“California has essentially reversed the regulatory process when it comes to fracking," CAFrackFacts' Jackie Pomeroy told Indybay. "State regulators have finalized California's fracking rules a full six months before any of the mandated scientific studies have been completed. Given the long-term and potentially irreversible impacts of fracking and well stimulation, it is critical that we make policy decisions based on science—unfortunately, the current timeline makes this impossible.”   read more

Ten of the other 12 presidential libraries are headed by archivists or historians. Michael D. Ellzey’s last job was as the Irvine assistant city manager overseeing development of controversial Orange County Great Park. Ellzey’s predecessor was an archivist and at the center of a dispute over how President Richard Nixon’s legacy should be presented.   read more

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) did not have a spot for favorite son California on its Top 10 List of significant events in 2014. But the folks at the Drug Policy Alliance say the state had a good year reforming some of its more egregious practices.   read more

Aggravated assaults were up 24.2% in 2014 compared to the year before. Rapes jumped 13.9% while robberies and homicides moved slightly up. Overall, violent crimes were up 12.4%. Aggravated assaults were at the heart of the Times investigation, published in August, which found police reports littered with mistakes that were either egregious errors or willful deceit.   read more

The $9 million toilet-to-tap project, as some critics refer to it, was supposed to go online December 22, but the Cambria Community Services District cited paperwork and the posting of a bond for the delay. While those final details are attended to, the aquifer and wells that Cambria relies on are refilling.   read more

A state appellate court won’t make the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) change its vehicle impound policy, which helps undocumented immigrants by ordering officers not to take advantage of state law that lets them grab an unlicensed driver’s ride for an expensive 30 days. A three-judge panel of California’s Second District Court of Appeal made its unanimous ruling last week, four months after giving a hard time to plaintiffs during oral arguments.   read more

A new lawsuit filed this week in Los Angeles County Superior Court cites a known, and growing, list of toxic transgressions in alleging that a cover-up by top employees at Exide endangered the health of 60 children living near the plant. Earlier this month, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey told Exide shareholders they were hosed and weren't going to get back any of their investments, according to Bloomberg.   read more

Superior Court Judge Robert H. O’Brien issued a temporary injunction against Nestdrop, blocking the service, after Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer filed a lawsuit. The company, an alcohol-delivery service that launched a pot option in the summer, uses a smartphone app to bring together a network of medical marijuana dispensaries and connect them to customers.   read more

The attorneys want to look at public records that show what the department owns, what training manuals are used, and what guideline and restrictions exist for Stingrays. They would also like six months worth of any legal motions or documents submitted to a judge for use of the devices. The coalition filed a public records request for that information and received back from the department a single, heavily-redacted invoice for the Stingray purchase. So they sued.   read more

The Oakland City Council approved an ordinance, 5-2, to ban bullhooks―big spike-tipped, spear-like implements with hooks that effectively bend the will of multi-ton creatures to that of their much smaller masters. Animal rights groups hate them and won the political argument. Oakland joins a small group of cities, including Los Angeles in 2013 and Miami, that have banned bullhooks.   read more

The agreement announced Thursday means the company will stop shaking down surfers at Paradise Cove, take down warning signs and open a locked gate. The agreement came after lawmakers passed legislation in the last session that armed two state commissions with long-sought authority to compel quick compliance with their orders. They threatened to fine Kissel $11,250 a day.   read more

Supporters regard it as a cost-effective way to continue down a path from virtual imprisonment to integration, begun 45 years ago when state lawmakers passed the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act. Critics complain that the state is abdicating responsibility for its most vulnerable residents by placing more of their care in private, for-profit hands, rather than funding improvements and managing the facilities better.   read more

An internal memo from then-PG&E Vice President Brian Cherry outlined his understanding of Commissioner Mike Florio’s commitment to helping shape a decision in a $1.3 billion rate case that would please the utility. Cherry wrote that Florio offered to help Commissioner Carla J. Peterman write her decision or, failing that, conjure up an alternative ruling for the commission’s consideration. Florio said the e-mail “does not accurately reflect my own recollection of that same conversation.”   read more

The group listed 10 concerns about the project, not the least of which is that customers of those insurance companies are automatically included in the system unless they proactively opt out. The group wants to know: if customers will be able to see their information stored in the database; who are the providers of information; who has access to the data; how is incorrect information fixed? Will insurers use this information for any purposes other than providing information to medical providers?   read more

By virtue of its size, L.A. becomes the largest U.S. city to adopt a body-camera policy, and the Los Angeles Times says its decision to put them on 7,000 of its 9,900 officers would be the largest deployment. Oakland police have been disciplined 24 times over the past two years for not turning their cameras on.   read more

Veterans and their advocates are none too pleased that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) allowed construction of an amphitheater to continue after a federal judge voided leases with businesses and organizations using the sprawling Westside campus for things that had questionable connections to vets. On Monday, a two-judge panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals put a halt to any further development until the government completed its appeal of the lower court’s ruling.   read more