ICE agents have reportedly claimed to be police officers to gain consent to enter a person’s home – a tactic that is viewed as unethical, but within the powers granted to the officers. Civil rights groups supported Kalra’s bill, looking to stymie the Trump administration’s promise to use any and all available tools to deport undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes. Many groups fear Trump will expand deportations to include all undocumented immigrants, their families and relatives.   read more

While there are literally hundreds of stories online castigating Feinstein for Blum’s alleged control of Perini—the word “alleged” is never in them—there are admittedly few mentions, like this Forbes story in March 2007 or this story, that Blum had sold his stake. Blum first became involved with what is now Tutor Perini in 1998 when he joined with Ronald Tutor to help recapitalize the troubled company. He reportedly sold his stock at a substantial profit in 2005.   read more

It what may not be the finest moment in the state’s history of problem solving, Governor Jerry Brown presented a self-described “ugly” plan—that he doesn’t support and the state Senate in unlikely to approve—to a federal court last week for relieving overcrowded prisons. Brown submitted his 46-page plan to a three-judge panel in the U.S. District Court “under protest,” minutes before the deadline on Thursday after being threatened with sanctions for his ongoing intransigence.   read more

Wells Fargo was one of two bank trustees with fiduciary responsibilities to look out for investor interests. The other was Bank of New York Mellon Corp., which agreed in February to pony up $114 million. Investors lost around half of their $2.2 billion, according to Investment News, in what the court-appointed receiver called a “Ponzi-like scheme.”   read more

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the largest in the nation, also plans to close on a series of Fridays through the end of August and “drastically” reduce staff. Its four courthouses serve 18 million people in Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, Orange and Riverside counties. The courthouses will be open on closure days but the clerk’s office will not be being doing business except for emergency civil filings and criminal intake.   read more

U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii tossed out a lawsuit brought by DWP on behalf of L.A. that sought to avoid another $400 million in restoration work to the lake it famously sucked dry 100 years ago. The city has already spent $1.2 billion on mitigation measures to reduce the dangerous particulate pollution that blows off 40 square miles it has grudgingly accepted responsibility for.   read more

Movoto is serious in its praise. It used 10 criteria and applied them to the 50 largest cities in the country. The blog counted parks, bars, movie theaters, museums, theater companies and music venues, and gave brownie points for their presence. Credit was given for population diversity and the percent of young people between 20 and 34. They subtracted points for big-box stores and fast-food restaurants, although Black Friday sales and food-poisoning can be pretty exciting.   read more

Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation that funds an effort to collect 40,000 weapons from people barred from owning them. The state already maintains a database with 20,000 names of people suspected of possessing weapons they shouldn’t have because they are felons, have restraining orders out against them or have serious mental illness. Special agents are expected to fan out this summer in big cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Fresno and Riverside.   read more

Walmart, which has a healthcare program for full-time employees, actively manages employee schedules to limit how many can take advantage of it. The result is that taxpayers foot the healthcare bill for many of the employees, rather than the business which, in this case, had revenues of $447 billion in 2011 and is the world’s largest private employer.   read more

California spent $144.5 million on prison pharmaceuticals in 2012, and about 19% of that money went for anti-psychotic drugs, according to the AP. That’s actually a big drop from 2008 when 34% of all prison prescriptions went for anti-psychotics, and 2009-11 when the figure was 26%. At the same time California prisons were spending 26% of its prison drug money on anti-psychotics, New York was laying out 17%, Texas 6% and Florida 3%, the AP reported.   read more

Headlines immediately littered the Internet with news that illegal immigrants would soon be sitting in judgment of U.S. citizens. That is not the case. Assembly Bill 1401 clearly states that the legislation only applies to a person if “among other things, he or she is a lawfully present immigrant.”   read more

The federal court monitor overseeing healthcare in California prisons has told the state that it must immediately move around 3,300 inmates out of two facilities where 8,200 are housed because of a “public health emergency” from Valley Fever. A spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) said that wouldn’t happen. At least, not quickly.   read more

Supporters of the ban cite health hazards from the fires’ fine-particulate pollutants, as well as an unsightly beach scene from excessive smoke and trash associated with the pits. Opponents characterize the Newport Beach effort as a class conflict between wealthy residents at the shore and the people attending the fire rings, who are generally regarded to be of a lower socio-economic status.   read more

News and advocacy organizations asked California Secretary of State Debra Bowen in a letter (pdf) to provide a more transparent format that would allow interested parties to download a single, comprehensive copy of the database rather than individual snippets of data that don’t lend themselves to analysis. Bowen responded last week that, for technical reasons, the answer is “No.”   read more

The price, reportedly $625 million, would be a pittance for the brothers, who are each worth $34 billion. And their willingness to buy the entire group of eight regional newspapers, which also includes the Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun, the Hartford Courant and the Orlando Sentinel, is considered a distinct advantage.   read more

An NBC Bay Area report says Yosemite has more drug busts (20) per 100,000 visitors than any other national park in the country. That’s four times the rate of busts at Yellowstone, nearly seven times the Grand Canyon and 10 times Joshua Tree. Apparently, almost no one (1 in 100,000) gets busted in Death Valley.   read more

A joint statement by Representatives George Miller, Mike Thompson, Jerry McNerney, Doris Matsui and Anna Eshoo demanded the immediate resignation of Jerry Meral, deputy director of the Natural Resources Agency, after he reportedly confided to Tom Stokely of the California Water Impact Network, “BDCP is not about, and has never been about saving the Delta. The Delta cannot be saved.”   read more