Controversies
Ride-Sharing Drives S.F. Taxi Industry to the Brink
A report from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) indicated that taxi drivers picked up 65% fewer fares in July than in March 2012, a drop from 1,424 fares per car per month to 504. The city has about 9,000 cab drivers. Just about every publication is calling it the Uber Effect, in honor of the Bay Area smartphone startup that tapped into the sharing economy in 2012 and rewrote the business model for getting people from here to there. read more
Truancy, Driven by Low Income and Marked by Racial Divide, Still Costing State Billions
Much of California Attorney General Kamala Harris’ 2014 report on truancy and absenteeism in elementary schools could easily be swapped with last year’s dismal inaugural annual review. But this year’s report takes note of an enormous racial and economic divide. “Almost 90% of the elementary students with the most severe attendance problems—those who miss 36 days or more of school per year—are estimated to be low-income,” the report released last week says. read more
Drought Is More than Looming Threat to 1,000 without Water in East Porterville
Tulare County Office of Emergency Services Manager Andrew Lockman said he began getting a trickle of calls about dry wells in February and by June it was gushing. Last month, county employees and volunteers went door-to-door dropping off 12 gallons of bottled water per person at 185 homes in East Porterville occupied by 960 people. The water was expected to last about three weeks. read more
L.A. Schools Too Busy Rolling Out iPads to Actually Use Them
“The early implementation goal was to just get the devices out, that was basically it, just get the devices out, use them as quick as possible,” according to one of the 14 “virtual learning complex facilitators” hired by LAUSD. “There were other goals . . ., they were talked about but they really didn’t get implemented.” Those goals included giving students a leg up on adoption of new Common Core education standards. read more
Lawsuit Filed over Medi-Cal Backlog of 350,000 Stranded Applicants
One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Visalia resident Frances Rivera, is suing because her son Robert applied for Medi-Cal in January but died from a pulmonary embolism two months before his application was approved in June. The suit says Robert delayed some treatment while he was uninsured because of the expense. read more
Odor Alert at Salton Sea Is Reminder that Ecological Disaster Looms
The Pacific Institute recently released a report that said failure to save the sea could worsen air quality, destroy valuable ecological habitat, diminish recreational revenue and devalue property―all at a cost to the state of up to $70 billion over 30 years. Although the rotten smell of the decaying lake is nothing to be sniffed at, the report points out that a larger danger of a dry sea bed is from blowing dust in a region with 650,000 people. read more
New L.A. Veterans Home Still Half Vacant and Lacking a Kitchen
The 396-bed building, which cost $253 million, was constructed without full cooking facilities because the state thought it had a deal with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to arrange for independent food service.
That didn’t happen.
So, despite there being an estimated 6,000-plus homeless and disabled veterans wandering around Los Angeles—tops in the nation—half the home for senior veterans at the sprawling Westwood campus is sporting cobwebs. read more
Health Department Investigating Tainted Rice Claims after Lawsuit Filed
According to the lawsuit, filed in July in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the 700-member cooperative was taking the worst quality “flush rice” and mixing it in with higher-priced premium and medium quality rice. The flush rice is so crummy, food and drug laws allow it to be stored in less than optimal conditions. It is “filthy, putrid, decomposed, or substandard” and is not meant to be consumed by people. But pets eat it up. read more
State Senator Wright Sentenced for 8 Felonies but May Not Serve Time
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy gave Senator Roderick D. Wright (D-Inglewood) 90 days in lockup, fined him $2,000, ordered him to perform 1,500 hours of community service and put him on probation for three years for not living in his district and lying about it. The judge said Wright understood the law and displayed “arrogance” by acting as if it didn’t apply to him. The Associated Press said she pretty much called him a liar. read more
Big Berkeley Battle in the National Soda Tax War
I what may be the biggest battle yet in the fight to pass a tax on soft drinks, voters in Berkeley will decide in November whether to adopt a one-cent-per-fluid-ounce tax on soda companies. But the industry, which has successfully defeated every soda tax effort in the country so far, is determined to keep Berkeley from becoming the first community to take this big step. read more
Construction Industry Underpays Thousands of “Informal” California Workers
Construction jobs were once a crucial segment of middle-class employment, but that has deteriorated significantly. The study looked at statistics dating back to 1972, when only 6% of the construction industry was considered “informal.” Since then, misclassified workers and those missing from the payroll have grown 400%. read more
Cal State East Bay Computers Safe from Aesthetes but Not Hackers
The California State University school said that hackers stole the names, addresses and Social Security numbers of 6,037 people, mostly faculty and staff members who had been with the school between June 2001 and August 2013. Around 500 people had their birth dates stolen, too. The hack apparently occurred last year but was only discovered in August. read more
In Los Angeles County, Wealthy Lead a Dangerous Charge Against Vaccines
Most of the L.A. County parents that invoke the exemption live along the coast and a good many of them have kids in private schools. Around 25% of the private school kindergartners were in schools with a vaccination exemption rate below the herd safety level, compared to 10% in 2007. Public school rates jumped from 5% to 11% during the same period. read more
Domino’s Wins Harassment Lawsuit by Claiming It’s Not an Employer
The four justices decided that the franchisee was an independent contractor, with autonomy as a manager and an employer themselves. The decision was diametrically opposed to one made by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) a month ago. The board declared that it will treat McDonald’s as an employer in determining if its franchises had committed 43 labor violations. read more
One in 10 California Workers Are Undocumented Immigrants
Illegal immigrants contribute $130 billion to the state’s gross domestic product, which is around $1.9 trillion. They make up 38% of the agricultural workforce and 14% of the construction industry. Those numbers might be higher if 117,000 illegals had not been deported since 2009. Half of them have been in the country for at least 10 years and nearly 75% live in a household with a U.S. citizen. Around 58% lack health insurance. read more
Worst Outbreak Ever of West Nile Virus in California
So far this year, 181 cases and eight deaths in 22 counties have been reported in the state, compared to 101 cases and six deaths at this time last year. Although most people who are infected do not display serious symptoms, about 1% can develop devastating neurologic illness, like meningitis or encephalitis. read more