The first ad brought to the public’s attention was suspected, at first, to be a ham-handed hoax meant to cast Airbnb in a poor light. That was not the case. It read: “Dear Public Library System, We hope you use some of the $12 million . . . to keep the library open later. . . . Love, Airbnb.”   read more

Media Matters included Drum in its roundup of critics of the article, but started its critique by citing the 2014 National Climate Assessment that projected 74% more wildfires in California because of climate change. Other scientific studies and a survey of fire experts are mentioned, but the lengthy piece ends with eight separate complaints about the Times story’s first expert, Roger Pielke.   read more

Southern California Edison (SCE) characterizes new documents released this week as records of “procedural” contacts between the utility and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) administrative law judge who signed off on the controversial $4.7-billion San Onofre nuclear plant settlement. Critics call them smoking guns that establish improper behavior by Judge Melanie M. Darling.   read more

Around 400 California prisoners, out of 125,000, are being treated for gender dysphoria, a condition in which a person's psychological identity is the opposite of their biological sex.Many of them are receiving hormone therapy. Not all of them will automatically qualify for gender reassignment surgery.   read more

Wyatt had made his controversial defense of the school district in a civil suit brought by attorneys for the girl after her teacher, Elkis Hermida, was convicted of lewd and lascivious acts with a minor and sentenced to three years in prison in 2011 for the five-month affair.   read more

Last week, the justices voted 4-3 against hearing the appeal of a 10-year-old boy convicted of shooting his abusive, drug addicted neo-Nazi father to death while he slept in 2011. The boy was initially found guilty in juvenile court of what would have been second-degree murder if he were an adult and committed to the state Division of Juvenile Justice for seven years.   read more

A year ago, when it was discovered that California’s Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) didn’t really monitor the state’s injection wells, 23 were shut down and a survey of the other 50,000 commenced at the behest of the EPA. DOGGR is in the California Department of Conservation. All but two of the 33 new closed wells are in Kern County.   read more

Last week, the East Bay Municipal Utility District identified the worst water scofflaws and Bay Area sports fans were crestfallen. It wasn’t surprising that the list was headed by a retired Chevron executive and a venture capitalist/CEO. But third on the list was Billy Beane, Oakland A’s executive and a guru of baseball analytics who was portrayed in the movie “Moneyball” by Brad Pitt. Beane’s Moneyball philosophy is that one must be innovative when having to make do with fewer resources.   read more

There were really 7% more violent crimes and 16% more serious assaults than reported, according to an investigation by the Los Angeles Times. The Times found a lot of the mistakes by searching through reports for words like “knife” and “stab.” If they were innocent errors, one would expect to find a similar pattern in less serious crimes. But that was not the case.   read more

The bridge experts said there was no doubt dehumidifiers would work and should be installed immediately unless someone has a good reason not to. They didn’t mention the cost, but it is expected to run into the tens of millions of dollars.Committee chairman and BATA Executive Director Steve Heminger told the Chronicle.“We asked for advice. We don’t have to take every bit of advice we get.”   read more

Three public interest groups sued the Forest Service on Tuesday, seeking a halt to water diversions that occur at 11 locations at or near Strawberry Creek. The groups argued that the 1988 special permit Nestlé operated under required the company to be in compliance with federal and state environmental laws. Since the permit has been extended annually, for a fee of $524, without any review, there is no basis for asserting that compliance.   read more

Around one-fifth of the nation’s nearly 1,000 reported drone incidents happened in California from April 1, 2014, to August 20, 2015, according to the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA). More than half of the California incidents were within 5 miles of an airport. More often than not, that airport was LAX, where 42 of the incidents occurred. But 60 communities in the state reported incidents.   read more

Californians don’t register, and if they do, they don’t vote. Assembly Bill 1461 directs the DMV to send information to the Secretary of State’s office on all successful applicants for driver’s licenses and state identification cards. Those records will be considered a completed affidavit of voting registration and eligible drivers will automatically be on the voter rolls unless they specifically ask not to be.   read more

The report found that oil companies violated their drilling permits 822 times in 2014 and in 17 cases started their operations before receiving one. Most of the transgressions were dealt with by sending the oil company a notice of violation. But DOGGR’s internal review was most critical of operations in the Los Angeles basin, where only 22% of drilling operations underwent a mandatory annual Area of Review (AOR). Only five of the projects received a review in the last five years.   read more

The governor signed Senate Bill 172 this week, suspending the exam as a requirement for receiving a diploma until July 2018 and applying it to everyone going back 11 years. Students who qualify can apply retroactively for a certificate. Students who couldn’t get into the military, a four-year college or vocational school without the diploma a decade ago may now reapply.   read more

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) denied permission to use the railroad right-of-way for its 43-mile pipeline. The agency said Cadiz would have to apply for its own right-of-way permit, which would be subject to the public scrutiny of a full environmental review. Critics say the Cadiz plan could not survive that.   read more