Top Stories
Immigration Crackdown, Amid Labor Unrest, at Latino Supermarket Chain
Mi Pueblo Food Center, a 21-store Latino supermarket chain undergoing labor turmoil, is facing a surly customer base and an unnerved workforce after revealing that it joined a controversial federal computer system that screens for the immigration status of employees, and is now being audited by the government. read more
Edison Wants to Restart San Onofre Nuclear Plant for 5 Months to See What’s Still Shakin’
Nine months after radioactive steam leaking from vibrating generator tubes damaged by faulty engineering led to a shutdown of the twin nuclear reactors at San Onofre, Southern California Edison would like to fire the plant back up and see if it can operate safely at 70% power. read more
State Makes it Easier for Illegal Immigrants to Drive, Harder to Avoid Deportation
It hasn’t been a good month for immigrant-rights advocates, who saw Governor Jerry Brown sign legislation enabling some who are here illegally to receive driver’s licenses through an already-enacted federal program, while vetoing a fistful of important bills.
Brown ended a weeklong flurry of bill signings and vetoes by giving the Trust Act a thumbs down on Sunday night. read more
Most 3-Strike Inmates Are Addicts, but Are No Greater Threat than Non-Addicts
Almost three-quarters of inmates in California prisons for three-strike convictions are addicts, compared to 48% in the general prison population, according to public record data crunched by the San Francisco Chronicle and California Watch. Seventy-six percent of prisoners whose third-strike was for burglary are likely to have substance abuse issues. read more
State Worked Six Years to Fix Teacher Problem Over-Hyped by Erroneous Stats
Statistics in 2005-06, which showed that 58% of instructors in the state’s worst schools lacked proper teaching credentials, mistakenly doubled the size of the problem by counting records twice.
That school year was used as a baseline for judging further progress and, indeed, progress was swift without the duplicated records. read more
New S.F. Archbishop Is Anti-Gay Crusader Who Led Fight for Prop. 8
In one week, half a million Bay Area Catholics will have a new archbishop, one who believes a fair number of his flock shouldn’t receive the sacrament of Holy Communion, central to life as a Catholic, much less have the right to get married.
Archbishop-designate Salvatore Cordileone, named to his new post by Pope Benedict XVI a month ago, was a prime mover behind the anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 in 2008. read more
Chevron’s Richmond Refinery Piped around Pollution Monitors
The Chevron oil refinery in Richmond, crippled since August because of a fire, has been under federal criminal investigation since a discovery in 2009 by inspectors that a 100-foot pipe detoured gas around pollution monitors for four years and burned it off elsewhere.
Chevron says it was a misunderstanding. read more
Feds Threaten to Pull Plug on JPMorgan Trading in Energy Market
Nearly three months after the U.S. government sued a reluctant JPMorgan Chase & Co. for documents during an investigation of allegations that it had manipulated California energy prices, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is threatening to suspend its energy trading unit from the state market. read more
Scammers Scoop up College Financial Aid Online
Acting as if they attended the same seminars on how to rip off the U.S. Department of Education, groups of fraudsters operating independently used stolen personal identity information and “straw students”―who have no intention of earning a credential―to steal $770,000 through California online schools and community colleges. read more
Controversial GMO Report Highlights Dearth of Scientific Studies
Less than two months before Californians vote on whether products using genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) should be labeled as such, a new French study has cast deep doubts about the safety of the products.
Peer-reviewed research by Caen University in France found that rats fed a lifelong diet of modified corn suffered breast tumors and liver and kidney damage. read more
San Francisco Clean Power Plan Ends PG&E Monopoly, for Now
In what appeared to be a veto-proof 8-3 vote Tuesday night, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors ended Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E) monopoly on the local consumer power market by approving a five-year contract with a company that will provide 100% renewable power. read more
Researchers of Anti-Organic Report at Stanford Funded by Agribusiness
Researchers at Stanford University recently claimed that organic foods are no safer or nutritious than conventional foods. Organic advocates were taken aback by the findings, and after doing a little digging, discovered why the experts might say such a thing.
It turns out that Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, which supports the academicians who released the controversial study, has received funding from the chemical and agribusiness industry. read more
Organic Food Companies Join Monsanto, Dupont to Fight GMO Labeling
When a proposition was put on the November California ballot requiring the labeling of genetically modified food, everyone knew that the big bioengineering companies and agribusiness giants would contribute heavily toward defeating the measure.
And they have. But, to the consternation of some Prop. 37 opponents, Monsanto, Dupont and the like have been joined in the fight by the parent companies of some of the most popular organic food producers in the country. read more
Fracking Lurks Behind Potential Monterey Shale Oil Boom
The federal government plans to auction off drilling rights in California to a big hunk of the largest source of shale oil in the United States after declaring that the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, would have “no significant impact” on the environment. read more
Teacher Shortages in the Age of Layoffs, or Vice Versa
Four months after the media headline in most any California school district could easily have been “Deadline Looms for Teacher Layoff Notices,” the State Superintendent of Public Instruction is warning of a looming teacher shortage.
“At the very moment the need for outstanding educators seems most urgent, talented teachers are being displaced by budget cuts and discouraged by trying working conditions,” Superintendent Tom Torlakson wrote at the beginning of a new 96-page report. read more
School Seismic Safety Reform Dies in the Legislature
California Watch apparently impressed the Pulitzer Prize committee—with its internet series last year on seismic safety deficiencies in public schools—more than the Legislature, which quietly let die a bill to enforce earthquake standards and reform the agency that oversees school construction. read more