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

Investigators of 36 sexual assaults at the five state facilities that house developmentally-disabled patients failed to order rape examinations, ignoring a fundamental police procedure and jeopardizing the prosecution of any future suspects.   read more

California voters overwhelmingly approved an initiative November 6 to crack down on human trafficking and its related sexploitation of children and adults. The state can start in the Los Angeles County foster care system, home to 59% of the 174 juveniles arrested on prostitution-related charges in 2010, according to county Probation Department statistics.   read more

A new national standard for gauging high school graduation numbers is adding yet another subpar assessment of California accomplishments compared to other states. The U.S. Department of Education ranked California 32nd out of 50 states and the District of Columbia for 2010-11 based on a uniform metric that replaces the variety of measurements used by states.   read more

Humboldt State University (HSU) launched a unique academic initiative this Fall that most people familiar with the school’s location, in prime California pot-growing territory, probably assumed already existed. The newly-formed Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research is sponsoring a series of lectures and coordinating research to study various aspects of pot as it relates to various fields, including geography, politics, psychology, sociology and economics   read more

Nearly one-tenth of the 18,000+ employees of Hostess Brands Inc. idled by the company’s demise in bankruptcy work in California, where it has long been the practice to blame “pampered” union members and their “overstuffed pensions” for a perceived inhospitable business environment.   read more

Want to get your teenage child drug tested at no cost and no hassle—for you? Then move to the Santa Clarita Valley in Southern California, enroll your kid in the William S. Hart Union High School District and sign him or her up for what is believed to be the nation’s only parental-on-demand drug-testing regimen.   read more

New ground was recently broken in California when U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips, who ruled “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” unconstitutional in 2010, approved settlement of a $12.9 million class-action lawsuit for strippers who claimed they were illegally classified as contractors for the purpose of denying them proper pay and benefits.   read more

California has throttled back its war on drugs by taking fewer shots at juveniles. A study released by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ) found that marijuana possession arrests decreased 61% after January 2011 when California reduced the penalty from a misdemeanor to an infraction for possession of under one ounce.   read more

When state regulators responded to criticism last year from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) about lax enforcement of oil and gas drilling regulations, they tightened up rules on injection wells that included a controversial practice called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Governor Jerry Brown responded to the regulators by firing them and returning to the status quo.   read more

In a medical field that does not lack for controversy, Dr. Ernest Zeringue of Davis appears to have broken new ground in bioethics with an innovative business model for in vitro fertilization. Zeringue has cut the price of his services in half, and provided unheard of money-back-guarantees, by opening a new revenue stream.   read more

The San Luis Obispo Tribune may have been a tad over-optimistic in August when it characterized the county’s Board of Supervisors’ unanimous rejection of an oil company’s plans to drill in the bucolic Huasna Valley as “settling a highly contentious land-use debate” and “bringing five years of controversy to a close.”   read more

While medical marijuana dispensaries, blessed by state government, duke it out with U.S. Attorneys enforcing federal pot prohibition laws, growers are having their way with the land unfettered by environmental regulation.   read more

Crawfish is not lobster. Pacific rockfish is not red snapper. Flounder is not halibut. And, frankly, “white tuna” only exists in sushi bars and Wikipedia. But that doesn’t stop Los Angeles County grocery stores and restaurants from mislabeling them that way, often to their financial benefit and occasionally to their customers’ medical detriment.   read more

The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office says the November 6 passage of Proposition 36, the three-strikes reduction initiative, could save the state prison system $70-$90 million annually. It also says its numbers could be way off, “depending on several factors,” like how fast the courts re-sentence qualifying inmates. San Diego Superior Court Judge David Danielsen got the ball rolling on Wednesday.   read more

Orientation for California’s 38 Assembly freshmen began almost immediately after the November 6 election—with sessions at the Capitol introducing them to the intricacies of drafting legislation, participating in floor debates and dodging the myriad ethical pitfalls that can derail a career. And almost immediately the newly-minted lawmakers took off on field trips with lobbyists to learn the real-world application of those skills.   read more

Federal authorities are poised to take control of the Oakland Police Department more than a decade after a rogue group of officers called the Rough Riders exposed widespread deficiencies in the agency and attracted national attention by planting evidence, using excessive force and falsifying police reports.   read more