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

California lawmakers won’t be taking any action in this legislative session to regulate the controversial oil-extraction method of hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking. Two Assembly bills, AB 972 and AB 591, died in the Senate Appropriations Committee last week after intense opposition by the energy industry, according to K. Eric Adair, a legal expert on environmental issues.   read more

Toxic contamination was not an unknown factor when the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 11-0 in June 2011 to approve a $1.5 billion commercial/residential development on the former Treasure Island Naval Station site that would be home to 19,000 people.   read more

U.S. agencies recovered $4.1 billion from perpetrators of healthcare fraud in 2011 and Californians did their bit to boost the numbers. But not everyone the government suspects of fraud is arrested, tried and locked up. Some are still on the run.   read more

Dr. Rolando Lodevico Atiga probably knew that “the knee bone's connected to the thigh bone.” But he apparently couldn’t tell the bones in an x-ray belonged to a dog, not a human, and it cost him his medical license for awhile.   read more

The biggest pesticide and biotechnology companies in the world, led by Monsanto, have already spent $25 million to defeat California’s groundbreaking Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) labeling initiative on November’s ballot. Most of the money has been contributed in the past month.   read more

Three years after the devastating Station Fire in Southern California raised questions about the state’s policy of not fighting fires from the air at night, the U.S. Forest Service has reversed a 30-year policy and will allow helicopters to fly missions over federal land.   read more

The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) was quick to diagnose the latest computer problem when its system came to a crashing halt on Tuesday. “The State is currently experiencing communications issues between AT&T & Verizon that is impacting both DMV online & field office services,” the department posted on its website, which was still accessible but not very functional.   read more

In a case that pitted liberal constituencies against each other, a state appellate court ruled that union seniority trumped the needs of poor schools to hang on to trusted teachers. California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal reversed an earlier trial court compromise in Reed v. L.A. Unified that let the Los Angeles Unified School District, wrestling with difficult budget cuts, keep teachers at struggling schools while releasing others with more seniority elsewhere.   read more

The University of California 2011 “Employee Pay Report” is quick to point out that, although UC payroll was up 6% from the year before, “Compensation for many UC employees is significantly below market.” That statement probably does not apply to the 22 employees—17 medical doctors and administrators at UC hospitals, four athletic coaches and Marie Berggren, treasurer of the UC regents—who made more than $1 million last year.   read more

The state Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) warned the governor and lawmakers months ago that it wouldn’t be easy to wrest billions of dollars in redevelopment funds from cities after killing the local agencies in February. The LAO was right. The governor expected to have collected $129 million for budget-strapped state coffers by now; it only has $6.7 million.   read more

The movie “Erin Brockovich” made the chemical carcinogen chromium-6 infamous in 2000. A state law was passed the next year requiring formulation of a standard limiting its presence in drinking water by 2004. Eight years later, two environmental groups sued the state not only for its failure to put a standard in place; it hasn’t even agreed on one.   read more

A federal judge, likening himself to a fictional Greek hero who must save all those around him at the expense of a few, elected to toss out a civil liberties case brought by California mosques that alleged the U.S. illegally spied on them.   read more

In 1989, California became the first state in the nation to identify and ban assault weapons, five years before President Clinton signed similar federal legislation. The federal law expired in 2004 and a pro-gun campaign led by the National Rifle Association prevented its renewal.   read more

Rickie Lee Fowler, a 30-year-old career criminal, was convicted this week of setting the 2003 Old Fire that destroyed 1,000 homes and burned 91,000 acres in San Bernardino County. But the main price he will pay, which could be the death penalty, will be for the five people who died of heart attacks related to the arson.   read more

California schools haven’t had a healthy, stable funding base since Proposition 13 eviscerated property tax revenues in 1978. To maintain infrastructure and build new schools, districts often issue bonds that are repaid over long periods of time using whatever tax money they can lay their hands on.   read more

Although the state failed to turn up billions of hidden dollars potentially languishing in special funds when it completed its audit a few weeks ago, it has found them to be a very useful source of emergency funding as general revenues lag.   read more