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

Sacramento’s police department has agreed to pay nearly $800,000 to more than 1,000 homeless people for destroying their property. The destruction occurred during numerous raids on homeless campsites over the last seven years.   read more

Nine months after radioactive steam leaking from vibrating generator tubes damaged by faulty engineering led to a shutdown of the twin nuclear reactors at San Onofre, Southern California Edison would like to fire the plant back up and see if it can operate safely at 70% power.   read more

The verdict is in and it seems nearly unanimous. A series of refinery and pipeline mishaps, California’s isolation from the national pipeline grid, and its pollution restrictions have doomed the state to record-high pump prices. Yet, according to the California Energy Commission (CEC), output of California-specific gasoline—tailored to meet the state’s pollution standards—is just 2.5% lower than this time last year.   read more

There are no shortages of challenges for Timothy P. White, selected Thursday as the new chancellor of the 23-campus California State University (CSU). He succeeds Charles B. Reed, who retired after 14 years at the helm.   read more

A new Senate report says that so-called “fusion centers” meant to unite federal, state and local anti-terrorism efforts were an abject failure, and California provided some prime examples of their uselessness.   read more

Although Governor Jerry Brown believes that “pupil nutrition is profoundly important,” he feels it is trumped by the need of charter schools to “be free from large portions of the voluminous state Education Code.” That was the message delivered last week when the governor vetoed Assembly Bill 1594, legislation that would have compelled charter schools to provide low-income students with free or reduced-price meals like those served, by law, in traditional schools.   read more

California has long stood as a symbol of government bureaucratic sprawl, especially for conservatives who condemn its cost, its overzealous regulatory activities and its waste. However, judging by the state’s number of government employees, that might not be a fair image. Only four states had a lower ratio of government workers compared to population than California as of March 2011, according to U.S. Census numbers crunched by the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy.   read more

Only a dozen states now retain the word “Game” in the title of their wildlife agencies after Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation last week changing the name of California’s Department of Fish and Game to the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Come January 1, the department will also be known as CalWild (to go with CalFire and CalTrans).   read more

It hasn’t been a good month for immigrant-rights advocates, who saw Governor Jerry Brown sign legislation enabling some who are here illegally to receive driver’s licenses through an already-enacted federal program, while vetoing a fistful of important bills. Brown ended a weeklong flurry of bill signings and vetoes by giving the Trust Act a thumbs down on Sunday night.   read more

With a March referendum on pot shops bearing straight ahead and a federal crackdown closing in the rear view mirror, the Los Angeles City Council slammed on the brakes and ended its short-lived pronounced ban on medical marijuana dispensaries.   read more

The Ventura County city of Simi Valley passed an ordinance last month requiring that all 67 Simi Valley sex offenders listed on the Megan’s Law website post well-lit signs with letters at least one inch tall warning trick-or-treaters that this is no place to seek favors. Last week, an attorney for five of the listed offenders asked a judge in U.S. District Court, Central District, Western Division to grant an injunction against enforcement of the ordinance.   read more

Almost three-quarters of inmates in California prisons for three-strike convictions are addicts, compared to 48% in the general prison population, according to public record data crunched by the San Francisco Chronicle and California Watch. Seventy-six percent of prisoners whose third-strike was for burglary are likely to have substance abuse issues.   read more

Six months after Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) officials disrupted a protest rally over police brutality by shutting down wireless service in the subway, the state Legislature unanimously passed Senate Bill 1160, requiring a court order before such actions can be taken. On Saturday, Governor Jerry Brown vetoed the bill, echoing warnings from law enforcement that it would interfere with “barricade, hostage and emergency circumstances.”   read more

California voters still have a massive dislike for state lawmakers, even after a 61% leap in approval since March 2010 and a steady climb toward a lousy 29% approval rating, according to a USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll. The Legislature’s approval rating was 18% in March 2010 and 21% in April 2011.   read more

Statistics in 2005-06, which showed that 58% of instructors in the state’s worst schools lacked proper teaching credentials, mistakenly doubled the size of the problem by counting records twice. That school year was used as a baseline for judging further progress and, indeed, progress was swift without the duplicated records.   read more

The San Francisco Police Department is long overdue for a computer upgrade. Due to the department’s antiquated software, all Asian Americans arrested have been listed as “Chinese” while all Latinos were marked down as “white.”   read more