The state’s Toxic Hot Spots program, initiated under Assembly Bill 2588 in 1987, requires sources of pollution to notify the public if the calculated health risk to humans is 10 in 1 million or more. If the risk is 25 in 1 million or more, the facility has three years to come up with a solution. Exide’s calculated risk is 156 in 1 million.   read more

State Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials stripped GPS devices from thousands of paroled gang members and sex offenders last year and replaced them after tests showed an alarming rate of failure. The Los Angeles Times filled in the redacted gaps of a state report on the tests, conducted in 2011 on devices being used to track 7,900 high-risk parolees and felons.   read more

The study, published in the peer-reviewed Biomedicine International, found 4,319 fewer cancers over 20 years, including declines in 28 of 31 specific categories. It’s the first study of long-term changes in the health status of people living near nuclear plants and is certain to be of interest to the 65 communities hosting 104 aging nuclear reactors around the country.   read more

The San Jose Mercury News reported Thursday that the state Attorney General’s office, on behalf of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, will utilize a legal maneuver only available to the government that allows for the consolidation of future lawsuits against the state by inviting interested parties to join one big one now.   read more

Senate Bill 467 would require the authorities to obtain search warrants before demanding that service providers turn over emails. The bill would also apply to messages and profiles stored on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites. Currently, emails that have been saved on a server for more than 180 days or have already been opened by the recipient are fair game.   read more

For the second year in a row, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) has introduced legislation to impose state control on a chaotic medical marijuana scene. The understaffed, overburdened state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) would oversee a newly-created Division of Medical Cannabis Regulation and Enforcement, rather than have a standalone department run the operation.   read more

A survey of facilities belonging to the state’s largest HMO by the California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) found a number of factors that made it impossible to gauge how well services were being delivered. The report, released this month, is a follow-up to a preliminary report in August 2012 that listed a series of deficiencies the department wanted addressed.   read more

Days before a critical hearing on federal oversight of California prisons, Judge Lawrence Karlton wants to know why the state’s expert witnesses were given a “secret” tour of facilities in apparent contravention of his previous order not to do that. Testimony from four state mental health experts about prison conditions was given after they visited facilities where they spoke to inmates in 2011, all without the knowledge of the plaintiffs bringing suit to compel better inmate care.   read more

Good grades and high test scores weren’t enough to save three charter schools from a closure order by the Oakland Unified School District board. The board voted 4-3 Wednesday to close the American Indian Model Schools (AIMS) on June 30 primarily because of financial irregularities, although all three schools rank among the state’s top charter schools academically.   read more

The California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) has developed, in recent years, a tool for measuring a range of factors that helps better define the impact environmental pollution has on a community. Not surprisingly, the state’s Central Valley dominates the CalEnviroScreen list of communities (identified by zip codes) that have the highest health risks.   read more

The early results are in and one out of every six voters is out. Around 300,000 voters who were listed on the rolls but hadn’t voted since 2010 were sent postcards after the election requiring them to respond or face removal. Only 20,000 returned the card, O.C. Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley told the Orange County Register. Those purged can still vote, if they re-register.   read more

The Southern California branch of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) was expelled by the national parent association this week, bringing to an end a pay-to-play scandal that stretched back to 2010. The local bureau, largest in the nation, claimed it was just following orders when it bumped up the ratings for dues-paying members, an allegation denied by the home office in Arlington, Virginia.   read more

Apparently the cost of outraging a city’s municipal leaders, insulting religious groups and stirring up culture bias is around $5,000. That’s what the San Francisco Muni system says it will donate to the local Human Rights Commission to balance revenues received from the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) for its inflammatory anti-Islam ads posted this week on buses in the city.   read more

A novel approach by neighborhoods concerned about sex offenders in their midst may usher in a golden age of pocket parks, but its contribution to public safety remains up for debate. The city of Los Angeles is building three tiny parks in two communities that are home to clusters of convicted sex offenders, in an effort to drive them away. Jessica’s Law prohibits persons convicted of sex crimes from living within 2,000 feet of a park or school, greatly limiting their ability to find housing.   read more

One month after lawmakers said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was sitting on a document that indicated operators of the San Onofre nuclear plant knew in advance about potential problems at the troubled facility, a redacted version was released to the public last week. Upon review, critics detected the acrid smell of a smoking gun while plant designer Mitsubishi and operator Southern California Edison seemed satisfied they had complied with all regulatory requirements.   read more

To right-wingers, they are “Obamaphones,” government handouts for people who abuse taxpayer generosity by illegally hoarding the freebies and fraudulently exploiting the system for personal gain. To the poor people who take advantage of Lifeline, the federal program that subsidizes phone service, its expansion in California to include free access to cellphones is an opportunity to communicate in a modern world the way most people do.   read more