Top Stories
One-Week Until Energy Market Launch, and Polluters Are Still Fighting for Discounts
California is poised to open the world’s second-largest carbon market, in an effort to cap greenhouse gas emissions and lower pollution levels to the 1990s, but opponents are still fighting for fundamental changes days before launch. read more
Oh, Shucks! PUC Forced to Cancel Long-Delayed Federal-Ordered Audit of Its Own Oversight Shortcomings
After a gas pipeline in San Bruno exploded in flames, killing eight people and leveling a neighborhood, a federal investigation laid the blame at the feet of pipeline owner Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) but included lax state oversight as a contributing factor. read more
Quota-Driven Pharmacies Refill Prescriptions without Patient OKs
Getting a prescription filled at your favorite pharmacy is getting easier by the day. You don’t even have to ask; the pharmacy will sign you up for an automatic refill without your permission and order your meds, even if you don’t want them to. read more
Fewer Uninsured Kids in State, but Program Responsible for Drop Is Now Gone
California has had marked success since 2009 at getting more children medically insured—and, consequently, provided with better health care—but the program critical to that success was axed this year by Governor Jerry Brown’s budget. read more
State Lawmakers Hide Their Votes by Changing the Record Afterward
AB 1707 was a hot potato when it came up for a vote in the Assembly on August 30. Some legislators feared they might be viewed as soft on crime if they voted for a bill that would allow a limited number of people who had been designated as child abusers when they were minors―including foster children who were nicked for getting into fights―to have their names removed from the state registry. read more
Billboard Company Writes the L.A. City Council Proposal on Digital Signs
When two Los Angeles city council members wanted to write an ordinance to deal with 100 controversial electronic billboards currently the subject of lawsuits, they turned to the experts―lobbyists for Clear Channel, the outdoor advertising company that owned 80% of the signs. read more
Nuclear Industry Opposes Cancer Study that Includes San Onofre Power Plant
Twenty years after a federal study found no cancer danger to people living near nuclear power plants, a new study is being launched at seven facilities, including one at California’s San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station between San Diego and Los Angeles. read more
Life Insurance Companies Have “Fleeced” Beneficiaries out of $138 Million
American International Group (AIG) has agreed to pay $25 million to $30 million to 10,000 California beneficiaries of life insurance policies the company overlooked, bringing to $138 million the amount recovered by the state from five insurance companies.
The latest agreement is part of a larger pact that recovered $300 million for beneficiaries in 39 states and the District of Columbia. read more
Entrepreneur “Seeds” Ocean with 100 Tons of Iron Dust, Outrages Scientists
Russ George was anointed the world’s first geo-vigilante in The New Yorker this week for dumping 100 tons of iron sulfate off the coast of British Columbia in July, triggering a 10,000-square-kilometer plankton bloom that the California businessman hoped would pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and take to the Pacific Ocean’s depths. read more
Opponents of GMO Food Labeling Accused of Mislabeling Their Ads
The advertising mailer seems unmistakably clear: “The US Food and Drug Administration says a labeling policy like Prop 37 would be ‘inherently misleading’ ” and beneath the quote is the FDA logo.
It may be clear, but it’s probably not true. read more
Shadowy Group Contributes to Proposition that Warns of Special Interest Influence
A secretive, conservative Phoenix-based special interest group just dropped $11 million into campaigns opposing Governor Jerry Brown’s Proposition 30 and supporting the anti-union Proposition 32 that bills itself as anti-special interest. read more
L.A. County Assessor, Charged in Bribery Scandal, Is Keeping His Job and Salary
Los Angeles County Assessor John Noguez, arrested Wednesday in an alleged bribery scheme that resulted in large property tax reductions for wealthy campaign contributors, will continue to receive his $192,000-a-year salary while waiting to see the outcome of his trial.
Since Noguez is an elected official, only a felony conviction, a recall or the end of his term in 2014 allows for his removal from office. read more
Environmentalists Sue State over Letting Drillers Frack without Oversight
Environmental groups who claim the state is allowing energy companies to drill using a controversial method called fracking without providing oversight required by law filed suit Tuesday to halt the practice.
Earthjustice, a nonprofit public interest law firm, filed a lawsuit in state Superior Court accusing the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) in the Department of Conservation of rubber stamping the issuance of drilling permits for projects. read more
As Ad Money Pours In, Support for GMO Labeling Plummets
A barrage of questionable advertising, fueled by millions of dollars from giant biotech and agriculture corporations, has eviscerated support for Proposition 37, an initiative that would require labeling of genetically-modified food (GMOs). read more
Consultant on Keystone XL Pipeline Gives Baldwin Hills Fracking a Clean Bill of Health
A yearlong study paid for by the owner of the Inglwood Oil Field in the Baldwin Hills area of Los Angeles County has concluded that hydraulic fracturing―the controversial practice of oil and gas extraction known as fracking―poses no harm to the environment.
Cardno Entrix was the consultant to the U.S. Department of State on TransCanada’s Keystone XL Pipeline and wrote that the controversial project would have “limited adverse environmental impact.” read more
Federal Agency Paying Millions to Develop Hacker Allies in High Schools
The U.S. Department of Defense is spending $10 million over the next three years to help high schoolers become better computer hackers, starting with 16 schools in California this fall.
Manufacturing Experimentation and Outreach (MENTOR) is being run by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a unique government research organization that funds projects devoted to developing cutting edge technology related to national security. read more