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

A lot of smart scientists and natural resource managers have a problem with the U.S. Forest Service plan to log 29,648 acres in Stanislaus National Forest after the 69-day Rim Fire burned 275,000 acres in the Sierras four months ago.   read more

Who wants to volunteer for a drug test at DUI checkpoints conducted by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) on New Year’s Eve? Officers will be handing out free mouth swabs at locations all around the city for the first time and those first-timers who fail the test for marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine, methadone, Xanax and narcotic analgesics will be eligible to pay around $16,000 in fines, lawyer fees and insurance premium boosts.   read more

Smira played hostess at many of the fundraisers, coordinating activities that included catering and what the suit describes as “arranging illegal gifts.” In the opinion of Smira’s lawyer, they were breaking the law: “Of the hundreds of invitations sent to candidates since early 2000, none met the current disclosure and notification laws set forth by the Fair Political Practices Commission (*FPPC*) regulations.”   read more

The lawsuit alleges that, “Unconstrained by constitutional limitation, these regulators believing they are shielded by absolute immunity fashioned their quasi-judicial writ into hostile, retaliatory and discriminatory truncheons of power to try browbeating into docile subservience and submission a small California-accredited law school that caters to a diverse demographic and to mostly low-middle income students.”   read more

The San Jose Mercury News reported on Thursday that the Westlands Water District heard a report from its staff and a Citigroup bond consultant last month which said when financing and other costs are factored in, the cost rises as high as $67 billion. That would put it right there with the projected cost of the beleaguered high-speed rail project.   read more

One of those “not a gift” gift exceptions are “behests,” donations given to designated charities or organizations recommended by a politician. While state officeholders reported receiving $216,000 worth of gifts and travel payments in 2012, they also directed $6.7 million to favored organizations, according to FPPC documents.   read more

The city’s plan is to tear down 700 decrepit two-story townhouses built in 1943 and 1954, and replace them with 1,800 more-upscale apartments and condos. But the soil is contaminated with lead, arsenic and other toxic chemicals and it is feared the threat extends throughout Jordan Downs.   read more

Congress is home for the holidays after Republicans blocked attempts to extend claims beyond the initial benefit, which in California is 26 weeks. The odds of reviving the legislation in January without a tradeoff for some equally odious entitlement “reform” do not seem high.   read more

While unions hailed the judge’s ruling as a victory because it recognized the sanctity of pension agreements, the city claimed it won because the judge said salaries and some health benefits were still fair game. The decision was certainly a better outcome for workers than a ruling in Detroit on December 3 by a federal bankruptcy judge that U.S. law trumped Michigan law and pensions could be reduced outside of a collective bargaining agreement.   read more

“This is a system, exchange and portal, that lets me go into the Department of Homeland Security, lets me go into the IRS . . . Social Security,” Issa told CBS. “Think about what's at Social Security, what's at IRS, what's at Department of Homeland Security. That's the vulnerability.” Issa has no evidence any of that is true.   read more

Many objected to the decision by Caltrans to build a four-lane freeway, arguing that traffic conditions don’t support that much concrete and the extra toll on the environment would be devastating and unnecessary. That wanted a two-lane bypass that wouldn’t force it to drain wetlands and complained when the official environmental review didn’t consider that as an option.   read more

Los Angeles last week became the first major city in the nation to require that new and refurbished roofs use light- and heat-reflecting building materials to save money on energy bills. They can reduce surface temperatures 50°F, lowering temperatures inside by several degrees—just in time for global warming. Recent research at UCLA projected that Los Angeles would grow 3.7° to 5.4° warmer by 2050. Downtown can expect three times as many days when temperatures top 95°.   read more

Kaiser’s letter notifying Richter of her untimely passing came from its Medicare department on November 29. Medicare and Kaiser officials told her they got the word from the Social Security Administration, but before the retired social worker could get over there to investigate, her ATM card was deactivated, her credit card was frozen and access to her credit union was blocked.   read more

Six different phthalates have made the Prop. 65 list since DEHP was listed as a carcinogen in 1988. They are a common class of chemicals used in many household products and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic. Phthalates enhance softness and flexibility, and help retain product scents. They have been linked to early puberty in girls, premature births, sperm damage in men and genital defects in boys.   read more

Reuters quoted one protester with a loudspeaker: No specific goal, no political plan, no movement leader rallying a large outpouring of support and no widespread public outcry. Just a lot of long-time residents being pushed out of a city they recognize less and less, and a few people who care enough about them to gather in public and express their support.   read more

Both of those proposals, in the form of ballot initiatives, have been proposed by rich Republicans as ways to make the political system more responsive to the will of the people . . . and, as a bonus, dilute the power of ruling Democrats.   read more