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

This smart gun communicates with a wristwatch that comes with it. The gun user must be wearing the watch, or else the weapon won’t fire. Gun control advocates say it's a great example of gun safety that could help end the black market for stolen firearms. But that’s not how many gun owners see it. Gun-rights organizations like the NRA have long hated smart guns. Also, Smith & Wesson was nearly boycotted out of business after agreeing to develop the technology.   read more

Governor Jerry Brown’s new director at the Department of Rehabilitation (DOR), Joe Xavier, has come a long way from his early days as a nearly-blind immigrant milking cows instead of pursuing a college education. Brown appointed the Azores native with the impressive back story to head the department on February 14. He took over for Anthony Sauer, who had been director since 2007. Sauer was paralyzed from the waist down in a motorcycle accident when he was 18.   read more

County prosecutors are exercising their discretion and charging more offenders with second felonies, mandating a prison term and helping thwart state efforts to direct less dangerous felons to county control. Second-strike convictions had been on the decline since 1999, until realignment took hold in 2011.   read more

A year-old Cal/EPA online tool for calculating the burden of pollution by ZIP code across the state shows that African-Americans and Latinos are more heavily impacted by pollution than whites. Having established that, the agency has now ceased using race as a factor in its calculations. CalEnviroScreen 1.0 debuted in 2013 to identify communities impacted by multiple sources of pollution. But complications ensued.   read more

The LAO said the CHP failed to make a case for the aircraft although the agency was specifically asked to do so last year when it received $17 million to replace four other aircraft. The CHP was supposed to file a report that included “an overall assessment of its fleet needs” but all it produced was a report that “simply states that CHP needs 26 aircraft to achieve its goal to perform 26,000 total flight hours per year and provide each CHP division with three aircraft.”   read more

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) laid out for the Senate Tuesday an incredible four-year tale of the CIA allegedly spying on Congress, lying about it and then continuing to do it while fighting to prevent publication of a report on its torture/detention program. Feinstein is chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which has compiled a 6,300-page program review that the agency claims is full of errors and shouldn’t be released.   read more

The Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) tested soil at 39 homes and two schools near the plant, which recycles up to 40,000 batteries a day, and found elevated levels of lead. Every one one of the homes, within around a half-mile of the plant, had levels exceeding 80 parts per million (ppm), the level that requires further testing. One of the homes showed 580 ppm and a Headstart program location registered 95 ppm. Averages were over 160 ppm.   read more

Melody Jo Samuelson alleged in her complaint that she was pushed to have patients declared competent “regardless of the actual competency of individuals to stand trial.” The goal was to “falsely prop up the Program’s positive results, or favorable outcomes.” Last week, a judge affirmed the jury’s decision in February that she was wrongfully terminated and, after being reinstated, was harassed as a whistleblower.   read more

On Sunday, Democrats closed out their party convention in Los Angeles by approving a platform that supports a fracking ban, free universal pre-school for 4-year-olds and legal recreational marijuana. All three are opposed by Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat. Polling shows statewide support for all three measures, but it remains to be seen if any of the positions will become law.   read more

Attorney Stanley L. Friedman, representing former Mayor Oscar Hernandez (who also sat on the council), told the Associated Press, “None of them are attorneys or accountants, so they relied on their legal adviser.” The city officials were paid big bucks—in addition to their meager salaries—to attend meetings of sham boards that rarely, if ever, actually met. Former District Attorney Steve Cooley called the Bell scandal “corruption on steroids.”   read more

One month after officials at Tesoro Corp.’s Golden Eagle Refinery in the Bay Area denied federal investigators access after workers were sprayed with sulfuric acid, two more workers were doused in the same area of the plant. The incident Monday was thought to be less serious than the one February 12, but that couldn’t be confirmed because investigators for the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) say they still lack critical information from the first accident.   read more

Nine of the university’s 23 campuses levied what they called “student success fees,” a transparent attempt to ding students without raising tuition or assigning more traditional fees, targeted at users of specific services. These all-purpose fees, which are spent on academics and operations traditionally paid for by tuition, have met with increasing resistance from students, who have found more allies as the improved economy has turned budget deficits into surplus.   read more

Last September, state lawmakers passed legislation which blocks any local public officer who was convicted of a job-related felony from making any claim against his employer for pension benefits. Last week, Malkenhorst sued Vernon and the state of California in federal court, arguing that the new law is unconstitutional.   read more

Assemblyman Bloom said he was inspired by “Blackfish,” a documentary built around the Orlando SeaWorld orca Tilikum that killed three people: "It is time to end the practice of keeping orcas captive for human amusement." SeaWorld spokesman David Koontz disagrees. “We engage in business practices that are responsible, sustainable and reflective of the balanced values all Americans share.”   read more

Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley issued two rulings that the transfer was a mistake because the state had failed to properly assess the environmental impacts of the move. Critics say those effects have been harsh. “There is essentially no analysis of potential future operational impacts,” Judge Frawley wrote.   read more

The data included first and last names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, billing information and medical diagnoses. L.A. County Assistant Auditor-Controller Robert Campbell told the Los Angeles Times, “I'm not aware of another breach of this significance ever having occurred.” Police said they don’t know if the thieves were after the data or even knew what they had. They presumably know now if they pay attention to news reports.   read more