's standout players. The 6-foot, three-inch Fien is a freshmen in Lincoln.

 * ... CAMERON: Last week I shared with you the story of 12-year-old Cameron Caneta, who decided to surprise Monsignor Craig Harrison on his birthday by collecting food for the needy. Since then, folks have been lining up behind Cameron to join the drive. Said his mother Mary Caneta: "We were surprised today with three more cases of food and a young man pulled up in his truck to donate a truckload of clothes, shoes, socks, razors etc. More calls coming in! I told my son...'Job well done' and he replied 'Thanks Mom, but I am not done yet!'"