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

More than a decade after energy companies gouged California ratepayers during a trumped-up energy crisis, the state stands to recoup $2 billion. Last March, the court ruled that the two energy wholesalers jacked up prices in 2000-01 when it sold the state electricity from federal dams. The court’s two decisions this week affirmed that ruling and accepted California’s damage claims.   read more

A new study, “California’s Flood Future,” from the state Department of Water Resources (DWR) says 7.2 million Californians live in floodplains that are at “catastrophic risk for devastating floods.” Structures worth $575 billion are exposed to flooding along with critical infrastructure and $7 billion in crops, making a major flood far more threatening than superstorm Sandy back East that caused $60 billion in damage.   read more

A Superior Court judge, daring to go where even he fears to tread, declared unconstitutional state laws passed in 2011 that allowed large projects to be fast-tracked past the state’s landmark environmental law. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch said he took his actions fully aware of their unusual nature, declaring, “The court does not lightly as a superior court declare statutes unconstitutional.”   read more

The legislation would update the 2005 Shine the Light Act (SB 27) that required businesses to tell inquiring parties what personal data they have sold and who they sold it to, but was mostly limited to older types of telemarketing that didn’t include the modern world’s online advertisers, data brokers and third-party applications. The bill would also expand the information to be made available to include data about sexual orientation, gender and similar areas of interest.   read more

A semi-annual report by the California prison system’s inspector general found that sex was a prominent feature in disciplinary cases involving corrections employees, but it was by no means the only way they misbehaved.   read more

The typical Los Angeles metropolitan commuter wasted $1,300 last year while stuck in traffic for an extra 61 hours, probably wondering how much worse it could get. Now, that statistically average driver will have a few minutes less to think about it since the famously gridlocked city became, reportedly, the first major metropolis in the world to synchronize every one of its traffic lights located within its 469 square miles.   read more

State Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials stripped GPS devices from thousands of paroled gang members and sex offenders last year and replaced them after tests showed an alarming rate of failure. The Los Angeles Times filled in the redacted gaps of a state report on the tests, conducted in 2011 on devices being used to track 7,900 high-risk parolees and felons.   read more

Young people (18-24) registered in record numbers last year, thanks in large part to online registration, but reverted to slacker form when it came to actually voting. They are a growing part of the electorate (up 13.9% from 2008), but more than two-thirds of eligible young voters failed to vote in November.   read more

Setting the stage for a groundbreaking confrontation between Wall Street and retirees, a federal judge ruled Monday that the city of Stockton was, indeed, eligible for bankruptcy protection from its creditors. Judge Christopher Klein found the creditors’ arguments for keeping the city out of bankruptcy as deficient as their behavior during negotiations leading up to his decision.   read more

The commission report identified a number of problems with the “obsolete” old model: inadequate staffing, more parks than could be managed, an “outdated self-view,” a centralized bureaucracy and a bad attitude about working with outsiders. And the state was trying to run parks that should be turned over to local control. It also noted that the parks department has been starved for cash.   read more

The study, published in the peer-reviewed Biomedicine International, found 4,319 fewer cancers over 20 years, including declines in 28 of 31 specific categories. It’s the first study of long-term changes in the health status of people living near nuclear plants and is certain to be of interest to the 65 communities hosting 104 aging nuclear reactors around the country.   read more

Starving sea lion pups are washing up all along the Southern California coast in unprecedented numbers, and scientists don’t know why. As of March 24, 948 babies have washed ashore this year in Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles and San Diego counties, compared to 88 all of last year. Less than 700 were stranded in the five years previous combined.   read more

Long-term unemployed former California workers who aren’t among February’s 41,200 new hires announced on Friday are about to see their extended benefits slashed 10.7%, but not today as planned. Around 400,000 people now receiving the benefits received a two-week reprieve from the state Employment Development Department (EDD) after the state determined it couldn’t figure out how to implement the cuts dictated by the federal government’s sequestration agreement.   read more

Although most prayers offered at the start of Lancaster City Council meetings are Christian and usually invoke Jesus Christ by name, they do not violate the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of separation between church and state. That ruling last week by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Court is in conflict with rulings in two other appellate courts and sets up a potential showdown in the U.S. Supreme Court.   read more

What started out looking like a promising wet winter for an ever-increasingly thirsty state has turned to major disappointment. Snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, the source of much of California’s water, is about 52% of normal, according to state water officials. It’s the worst measurement since 2007 and the third worst since 1994.   read more

The San Jose Mercury News reported Thursday that the state Attorney General’s office, on behalf of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, will utilize a legal maneuver only available to the government that allows for the consolidation of future lawsuits against the state by inviting interested parties to join one big one now.   read more