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

Around 40 current San Jose city officeholders and past candidates are under investigation by the city’s ethics commission for probably violating a strict local campaign disclosure ordinance. The main arguments in their defense are that City Clerk Toni Taber told them it was OK and they didn’t realize the ordinance forbidding their actions had been passed, in 2011.   read more

Senate Bill 142 would have made it an illegal trespass to fly a drone over private property at less than 350 feet. It also would have made drone operators liable for damage and injury caused by their machines. “Before we go down that path, let’s look at this more carefully,” Governor Brown wrote in his veto message. That is kinda the same argument that proponents of drone legislation are making. They want rules and regulations for governing drone use before they are everywhere.   read more

The mammoth school district, with some 32,000 classrooms, has more than 2,600 requests for air-conditioning service, receiving 341 on Tuesday alone, LAUSD spokeswoman Elvia Cano told the Los Angeles Daily News. She said the district maintenance workers get fewer than 100 calls a day during normal heat and are capable of clearing 1,000 calls for service a week.   read more

Although humans and their nasty coal habit are responsible for increasing deadly mercury in marine habits up to four-fold since pre-industrial times, molting elephant seals are making it much worse. But how much of a problem is that? This study didn’t address that. Theoretically, the molted mercury might not be picked up by marine organisms and start working its way up the food chain again. Then again, it could.   read more

Governor Jerry Brown and Senate Democrats agreed on Wednesday to drop a mandate for reducing the use of gasoline in the state 50% by 2030 from Senate Bill 350. The measure was considered by supporters a key element in the state reaching its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2030. The bill retains two less contentious requirements. The state would still have to achieve a 50% increase in energy efficiency in buildings, and get half of its utility power from renewable energy.   read more

Only 44% of students (third- through eighth-grade and 11th-grade) met or exceeded English standards, and just 34% did that well in math. Both of those numbers are a lot worse than two years ago when students last took the old kind of standardized multiple-choice STAR test. Only 56% of 11th-graders were deemed college-ready in English and just 29% in math.   read more

“The NRC determined that continuing the work was impractical, given the significant amount of time and resources needed and the agency’s current budget constraints,” a commission spokesman said The cost was $8 million, $1.5 million of which has already been spent. The NRC has a budget of more than $1 billion. Cindy Folkers, radiation and health specialist at Beyond Nuclear, blamed nuclear industry manipulation.   read more

The much-lauded neighborhood court system was reduced from 26 locations to five hubs in downtown L.A., Long Beach, Pasadena, Palmdale and Santa Monica. The judges agreed the cuts fell disproportionately on the poor and disabled and denied them equal justice under the law, but ruled that the federal government was powerless to intervene. The court said it had discretion to act in extreme cases but this was not one of them.   read more

All California State University (CSU) students were required to sign up for a non-credit course, provided by a third-party company called “We End Violence,” aimed at preventing crimes against women. They had to log in with usernames and passwords, and provide personal information. Students were told last March they had a month to sign up for the class or a hold would be put on their fall admission.   read more

The Guardian and the Associated Press say they uncovered emails from lobbyists representing egg producers that targeted the sales of Hampton Creek, which produces a mayonnaise that contains no eggs. The egg replacement company was seen as a threat to the $5.5 billion-a-year egg industry, prompting the American Egg Board (AEB) to launch a campaign to keep Hampton Creek from becoming successful.   read more

Brown energy adviser Cliff Rechtschaffen was said to have told Chernow and Elena Miller, the state’s oil and gas supervisor, that Brown wanted the permits fast-tracked. When Miller said that would violate the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, Rechtschaffen allegedly responded, “This was an order from Governor Brown, and must be obeyed.” They were fired the next day.   read more

Power Search lets people view the source, recipient and amount of state-level political campaign contributions since 2001. The data can be filtered by recipient, date, amount, location and other fields. It can also be downloaded into a spreadsheet for deeper analysis. For instance, want to see how the fight is going to repeal the plastic bag ban? Sort the database for the November 8, 2016, ballot referendum supporters of the ban and look who contributed that $431,401.61 as of June 30.   read more

Every quarter, the Board of Equalization (BOE) publishes a list of the top 500 offenders to shame them into complying with the law. It isn’t very effective. Since the shaming program’s inception in 2007, the state has collected $14.35 million from 188 taxpayers who fessed up and agreed to pay immediately or on an installment plan.   read more

The OEHHA cited a monograph by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which called glyphosate “probably carcinogenic to humans,” as the basis for its decision. More than 300 million pounds of glyphosate are used annually in the United States. It is the most commonly applied agricultural chemical in the country.   read more

All the Republicans voted to let PG&E keep its tax write-off for most of the $1.6-billion penalty assessed for the deadly 2010 San Bruno gas pipeline explosion, blocking Senate Bill 681 from getting a two-thirds majority by two votes. The legislation prohibits a gas corporation from claiming tax deductions for expenditures related to any penalty from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).   read more

Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought state of emergency on January 17, 2014, and five months later the board notified all holders of pre-1914 rights in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Watershed that they could no longer draw water, except in very limited circumstances. Fahey indicated to the SWRCB that he would continue to take water, but had limited contact with the board.   read more