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

The charges grew out of a grand jury investigation in 2010. Wright, elected to the Senate in 2008, claimed his residence was in a 4-unit rental property he owned in Inglewood. The Los Angeles County Superior Court jury agreed with prosecutors that he really lived in a home he owned since 2000 in nearby upscale Baldwin Hills. The apartment he claimed to live in was occupied by his “common law” stepmother.   read more

In curtailing enrollment in CalOptima’s OneCare program, which that straddles Medi-Cal and Medicare, auditors for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) noted that participants were denied access to properly prescribed drugs covered by the plan, and were refused payment for legitimate emergency services. Medical providers weren’t paid in a timely fashion, and appeals by patients and doctors that coverage was incorrectly denied were improperly ignored.   read more

Last week, Minkow pleaded guilty to swindling members of his former congregation out of $3 million over a decade’s time. His case represents an auspicious beginning to a new year of scams, shams and sleight-of-hands that promises to be the equal of 2013.   read more

Lawsuits by employees seeking damages from the smallest of the group, Intuit and Pixar plus Lucasfilm, were settled last July for a total of $20 million. Last week, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals cleared the way for the hearing of a class-action suit against the other four companies, despite their protestations. That suit represents 100,000 workers who arguably lost $9 billion from 2005 to 2009 and builds on information gleaned during the DOJ investigation.   read more

Taxi drivers in the association have been taking photographs, writing down license plate numbers and gathering other information about the startup drivers, who are using their own vehicles to tote passengers around, and compiling it in a searchable online database. Access to the information is given to member companies of the “Personal Insurance Federation, the San Francisco MTA, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) and the California Public Utilities Safety Enforcement Division."   read more

In a settlement that could hold national implications, the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) agreed not to shackle immigrant detainees appearing in a San Francisco court through most of their proceedings. ICE acts as prosecutor in court, and in advocating for deportation or other punishment it often seeks to portray the immigrant as dangerous and untrustworthy. Having them shackled sends a powerful message of presumed menace.   read more

“I’ve never seen a petition with as many flaws as this one,” City Clerk Shirley Concolino told the Sacramento Bee, explaining why she wouldn’t certify the measure. Proponents of the petition said the problem wasn’t flawed, nitpicked-to-death petitions. It was a political power structure bent on building a new arena after a high-stakes showdown with Seattle over keeping the Sacramento Kings basketball team in town.   read more

Smith & Wesson said it will have to halt sales of the weapons in the state. The 2007 legislation, passed when Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor, didn’t take effect until May 2013 when the technology addressed in the bill became widely available. Microstamping puts an indelible mark on bullets that are identifiable when fired, a feature that law enforcement agencies support.   read more

A federal complaint unveiled Tuesday charged three men with conspiring to steer $500,000 in illegal contributions from a Mexican tycoon to various San Diego political campaigns. Among them: the 2012 campaign for mayor, a 2012 congressional campaign and the 2014 mayoral runoff. The complaint said there was a promise that another “mill” in contributions would be forthcoming.   read more

Although details are still sketchy, Representative George Miller, a Democrat from the Central Valley, called the bill “misguided” and “dangerous.” He told the San Francisco Chronicle it is an “attempt to gut federal and state environmental and water protections without sound science or considering the economic toll on the Northern California economy.”   read more

A review of agency records by the Los Angeles Times found that on a good day, less than 20% of callers to EDD phones successfully make a human connection. On a bad day, that drops to 10%. Anecdotal research indicated that staying on hold for lengthy waits and repeated rapid-fire re-calls don’t work.   read more

American Future Fund and Small Business Action Committee took $15 million from two Arizona non-profit organizations and spent it in a convoluted plan that targeted Governor Jerry Brown's Proposition 30 tax hike for defeat and supported the anti-union Proposition 32. They were caught and ordered to pay penalties, which equaled the money the accepted.   read more

China’s trans-Pacific emissions also cause up to 25% of the sulfate pollution on the West Coast on certain days, according to the study. Chinese manufacturing for the export of goods to the United States was responsible for between roughly 5-7% of harmful emissions in its own country.   read more

“The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge: Basic Reforms for the Future,” released days before a hearing on the project’s trials and travails, raises serious questions about the bridge’s structural integrity and the process that led to questionable construction decisions and huge cost overruns. The bridge’s final cost of $6.4 billion, which doesn’t include another $6.6 billion in finance charges, is four times the original sticker price.   read more

The state banned the commingling of items it will redeem, like beer and soda cans, with items it won’t pay for, including wine and liquor bottles. The new rules are expected to save the state between $3.5 million and $8.5 million a year, according to the Los Angeles Times, which found anecdotal evidence that individual recyclers were earning, as a result, half of what they used to.   read more

After looking at 110,000 cases in 2011 of women with private health insurance, they concluded that the “staggering difference” in prices, “even for an uncomplicated pregnancy,” was inexplicable. The cost of delivery ranged from $3,296 to $37,227 for a non-complicated vaginal birth.The study also found a wide disparity in costs for cesarean sections, with prices ranging from $8,312 to $70,908.   read more