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 new director of the Department of Alcoholic Beverages Control (ABC), Timothy Gorsuch, has spent most of his professional life working for the agency. As the new chief regulator of the state’s alcoholic beverage industry and its 85,000 licensees, he directs more than 200 special agents in criminal investigations and enforcement matters.   read more

California has known for a long time that it has mercury contamination in its water supply, much of it washing down from areas around long-closed gold mines. But a new study says that contrary to conventional wisdom, the toxic flow from the Sierra Nevada mountains has not ebbed and that global warming poses a new risk of amping up the spread of mercury through water and the food chain.   read more

Amid the rollout of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act and its implementation as Covered California, Governor Jerry Brown has named a new director of the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC). Michelle “Shelley” Rouillard, with three decades in consumer health and human services advocacy, will take over as the new director on December 1. She has been the department’s chief deputy director since 2011.   read more

EPA regional administrator Jared Blumenfeld told the Los Angeles Times his group suffered “severe” reactions to their walking tour that lasted for hours. “I've been to oil and gas production facilities throughout the region, but I've never had an experience like that before,” Blumenfeld said. The property is owned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and leased to operattor Allenco Energy Co.   read more

The Orange County Transportation Authority was poised last week to vote on a $1.47-billion project that could add the lanes to a 14-mile stretch of Interstate 405, but delayed a decision in the face of widespread community opposition. The transit agency estimates that northbound drivers would pay $9.91 during rush hour to traverse the entire 14 miles and $6.61 for the return trip. Assuming a five-day work week (and a month off for vacation), the cost would be $3,964.80 a year.   read more

The main sticking point was the inclusion of people in the injunction who were not given an opportunity to respond to accusations that they were members of the Orange Varrio Cypress gang. Court watchers said the ruling did not appear to attack the validity of gang injunctions in general. But John Anderson, Orange County assistant district attorney, disagreed. When the district judge ruled in May 2011, he told the Los Angeles Times, “I think it completely rewrites centuries of injunction law.”   read more

Common Cause Executive Director Kathy Feng told CBS she questioned the group’s sincerity when they say it is only trying to promote honest dialogue. “If Steve Peace is sincere in thinking that what he wants to do is promote dialogue then let’s come on back to California,” she said. “If, on the other hand, what this really is, is a front for special interests to funnel their money, to gain access to a couple of key legislators, then . . . I think that there needs to be an investigation.”   read more

Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) filed suit (pdf) to halt the Christian prayers routinely delivered at the start of Pismo Beach city council meetings. The foundation found that all but one of the 126 prayers offered between January 1, 2008, and October 15, 2013, were “addressed to a Christian god” and all but three were from Christian clergy. Pentecostal clergy delivered 112 of the prayers.   read more

Brown’s letter singled out Mariposa County government for assistance. There are no incorporated cities in the county, it has no street lights and there are just 18,251 residents. The county’s unemployment rate is 11.9%. But it depleted its contingency fund during the fire and was running a $230,000 deficit.   read more

California’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) fined Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) $8.1 million because a contractor performed “non-standard” tests on gas pipelines after the 2010 San Bruno pipeline blast killed eight people and leveled a neighborhood. By “non-standard” testing, the PUC means a bunch of critical pipe welds were skipped during inspections.   read more

An “appalled” American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) in Washington sent a letter to the Coachella Valley Unified School District demanding that the school dump the Arab, “a harmful form of ethnic stereotyping.” Although the ACD recognized the “context in which the nickname was originally selected,” it said there was no place for this behavior in the 21st Century.   read more

Secretary of State Deborah Bowen and Attorney General Kamala Harris, both named in the lawsuit, opposed Barta’s demands until the end of October when they reversed course. They acknowledged the statutes were unconstitutional, but argued that no remedies were necessary because the state wasn’t enforcing them.   read more

Voters made what progressives were hoping was a political statement that would go beyond a single act of defiance by rejecting a luxury high-rise waterfront condominium development that the Board of Supervisors approved last year. Reporters for the San Francisco Bay Guardian, partying with the winners on election night, said “it felt like a blow against Mayor Ed Lee’s economic policies, the gentrification of the city, and the dominion that developers and power brokers have at City Hall.”   read more

The city at-large was not as disenchanted with McCammack as her 7th Ward constituents, 57% of whom voted to recall her. She was viewed as an ally of entrenched political forces, although she insisted throughout the campaign that she opposed the policies that drove the city into bankruptcy. McCammack received 25.65% of the vote for mayor, followed by Davis at 23.42%.   read more

The animals, a mixture of wild boars and pigs weighing up to 300 pounds, have roamed the Almaden Hills for centuries and do occasionally venture into civilization. But, for the past two weeks, dozens have been gathering in groups and wandering through suburban neighborhoods. They tear up lawns—$10,000 in damage at the Almaden Golf and Country Club—and intimidate the citizenry, although no attacks on people have been reported.   read more

The former councilman was videotaped accepting piles of cash in exchange for land he owned and a guarantee that he could get the council to make lucrative zoning changes to it. The FBI called the scheme “brazen” and said it was the largest bribe an undercover agent had ever received. Co agreed to plead guilty to one count of bribery and one count of filing a false corporate tax return in an unrelated case, and could get 13 years in federal prison.   read more