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What Will California Do With Too Much Solar? But the success of solar has brought about a hidden downside: on some perfectly sunny days, solar farms are being told to turn off. That’s because in the spring and fall, when Californians aren’t using much air conditioning and demand for electricity is low, the surge of midday solar power is more than the state can use. It’s becoming a growing concern for those running the grid at the
California Independent System Operator. At their Folsom headquarters,
a team continually manages the power supply for most of the state, keeping
the lights on for some 30 million people.
More
Marin begins cycling speed enforcement campaign on open space trails Officials hesitated to characterize the move as a crackdown, preferring instead to call it a pilot program that initially will be aimed at educating trail users. "We want to get data, educate users and hopefully gain a useful tool,"
said Max Korten, assistant director of county parks. "Through the Road
and Trail Management Plan there are a number of proposals to open trail
alignments to bikes that have caused safety concerns among some neighbors
and preserve visitors about the speed of bikes on the trails," he said.
"It's important that as we consider implementing some of these proposals;
we have a tool to address this potential issue."
More
FBI Investigating Reports Of 17 Men Chanting, Firing Off Shots In Apple Valley San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies and an FBI agent responded to the scene Sunday morning and detained the men – reportedly all of Middle Eastern descent – who were camping out in the Deep Creek Hot Springs area Sunday morning, authorities said. A 911 caller reported hearing over 100 shots fired and seeing five
to seven men wearing turbans and shooting “assault rifles, handguns,
and shotguns,” according to a Sheriff’s Department statement. A county
sheriff’s helicopter located the men walking near a creek with backpacks
“and other items”, The Los Angeles Times reported.
More
Anti-auto campaign falls flat Over the last decade, many legislative bills, numerous executive orders and a paper blizzard of plans and regulations from state agencies have declared war on petroleum-burning cars. Adopted in the name of reducing climate-changing carbon emissions,
strategies include spending billions on mass transit, goading local
governments into fostering transit-oriented, high-density housing, raising
driving costs, and allowing traffic congestion to worsen.
More
Bullet train's first segment, reserved for Southland, could open in Bay Area instead The state rail authority is studying an alternative to build the first segment in the Bay Area, running trains from San Jose to Bakersfield. If the plan does change, it would be a significant reversal that carries big financial, technical and political impacts, especially in Southern California. “You can’t ignore Southern California or Los Angeles or Orange County
and say we are going to go north, period,” said Richard Katz, a longtime
Southern California transportation official and former Assembly majority
leader. “It made sense to start in the south, given the population and
the serious transportation problems here.”
More
The Porter Ranch Gas Leak: Blame Gov. Jerry Brown While the leak was first discovered in late October, it took Brown
two full months to declare a state of emergency. This, after UC Davis
scientist Stephen Conley in early November determined that 100,000 pounds
of methane was leaking per hour at the site, or 1,200 tons per day.
Of course, this inaction is par for the course for Brown, who has long
ignored the perils of oil and gas production in the state, especially
when it comes to fracking, which may have played a role in the Porter
Ranch rupture. In the short term, scientists estimate the leaking methane
is more than 80 times more potent than CO2 when it comes warming of
our atmosphere.
More
Woman found in refrigerator in Santa Ana had been there more than a year The couple who placed the body there told police she was a relative they had been caring for, but they didn’t report her death to authorities because of their immigration status, said Cpl. Anthony Bertagna of the Santa Ana Police Department. Around 2 p.m. Thursday, a homeowner was cleaning a detached garage in the 1000 block of North Jackson Street so it could be rented out when the refrigerator inside was opened because of a strong odor coming from it, Bertagna said. A couple had been the last tenants in the garage, but moved out around September. Detectives found them several hours later in Garden Grove, where they now live, Bertagna said. They said the woman in the refrigerator was Ricarda Reyes-Villalobos
and that she was a relative from Mexico under their care, he said.
More
New 2016 California laws take effect: What you need to know SB 491 will make it illegal to wear earbuds or headsets in both ears while driving a vehicle or riding a bicycle. Riders on electric skateboards must be 16 years or older, wear helmets and ride on roads with a speed limit of 35 mph or less. Under AB 604, it will also be against the law to ride an electric skateboard while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The state's emergency alert system, typically used as Amber Alerts in child-abduction cases, will be used to broadcast a "Yellow Alert" to find hit-and-run drivers in incidents that result in death or major injuries. AB 8 written by Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Glendale) takes effect on Jan. 1, 2016. AB 10 will raise California's minimum wage to $10 an hour from $9
an hour, well above the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour. Several legislative
and ballot initiative proposals will push for a $15 an hour minimum
wage as early as 2020. More
What is El Niño bringing us besides rain? Hammerhead sharks, experts say The periodic ocean pattern characterized by unusually warm water in the eastern Pacific could cause heavy rain as it heats the atmosphere and changes circulation patterns, according to forecasters. But experts say the weather is drawing dozens of great white sharks and several hammerheads to the coast because their food sources are migrating from more tropical areas, the Huntington Beach Independent reported. "You've got a whole tropical food chain that's moved into our neighborhood,"
said Chris Lowe, a marine biology professor at Cal State Long Beach.
"That warm water is bringing that food up here, and that food is being
followed by its predators. That's how we get that subtropical food web
that we normally don't have showing up here."
More
All 20 ‘Worst Small Cities in America’ in California Each year WalletHub publishes a list of the best small cities in America by measuring cities with population size of between 25,000 and 100,000 residents according to a scoring system of between 0 and 100 rating four factors: “1) Affordability, 2) Economic Health, 3) Education & Health and 4) Quality of Life.” In addition, WalletHub compiles “22 relevant metrics” on each city.
California seldom dominates a rating list for anything. But the not-so-Golden
State managed to have the 22 lowest ranked towns of the 1,268 small
cities in America.
More
Fur Seal Pups Mysteriously Washing Up on California Shores The appearance of these pups, many of whom are already dead by the
time they wash to shore, has led the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration to declare what is known as a UME—an unusual mortality
event. So far in 2015, roughly 80 of them have been found stranded,
a rate eight times higher than normal. Especially alarming for marine
biologists is that, unlike sea lion pups that are experiencing their
own bizarre strandings, the Guadalupe fur seals are listed as threatened
under the Endangered Species Act, with some 15,000 estimated to exist
in the world.
More
Witnesses Report Seeing Bright Light Across Southern California Sky Many viewers called NBC San Diego, NBC Southern California and NBC Bay Area reporting a green and blue colored streak of bright light through the sky, reported as far south as Mexico and as far north as the Bay Area. Some viewers even reported seeing it in Nevada, Colorado and Arizona. "It was really slow and then exploded really gray and there was some
blue lights it just looked really weird," Sokhom Thoeun, who was walking
on a San Diego beach, told NBC7.
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Incredibly Venomous’ Yellow-Bellied Sea Snake Seen in California for 1st Time in 30 Years The reptile typically lives in warmer tropical waters, and its appearance is probably a harbinger of El Niño, the cyclical weather phenomenon connected to warmer sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, according to Santa Monica-based Heal the Bay. The snake sighting was highlighted the nonprofit environmental advocacy group in a blog post on Friday. "The Yellow-bellied Sea Snake has some of the most poisonous venom
in the world, and is a descendant from Asian cobras and Australian tiger
snakes," stated the post by Heal the Bay’s senior coastal policy manager,
Dana Murray.
More
More California Winemakers Using Less Water to Grow Grapes In a state where farms and dairies take the biggest gulp of the water supply, Leeds and the owners of his Frog's Leap Winery are among a minority — but a growing minority — of California growers and winemakers who believe that when it comes to wine grapes, the less irrigation, the better. "This is not struggling, skinny, tiny grapevines, right?" Leeds asked
proudly earlier this growing season while leading a tour through the
dry-farmed rows of wine grapes.
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The Strangest Place You’ll Ever See Bison — on SoCal’s Catalina Island Here’s what he told me. “In 1924, 14 bison were flown onto Catalina Island to be extras in a film called The Vanishing American…” “Oh, so they come from a lineage of famous bison!” No, he said, and then continued. It turns out you won’t actually spot any buffalo in the background
of the film because their scenes were ultimately left on the cutting
room floor. After shooting wrapped, the bison spread out over the island
and instead of rounding them up, island owner William Wrigley, Jr. decided
to let them stay. More bison were eventually flown in to increase the
gene pool and now, nearly a century later, about 135 bison populate
the 22-mile, picture-perfect island off the coast of southern California.
So even though they missed their shot at fame, the animals did find
themselves a new home.
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Naked woman rescued 3 miles off Newport Beach puzzles officials A pair of kayakers found the 28-year-old around 10 a.m. She was calling for help about three miles out from the Newport Harbor jetty, said Sgt. D.J. Haldeman of the Orange County Sheriff's Department Harbor Patrol. According to Haldeman, the woman — whom authorities didn't identify — was alone without a boat, a flotation device or even a bathing suit. "She was completely naked," he said. The woman told Harbor Patrol deputies that she had been in the water since the night before. She said she was swimming at around 5:30 p.m. Saturday near 19th Street
when a rip current swept her out, Haldeman said. At some point during
the roughly 16 hours, the woman said, she took off her swimsuit "so
it wouldn't restrict her in her abilities to swim," Haldeman said.
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'They're in everything': California bug outbreak irks residents as insects invade homes, cars On the road, they rained onto car windshields. They flew by the thousands toward even the smallest sources of light, and crept along windows and kitchen tables. Such has been the skin-crawling reality for the past two months in the high-desert communities at the foot of the Sierra Nevada's eastern slopes, where residents have seen an explosion of the black-and-red seed bug species Melacoryphus lateralis. "They're in everything. There's no way to get rid of them or eradicate
them. They're just here," said Blair Nicodemus, 33, of Lone Pine, while
driving with a bug creeping on his windshield. "Sometimes there will
be these micro-plumes that'll come through where there will be just
thousands of them, and they'll be all over you. ... I'm sure I've eaten
at least two dozen, because they get into your food."
More
California cities cracking down on summer rentals But the explosive growth of online travel booking sites in recent years has prompted several coastal cities to consider tightening regulations on those who rent out their homes for short stays. While proponents of the short-term rental industry say the additional income often is vital to property owners’ livelihoods and the local economy, city leaders and neighbors want greater oversight to protect residential neighborhoods, tax revenue and the availability of housing amid a booming industry. Santa Monica, Laguna Beach, Los Angeles, Manhattan Beach and West Hollywood
are among the latest Southern California cities taking up the regulation
of short-term rentals.
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Drought-fueled fire we've been dreading burns 62,000 acres and counting On Monday, it had grown to more than 62,000 acres -- nearly the size of Sacramento at 94 square miles -- and more than doubled the total acreage burned by wildfires throughout the state so far this year. Throughout California's forests, vegetation is so dry and so dense that flying embers, which in wetter years would fizzle out, are igniting at the mere touch of grass or shrub. As one UC Berkeley scientist who studies the Sierra puts it, the forests "are primed and ready to go." All they need is a spark.
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California vaccine bill signed into law by Jerry Brown California now joins only two other states -- Mississippi and West Virginia -- that permit only medical exemptions as legitimate reasons to sidestep vaccinations. "The science is clear that vaccines dramatically protect children against a number of infectious and dangerous diseases,'' Brown wrote in his signing message. "While it's true that no medical intervention is without risk, the
evidence shows that immunization powerfully benefits and protects the
community.''
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Drought may hasten demise of California's enigmatic Salton Sea Colorado River dependent states like Nevada and Arizona demanded more share of resources starting in the 1990s. A Quantification Settlement Agreement was signed among several California water agencies regarding allocation of water from the Colorado River in 2003. According to the 2003 deal, farmers in the state's Imperial Valley agreed to halt working on some 50,000 acres and to send that water to San Diego and Coachella Valley residents. The urban areas paid for water conservation efforts in the Imperial Valley, including lining canals and drip irrigation systems. Salton Sea was given 32 billion gallons of water per year pursuant
to the agreement since the lake had been sustained through agricultural
runoff since it was created by the canal breach.
More
Dolphin leaps onto boat, injuring California woman Chrissie Frickman was boating with her husband and two children June 21 when a pod of dolphins swam alongside them. One of the animals jumped on the vessel, knocking Frickman over and landing on her legs. "The dolphin jumped and we thought it was doing a flip and I guess it miscalculated," said her husband, Dirk Frickman. "It came right onto my wife and flopped in the boat and knocked down and grazed my daughter." "The dolphin was flopping all over," he said. "It cut its nose and
its tail. Blood started splattering everywhere." Frickman pulled his
wife free and called authorities as he headed toward an Orange County
harbor. While he steered, he splashed water on the 350-pound dolphin
to keep it alive.
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Pot Legalization Could Bring A Million Jobs to California There is one big "if," though. That's if California actually gets around to legalizing it next year. It does seem extremely likely: A well-financed legalization campaign will almost certainly make the ballot next year, and the latest polls have a majority for legalization. And it will be a presidential election year, spurring the turnout of young people, who tend to be even more supportive of freeing the weed. If California legalizes it, the industry will be primed for rapid expansion
and could generate a million jobs within eight years, said the group's
executive director Nate Bradley.
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Guinness record set for most surfers riding wave “It’s either going to be spectacular, or a spectacle,” Sahagen said, before joining 66 other surfers crammed onto a 42-foot board on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier. Turns out, it was a lot of both. An estimated 5,000 people watched
from the sand and Huntington Beach pier Saturday morning as Surf City
claimed the Guinness World Record for the most people riding a wave
on a single board, shattering the previous record set in Queensland,
Australia about a decade ago, when 47 surfers rode a wave for 10 seconds.
More
Tiny Red Crabs Blanket California Beaches The red tuna crabs have been dying in hordes on beaches from San Diego to Orange County, although some have been washed back out to sea alive. Such strandings take place periodically and are not necessarily a threat to the species, according to Linsey Sala, collection manager for the Pelagic Invertebrates Collection at the University of California, San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, "This is definitely a warm-water indicator," Sala said. "Whether it's directly related to El Nino or other oceanographic conditions
is not certain."
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California love: Water thieves just can’t get enough California thieves are cutting pipes and taking water from fire hydrants, storage tanks, creeks and rivers to get their hands on several hundred gallons of the precious commodity. They drive in the thick of night with a 1,000-gallon tank on the back of a pickup and go after the liquid gold wherever they can find it. Some have hit the same target twice in one night, filling up their tank, unloading it into storage and returning for a second fill-up. Counties, mostly in the more rural northern parts of California, are reporting a surge in thefts and illegal diversions of water from wells and streams. The prime suspects are illegal marijuana farmers desperate for water
before the fall harvest, which would explain the surge in water thievery
over the summer.
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California rent increasing, higher than national average According to the report, released by apartmentlist.com, the median rental price of a one-bedroom apartment in California in March was $1,350 -- 43 percent more than the national average. And that number is rising. "It's pretty brutal," said Ben Bednarz, who is currently looking for an apartment in the Los Angeles area. The report found the median cost of a one-bedroom apartment in California increased by 6.5 percent in the last year. "I could go to Nebraska and I could just buy a house for $200,000,
and a pretty big house probably too, but, you know, then I would have
to live in Nebraska," Bednarz said.
More
Number of whales trapped in fishing gear on California coast spikes Last year, 30 whales were caught in gear, often from crab pots -- double the previous year. And alarmingly, the National Marine Fisheries Service has recorded 25 such incidents already this year, with several Monterey Bay whales becoming wrapped up in ropes and other fishing equipment. "It's heartbreaking to know so many whales are getting tangled up in fishing gear. They often drown or drag gear around until they're too exhausted to feed. Even more disturbing is that this problem is only getting worse," said Catherine Kilduff, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement. But in an unusual move, crab fishermen -- who were made aware of the
issue just last week -- are working with environmentalists on collaborative
solutions to the problem.
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Suspected marijuana grower fatally shot at wildlife refuge The Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge is a popular place for illegal grow operations, officials said, and one of several in the Sacramento area that keeps law enforcement officers coming back almost every year to confront growers and uproot harmful pot plants and toxic chemicals from protected land. Farmers who grow illegally on public land are usually armed and dangerous,
state Department of Justice spokeswoman Michelle Gregory said. Last
time law enforcement raided a grow operation in the rural nature preserve
near Hood-Franklin Road, it was 2013. Then they found two men carrying
shotguns. Both were arrested. More
Jerry Brown urges fines of up to $10,000 for water waste in California drought Brown said he will also propose legislation to speed environmental permitting for local water supply projects, though not – significantly – for dams. Neither proposal had taken bill form yet Tuesday, and specifics were unclear. The Democratic governor announced the measures after meeting with the mayors of 14 cities in Sacramento. “We’ve done a lot,” Brown told reporters at the Capitol. “We have a
long way to go.”
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In Spite Of Severe Drought, California Dumps Billions Of Gallons Of Water To ‘Make The Fish Happy’ But in the face of this grave situation, liberal, environmental policy insanity still triumps as billions of gallons of water is being released from what little is left in the dams – and it’s not for the humans. “We’re now in the fourth year of the worst drought in the history
of California,” states Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., who is frantically
working to end the federal and state policies which prioritizes fish
over people ahead of another major water release already scheduled.
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The Big Problem With the Latest Plan to Build EV Chargers in California That’s why build-out of the EV charging network is so important to
the longterm success of the technology. According to PG&E, the utility
that provides electricity to 16 million people in northern and central
California, that state will need 100,000 public Level 2 chargers in
its service territory by 2025, to support the 1.5 million EVs that Governor
Jerry Brown wants in the state.
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State Senator Bill Monning goes up against Big Soda Monning, a Carmel Democrat who for years pushed for a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, unveiled a new approach: He wants sodas and other sugary drinks to come with labels rivaling those on cigarettes and alcohol, warning consumers that their drinks are dangerous. "That is not in dispute. That is science. That is hard evidence," Monning said. "What we seek to do is make that information more present to the consuming public, a consumer 'right to know,' if you will." According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sugar-sweetened
beverages are the leading cause of added sugars in the diets among American
youth and have been linked to obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular and
dental disease.
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CHP officer says stealing nude photos from female arrestees 'game' for cops CHP Officer Sean Harrington, 35, of Martinez, also confessed to stealing explicit photos from the cellphone of a second Contra Costa County DUI suspect in August and forwarding those images to at least two CHP colleagues. The five-year CHP veteran called it a "game" among officers, according to an Oct. 14 search warrant affidavit. Harrington told investigators he had done the same thing to female
arrestees a "half dozen times in the last several years," according
to the court records, which included leering text messages between Harrington
and his Dublin CHP colleague, Officer Robert Hazelwood. Contra Costa
County prosecutors are investigating and say the conduct of the officers
-- none of whom has been charged so far -- could compromise any criminal
cases in which they are witnesses. CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow said
in a statement that his agency too has "active and open investigations"
and cited a similar case several years ago in Los Angeles involving
a pair of officers.
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California Issues 76K Drivers Licenses To Undocumented Immigrants California, which has one of the nation’s largest populations of undocumented
immigrants at 2.6 million, became the 10th state to allow formerly undocumented
immigrants to drive legally. The KCRA-TV report said more than 452,000
undocumented immigrants had applied for a license in January. The numbers
reflect ongoing efforts by some federal and state officials to push
people who came into the country illegally out of the shadows without
the threat of deportation.
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Man Scooped up by Garbage Truck Survives Ride According to Yolo County Sheriff’s Lt. Martin Torres, a man looking for his wallet inside a garbage bin in the North Highlands of Sacramento area got stuck in the Atlas trash truck when it made its pick-up Tuesday afternoon. Torres said in his 27 years of work he hasn’t heard of similar incidents. “The man said he was stuck in the truck for about an hour, but estimates
show it was more like 3 or 3 1/2 hours,” Torres said. “The truck made
several other pick-ups before arriving at the landfill, where the driver
saw the man crawl out of his trash pile.”
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The Most Important New California Laws of 2015 More than 900 new laws are hitting the books in 2015. Here’s our annual list of the most important and/or interesting, as picked by KQED news, science, health, and politics and government editors. For a more detailed look at health laws, check out KQED’s State of Health blog. Driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants (AB60) Californians
who do not have proper immigration documentation will be eligible to
apply for driver’s licenses. The Department of Motor Vehicles expects
1.4 million immigrants to apply in the first few years, and law enforcement,
community groups and others are preparing for the surge.
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Los Angeles poverty rate greater than California, nation "It’s not like this is new," said Christopher Thornberg with Beacon Economics. "This is an ongoing situation. As to why, well it’s because of the fact that we are home to many low-skill immigrants, many who are undocumented, people who are, if you will, living on the economic margins of society." The county's poverty rate is greater than the state, which is at 16
percent, and the nation, at 15 percent. L.A. City Councilman Curren
Price represents one of the poorest area of the city. He believes there
are a variety of factors that contribute to the poverty rate in Los
Angeles County.
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Orinda: District says 2nd grader can stay after all Vivian and her mother, Maria, reside on the second floor of an Orinda house owned by the Storch family, who employ Maria as a live-in nanny. A Bay Area News Group story on Thursday detailed the district's use
of a private investigator to develop a case for disqualifying the girl
from attending school, provoking a flood of calls, emails and social
media posts in support of the family. On Friday, the Orinda Union School
District's attorney told Miriam Storch in an email that Vivian could
stay -- as long as Storch and her husband become her official caregivers,
which they are willing to do.
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Charles Manson gets marriage license No date has been set, but a wedding coordinator has been assigned by the prison to handle the nuptials, and the couple has until early February to get married before they would have to reapply. The Kings County marriage license was issued Nov. 7 for the 80-year-old
Manson and Burton, who lives in Corcoran — the site of the prison —
and maintains several websites advocating his innocence.
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Pot's Continued Status as a Schedule I Drug Is Now Up to a Calif. Judge So far, a firm deadline for written arguments has not been set, but Judge Mueller scheduled a “status hearing” to follow up with the parties’ progress for November 19th at 9 am. If the parties haven’t hit any snags by that time, she will probably set a final deadline for briefings on that date. What she may rule is anyone’s guess. She did a good job of keeping
her poker face up throughout the length of the proceedings, and her
rulings on evidentiary motions don’t reveal any clear pattern of bias
toward one party or another.
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California on the Brink: 14 Rural Communities are Now Facing Total Water Depletion As soon as the gold depleted in the early 20th century, the town faced decades of decline that it would never recover from. By the early 1960?s, the last handful of residents left the town. They leaving behind an eerie scene, filled with crumbling homes and businesses amidst a desolate landscape. However, gold isn’t essential to living. If the Western drought continues on its current course, then we have dozens of ghost towns to look forward to in the near future. So far the drought in California has been relentless. Where I live
in the Bay Area, we’ve had our first rain of the year today, if you
could call it that. More like a fine mist. Normally we’ve gotten at
least one rainy day by this time of year, but it’s looking like this
winter is going to be just as bad as last year.
More
Cyber breaches put 18.5 million Californians' data at risk in 2013 The number of data breaches reported by companies and government entities increased 28 percent, from 131 in 2012 to 167 last year, more than half of them, or 53 percent, caused by cyber incursions such as computer hacking and malware, the report said. The physical loss or theft of laptops and other devices containing
unencrypted personal information accounted for 26 percent of the reported
breaches last year, while the rest stemmed from unintentional errors
and deliberate misuse.
More
Despite California climate law, carbon emissions may be a shell game To meet the requirement that it cut carbon emissions, for example, Southern California Edison recently sold its stake in one of the West's largest coal-fired power plants, located hundreds of miles out of state. But the Four Corners Generating Station in New Mexico still burns
coal — only the power that Edison once delivered to California now goes
to a different utility's customers in Arizona. Similar swaps are taking
place at coal plants throughout the West, and they underscore the limitations
California faces as it tries to confront climate change in the absence
of a coherent federal plan.
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I Went to California's Post-Apocalyptic Beach Town It was created in the early 1900s after a heavy rain caused the Colorado River to burst through the banks of an irrigation canal, sending millions of gallons of water into a previously dried out lake bed in the California desert. Initially, the new, giant, inland sea was a blessing. In the 50s and 60s, it was a booming tourist attraction. Marketed as a "miracle in the desert," it became Palm Springs but with beaches. It would regularly attract over half a million visitors annually. Yacht clubs sprang up on the shores, people flocked to fish and waterski, and stars like the Beach Boys and Sonny Bono would visit to drive speedboats and swim. Property was so in demand that real estate agents would fly people up in light aircraft and sell them property from the air without ever landing to view it. But it wouldn't last. The sea quickly became something of an ecological
nightmare soup.
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School district in California now has a military-grade ARMORED TRUCK just like the ones US soldiers ride to combat in Afghanistan The San Diego Unified School District now has a 14-ton M-RAP — short for mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle — that American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan usually ride into combat to protect them against explosives. The $700,000 tank was donated to the school district under a military program that distributes surplus military equipment to local police agencies. The federal initiative has come under heavy criticism after police
in Ferguson, Missouri, used military weapons usually reserved for trained
US Marines against regular citizens protesting the shooting of unarmed
black teenager Michael Brown, 18.
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How Cops and Hackers Could Abuse California’s New Phone Kill-Switch Law The law, which takes effect next July, requires all phones sold in
California to come pre-equipped with a software “kill switch” that allows
owners to essentially render them useless if they’re lost or stolen.
Although the law, SB 962, applies only to California, it undoubtedly
will affect other states, which often follow the Golden State’s lead.
It also seems unlikely phone manufacturers would exclude the feature
from phones sold elsewhere. And although the legislation allows users
to opt out of the feature after they buy the phone, few likely will
do so.
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Gov. Jerry Brown to Mexican Illegals: 'You're All Welcome in California' "You're all welcome in California," Brown reportedly said. Brown has made California a sanctuary state by signing the Trust Act and giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. He has also expanded financial aid to illegal immigrants by signing the California DREAM Act. Peña Nieto reportedly "thanked state officials for embracing foreigners, citing measures that extend state benefits to immigrants." Even during the border crisis, Brown reportedly vowed "to find ways
to shorten long waits at the Tijuana-San Diego international border
crossing," saying, "If we can put a man on the moon, we can put a man
from Mexico to California in 20 minutes."
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Too much sex in sex education book, Fremont parents say The school board voted 3-2 on June 25 to purchase copies of "Your Health Today" for $204,600 after an extensive review process that included input from teachers and parents, said school board President Lara Calvert-York. It was chosen over six other books under consideration and the district has no plans to pull it from classrooms, she said. But that approval process the book went through hasn't dulled the
fury of parents who say the book's information on sex is way too advanced.
A petition on the website Care2 has over 1,500 online signatures calling
for the book's removal.
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Demand for Groundwater Causing Huge Swaths of Land to Sink
With California in the throes of a major drought and demand for groundwater rising, officials and landowners are racing to respond to the process known as subsidence. Some areas of the San Joaquin Valley, the backbone of California's vast agricultural industry, are subsiding at the fastest rates ever measured, said Michelle Sneed, a U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist and lead author of the recent report. While the bulk of the sinking 1,200-square-mile (3,108-square-kilometer)
area in central California is subsiding only about an inch (2.5 centimeters)
a year, one 2-square-mile (5-square-kilometer) area Sneed studied is
subsiding almost a foot (0.3 meters) annually. At that pace, "lots of
infrastructure can't handle such rapid subsidence," Sneed said, including
roads, water canals, and pipelines. The drought is likely to exacerbate
the situation, as less rain drives more pumping.
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California Couple Tries To Conserve Water, Ends Up Facing $500 Fine For Brown Lawn
The entirety of California is currently experiencing drought conditions and more than 80 percent of the state is classified as an extreme drought. Laura Whitney and her husband, Michael Korte, have been trying to conserve water in their Glendora, California home by cutting back on lawn watering, taking shorter showers, and doing larger loads of laundry. Now, they are facing a fine of up to $500 for not keeping their lawn green. Survey results from the State Water Resources Control Board found
that instead of achieving the 20 percent water reduction sought by Gov.
Jerry Brown, water use actually jumped one percent this May, compared
to the same period in previous years. As a result, the board voted unanimously
this week to impose the first mandatory water restrictions on California
residents. The regulations seek to curb water use among urban residents
by banning wasteful outdoor watering, such as over-watering lawns, hosing
down sidewalks or driveways, and washing cars without a shut-off nozzle
on the hose. Violators could face a fine of up to $500.
More
The Reason California Will Break Apart in the Years Ahead
His goal, is to let California be divided into six different states. This isn’t exactly a new idea. There have been proposals to divide the massive state since California achieved statehood. Of course, none have succeeded. As a matter of fact, there have only
been a handful of times in American history, when part of a state has
managed to secede to form its own state, and none of them have occurred
since the Civil War.
More
California's Absurd Intervention Over Dorm Room Sex
The bill, sponsored by state Senator Kevin De Leon (D-Los Angeles)
and developed in collaboration with student activists, does nothing
less than attempt to mandate the proper way to engage in sexual intimacy,
at least if you're on a college campus. It requires schools that receive
any state funds through student aid to use "affirmative consent" as
the standard in evaluating sexual assault complaints in the campus disciplinary
system.
More
California protesters block transport of undocumented immigrants
The arrival of the group of Central American families had been decried by Murrieta’s mayor, Alan Long, who alleged that the group of immigrants, adults with their children numbering about 140 people, represented a public safety threat to the community. Assembled protesters, who numbered 150, converged on a street leading
up to an access road into the processing center, preventing the two
buses from reaching the facility, reported Reuters.
More
Study finds medical pot farms draining streams dry
State fish and wildlife officials say much of the marijuana being grown in northern counties under the state's medical pot law is not being used for legal, personal use, but for sale both in California and states where pot is still illegal. This demand is fueling backyard and larger-scale pot farming, especially
in remote Lake, Humboldt and Mendocino counties on the densely forested
North Coast, officials said.
More
Local, federal authorities at odds over holding some immigrant inmates
In recent weeks, officials in counties including Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino have stopped complying with so-called ICE detainers, citing a federal court ruling in April that found an Oregon county liable for damages after it held an inmate beyond her release date so she could be transferred into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. The California counties are among about 100 municipalities across the
country that have stopped the practice since the ruling, according to
the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, an advocacy group that is tracking
the issue.
More
DMV Lays Out Rules Governing Self-Driving Car Tests
These new rules could open the door for more of these types of vehicles finding their way into local neighborhoods. The rules cover vehicle testing, insurance, registration and reporting, according to a statement issued by the DMV on Tuesday. Under the rules, manufacturers must provide proof the vehicle being tested was successfully tested under controlled conditions. And anyone who gets behind the wheel of one of one of these vehicles
must first complete a training program. Rules state that while the vehicle
is moving, the driver must be in the driver’s seat and be able to take
over, if needed. The manufacturer must have a $5 million insurance or
surety bond. And any incident involving an accident or an incident where
the driverless technology disengages has to be immediately reported
to the DMV.
More
San Francisco Sign Hacked, Warns of "Godzilla Attack"
Ali Wunderman spotted the signs just after 9 p.m. and took pictures. At first she thought it was a PR campaign for the new Godzilla movie. Paul Indelicato of Pacific Highway Rentals told SFGate that the digital signs were set up in order to warn drivers about street delays for the Bay to Breakers race on Sunday. "It kind of fits with the theme," he said. "We kind of smiled at each
other when we got the phone call this morning.”
More California's medical prison beset by waste and mismanagement
When fully operational, it was supposed to help the state's prison system emerge from a decade of federal oversight brought on by the persistent neglect and poor medical treatment of inmates. But since opening in July, the state-of-the-art California Health Care Facility has been beset by waste, mismanagement and miscommunication between the prison and medical staffs. Prisoner-rights lawyer Rebecca Evenson, touring the facility in January
to check on compliance with disabled access laws, said she was shocked
by the extent of the problems.
More
Cali state senator arrested for alleged gun-running was gun-control advocate
First, a bit on Yee’s record: The former San Francisco School Board president, who received a PhD in child psychology from the University of Hawaii and was the first Chinese American to serve in the California Senate, wrote legislation in 2012 that would have banned the sales of conversion kits that would allow gun owners to create firearms with detachable magazines or bigger clips. This year, Yee introduced two more gun-control bills. One, S.B. 108, would have required the Justice Department to study local safe storage ordinances that prevent children from getting access to their parents’ weapons. Another, S.B. 47, would have expanded California’s ban on assault
weapons to include semiautomatics, centerfire rifles or pistols with
the ability to accept detachable magazines.
More
Unvaccinated People Make Up Large Portion Of Measles Cases In California
UC Davis infectious disease expert Dr. Dean Blumberg says measles wouldn’t exist in California without that external exposure. But as more people choose not to get vaccinated, vulnerability increases. People most likely to get measles are either too young to be vaccinated, or part of a small percentage of people for whom the vaccine is ineffective. Measles has been identified in eight California counties so far, mostly located on the coast. Fourteen of the measles cases reported this year are among unvaccinated
adults or kids whose parents received a personal belief exemption.
More
Don't give up on the bullet train, California
And yet California voters have been expressing morning-after regrets
since they voted for Proposition 1A, which promised them a bullet train
from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Backers said a Concorde-like fuselage
would rocket us to the Bay Area in 21/2 hours and for the low, low fare
of $55. A Disneyland ride for grown-ups! And did we mention that it's
carbon-friendly?
More
Marianne Williamson Aims to Save Washington's Soul
"The press creates a caricature," she says. Take, for example, the most recent headline from The New York Times: "Marianne Williamson, New-Age Guru, Seeks Congressional Seat." " 'New Age guru,' " Williamson scoffs. "First of all, what is the suggestion here, that the 'old age' is working?" Williamson is sitting on a wooden bench beside her press person, Ileana
Wachtel, inside a vegan/organic/raw food café in Santa Monica called
Rawvolution. "I've never worn a velvet scarf in my life. You label somebody
'New Age,' and that's automatic mockery: 'She cannot possibly be a serious
thinker.' "
More
California drought: communities at risk of running dry The threatened towns and districts, identified this week by state health officials, are mostly small and in rural areas. They get their water in a variety of ways, from reservoirs to wells to rivers. But, in all cases, a largely rainless winter has left their supplies near empty. In the Bay Area, Cloverdale and Healdsburg in Sonoma County are among
those at risk of running out of water, according to the state. The small
Lompico Water District in the Santa Cruz Mountains is also on the list.
Others could be added if the dry weather lingers. More
Tim Draper proposes splitting California into six states Tim Draper, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist, is proposing to split California into six states, according to an initiative filing received by the state Friday. He'd let the northern counties have their state of Jefferson, while adding North California, Central California, Silicon Valley, West California and South California. Draper did not immediately return a telephone call for comment Friday, and the website Six Californias offers little information about his idea. The website TechCrunch quoted Draper as saying a divided state would
receive improved representation in the U.S. Senate while allowing each
new state to "start fresh" with government. More
California Begins Confiscating Legally-Purchased Guns Until recently, the state had the strictest gun control laws and the liberal run state government has always looked unfavorably on the Second Amendment. Earlier this year, the state legislature expanded the list of what they call “prohibited persons” – people who have legally registered a firearm but, for various reasons, are no longer allowed their Second Amendment rights. These reasons were expanded to include people who are behind on state
taxes, did not pay toll fees in a “timely” manner and a wide range of
other minor misdemeanors or reported mental health concerns. More
California’s new laws: What changes in 2014 A few of those bills, including one hiking the state minimum wage and one requiring cars to stay at least 3 feet away from bicyclists, won’t take effect for a few months. But that still leaves plenty of substantial measures that become operative state law today. Here’s a look at some highlights. SB 4 seeks to regulate hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” a gas-harvesting practice that involves blasting a mix of pressurized water and chemicals underground. Rules taking effect at the start of 2014 mandate groundwater monitoring, require neighbors to be notified of new wells and have energy companies publicly disclose the fracking chemicals they use. AB 1266 allows transgender students to use the school facilities and join school teams aligned with their gender. A referendum challenge could stall or ultimately repeal the law; county registrars are in the process of verifying signatures. SB 606 brought movie stars Halle Berry and Jennifer Garner
to Sacramento, where they testified for a measure barring photographers
from aggressively seeking shots of kids. More
San Francisco couple pulls off their nude wedding Her intent was to be married naked on the steps and a phalanx of uniformed sheriff's deputies stood to her side like groomsmen. Right away, Taub noticed a hitch in her plan. The band was late, and that was her greatest expense. She was not going to start without them so she grabbed a bullhorn and turned the gathering into a political rally for the cause of freedom, while straying into topics of wars, stolen elections and reincarnation. "The other news for today is that death is not real," she announced, to get the attention of the crowd of about 100 before hammering her main message. "This is a protest against the nudity ban as much as it is a wedding. I know that the people of San Francisco are behind me." The wedding was the culmination of a yearlong assault on the city's
ban on public nudity, as led by Taub, a former stripper turned activist.
More
It Is Now Illegal To Smoke In Your Own Home In San Rafael, California Introduced by Assembly Member Marc Levine and pushed by the Smoke-Free
Marin Coalition for over seven years, the ordinance applies to owners
and renters in all buildings that house wall-sharing units for three
or more families. The purpose is to prevent second-hand smoke from travelling
through doors, windows, floorboards, crawl spaces, or ventilation systems
(i.e. any conceivable opening) into neighboring units. More
Floating island of rubbish three times size of BRITAIN floating towards California Five millions tons of rubbish made up of devastated homes, boats, cars and businesses is making its way across the Pacific Ocean following the 2011 tsunami in Japan. Scientists have already discovered debris on the west coast but their latest findings suggest California is expected to be hit with a deluge all at once. America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released their latest findings showing a huge island of rubbish floating northeast of the Hawaiian Islands. Boffins have been unable to say for certain when the debris will wash
ashore but they have been closely monitoring its movements which stretches
from Alaska to the Philippines. Seven months ago, the first documented
debris from the tsunami reached Crescent City, California. More
California resident: ‘I was all for Obamacare’ until I got the bill As Pam Kehaly, the president of Anthem Blue Cross in California, reported, she received a letter from one woman who saw her insurance rates rise by 50 percent due to Obamacare. “She said, ‘I was all for Obamacare until I found out I was paying for it,’ ” Ms. Kehaly said, in the Los Angeles Times. Several hundred thousand other Californians in coming weeks may be
feeling the same pinch, as insurers drop their plans and push them onto
exchanges, medical analysts say. More
What’s Going on in California? Third Rare Creature Washes Ashore Sightings of oarfishes are rare because the fish dive more than 3,000 feet deep. Samples are going to be taken to see how the fish died. The oarfish discovery follows a larger, 18-foot long oarfish carcass washing ashore on Santa Catalina Island. “We’ve never seen a fish this big,” Mark Waddington, senior captain of the Tole Mour, Catalina Island Marine Institute’s sail training ship, told the AP. “The last oarfish we saw was three feet long.” About 15 people were needed to carry the humongus carcass. More
Appeals court leaves California shark fin ban in place Two Asian-American groups claim the law, which went fully into effect on July 1, discriminates against Chinese Americans because it prevents them from engaging in the traditional cultural practice of eating shark fin soup at ceremonial occasions. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a decision in which U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton of Oakland declined to issue a preliminary injunction suspending the ban. The appeals court said the two groups "presented no persuasive evidence
indicating that the California Legislature's real intent was to discriminate
against Chinese Americans rather than to accomplish the law's stated
humanitarian, conservationist and health goals."
More E-cigarettes have cities, businesses pondering action He envisioned a ribbon cutting and then a steady stream of new customers perusing colorful, pen-shaped electronic cigarettes behind glass cases. They'd gawk at his impressive selection of liquid nicotine — flavors like Hubba Bubba Grape, Gummy Bear and Orange Cream Soda — as he fielded questions about the fast-growing trend of "vaping," so-called because users inhale the vapor produced when the liquid is heated. Instead, drywall litters the floor of his dark shop. And all he can do is wait. Days before his shop was to open, Seal Beach passed a 45-day moratorium halting any new e-cigarette and smoke shops from opening in the small beach community. Seal Beach is one of a growing number of California cities now grappling
with what to do about the booming storefront businesses.
More In Battle Over Malibu Beaches, an App Unlocks Access Yet this month, the homeowners — including some of the wealthiest and most famous people in the country, but also a hearty colony of surfers, stoners and old-fashioned beach lovers — are confronting what may be the biggest threat to their privacy yet. The smartphone.
More Court upholds California's foie gras ban In doing so, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals signaled that a lawsuit filed by foie gras producers seeking to invalidate the California law was on its last legs. The appeals court said the producers of the delicacy - the fatty liver of a force-fed goose or duck - "failed to raise a serious question that they are likely to succeed on the merits" of the lawsuit. The producers wanted the appeals court to lift the ban while their lawsuit is under consideration in a Los Angeles federal court. The three-judge appeals panel rejected the producers' arguments that
the ban illegally interferes with commerce and is too vaguely worded,
among other claims, indicating the court's doubts about the underlying
lawsuit in the process.
More Ex-porn star Sandra Scream's new role: Irvine mom "Isn't she quite talented?" Zorena Dombrowski said of the colorful creations of 3-year-old Ashley, who was playing in the park with her nanny - another pristine morning in suburbia. Dombrowski, her house filled with Disney toys, kiddie furniture and a 100-pound German shepherd named Oskar, reached for a small photo album. The floral cover sharply contrasted with the graphic pictures inside. "These were taken by the director on the set," Dombrowski said of the Polaroids from the early 1990s, when she was famously known as Sandra Scream — one of the hottest names in the porn biz. Now, she simply goes by Zorena.
More Sex Worker Says She's Made 'Close To $1 Million' Servicing Young, Rich Guys From Silicon Valley CNNMoney's Laurie Segall interviewed sex workers in the Bay area, as well as local authorities. All of them said prostitution was on the rise and technology is powering it. It has increased the list of clients, and it's making the prostitution business more efficient. One sex worker says she uses Square, Jack Dorsey's mobile credit card swiper, to charge clients before visits. "As far as Square knows, it's a consulting business," the woman told Segall. Another sex worker says she's made "close to $1 million" servicing young, rich men. Segall says they're from "a number of major tech companies in the
area, places where the IPO money has been flowing."
More California man faces 13 years in jail for scribbling anti-bank messages in chalk According to the San Diego Reader, which reported on Tuesday that a judge had opted to prevent Olson’s attorney from "mentioning the First Amendment, free speech, free expression, public forum, expressive conduct, or political speech during the trial,” Olson must now stand trial for on 13 counts of vandalism. In addition to possibly spending years in jail, Olson will also be
held liable for fines of up to $13,000 over the anti-big-bank slogans
that were left using washable children's chalk on a sidewalk outside
of three San Diego, California branches of Bank of America, the massive
conglomerate that received $45 billion in interest-free loans from the
US government in 2008-2009 in a bid to keep it solvent after bad bets
went south.
More CHP: Man arrested, cited for highway mule incident Wednesday afternoon, authorities responded to reports that a man was walking mules on the northbound shoulder of Highway 29 toward the Butler Bridge, which has no shoulder, the CHP said. When officers arrived, the man allegedly became irate and was arrested on suspicion of resisting arrest, a misdemeanor, and not obeying traffic signs, an infraction. John Sears was booked into the Napa jail at 3:30 p.m. on the charges,
according to the booking report. A city of residence was not listed
for the suspect, only California.
More Los Angeles Celebrates Independence Day with Random Bag Inspections Operation Independence is a two-day, high-visibility training exercise that is “all about keeping L.A. safe,” according to Nicole Nishida of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff’s deputies – accompanied by explosive-sniffing dogs – will have a more visible presence at Union Station to perform random bag inspections, according to Nishida. Transportation Security Administration personnel were also seen participating in the drill. Holidays are always a high-profile time for terrorism, but there were
no substantiated or credible threats ahead of the Fourth of July holiday.
More Fake Shark Warning Signs Posted in California But they are fake, according to state park rangers. It wasn't clear who posted the signs or why. The bottom of the notice gave a possible clue. It told surfers to "surf Cowells instead." Cowells is on Santa Cruz's west side; Pleasure Point, where the signs were posted, is on the east side. Apparently in the surfing world, those two surf spots have a long time rivalry. It could also have been an attempt to get the some of the surfers to leave Pleasure Point and head to Cowell. It didn't work. Surfers breezed past the signs for the morning surf
Thursday.
More Rate Shock: In California, Obamacare To Increase Individual Health Insurance Premiums By 64-146% One of the most serious flaws with Obamacare is that its blizzard of regulations and mandates drives up the cost of insurance for people who buy it on their own. This problem will be especially acute when the law’s main provisions
kick in on January 1, 2014, leading many to worry about health insurance
“rate shock.”
More Cali utility to retire troubled San Onofre nuclear plant Operator Southern California Edison said in a statement it will retire the twin reactors because of uncertainty about the future of the plant, which faced a tangle of regulatory hurdles, investigations and mounting political opposition. With the reactors idle, the company has spent more than $500 million on repairs and replacement power. San Onofre could power 1.4 million homes. California officials have
said they would be able to make it through the summer without the plant
but warned that wildfires or another disruption in distribution could
cause power shortages.
More Amid bolt problems, new Bay Bridge span's opening date still unclear California Transportation Commission Executive Director Andre Boutros told an Oakland meeting of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission that a steel "saddle" had been selected to replace the function of broken bolts made in 2008 and used to secure seismic "shear keys" on the east pier of the suspension span. The saddle was deemed cheaper, easier to manufacture and less likely
to damage the pier than an alternate "collar" design. The fix will involve
installation of steel tendons that will be placed under tension and
covered with concrete. Boutros estimated costs at $5 million to $10
million. But officials could not commit to the retrofit's completion
in time for the planned Labor Day opening.
More
DMV manager allegedly bragged about insurance after road rage incident
Jessica Singh said last March she was driving north in the left-hand lane on Stockton Boulevard with her 4-year-old daughter and 3-year-old niece in the backseat when a man started tailgating her. She said before she could get over, the man pulled into the turning lane to pass her. The two soon found themselves stopped side-by-side at the next traffic light; Singh said the man began taunting her. "I kind of retaliated, and I threw a water bottle at his passenger window," Singh said. In hindsight she admits this wasn't a good idea. "I think I was just heated at the moment," Singh admits. But she never expected what happened next after the light turned green. "He waited at that light and got behind me and rear-ended me about
three times," Singh said. "He did it once and kept doing it over and
over until his car was totalled."
More California Assembly OKs two bills related to transgender residents Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, said his Assembly Bill 1266 would force school districts to comply with current laws prohibiting discrimination against transgender students. Several school districts, including Los Angeles Unified and San Francisco Unified, already have policies letting students participate in activities and use facilities for the gender they identify with. Ammiano said his bill ensures that all students have equal access. "No student can learn if they feel they have to hide who they are
at school or if they are singled out for unequal treatment," he said.
More AB 666 Bedevils Red Light Camera Foes
But now those battling red light camera tickets are trying to derail legislation that could end one's right to trial for those infractions. California Assembly Bill 666, which was not authored by Satan but attorney and Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont), appears at first glance to be as "non-substantive" as it claims to be, dealing with the signage and positioning of "automated traffic enforcement" and changing the word "jurisdiction" to "authority" in the penal code. But a group has sprung up to "stop AB666" and "protect your right to a trial for traffic tickets." Advocates planned to flood Wieckowski with calls today against the
bill, among them Huntington Beach lawyer R. Allen Baylis, who has successfully
fought cases involving red-light cameras throughout Orange County.
More California's $910 Million ObamaCare Exchange
Health policy consultant Robert Laszewski notes that California has already received a little more than $909 million in federal grants—an amount that’s actually $32 million less than the state’s exchange director asked for. Does that sound like a fair price? It’s not really possible to make a direct comparison to any private sector initiative, but Laszewski provides some useful context: For some additional perspective I took a look at what it cost to launch
the private insurance marketing site, Esurance. That company sells not
only health insurance but also things like homeowners and auto insurance
across the country. When I put my zip code into their system along with
my age, they offered me 87 different health plans from all the big players
in my area. Now granted, the new health insurance exchanges are more
complex because they have to interface with Medicaid and the IRS as
well as calculate subsidies. But the order of magnitude difference in
what it cost to launch esurance compared to the California exchange
is pretty big.
More California High-Speed Rail Construction To Start This Summer
CEO Jeff Morales testified before the Assembly Transportation Committee in what its chairwoman called “the next chapter of legislative oversight” after debates last summer that culminated in the decision to appropriate the first $8 billion for what would be the nation’s first high-speed rail system. “Getting to that point was no easy feat,” said Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, D-Long Beach. “That vote was a turning point. Until then, it was appropriate to debate the merits of the project. Now it’s time to move forward without regrets.” Despite that admonition from the committee chairwoman, Assemblyman
Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, challenged Morales about what he suggested
were overstated claims about the number of jobs the project will create,
the lack of private investment and the wisdom of proceeding when the
prospect of additional federal funding appears dim.
More Ex-Guests Sue Downtown Hotel Where Tourist’s Body Was Found In Water Tank
Steven and Gloria Cott filed the suit Tuesday against the Cecil Hotel, located at 640 South Main Street. The pair paid $150 on Feb. 12 for two nights at the hotel, according to the complaint. “Before entering into the agreement, the plaintiffs were told that the payment for lodging included payment for running water which was suitable for human ingestion and showering,” the suit said. Last Tuesday, the body of 21-year-old Elisa Lam, who was last seen at the hotel Jan. 26, was discovered in a water tank by a maintenance worker after guests complained of low water pressure. Health officials said a test of the water found no live bacteria that
would cause illness.
More $402 million: San Onofre repair, replacement power
But the manufacturer of the steam generators has repaid $45 million to Edison under a warranty agreement, and Edison has submitted a total of $106 million in invoices, expected to further reduce the repair and inspection total. The plant has been shuttered for more than a year. Four steam generators,
two for each reactor at San Onofre, were installed between 2009 and
early 2011 in a $671 million operation, but a small leak of radioactive
gas prompted shutdown of the Unit 3 reactor Jan. 31.
More Pot farms wreaking havoc on Northern California environment In the remote, 37-square-mile patch of forest, they counted 281 outdoor pot farms and 286 greenhouses, containing an estimated 20,000 plants — mostly fed by water diverted from creeks or a fork of the Eel. The scientists determined the farms were siphoning roughly 18 million gallons from the watershed every year, largely at the time when the salmon most need it. "That is just one small watershed," said Scott Bauer, the state scientist
in charge of the coho recovery on the North Coast for the Department
of Fish and Game. "You extrapolate that for all the other tributaries,
just of the Eel, and you get a lot of marijuana sucking up a lot of
water.… This threatens species we are spending millions of dollars to
recover." More
New tax increases in California stir debate about adding to exodus Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown successfully pushed the tax increase by suggesting that high-earners must shoulder the largest burden in bailing out the state, particularly its debt-ridden public school system. However, high unemployment and government debt have already sent residents fleeing in large numbers – an estimated 225,000 annually for the past 10 years. And the recently passed tax increase for families making more than
$250,000 each year could further shrink the tax base for California,
whose 2012 budget deficit is projected to hit $28 billion. Much of the
debate has raged among California advocacy groups and in the editorial
pages of the state’s biggest and most influential newspapers. More
California gun sales have risen, gun injuries have decreased Those are two simple facts that, depending on whom you ask, have everything or nothing to do with each other. Last month's horrific Connecticut school shooting has reignited the debate over gun control in California, a state with some of the nation's strictest gun laws. State legislators will likely take up additional gun law proposals later this year, ranging from further limits on ammunition purchases to requiring regular background checks for gun owners. If recent trends hold, that debate will take place as gun sales boom
and gun injuries fall. More
Naked Protesters Disrupt Final Vote To Uphold San Francisco Nudity Ban The ordinance, which will prohibit nudity on city streets, sidewalks, plazas and other public spaces, was initially passed 6-5 during the board’s Nov. 20 meeting and was approved again Tuesday afternoon by the same vote. Supervisor Jane Kim initially gave the legislation a seventh vote of support but later rescinded her vote, saying she had been distracted and accidentally voted yes. Supervisors John Avalos, David Campos, Eric Mar and Christina Olague were the other four supervisors to oppose the ban. Several men and women stripped down after the first vote Tuesday afternoon
and began yelling at the supervisors. They were led out of board chambers
by sheriff’s deputies, who draped blankets over them since public nudity
is not allowed at City Hall. More
California Still Awash in Guns Despite Pioneering Gun Regulations These are the stark figures: Since 1991, 9 million guns were sold legally in California alone. Only about 1 percent of people seeking to buy them were unable to do so because of background checks. Over 1,300 types of weapons have been approved for sale by California's Department of Justice - although the department points out that "private party transfers, curio/relic handguns, certain single-action revolvers, and pawn/consignment returns are exempt" from state approval. And these figures don't include unregistered weapons - those bought
and sold illegally - and those brought legally to California from other
states. More
PG&E Snafu Stalls School Solar Program According to reporter Jennifer Poole at The Willits News, an acre of solar panels installed by the Willits Unified School District at four locations earlier this year have been sitting idle due to bureaucratic mixups at Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E). The utility's Net Energy Metering office approved the six installations, but then PG&E's newly formed Generation and Interconnection Services (GIS) group revoked the approval. District officials say PG&E's GIS office has been less than forthcoming
with information that might help the project hook up to the grid, at
one point telling Josh Margarison, foreman of the district's solar contractor
Fort Bragg Electric, that the office was too busy to get back to him.
Fort Bragg Electric has installed school solar systems elsewhere in
Mendocino County.
More California gets face scanners to spy on everyone at once Imagine the police taking a picture: any picture of a person, anywhere, and matching it on the spot in less than a second to a personalized profile, scanning millions upon millions of entries from within vast, intricate databases stored on the cloud. It’s done with state of the art facial recognition technology, and in Southern California it’s already happening. At least one law enforcement agency in San Diego is currently using software developed by FaceFirst, a division of nearby Camarillo, California’s Airborne Biometrics Group. It can positively identify anyone, as long as physical data about a person’s facial features is stored somewhere the police can access. Though that pool of potential matches could include millions, the company says that by using the “best available facial recognition algorithms” they can scour that data set in a fraction of a second in order to send authorities all known intelligence about anyone who enters a camera’s field of vision. “Live high definition video enables FaceFirst to track and isolate
the face of every person on every camera simultaneously,” the company
claims on their website.
More Brown puts priority on Cali's space travel industry Under the new law, the governor gave California aerospace pioneers like Virgin Galactic, SpaceX and the Spaceship Company immunity from liability if space flight passengers are injured on board. It's a move NASA applauds because that will enable them to concentrate on other missions like going to Mars or asteroids. "We expect commercial companies will be taking people just like you and me into space for rides, maybe go to space hotels and do other kinds of business," NASA spokesperson Donald James said. Hitching a ride atop a jumbo jet, the retired Endeavour crisscrossed California in a tribute to all the people in this state who contributed to America's space shuttle program. The prospect of ordinary people being able to fly commercially into space was exciting to Endeavour's spectators. "I'd be on that thing in a heartbeat," Jack Martin said. "To see our
world from up there? You can't get any better than that."
More Condom Law Has Porn Biz Vowing To Pull Out Of L.A. In the wake of a newly approved measure requiring adult-film actors to wear condoms in Los Angeles County, producers and others in the pornography business are vowing to flee an area already plagued by runaway film production. The countywide ballot initiative known as Measure B passed with 56 percent of the vote on Tuesday, despite critics dismissing it as unenforceable and major news outlets like the Los Angeles Times saying it will likely “stymie county government and bring little benefit to performers.” In addition to forcing porn performers to wear condoms during shoots, the measure also requires adult-film producers to obtain special public health permits on top of the film permits that are already required. Vivid Entertainment Group, the largest producer and distributor of
pornographic films in Los Angeles, has already stated its intention
to flee the county if the new law is put into place, telling Variety
that it plans to move to another county within the state.
More Looking for solutions to state's water woes, California cities fall short with desalination Far to the north in well-heeled Marin County, plans were scrapped for a desalination facility despite two decades of planning and millions of dollars spent on a pilot plant. Squeezing salt from the ocean to make clean drinking water is a worldwide phenomenon that has been embraced in thirsty California, with its cycles of drought and growing population. There are currently 17 desalination proposals in the state, concentrated along the Pacific where people are plentiful and fresh water is not. But many projects have been stymied by skyrocketing construction costs,
huge energy requirements for running plants, regulatory delays and legal
challenges over environmental impacts on marine life. Only one small
plant along Monterey Bay is pumping out any drinking water.
More Gov Brown takes emergency action to try to reduce gas prices He directed the California Air Resources Board to increase the fuel supply by allowing the immediate sale and import of cheaper and more available winter-blend gasoline. The move would reduce the price of gas in California by 15 to 20 cents per gallon, probably within a few days, said energy expert Chris Faulkner of Dallas-based Breitling Oil and Gas. “This would immediately increase the supply of gasoline in California,” Faulkner said, but he cautioned that it would take a few days for the governor’s move to be reflected at the pump. “Gas goes up quickly and comes down slowly,” Faulkner said.
More L.A. to consider multi-use library cards for illegal immigrants The City Council unanimously voted recently to consider the proposal, which would have Los Angeles join the growing number of cities across the nation that offer various forms of identification to undocumented workers and others who cannot get driver's licenses because of their immigration status. Though L.A.'s plan would not be as sweeping as those adopted by cities
like San Francisco, Oakland and Richmond, it would be a major step in
serving the estimated 300,000 residents who don't have bank accounts
or debit cards.The ID card would include a user's name, address and
a photograph, and would be issued through the city's libraries. The
city would partner with a private vendor to set up bank accounts for
those who want to use the library ID as a debit card. Banks generally
require official identification to open an account. More
California regulator defends CO2 market design Mary Nichols, chair of the California Air Resources Board (ARB), said she opposed one of those groups' main requests -- for the state to give oil refineries and manufacturers 100 percent of the tradable emission permits they'll need to surrender to the state in 2014 for free. She said that could give certain companies undeserved windfall profits and send a signal of instability to businesses that have already invested in low-carbon technologies in the state. "Easing the transition is one thing; leaving the entire industrial
sector outside the arena where every other member of society, from forestry
to municipal sewage treatment plants is taking aggressive measures to
reduce their emissions is just plain unacceptable," Nichols said.
More Mexican man admits to voter fraud Ricardo Lopez-Munguia, 45, pleaded guilty Thursday to attempted entry to the U.S. after deportation, making a false claim to U.S. citizenship, and voter fraud by an illegal alien, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office. Lopez-Munguia faces a maximum term of 28 years in federal prison, followed by deportation. He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 19 in San Diego. In 1986, Lopez-Munguia was convicted of heroin trafficking. A federal judge ordered him to be deported the following year. Lopez-Munguia assumed the identity of Gustavo Carranza-Madrigal, a
U.S. citizen, and obtained a fraudulent California driver's license,
a Social Security card and a U.S. passport, according to the statement.
More
California School District Will Spend $1 Billion to Borrow $100 Million A school district north of San Diego, Poway Unified, borrowed $105 million over 40 years by selling a bond so unusual that the State of Michigan outlawed it years ago. Taxpayers in the area will end up with a nearly $1 billion bill at the end of this deal. The Poway school district is not the only one — three other California school districts in San Diego are set to gouge taxpayers in similar fashion. The San Diego Unified School district borrowed $164 million up front, but will owe a whopping $1.3 billion at the end of its long-term bond. Oceanside Unified sold a $30 million bond, but will owe nearly ten times as much decades later, $280 million total. And Escondido Union School District likewise borrowed $27 million and will owe $247 million total. The bonds are a "kick the can" move to avoid dinging taxpayers now
with higher property taxes. Oh, and the bonds are not callable -- they
can’t be paid off early or refinanced. More
Bad Bling: LA Jewelers Cited for Selling Lead Tainted Jewelry A total of 343 tainted jewelry items, some of which were imported from Asia, were discovered as part of DTSC‘s ongoing efforts to protect consumers from unnecessary toxic chemicals in everyday products. The jewelry items, most of which were discovered at Joia Trading,
Inc., located at 1020 S. Crocker Street, Los Angeles, contained metals
which are potentially toxic to people, especially young children. DTSC
alleges the 15 other businesses named in the complaint supplied the
lead-tainted jewelry to Joia Trading. Furthermore, DTSC and CEH discovered
some jewelry items for sale which contained high levels of cadmium,
a toxic metal. More
Japan's radiation found in California bluefin tuna . Radioactive cesium was detected in samples of highly prized Pacific bluefin tuna, but it is well below levels considered unsafe for humans, the scientists say. The evidence is "unequivocal" that the tuna - caught off San Diego a year ago - were contaminated with radiation from Japan's nuclear disaster, the researchers said. Virtually all bluefin tuna on the market in the United States is either
farmed or caught far from the Fukushima area, so American consumers
should not be affected by radiation contamination in their fish, seafood
distributors say. The migratory bluefin studied by the researchers were
all caught by sport fishermen and were not headed for the market. More
Man who buried a busload of school children alive in quarry, then demanded ransom, released from prison State prison officials said Thursday that Richard Allen Schoenfeld was released on parole to an undisclosed location late Wednesday. He will be monitored 24 hours a day with a GPS device. An appeals court ordered his release earlier this year, ruling that the Board of Parole Hearings unfairly set his parole date for 2021 even though it concluded he wasn’t a threat to society. Schoenfeld and two others were convicted in the 1976 kidnapping. Their
captives — students from Chowchilla and their bus driver — managed to
escape when the kidnappers decided to take a nap before calling in their
ransom demand. More
Berkeley chief used police to look for son's phone Officers did not file a police report about the January incident, "an oversight that came to our attention when researching your questions," said police Sgt. Mary Kusmiss, a department spokeswoman. On Jan. 11, Meehan's son reported that somebody stole his iPhone from his locker at Berkeley High School. The phone was equipped with tracking software. The chief showed his own phone to the property crimes sergeant, who deployed his team and drug task force officers to look for the missing phone, Kusmiss said. The signal stopped updating the phone's position near 55th Street and
San Pablo in North Oakland. The phone wasn't found. More
California 9/11 Fund Raided for Deficits Part of the money raised through the sale of the plates was to fund scholarships for children of California residents who perished in the attacks, while the majority — 85 percent — was to help fund anti-terrorism efforts. But a review by The Associated Press of the $15 million collected since lawmakers approved the "California Memorial Scholarship Program" shows only a small fraction of the money went to scholarships. While 40 percent has funded anti-terror training programs, $3 million was raided by Gov. Jerry Brown and his predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to plug the state's budget deficit. Millions more have been spent on budget items with little relation
to direct threats of terrorism, including livestock diseases and workplace
safety. More
Bill requires custody for bringing gun into airport in California Democratic Assemblywoman Norma Torres said her Assembly Bill 2182 did not stem from the January incident involving Republican Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, which occurred at an Ontario airport on the first day of this year's legislative session. "This issue is about protecting the public," Torres said of her bill. With Republicans opposed, the Assembly voted 46-25 to approve Torres'
bill. Donnelly voted no on the bill but did not speak during floor debate.
AB 2182 now goes to the Senate. More
Barstow man dies after officers use Taser on him Around 2 a.m., California Highway Patrol dispatch received a call about an accident involving a pedestrian being hit by a vehicle on the northbound side of the 15 Freeway around South Lenwood Road, according to CHP Officer Mario Lopez. "The driver of the vehicle called CHP dispatch and said that nobody was hit by a car," Lopez said. "But one of the passengers in the car jumped out while the vehicle was still moving and was on the freeway." Lopez said CHP and police officers arrived to find the passenger on the freeway. "The unidentified man, who appeared to be in his 20s, began to throw
rocks at the patrol officers," Lopez said. "He ran across the entire
span of I-15 as officers pursued him using their Tasers to subdue him
and contain the situation." They discovered after handcuffing him that
he wasn't breathing and he had no pulse, Lopez said in a phone interview
Monday. More
Four tons of floating marijuana fished off California Authorities found the floating marijuana after receiving a tip. The local sheriff and coast guard then sent a boat to the site 15 miles from the coastal town of Dana Point. The U.S. Border Patrol is investigating where the marijuana came from,
according to the agency’s agent Scott Simon. The agent said it was puzzling
that there was no boat spotted in the area at the time the floating
pots wrapped in plastic was discovered. More
Man's Raw Egg Spiritual Cleansing Ends in Rape Alberto Flores-Ramirez was arrested Tuesday afternoon at a discount store during a police sting, Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said. Flores-Ramirez thought he was meeting with the alleged victim a second time, Bertagna said. Flores-Ramirez and the 33-year-old Simi Valley woman initially met on the social networking site called Badoo, Bertagna said. The woman told Flores-Ramirez that she was hoping to bring her two
young children to the United States from Mexico, and he said he could
help her with that if she underwent a "spiritual cleansing" ritual,
Bertagna said. More
Wal-Mart To Pay $2.1M Penalty For Overcharging In Cali When Walmart stores throughout the state were first caught advertising one price on the shelf and charging a different, higher price at checkout, the retailer was ordered to stop the practice. A 2008 judgment required Wal-Mart to pay $1.4 million and to adhere to a "Get it Free" program for four years. The program required that if customers are overcharged, they immediately get $3 off the lowest advertised price of the item, or they receive the item for free if it is less than $3. A November 2010 investigation by the Departments of Weights and Measures
found continued errors in pricing at Walmart checkout stands in 11 counties.
More
San Diego Board Tentatively Approves 'Spice' Ordinance The board also voted 5-0 to support of legislation aimed at outlawing the products. "Combining these two measures will put San Diego County at the forefront of the efforts to combat what is a growing and dangerous problem facing our society," Supervisor Greg Cox said. Some bath salts contain amphetamine-like chemicals. Man-made cannabinoids
-- the class of psychoactive compounds in marijuana -- are used in products
sold as K2, spice, or herbal incense and typically sold online, in liquor
stores or smoke shops. More
Homeland Security helps arrest prostitute in California The site, Happy Foot Massage Parlor at 913 E. Vista Way, came under law enforcement scrutiny after hearing complaints that a large number of men were visiting the establishment during the day and evening, San Diego County Sheriff's Sgt. Joe Mata said. Over the last few weeks, sheriff's deputies joined with federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security to investigate the shop, Mata said. The sting targeted prostitution, but the women were citing only on
suspicion of violating a number of city municipal codes, including unlawful
touching, unlicensed massage therapists, failure to have insurance and
unsanitary conditions, according to information provided by Mata. More
California Asks Judges: Gay or Straight? “[The Administrative Office of the Courts] is contacting all judges and justices to gather data on race/ethnicity, gender identification, and sexual orientation,” reads an email sent by Romunda Price of the Administrative Office of the Courts. A copy of Price’s memo was obtained by THE WEEKLY STANDARD. “Providing complete and accurate aggregate demographic data is crucial to garnering continuing legislative support for securing critically needed judgeships,” Price writes. The process of self-revealing one’s sexual orientation is an element
of a now yearly process. “To ensure that the AOC reports accurate data
and to avoid the need to ask all judges to provide this information
on an annual basis, the questionnaire asks that names be provided. The
AOC, however, will release only aggregate statistical information, by
jurisdiction, as required by the Government Code and will not identify
any specific justice or judge.” More
Cali Investigates Skin-Lighteners for Dangerous Mercury Starting next week, California health officials will collect and test a sampling of skin-lightening products in the Bay Area for possible mercury contamination. Health officials launched the investigation in response to a spate of mercury poisoning cases linked to the tainted face creams that are made outside the United States. A handful of cases emerged in the mid ‘90s, but it was a 2010 case involving a 39-year-old Latina and her family in Alameda County that spurred the state to action. Coordinators of a health study found the East Bay resident with dangerously-high mercury levels, and notified state health officials. An investigation traced the source of her mercury poisoning to an
unlabeled jar of face cream, which relatives from Virginia had brought
back from Mexico and given to her. More
PETA Sues to Get SeaWorld Orcas Freed from 'Slavery' The group argues that five orcas -- Tilikum, Katina, Kasatka, Ulises and Corky -- should be protected by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution that bans slavery and involuntary servitude. Kasatka, Corky and Ulises are in orcas at SeaWorld in San Diego, while Tilikum and Katrina are in Orlando, Fla. PETA announced plans to sue SeaWorld several months ago, claiming
that it was, "...keeping orca whales in slavery." More
Gang, Mexican Mafia members arrested in major drug ring sweep They said Rudy Espudo, 39, of Escondido is a member of the notorious Mexican Mafia gang, who ran a criminal enterprise in North County involving several Latino gangs. Espudo was one of 119 people in San Diego County, and one of two Mexican Mafia members, charged with participating in a massive drug and firearms trafficking ring, authorities said. Dozens of police, state and federal agents participated countywide in early morning arrests of 104 gang members and associates, including 48 in North County. "Citizens woke up safer this morning than they were before they went
to bed last night," U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said in a news conference
in San Diego announcing the federal indictments. She was surrounded
by representatives of various local law enforcement agencies, including
the Sheriff's Department, San Diego County District Attorney, Escondido
Police Department, Carlsbad Police Department and Oceanside Police Department.
More
Boxer, Feinstein both supported SOPA/PIPA But it's worth noting as the dust settles that two of the biggest supporters of SOPA and PIPA were the senators from California, Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein. Raw Story points out that Boxer was a major recipeint of Hollywood money:
California To Run Out Of Cash In One Month, Controller Warns The announcement is surprising since lawmakers previously believed the state had enough cash to last through the fiscal year that ends in June. But Chiang said additional cash management solutions are needed because state tax revenues are $2.6 billion less than what Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers assumed in their optimistic budget last year. Meanwhile, Chiang said, the state is spending $2.6 billion more than state leaders planned on. The Assembly budget committee approved a bill today that would enable
$865 million of borrowing from existing state accounts, Senate Bill
95. Chiang, after consultation with the Department of Finance and state
Treasurer Bill Lockyer, is also seeking about $2.4 billion in delayed
payments to universities, counties and Medi-Cal, as well as additional
borrowing from outside investors. More
California: the Female State Often called "The Female State," California has long been famous for its remarkable women who influence the community, the state, the nation and the entire planet with strength, skill, intuition, determination, confidence, glamor and raw feminine power. California's strong female role models include entrepreneurs, activists, inventors, mothers, wives, politicians, ministers, designers, soldiers, astronauts, teachers, musicians, CEOs, athletes, philanthropists, judges, pilots, bodybuilders, scientists, producers, evangelists, models, directors, police officers, doctors, nurses, firefighters, mechanics and social leaders. Of all lands on the earth, California is the one place where a girl
is raised to believe she can conquer any obstacle, fulfill any dream,
fight every battle and become anything she imagines. More
New laws on shark fins, tanning beds The Legislature's work in the last year resulted in 745 new laws, though some already have gone into effect while others will be fully enacted in future years. In 2010, there were 733 laws enacted. Both years saw significantly fewer new laws than in the past few decades. Former Gov. Ronald Reagan approved the most laws in any year - 1,821 in 1971, according to the Senate Committee on Governance and Finance, which keeps track of those statistics. Here are some of the major laws that will go into effect: Tanning beds: People younger than 18 will be prohibited from using ultraviolet tanning devices, removing the ability of those between ages 14 and 18 to use the devices with parental consent. Doctors can still prescribe the use of the devices when medically necessary. The first-of-its kind in the nation measure is SB746, by Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance (Los Angeles County). Shark fins: California will ban the importation of shark fins, while fins that already are in the state can be sold and used until July 2013, when a total ban takes effect. The measure is AB376, by Assemblyman Paul Fong, D-Cupertino. Alcohol sales: Shoppers will be barred from purchasing alcoholic beverages using self-check out registers at supermarkets or other stores. The measure is AB183, by Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco. Cough medicine: People younger than 18 would be banned from over-the-counter purchases of products that contain dextromethorphan, an ingredient used in many cough medicines that when taken in high doses can cause hallucinations, loss of motor skills and dissociative sensations. The measure is SB514, by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto. Diversity: Requires that public schools include historical contributions of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, as well as people with disabilities, in social science instruction and teaching materials. The measure is SB48, by Leno. Handguns: The open carrying of unloaded handguns will be prohibited.
The ban does not apply to law enforcement, people permitted to carry
loaded weapons in public, or to people selling weapons at gun shows.
The measure is AB144, by Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Cañada
Flintridge (Los Angeles County). More
State hopes to break car owners' habit of changing oil too often Many automobile owners are spending more than they need on motor oil, believing that it should be changed every 3,000 miles even though almost no manufacturer requires such an aggressive oil-change schedule. The long-held notion that the oil should be changed every 3,000 miles is so prevalent that California officials have launched a campaign to stop drivers from wasting millions of gallons of oil annually because they have their vehicles serviced too often. "Our survey data found that nearly half of California drivers are
still changing their oil at 3,000 miles or even sooner," said Mark Oldfield,
a spokesman for the California Department of Resources, Recycling and
Recovery, which has launched the Check Your Number campaign to encourage
drivers to go with the manufacturer's recommendations. More
2 million Californians report mental health needs; most receive little or no treatment The report, which provides some of the first comprehensive data in recent years on the mental health of California's adult population, found that one in 12 Californians reported symptoms consistent with serious psychological distress and experienced difficulty functioning at home or at work. Over half of these adults reported receiving no treatment for their
disorders, and about one-quarter received "inadequate" treatment, defined
as less than four visits with a health professional over the past 12
months or using prescription drugs to manage mental health needs. More
State says 1,000 care facilities match sex offender addresses State Auditor Elaine M. Howle said the California Department of Social Services failed to check the sex offender registry even after her office advised it to do so in 2008. The facilities matching the registry of sex offenders included foster homes, group homes and day-care facilities for children, as well as facilities for adults with special needs and the elderly. The auditor informed state regulators of the 1,000 sex offender hits in July. Investigations are now complete and the state said eight licenses have been revoked or suspended and regulators issued 31 orders barring individuals from licensed facilities. The audit was ordered earlier this year at the request of state Assemblyman
Henry Perea (D-Fresno). The audit was also intended to compile data
on deaths of children who were under the oversight of child protective
services. More
Suit Claims Kids Exposed To High Lead Levels At Disneyland Dozens of leaded-glass windows and brass rail chains, door knobs and drinking water fountains at some of Disneyland's most popular attractions expose children to high levels of lead, according to the Mateel Environmental Justice Foundation. While lead can cause brain damage if ingested, it is not considered toxic to touch. The foundation filed a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court in April against Walt Disney Parks and Resorts U.S. Inc., alleging excessive levels of lead in such commonly touched objects as the Sword in Stone attraction, where Disneyland photographers encourage children to pose while pulling on the sword handle, according to the organization's President William Verick. Other objects containing lead include brass door knobs at Minnie's
House and stained-glass windows in a door at the beauty salon in Cinderella's
Castle. More
Repeal of death penalty could save millions of dollars, analysis finds The Legislative Analyst’s Office review of the proposed initiative, which hasn't been cleared for signature gathering yet, put it in the middle of a debate over what the death penalty costs and what should be done about it. Some critics of the death penalty think it actually costs much more than the analysis said, while supporters of capital punishment think executions should be streamlined, not stopped, in order to cut costs. The initiative was proposed in August after a bill to repeal the death
penalty stalled in the state Legislature. In addition to eliminating
capital punishment, the measure would require those convicted of murder
to work in prison and provide $100 million over four years to local
law enforcement to help solve homicide and rape cases. The proposal
likely faces a rough road ahead, as a recent Field Poll found a strong
majority of Californians want to keep capital punishment, even as an
increasing number prefer life in prison without parole. More
Convicted Rapist Who Was Deported Found In Cali Jesus Armando Flores-Trujillo, 29, was convicted of rape in Escondido in 2001 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was released from prison in October 2010 and immediately deported, according to Escondido police. About 11:50 p.m. Monday, officers pulled over a vehicle in the area of Centre City Parkway and Felicita Avenue because of a vehicle code violation and found Flores-Trujillo was a passenger in the vehicle, EPD Lt. Craig Carter said. He identified himself by a false name and admitted to being in the
country illegally but stated he had never been deported or arrested,
Carter said. More
$69 million in Cali welfare money drawn out of state State-issued aid cards have been used at hotels, shops, restaurants, ATMs and other places in 49 other states, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam, according to data obtained by The Times from the California Department of Social Services. Las Vegas drew $11.8 million of the cash benefits, far more than any other destination. The money was accessed from January 2007 through May 2010. Welfare recipients must prove they can't afford life's necessities
without government aid: A single parent with two children generally
must earn less than $14,436 a year to qualify for the cash assistance
and becomes ineligible once his or her income exceeds about $20,000,
said Lizelda Lopez, spokeswoman for the Department of Social Services.
More
California pot shops ordered to shut down within 45 days The Associated Press said that a coordinated crackdown on the medical marijuana industry would be announced at a press conference on Friday. The move comes in the same week that the Internal Revenue Service took steps that may force Oakland’s Harborside Health Center, the nation’s largest medical marijuana dispensary, to shut down. The same enforcement tactic that’s being used against Harborside —
a very old law that prohibits groups that traffic in controlled substances
from taking tax deductions — could also be used against pot shops in
all of the 16 states that have legalized the drug’s use for medical
purposes. More
Wiener to Penalize Rude Nudists The legislation, which was introduced by Supervisor Scott Wiener, would require those going nude to cover public seating before sitting down and put on clothes before entering restaurants. Wiener’s district includes the Castro, which has seen a recent increase in public nudity, according to his office. The supervisor said the legislation would ensure that public health standards are maintained by requiring nudists to put a towel or other item between their body and a public seat. “San Francisco is a liberal and tolerant city, and we pride ourselves
on that fact,” Wiener said in a statement. “Yet, while we have a variety
of views about public nudity, we can all agree that when you sit down
naked, you should cover the seat, and that you should cover up when
you go into a food establishment,” he said. More
California Schools Turn Away Unvaccinated Students Students are now required to get the vaccine under a law passed last year after a historic spike in cases of the potentially fatal disease. The law initially required all students entering grades seven through 12 to get vaccinated by the start of the 2011-2012 school year. Lawmakers passed a 30-day extension as districts worried many students wouldn't meet the deadline. Students can still attend if their parents file a form saying they oppose vaccines. San Francisco Unified School District on Thursday began sending home
students who arrived without proof of vaccination. More
Cost of high-speed rail project balloons But that figure – long derided as unrealistic by critics – went off the rails this month when the authority released detailed environmental reports for its proposed Merced-Fresno and Fresno-Bakersfield sections, the first two segments the agency wants to start building next year. The authority's most optimistic estimates for the San Joaquin Valley sections alone total about $10 billion; route choices could run the price to $13.9 billion. That's a far cry from the 2009 estimate of $8.1 billion. If projected costs can rise by as much as 71 percent in the Valley
– a relatively flat, straightforward stretch – what will happen when
tracks must be built through mountains and across cities in the Bay
Area or Southern California? More
Why did a Russian billionaire give Newsom a $400 pen? But every so often, one stands out. Why, for example, did someone give a $398 Louis Vuitton pen to Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom? The pen is interesting not for its value or because there is evidence that it garnered political influence, but because the donor was a shadowy Russian billionaire who has no known connection to his reported address in San Francisco. After noticing the gift on Newsom’s state disclosure report, California Watch started calling around. The billionaire is Dmitry Rybolovlev, 44, a businessman and physician
from Perm in central Russia. In 2010, he was worth approximately $8.6
billion, according to Forbes magazine – the 79th-richest person in the
world. More
LAPD eases impound policy for illegal immigrants The move comes amid concerns that police were unfairly targeting those drivers. The news came as a relief for Maria Ranjel of Boyle Heights. Her husband and three sons are undocumented immigrants who drive all the time, even though they're ineligible to apply for drivers licenses in California. “We know well that it’s against the law to drive without a license but it’s just because of need that we do it – to take our kids to and from school, to go to and from the market," Ranjel said through a translator. "It’s just too hard to take the bus.” Ranjel said police repeatedly have stopped her husband and sons at sobriety checkpoints, and impounded their cars. It’s cost the family thousands of dollars. She is part of an activist group called L.A. Voice that’s been lobbying police to ease their impound policies. Ranjel was elated LAPD Chief Charlie Beck agreed. “I wanted to shout with joy at the news. It’s just good news for the Latino community." Under the LAPD’s new policy, officers will give unlicensed illegal
immigrants “reasonable time” to find someone else to drive their car
home. It only applies at sobriety checkpoints and only if the driver
isn’t drunk or otherwise wanted by police. More
Why Los Angeles Schoolkids Get Lousy Meals Among them is Stephanie Hernandez. It's her first day here at the city's oldest public school. She is 17, pretty with long black hair, and as a junior enrolled in the math and science magnet program she spends the entire day on the third floor, away from "the kids who tag and the kids who ditch." The cafeteria, unfortunately, is on the first floor. By the time Hernandez hefts her books and races downstairs, the lunch line is enormous. By the time she gets within arm's reach of the food itself, the bell signaling the end of 30 minutes rings. Lunch is over. Her empty stomach growls. That afternoon, she can't
concentrate. At home, her dad urges her to try again. He's a single
father, an electrician, and his income qualifies her for a free, federally
subsidized school lunch. More
L.A. County's Private Property War On Oct. 17, 2007, Marcelle opened the door to a loud knock. Her heart jumped when she found a man backed by two armed county agents in bulletproof vests. She was alone in the cabin, a dot in the vast open space of the Antelope Valley, without a neighbor for more than half a mile. She feared that something had happened to her daughter, who was visiting from Montreal. The men demanded her driver's license, telling her, "This building
is not permitted — everything must go." Normally sassy, Marcelle handed
over her ID — even her green card, just in case. Stepping out, she realized
that her 1,000-square-foot cabin was surrounded by men with drawn guns.
"You have no right to be here," one informed her. Baffled and shaking
with fear, she called her daughter — please come right away. More
Southern Cali Considers Seceding from the Golden State Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone apparently thinks so, after proposing that the county lead a campaign for as many as 13 Southern California counties to secede from the state. Stone said in a statement late Thursday that Riverside, Imperial, San Diego, Orange, San Bernardino, Kings, Kern, Fresno, Tulare, Inyo, Madera, Mariposa and Mono counties should form the new state of South California. The creation of the new state would allow officials to focus on securing borders, balancing budgets, improving schools and creating a vibrant economy, he said. “Our taxes are too high, our schools don’t educate our children well enough, unions and other special interests have more clout in the Legislature than the general public,” Stone said in his statement. He unveiled his proposal on the day Gov. Jerry Brown signed budget
legislation that will divert about $14 million in 2011-12 vehicle license
fee revenue from four new Riverside County cities. More
California Small Businesses Rise Up Against Proposed Internet Tax The proposed bill, ABX1 28, seeks to collect sales tax for goods purchased online by extending the online seller's "nexus" to include affiliate marketers who drive traffic to the seller's site. Unfortunately, the net effect of the bill would not be to increase tax revenues, but to drive affiliate marketers out of state rather than to jeopardize their ties with retailers like Amazon, who most likely would sever ties with them rather than be forced to collect sales tax. As the issue rear its ugly head, 25,000 Californian small businesses
affected by the proposal made known their opposition to the budget trailer
bill. Unlike the internet sales tax proposal dubbed the "Main Street
Fairness Act" which would level the online vs. brick and mortar playing
field by requiring sales tax to be collected on all internet purchases
by residents of states with relevant sales tax, the California bill's
extension of nexus would only result in retailers like Amazon dropping
Californian affiliates just as they did with Arkansas and Connecticut
after "Amazon tax" legislation was passed by those states. More
La Jolla Fireworks: A Legal Dud? Unless Judge Linda Quinn changes her mind overnight, the case will go from Superior Court on Broadway to the state Appeals Court on "B" Street. Environmental activists are willing to let all the concerned parties off the legal hook -- except for the La Jolla Community Fireworks Foundation. "The notion that we can't celebrate the 4th of July without the fireworks
show in La Jolla is absurd," says attorney Marco Gonzalez, representing
the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation, which is challenging the
fireworks show. More
Mom Gives 8-Year-Old Daughter Botox Kerry Campbell also arranges body waxes for her girl. "I wish that I'd had the same advantages when I was younger," she told the Sun of London. "I know one day she will be a model, actress, or singer, and having
these treatments will ensure she stays looking baby-faced for longer,"
added Campbell, who is from Birmingham, England, but now lives in San
Francisco. More
SF Voters Asked to Ban Circumcision A voter in the city says he will submit more than 12,000 valid signatures to the elections office today. That's more than the 7,200 needed to get the measure on the ballot. The proposed new law would make it a misdemeanor to circumcise a person before they are 18-years-old. "We don't come at this from a religious angle," Lloyd Schofield told
the San Francisco Examiner. "We feel this is a very harmful thing. Parents
are guardians. They are not owners of children. It's a felony to tattoo
a child." The Department of Elections has 30-days to review the signatures
and determine if the measure qualifies for the November ballot. More
Los Angeles May Now Require Rainwater Harvesting In addition to encouraging the use of rain storage tanks, builders
would be required to use other low-cost and sensible water management
methods; these include simple measures, like diverting rainfall to gardens,
constructed infiltration swales, mulch and permeable pavement, all of
which will help to sustainably direct the rain directly where it falls.
Any builders who are unable to manage 100% of a project’s runoff on-site
would be required to pay a penalty of $13 a gallon for the water that
is not safely redirected. This fee will help to fund sustainable off-site
water management projects. More
No proof of insurance can result in getting towed "The state and police departments will say California is a compulsory insurance state," Kolb wrote in an e-mail. "Not true. Compulsory means two things: mandated and enforced ... No other state that I know of says they are 'compulsory,' yet allows (uninsured people) to continue to drive." California Highway Patrol spokesman Mario Lopez replied that an officer can "issue a citation to a driver who fails to provide evidence of financial responsibility in accordance with California vehicle code section 16028(a)." In effect, that section requires drivers to provide proof of insurance on the spot if an officer asks for it. Section 16029 explains the penalties (fines) for not being able to
show proof of financial responsibility, but it also allows courts to
impound a car in addition to levying a fine, Lopez said. More
Millions at stake in IRS audit of Oakland medical marijuana dispensary Its Oakland facility handles $22 million in annual medical marijuana transactions. Now Harborside is attracting scrutiny from the Internal Revenue Service. Since last year, the IRS has been auditing 2008 and 2009 federal tax returns for the Oakland location, one of two outlets Harborside operates for 70,000 medical marijuana users. The other facility is in San Jose. The outcome may eventually establish whether U.S. tax authorities treat medical marijuana as a legitimate enterprise or illicit drug trafficking. IRS tax code passed during the Reagan administration to keep drug
dealers from making business deductions could cost Harborside millions
of dollars in tax deductions for salaries, overhead and the expenses
of buying and furnishing medical pot. More
Peta holds naked shower protest in Hollywood... and causes car crash Cameras were rolling yesterday when animal rights group Peta caused a car crash during a naked shower protest. The driver had been distracted by the beautiful, naked models soaping themselves in a makeshift shower on the side of the road. He ploughed his grey sedan straight into the back of a white pick-up truck at a stoplight in front of him. CBS cameras captured the entire incident. Fortunately the damage appeared to be minimal, and the only thing wounded seemed to be the driver's pride. Peta's models were baring all and showering in public to promote a
vegan lifestyle. More
California man killed by armed bird at cockfight
Jose Luis Ochoa, 35, of Lamont, California, was declared dead at a hospital about two hours after he was injured in neighboring Tulare County on Jan. 30, the Kern County coroner said. An autopsy concluded Ochoa died of an accidental "sharp force injury" to his right calf. Sheriff's spokesman Ray Pruitt said it was unclear if a delay in seeking medical attention contributed to Ochoa's death. "I have never seen this type of incident," Sgt. Martin King, a 24-year veteran of the sheriff's department, told the Bakersfield Californian. Ochoa and the other spectators fled when authorities arrived at the scene of the fight, King told the newspaper. Deputies found five dead roosters and other evidence of cockfighting
at the location, he said. More
Cali Taxpayers Paying For Inmates To Send Love Letters
"It's absolutely insanity," said Nina Ashord of Crime Victims United of California. "From a crime victim's standpoint, I find it extremely offensive and from a tax payer's standpoint." Some letters described the sex acts female inmates promised to perform on their pen pals. If an inmate can't afford an envelope, a stamp or paper to write on, the state will pay for it through the indigent mail program. "I would tolerate that to have people have more appropriate connections
that have them live better lives," said Kent Peters, who has corresponded
with a death row inmate for 11 years. "The good it does, I'm sure, far
outweighs some inmates playing some word games with their loved ones
out there." More
Drivers Pulled Over During Cell Phone Sweep
10News went with a California Highway Patrol officer on Tuesday during its second crackdown on cell phone violators and saw that not all San Diegans are getting the message about the dangers of driving and using their cell phones. "They're not under the influence, they're 'intexticated,'" said CHP
Officer Brian Pennings. "They're under the influence of their phone."
More
Obama Administration Supports Drugmakers in Calif. Hospital Prices Suit
The administration told the Supreme Court that hospitals and clinics cannot sue drug companies for increased drug discounts or to obtain reimbursement from companies that overcharge. Oral arguments in the case are scheduled for Jan. 19. Details on Drug Discounts The case involves a suit filed by Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties against AstraZeneca and other drugmakers. A drug-discount program was created in 1992 as a way for federal officials to regulate agreements with drug companies and set maximum prices for drugs sold to certain health care providers, including
More than 15,000 U.S. hospitals and clinics participate in the discount
program, which slashes prescription drug prices by up to 50%. More
Cali Drivers Face Higher Traffic Fines In 2011
The state is adding $4 to the price of every traffic ticket. The fee will pay for emergency air transport services because of a revenue shortfall in Medi-Cal funding. It is set to generate an estimated $34 million a year through 2016, according to state estimates, The Times reported. The increase is the latest in a string of fee increases statewide and in Los Angeles, as governments turn to motorists to pay more amid budget problems. Last year, the state increased the fines for traffic tickets and used the proceeds to help renovate courthouses. The changes included a $35 surcharge on traffic tickets, the newspaper reported. Another law taking effect Saturday opened the door to a potential
revenue stream for cities: allowing local agencies to install cameras
on street sweepers to catch parking violators. More
By 2036 'Subway to the Sea' Still Won't Reach the Beach
With the expensive, massive, long-term project being funded and built in increments, we're already going to have to wait until 2036 (quick, do the math, add 25 years to your current age) to be able to get off the train at the VA. LA Times columnist Steve Lopez takes on the topic, bemoaning the fact that it's not likely that in his lifetime he can get on a subway in Los Feliz with his beach gear and hop off in the sand, ready to take on the Pacific's waves. Lopez points out a classic Los Angeles transit fail parallel: "We've got a train to the airport that doesn't go all the way to the
airport, so why not a train to the ocean that barely makes it to the
marine layer?" More
Los Angeles Wants To Tax Medical Marijuana
After all, the state's medical marijuana law didn't really anticipate the kind of for-profit pot sales that L.A. dispensaries are known for. Under the law cannabis was really supposed to be shared among "seriously ill" members of nonprofit "collectives." In L.A. that notion has been stretched to the legal limit -- so far that District Attorney Steve Cooley has said almost all the dispensaries in the city are illegal. So the city's going to tax that? Yep, says Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who proposed $50 in city sales
taxes on every $1,000 of "cash and in-kind contributions" to dispensaries
for pot. More
School Forces Boy To Take Flag Off Bike
Thirteen-year-old Cody Alicea put the flag there as a show of support for the veterans in his family. But officials at Denair Middle School told him he couldn't fly it. He said he was told some students had complained. So now the eighth-grader folds up the flag and puts it in his backpack while he is in class. His father, Robert Kisner, said his son should not have to put the flag away. "He's got that flag on his bike because he's proud of where he comes from," Kisner said. But the superintendent said he's trying to avoid tension on campus. "(The) First Amendment is important," Superintendent Edward Parraz
said. "We want the kids to respect it, understand it, and with that
comes a responsiblity." More
Overestimate fueled state's landmark diesel law
The pollution estimate in question was too high - by 340 percent, according to the California Air Resources Board, the state agency charged with researching and adopting air quality standards. The estimate was a key part in the creation of a regulation adopted
by the Air Resources Board in 2007, a rule that forces businesses to
cut diesel emissions by replacing or making costly upgrades to heavy-duty,
diesel-fueled off-road vehicles used in construction and other industries.
More
Experts: Mystery contrail off CA was from Chinese missile
Two governmental military experts with extensive experience working with missiles and computer security systems have examined the television video and conclude the mysterious contrail originating some 30 miles off the coast near Los Angeles did not come from a jet – but rather, they say the exhaust and the billowing plume emanated from a single source nozzle of a missile, probably made in China. They further suggest the missile was fired from a submerged Chinese
nuclear submarine off America's coast, and point out that the timing
of the alleged Chinese missile shot coincided with an increasing confrontation
between the U.S. and China. More
Lawyer sues over attending male retreat
A partner at the personal injury firm, Bisnar/Chase, said Friday that the lawsuit is a frivolous claim filed by a former employee seeking money. Steven C. Eggleston filed the lawsuit in August against the firm and
its partners, John Bisnar and Brian Chase. Eggleston – who became an
employee in July 2009 – alleges the firm stopped giving him monthly
wages after he refused to attend a "New Warrior Training" seminar in
February organized by the global nonprofit group, The Mankind Project. Prop 19 goes up in smoke
If approved, under Proposition 19, the state would have been the first to say it is OK to use and possess marijuana for anything other than medical purposes. California legalized medical marijuana 14 years ago and was the first state to do so. The newest proposal would have allowed people in California who are
21 and older to carry less than an ounce of pot and cultivate the plants
on up to 25 square feet of private land. Marijuana would have still
been illegal under federal law. More
Resnick cites attendees at California Public Finances Conference who are suggesting the market would accept the plan, if it is legalized.
Add another reason to the growing list for California to pass Proposition
19. More
Companies fleeing Cali for Utah over confiscatory tax rate
Adobe Systems, maker of a suite of graphics programs such as Adobe PDF, Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign, have announced that they are building a $100 million facility in either Salt Lake City or in nearby Utah County, Utah. The facility will bring thousands of jobs to Utah over the next few decades. In May the Internet auction company ebay also announced a major new facility to be built in Salt Lake City. The $287 million data center will also bring hundreds of new jobs to the Bee Hive State. Not to be forgotten, games maker Electronic Arts opened its new facility
in July in Salt Lake City where around 100 employees are already at
work. More
RVs Dumping Human Waste on Venice Streets
HazMat crews cleaned up the area around Rose and Third avenues Tuesday night after receiving complaints from Venice residents and activists. The LAPD then made the owners of about 12 RVs move them out out of the area. A local activist known as "Boston Dawna" said no one was cited. She said the RVs were back in the same spots by Wednesday morning. A woman who allegedly uncapped a sewage tank on an RV on Pacific Avenue
near Fleet Street, letting waste spill out as her partner drove the
vehicle, was arrested over the weekend. More
Bikers Make Noise On Quiet Motorcycle Bill
"They rev their engines with complete disregard for the people who live here," complained neighborhood resident Tonia Aery. "It's obnoxious." Aery's wish for peace and quiet could come true after the state Senate passed a bill this month that would make it a motor vehicle violation to ride a roaring hog. The only catch is that the decision now falls to the state's biker-in-chief, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, an avid motorcyclist. Schwarzenegger's fellow riders - still bitter over an 18-year-old state
law requiring helmets - are hoping he'll veto the law. More
Cowboy Fire started by two illegal immigrants
“They called C4, which is Mexico’s emergency dispatch system, and advised them that they had been lost for two days, were stranded, dehydrated, and were going to light a signal fire to attempt to get some help,” said Roxanne Provaznik, public information officer for Cal-Fire. The information was relayed to the U.S. Border Patrol. CAL FIRE worked
with Border Patrol agents to try and locate the two individuals, but
were unsuccessful. Investigators from CAL FIRE and U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service determined that there was evidence near the area of origin of
illegal aliens traveling through that area, which supports this report.
More
CHP Officer Sentenced For Ramming Wife's Car
As part of his probation, Armando Arriaga, 46, was ordered to have no negative contact with his wife and to perform 10 days of public work service and 100 hours of community work service, said Deputy District Attorney Keith Watanabe. Arriaga pleaded guilty before Vista Judge Richard Mills, who immediately sentenced the defendant. The prosecutor said at a hearing last month that Arriaga was driving
under the influence of alcohol when he followed his wife down North
Coast Highway about 7 p.m. on July 7, after they had an argument at
home. More
Suffer These Crimes in Oakland? Don't Call the Cops
Chief Anthony Batts listed exactly 44 situations that his officers will no longer respond to and they include grand theft, burglary, car wrecks, identity theft and vandalism. He says if you live and Oakland and one of the above happens to you, you need to let police know on-line. Some 80 officers were to be let go at midnight last night if a last-minute deal was not reached. That's about ten percent of the work force. "I came here to build an organization, not downsize one," said Batts,
who was given the top job in October. More
Del Mar firm signs deal for Mexican wind farm
Cannon Power Group said it signed a 10-year deal with Spanish wind giant Gamesa for the wind turbines, technical support and additional work on the 1,000-megawatt Aubanel Wind Project. If built as planned beginning next year, the project will dwarf wind farms proposed for the mountains of San Diego County and will put towers as high as 25-story buildings with blades bigger than the wings of a Boeing 747 on desert ridges in a region of striking wind-carved rock formations spread over 140 square miles. Cannon has built wind farms in California, he said, but getting permits
got so difficult that it is focused on building elsewhere. It still
sells power into the state to take advantage of California rules that
require a certain percentage of electricity to come from the sun, the
wind and other renewable sources. More
'In-N-Out' hometown bans new drive-through restaurants
Amid complaints of obesity and lines of idled cars stretching into neighborhood streets, this blue-collar town is banning new drive-throughs in hopes of shedding its reputation as a haven for convenient, fatty foods. It's an ironic development for a community that proudly claims to have opened California's first drive-through restaurant more than 60 years ago — a little joint named, appropriately enough, In-N-Out. "We here in Baldwin Park have taken strides to create a healthy community,
and allowing one more drive-through in is not going to meet that goal,"
said Baldwin Park city planner Salvador Lopez, who helped craft the
ordinance that takes effect Fourth of July weekend. More
Worm-poop claims fertile grounds for lawsuit
Hahn says his Worm Gold, Worm Gold Plus and Tree Rescue Solution, which are primarily made from worm castings, enrich the soil and enable plants to repel bugs. But the California Department of Pesticide Regulation says that claim makes Worm Gold a pesticide, and Hahn has failed to get government approval to sell the products as pesticides. Last year, the pesticide department fined Hahn $100,000 for not getting
approval. It has put that penalty on hold pending the outcome of a lawsuit
filed in Sacramento County Superior Court. The suit was filed on his
behalf by the free market-oriented Pacific Legal Foundation, and is
to be heard July 30 by Judge Timothy M. Frawley. The First Amendment
right to free speech is at stake, says the foundation, because Hahn
is making a truthful claim. More
Santa Clara County Bans Fast Food Toy Giveaways
But its chief sponsor says it's still important because it paves the
way for other areas to act, may spur action by fast-food chains to offer
healthier choices and can help parents by taking away a child's incentive
for wanting less healthy food. More
CARB’s punitive approach
“The California Air Resources Board [CARB] last month came to terms with a West Sacramento, Calif. produce company for $32,550 for failing to submit its TRU facility report,” stated a March 30, 2010 CARB press release which called the case a matter of “diesel emissions violations.” “ARB investigators found that NorCal Produce did not submit the required facility report by the 2006 deadline, as required by the transport refrigeration unit [TRU] air toxic control measure [ATCM].” Of course, the company was actually facing $43,400 in penalties (or
more) but qualified for a 25 percent discount because of, as CARB spokesman
Dimitri Stanich put it, “cooperative actions on the part of the business.”
More
California Mexican Americans protest students wearing American flag on Cinco de Mayo
The incident happened at the Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, about an hour south of San Francisco. On Thursday, May 6, about 50 students, many carrying the Mexican flag, walked out of classes. The students told reporters that they thought it was disrespectful for the students to wear the American flag on their shirts while others were celebrating Cinco de Mayo. The school's principal claimed the students wearing the flag was a safety issue because it could spark fights between students. Others called the school hypocritical because dozens of students wore
the colors of the Mexican flag but they were not sent home. More
Marijuana legalization will be on California ballot
Passage of the measure, by no means certain, would make California the first U.S. state to legalize marijuana. Backers believe the state could be at the vanguard of a national movement toward decriminalizing the drug. "This is a watershed moment in the decades-long struggle to end marijuana prohibition in this country," said Stephen Gutwillig, California director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which has spearheaded the ballot initiative. "Banning marijuana outright has been a disaster, fueling a massive,
increasingly brutal underground economy, wasting billions in scarce
law enforcement resources and making criminals out of countless law-abiding
citizens," he said. More
California 35th Among All States in Maternal Mortality
The new Amnesty International report, Deadly Delivery: The Maternal
Health Care Crisis in the USA, also reveals that severe pregnancy-related
complications that nearly cause death -- known as "near misses" -- are
rising at an alarming rate, increasing by 25 percent since 1998; currently
nearly 34,000 women annually experience a "near miss" during delivery.
With a lifetime risk of maternal deaths that is greater than in 40 other
countries, including virtually all of the industrialized countries,
the United States has failed to reverse the two-decade upward trend
in preventable maternal deaths, despite pledges to do so. More
Anti-Gay Cali Politician cited for DUI after leaving gay bar
State Sen. Roy Ashburn was pulled over by the California Highway Patrol at about 2:00 a.m. on March 3 when his state-issued vehicle was observed being driven erratically. The driver, identified as Ashburn, was taken in and charged for driving under the influence. Channel 13 reported that unidentified sources said the senator had been at Faces, a popular gay nightspot, prior to his arrest. In a March 4 article, the online news site Talking Points Memo characterized Ashburn, who is married and has four children, as "a fierce opponent of gay rights" who had led anti-marriage equality rallies. Ashburn issued a contrite apology, stating, "I am deeply sorry for
my actions and offer no excuse for my poor judgment. I accept complete
responsibility for my conduct and am prepared to accept the consequences
for what I did." More
California’s Economy: Worse Than Originally Thought
That’s 339,000 more jobs lost than the data suggested prior to the recent revisions. If it’s hard to fathom this hole in the job market, consider this: Losing 1.4 million jobs is equivalent to losing the entire population of Sacramento County. In fact, California now has about the same number of jobs as it did 11 years ago, when the state was home to 3.6 million fewer working-age individuals. This means that the Great Recession has wiped out an entire decade
of job growth, while the number of individuals who want jobs has continued
to grow. More
State Senate Passes Medicare for All Legislation
SB 810, The California Universal Healthcare Act, authored by Sen. Mark Leno and sponsored by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU), with broad support among many healthcare, community, and labor groups, will now proceed to a vote by the Assembly, which has passed similar legislation in the past. The bill would establish a single-payer system in California, modeled on the healthcare systems flourishing in virtually all other industrialized nations, where better patient outcomes are achieved at a fraction of the cost of the U.S. system. “It is unclear what the prospects are for health reform at the
national level,” said CNA co-president Geri Jenkins, RN, “but
this vote offers California the chance to chart a new course for the
nation. SB 810 will guarantee healthcare for every family through a
humane system that controls costs and allows patients and their doctors
-- not insurance agents -- to make decisions about healthcare,”
said Jenkins. “People will pay less, and no longer be denied care
based on their income, age, location, or pre-existing health conditions.”
More
Rise of the Tire Nazis
However (the) regs. CARB’s pushing through provides that the only times that consumers may decline a check and inflate service—they can never decline the service if it’s offered for free—is when they are charged for services AND if they can PROVE (with DOCUMENTATION!) that they’ve had their tires checked and inflated in the last 30 days, or if they WILL do so within the next week. It is unclear, but possible, that CARB could take enforcement action against the consumer if they don’t follow through with their promise?! Unless (Automotive Service Providers) offer the (tire check/inflation)
service for free to the consumer and the consumer accepts it, the regulation
would have the effect of either forcing the ASPs to check tires without
the consent of the consumer in violation of the ... Automotive Repair
Act, or force ASPs to refuse to provide any repair services at all to
the consumer. More
New Year, New Laws: California's 2010 Rulebook
Law SB 572 designates May 22nd as Harvey Milk Day and requires schools to observe the birth date of the assassinated gay rights leader as a "day of special significance." AB 305 puts people in jail if they are convicted of failing to report oil spills, or lying about them. AB 1015 makes it a misdemeanor to sell or give nitrous oxide -- aka "laughing gas" -- to a minor. Law SB 527 will allow the operation of bikes without seats on state
roads, as long as the bike was built that way on purpose. SB 609 will
extend a law that allows the importation of products made with alligator
and crocodile parts. SB 135 makes it a misdemeanor to chop off a cow's
tail, except for when it's medically necessary. More
Schwarzenegger Seeks Obama’s Help for Deficit Relief
The Republican governor plans to seek the relief, according to a California official who asked not to be identified because details haven’t been resolved. Instead of seeking one-time stimulus money or a bailout, the most-populous U.S. state wants the federal government to reduce mandates and waive rules stipulating expenditures on programs such as indigent health care, the official said. California is among states most affected by the economic recession. It has the lowest credit rating and recorded the nation’s second-highest rate of home foreclosures, trailing only Nevada. Unemployment peaked at 12.5 percent in October amid the loss of 687,700
jobs from the year before, when the jobless figure was 8 percent. Wealth
declined as the stock market lost 40 percent of its value in 2008. More
New Year's Eve Fireworks At San Diego Bay Canceled
The cancellation comes after the Coast Law Group, on behalf of the nonprofit Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation, sent a notice of intent to file a Clean Water Act lawsuit against the Port of San Diego over fireworks shows on the bay. The port and San Diego Port Tenants Association sponsor the annual shows. The notice stated that firework displays on New Year's Eve and the
Fourth of July release "substantial amounts of pollution into San Diego
Bay" in violation of the Clean Water Act. More
'Cool' car rules could affect radios, phones
It also could lead Chrysler Group LLC to stop selling its soft-top convertible Jeep Wrangler in the Golden State. The standard for sunroofs is so tough that automakers warn the glass would have to be "effectively black." The California Air Resources Board has adopted a new "Cool Cars" regulation ordering advanced glazing of windows to block the sun's heat and reduce the need for air conditioning. Windows must be coated with microscopic specks of metal oxide to reflect sunlight. Advocates say the requirements will reduce the temperature inside vehicles,
saving gasoline and cutting greenhouse gases. More
Non-Endangered Fish More Important than California Farmers
The fish has been placed on the endangered species list, but what
is not being reported is that the fish thrives in Asia. We want to report
that the Delta Smelt is not an endangered species, but it is more important
than our own farmers. Our Government is allowing these California Farmers
to lose their fields, their employees, their jobs and their very livelihood,
all for the sake of a 2-3 inch long fish that is native to Asia. More
California to withhold a bigger chunk of paychecks
Technically, it's not a tax increase, even though it may feel like one when your next paycheck arrives. As part of a bundle of budget patches adopted in the summer, the state is taking more money now in withholding, even though workers' annual tax bills won't change. Think of it as a forced, interest-free loan: You'll be repaid any extra withholding in April. Those who would receive a refund anyway will receive a larger one, and those who owe taxes will owe less. But with rising gas costs, depressed home prices and double-digit unemployment,
the state's added reach into residents' regular paycheck isn't sitting
well with many. More
Lack of driver's license, no bar to getting insurance
Auto insurance companies have realized what other businesses, including banks and car dealers, have: Illegal immigrants represent a large and lucrative market. That is especially true in the Golden State, where analysts say about a quarter of the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants live. Many of those immigrants work and are willing to pay a premium for
car insurance, even if they are unlicensed. "We are not immune to accidents
and it's the law," said Erica Avila, an undocumented immigrant in Escondido
who has a car insurance policy. "We want to have whatever documents
we can get." More
Two Northern California Salmon Rivers Go Dry As Spawning Season Begins
Flows in the Scott River bottomed out at an all time record low of less than one cubic foot per second (cfs) this week, according to a UnitedStates Geological Survey (USGS) flow gage at Fort Jones -- far below the average of 69 cfs for this time of year. Large areas of the river have gone completely dry, stranding endangered coho salmon as well as Chinook and steelhead in shallow, disconnected pools of water. The adjacent Shasta River isn’t faring much better, with flows
as low as 6 cubic feet per second, below its average of 30 cfs for this
time of year. Both streams are critical fish habitat within the Klamath
River watershed and are dewatered by excessive irrigation withdrawals
in the Scott and Shasta Valleys of Northern California. More
Women, Children Raped In County's 'Most Dangerous Area'
"The violence in this area is so bad that a 12-year-old was raped to death," said Estela De Los Rios of the Center for Social Advocacy. In the area, authorities said there are pieces of evidence left behind
that serve as a grim reminder of the violence happening near the U.S.-Mexico
border. More
CHP to Focus on Seatbelt Violators
“Seat belts are your first line of defense against injuries or death,” said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow. “If you’re not buckled up during a crash, you could be thrown through a window or even crushed by a vehicle.” More than 30 percent of all vehicle passengers killed statewide in
2007 and 2008 were not buckled up at the time of the collision. More
California Governor Holds Garage Sale on eBay, Craigslist
The idea stemmed from a "conversation" the governor had on Twitter using the #myidea4ca hashtag in which he asked the public for new ideas on the state budget. "By posting items online, Californians and people from other states
and around the world can participate in the Great California Garage
Sale," said Governor Schwarzenegger. "This is a win-win for the state
and for shoppers. Together we are eliminating waste and providing great
deals in this tough economy. I encourage everyone to log on or attend
this great event." More
Will Cali pull the plug on flat screen TVs?
With that in mind, state regulators are considering pulling the plug on large flat-screen TVs that use exorbitant amounts of electricity (even when off). The state's energy commission will unveil rules today that would limit manufacturers to selling more efficient models. The rules, if adopted, would mean that about a quarter of the models currently for sale would be pulled from stores. Televisions account for 10 percent of residential electricity use,
and the popularity of large flat-screen models jeopardizes California's
long-term energy goals. More
California resort offers $19 'survivor' package
The Rancho Bernardo Inn, in San Diego and ranked #1 by Conde Naste in 2008, is offering a special with rooms for $19 a day. Sounds too good to be true right? Here’s the catch. For $19 a night, guests get a room with a tent, and that’s about it. All other room amenities have been removed, include bedding, toilet paper, air conditioning, lights, and the regularly included breakfast has been eliminated. The cool thing about this special is that it actually starts at $219 a night, and the price lowers depending on what the guests are willing to give up. For example, guests can take the regular $219 rate and get it for $199 by giving up breakfast. That rate will go down to $179 without breakfast or the honor bar.
Rate goes down to $159 without heat or air conditioning, and so on,
until the rate hits a measly $19. More
California unemployment rate hits 11.9 percent
That's an increase from 11.6 percent in June and significantly higher than the jobless rate of 7.3 percent a year ago, state officials said Friday. The Employment Development Department said California lost 35,800 jobs last month but noted it was the lowest monthly job loss total since August 2008. The state shed 66,100 jobs in June. Stephen Levy, senior economist at the Palo Alto-based Center for Continuing
Study of the California Economy, said the decline was a sign the state
is edging toward the end of the recession. More
State green power plan will cost consumers billions
Without making any changes in lifestyle, their electricity bill is likely to increase by $45 a month on average as California overhauls its power grid and tries to shift the source of one-third of its electricity from fossil fuels to green sources by 2020. A new state report says California electricity rates will rise about 27 percent by 2020, with close to half the increase triggered by the switch to green energy. Reid said she understands what the state is trying to do. "I do believe
in green energy," she said, but "27 percent is a heck of a lot of money."
More
Massive Squid Grabs San Diego Diver Underwater
A night dive on Saturday lit up the underwater world for diver Shanda Magill -- octopus, sharks, and Humboldt squid -- the kind of sights you see once, and want to see again as soon as possible. "Went out for another dive the next night, and that's where things
kind of turned around," Magill said laughing. She was separated from
her dive partners. More
State Prepares To Issue IOUs As Budget Deficit Worsens
Lawmakers' failure to act on Tuesday, the end of the fiscal year, also widened California's deficit from what already had been a whopping $24.3 billion -- more than a quarter of its general fund. The growing shortfall can be attributed to the state's highly complex funding formula that boosts school funding each year. The failure to balance the state's main checkbook and the looming
IOUs prompted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday to declare a fiscal
state of emergency. More
The Persian Conquest
These days Nazarian hardly needs an introduction in Hollywood and Beverly
Hills: At 33, he has built an empire that includes trendy nightclubs,
an archipelago of restaurants and the flashy SLS Hotel, with further
hotels planned for Miami and Las Vegas. His circle, however, extends
well beyond the celebutantes courted by his businesses. Nazarian and
his family, who like many Iranian Jews left Tehran during the 1979 revolution,
are leaders of a powerful Persian Jewish elite in Beverly Hills. One
hint of the community’s influence in Los Angeles is a framed commendation
on Nazarian’s sitting room wall from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
“I was one of his first supporters,” explains Nazarian.
“We’re very, very close.” More
Class Action Wage and Hour Issues, False Imprisonment Described in California Complaint
Mary Pytelewski, a full-time clerk who's worked nearly a decade in Costco's warehouse in San Marcos, CA, filed the suit today on behalf of herself and all other similarly situated Costco employees. According to Ms. Pytelewski's legal team, the suit stems from a scheme
by Issaquah, Washington-based Costco Wholesale Corporation to deny its
California employees compensation and overtime benefits due to them
under state law. The heart of the scheme involves locking hourly employees
inside each warehouse every night for approximately 15 minutes after
they have finished work and are off the clock. During this period, the
stores' managers perform closing activities, such as removing jewelry
from display cases and emptying cash registers. More
AG Jerry Brown Sues Wells Fargo, Alleges Fraud
The lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court accuses Wells Fargo Investments LLC, Wells Fargo Brokerage Services LLC and Wells Fargo Institutional Services LLC of wrongly assuring investors that the investments were safe in deceptive advertising. The suit is the latest of a flurry of legal actions taken against
banks nationwide related to the February 2008 collapse of the $330 billion
"auction rate securities" market. More
Thousands attend anti-tax rally in Corona
And thousands of Southern California residents provided the "boom," turning the normally laid-back setting of Tom's Farms, a pastoral roadside attraction/farmers market on the outskirts of Corona, into a raucous staging ground for an anti-tax rally on Saturday afternoon. The rally, a companion piece to the anti-tax KFI AM 640 hosts' live broadcast, featured hundreds of colorful signs, "Don't Tread on Me" flags and life-size effigies of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ripped to pieces by a industrial shredder. The rally was one of several anti-tax gatherings staged throughout
the state Saturday to urge the defeat of five of the six propositions
on Tuesday's ballot, a slate of measures that the governor has endorsed
as a way to help California close its gaping budget deficit. More
Governor asks: What if pot's legal and taxed?
The Republican governor did not support legalization – and the federal government still bans marijuana use – but advocates hailed the fact that Schwarzenegger endorsed studying a once-taboo political subject. "Well, I think it's not time for (legalization), but I think it's
time for a debate," Schwarzenegger said. "I think all of those ideas
of creating extra revenues, I'm always for an open debate on it. And
I think we ought to study very carefully what other countries are doing
that have legalized marijuana and other drugs, what effect did it have
on those countries?" More
CHP officer accused of taking sexual bribe for speeding
Officer Abram Carabajal, 51, of Oceanside, pleaded not guilty to three felony counts ---- perjury, conspiracy to obstruct justice and accepting a bribe. "He went into court, committed perjury," prosecutor Jeff Dort said of Carabajal and the accusations he faces. "Her case was then dismissed. They then went directly to the Guesthouse Inn in Oceanside, spent an hour. He received a bribe." The bribe, Dort said, was sex. More
Mortgage defaults rise but homeowners stay put
The drop in foreclosures follows moratoriums adopted by major banks and mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The increase in loan defaults, meanwhile, suggests that rising unemployment and the continuing recession are still claiming fresh victims. But another factor in the soaring default rate could be that some struggling
homeowners are purposely skipping their payments so that they can get
their loans refinanced, industry experts say. More
Cali to reduce carbon emissions by...banning black cars?!
What could California possibly have against these colors, you ask?
Apparently, the California Air Resources Board figures that the climate
control systems of dark colored cars need to work harder than their
lighter siblings – especially after sitting in the sun for a few
hours. Anyone living in a hot, sunny climate will tell you that this
assumption is accurate, of course. In fact, legislation already exists
for buildings that has proven successful at reducing the energy consumption
of skyscrapers. More
Pink Friday Takes on a Life of Its Own
"The outpouring of enthusiasm and support for our students, educators and schools around the state has been amazing," said David A. Sanchez, president of the 340,000-member California Teachers Association. Pink Friday was observed on March 13 because that is the state deadline for issuing preliminary layoff notices to teachers. The number of layoff notices sent this year is more than double the
number sent last year. The massive number is a result of the largest
single cut to public education in the state's history. More
Museum of Tolerance has intolerant neighbors
Back home, the neighborhood conflict is just beginning, although its
roots go back a long way. Foremost at issue is an expansion of the Wiesenthal's
famed Museum of Tolerance, which has some neighbors up in arms. Plans
call for the addition of a two-story, 45-foot-high building at the museum's
southern end, including an indoor cafe and a roof garden on top, taking
up almost all the space of the present memorial garden. More
Police to investigate threats to Octo mom Police said Thursday they will investigate death threats against octuplet mom Nadya Suleman and advise her publicist on how to handle a torrent of other nasty messages that have flooded his office. Word that the 33-year-old single, unemployed mother is receiving public assistance to care for the 14 children she conceived through in vitro fertilization has stoked furor among many people. Police Lt. John Romero said officers were meeting with Suleman's publicist
Mike Furtney about the flood of angry phone calls and e-mail messages
against Suleman, her children and Furtney. More
Tax Revolt and Recall Protest draws 15,000 Fullerton – An estimated crowd of 15,000 people showed up at a tax revolt and recall protest hosted by The John & Ken Show of radio station KFI 640. The hyperactive John Kobylt and immaculately groomed Ken Chiampou prodded the crowd into chants of "heads on a stick" and "off with their heads" several times during the three hour event, referring to lazy legislators and the lying governor. Some people brought bloody effigy heads of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and stuck them on the end of a pike, while the crowd joined their hosts in a chant of "heads on a stick." Several people brought VHS cassettes, DVDs, laser discs, an action hero lunchbox, action figures and other memorabilia from the governor's Hollywood career, whiche were tossed into a pile and smashed with a sledgehammer.
Study to test real-world effects of stun gun use raises safety questions The most widely used brand of stun gun is the Taser, and the team surveyed for outcomes related to the deployment of this device. While some industry-funded controlled human studies have shown Tasers
to cause no harm, this study suggests that their real-world effects
pose greater medical risk and more danger than previous reports, said
study author Zian H. Tseng, MD. Although the device has been advertised
to decrease the number of shooting deaths and officer injuries, study
outcomes showed an increase rather than a reduction in the rate of shooting
deaths and no change in officer injuries following Taser deployment,
he added. More
California bond rating drops lower than any other state's Citing the state's prolonged budget impasse and its nearly empty treasury, Standard & Poor's lowered its rating on $46 billion in general obligation bonds, which investors usually consider one of the safest investments because they are backed by taxpayers. By reducing California's bonds from an "A-plus" to an "A" rating,
the agency declared that it now considers even the debt of Louisiana
-- whose credit had been ranked equally with California's -- a more
trustworthy investment. Most states are rated "AA" or "AAA." More
Man Sold Daughter For $16K, Beer And Meat A California man has been arrested for arranging for his 14-year-old daughter to marry a neighbor in exchange for $16,000, 100 cases of beer and several cases of meat, police said. Authorities in Greenfield, a farming community on California's central coast, said they learned of the deal after Marcelino de Jesus Martinez, 36, asked them for help getting back his daughter after payment wasn't made. The deal specifically involved 100 cases of Corona beer, 50 cases of Modelo, six bottles of wine, 50 cases of soft drinks and 50 cases of Gatorade. Martinez is a member of an indigenous Mexican Trique community. Greenfield
police Chief Joe Grebmeier said the case highlights an issue confronting
local authorities in that arranged marriages with girls as young as
12 are not uncommon among the Trique. More
Phasing out the wood-burning fireplace That's a troubling thought for many, including longtime resident Annie Borel, whose family homesteaded French Valley northeast of Temecula more than a century ago. "I saw a sign for free firewood the other day, and thought, 'Gosh, it's not going to be long before they're telling us we can't have fireplaces,'" Borel said. Indeed, a powerful special district with the task of clearing the
air in four smoggy Southern California counties, including Riverside,
is going to make builders stop framing tract homes with wood-burning
fireplaces. More
Host of new laws greet new year in Cali The new year will bring a host of other new laws, including four that address drunken driving. One prohibits anyone convicted of driving under the influence from driving with a blood-alcohol content of 0.01 or above. Anyone with a previous drunken driving conviction who refuses to take a breath test, or has a reading of 0.01 or above, will lose their license on the spot and see their vehicle impounded. Another law addresses portable global positioning systems. Motorists
who install the devices on their windshields are required to place them
either in a 7-inch square in the lower corner of the passenger side
or a 5-inch square in the windshield's lower left corner of the windshield.
More
SoCal Residents Trade Guns for Food In a program similar to ones in New York and San Francisco, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department allows residents to anonymously relinquish firearms in return for $100 gift cards for Ralphs supermarkets, Target department stores or Best Buy electronics stores. Turning in assault rifles yields double that amount. More
Most Cali elementary schools will fail to meet proficiency requirements by 2014 In California, student mastery in ELA and mathematics is measured with the California Standards Tests (CST). To determine how the challenge of mastery is being met, a research team led by UC Riverside's Richard Cardullo examined several years of CST data. The researchers report in the Sept. 26 issue of Science that mathematical
models they used in their analysis predict that nearly all elementary
schools in California will fail to meet the Adequate Yearly Progress
(AYP) requirements for proficiency by 2014, the year when all students
in the nation need to be proficient in ELA and mathematics, per the
"No Child Left Behind Act of 2001" (NCLB). More
Naked Woman Leads Police Chase Without Headlights The female suspect led police onto the Ventura (134) Freeway, the and the Golden State (5) Freeway, driving at speeds as high as 95 mph without headlights. The suspect weaved in between cars and blew past big rigs as if they
were standing still, helicopter reporter Larry Welk said. More
Bankrupt Calif. City May Be a Harbinger "I think it's fair to say everybody's here because the wages and benefits are very good," said city Finance Director Bob Stout, with a tight smile. But as the nation's financial system staggers and recession looms,
officials across America's most populous state are nervously eyeing
the other side of the equation that brought the City of Vallejo into
the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California: tax
revenue that sank with the economy while payroll and pension obligations
continued their rise. More
Biologist Faces 30-Day Suspension for Kayaking L.A. River Heather Wylie, a 4-year biologist with the Regulatory Division of
the Corps’ L.A. District, was cited for off-duty kayaking and
for circulating a news article via e-mail documenting Clean Water Act
enforcement problems. The August 7, 2008 “Notice of Proposed Suspension
(30 Days)” is still pending, although Corps officials have told
PEER that they will act later this month. More
Sarah Palin effigy hanged from house A mannequin dressed to resemble the Alaska governor, with her trademark beehive hairdo and glasses, was hung by the neck from the eaves of the home in West Hollywood. On the roof, a mannequin of Republican presidential candidate John
McCain protruded from the chimney surrounded in flames, holding his
head as he was apparently burned alive. More
San Onofre's new bare necessity: a suit Swimsuits, that is. After decades of looking the other way, officials at San Onofre State Beach in north San Diego County are set to crack down on a clothing-optional stretch of sand where people soak up the sun without fear of tan lines. Citing ongoing complaints from park visitors and the fear of workplace
harassment lawsuits from employees, officials say they will begin citing
skinny dippers who refuse to cover up after Labor Day. New large signs
warning that nudity is prohibited have recently sprouted up throughout
the park, and rangers are telling nude sunbathers that their endless
summer is about to end. More
California Senate Proclaims October 4-11 No Drugs Down the Drain Week To deal with this pollution issue, the California Senate recently
proclaimed October 4-11 "No Drugs Down the Drain Week." A coalition
of local, regional, state and federal agencies is conducting a one-week
statewide effort to remind residents that flushing down the toilet and/or
pouring down the sink are not acceptable means of medicine disposal.
More
Taco Truck Battle Rages On County officials say the trucks, many of which have become the equivalent of neighborhood restaurants, are a nuisance, parking at the same spot every day and bringing in noise and traffic. Operators respond that they meet the same health standards as restaurants and are being unfairly targeted because of organized political pressure from restaurateurs. At stake is unfettered access to cheap, to-go Mexican food like carnitas,
quesadillas and carne asada tacos that are cooked to order and served
from literally thousands of elaborate restaurant-trucks that dot the
business streets in unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, particularly
in largely Hispanic East Los Angeles, where trucks can be found on almost
every block. More
Hard water ahead for Cali residents The bill, AB 2270, passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee by party line vote yesterday. It is expected to pass the whole Senate as early as next week and move to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk. The State Water Resources Control Board told the legislature that bans will not cost state government significant amounts of money. However, the law could cost homeowners untold sums. "Those in the industry and homeowners need to make sure the governor knows how damaging this law would be," said Peter Censky, executive director of the Water Quality Association. "This drastic bill would do very little good for the environment and cause a lot of problems for homeowners throughout California." The bill gives unelected water boards the power to decide whether
towns can ban softeners. If a town chooses to announce a ban, policing
power to enforce it would be necessary. More
Where does all that state money go? So why does it seem like the quality and quantity of government is not all that different from 2004? How many of us feel like we are getting 40% more public services, 40% better schools, roads, parks and so on? Some of it went to cover increases in the cost of living, and state
spending naturally grows with the size of the population. But even adjusting
for inflation and population growth, state spending is up almost 20%
compared with four years ago, a big enough bump that ordinary Californians
should be able to notice it. The state's financial statements describe
where the money went -- the big gainers were education ($13 billion),
transportation ($10 billion) and health ($10 billion) -- but not why
these billions don't create even a blip on our day-to-day radar. More
3 SoCal hospitals accused of using homeless for fraud The officers videotaped what they thought was a case of hospitals dumping patients in a section of the city where few would notice or care. But as investigators began to unravel the incident, they say they found something far different: a massive scheme to defraud taxpayer-funded healthcare programs of millions of dollars by recruiting homeless patients for unnecessary medical services. The elaborate enterprise churned thousands of indigents through hospitals
over the last four years and billed Medicare and Medi-Cal for costly
and unjustified medical procedures, federal, state and local investigators
said Wednesday. Those involved in the alleged conspiracy "ranged from
street-level operatives to the chief executive of a hospital," U.S.
Atty. Thomas P. O'Brien said. More
Assembly goes on vacation amid Cali budget deadlock Members of the lower house contemplated two dozen bills before joining their Senate counterparts on holiday. Barring a budget breakthrough, both houses are scheduled to be dark until Aug. 4. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, meanwhile, ramped up his rhetoric over the lack of progress on the state's $101 billion general fund spending plan, which contains a $15.2 billion deficit. The governor admonished the Legislature for not meeting its June 15 constitutional deadline and noted that he has always turned in his spending proposal on time. "I can only get the horse to the water," Schwarzenegger said, "but
I can't make it drink." More
Algebra 1 to be required for all 8th-graders The board decided to make algebra testing mandatory in the eighth grade over the strong objections of Jack O'Connell, the state's elected schools chief. O'Connell accused the board of demanding high standards while failing to tie them to extra resources needed to fix a shortage of math teachers and prepare thousands of disadvantaged kids for the rigorous class. "I fear that we're setting our students up for failure," O'Connell
said. "I pray that I'm wrong." More
Legislators lust for porn tax But in an example of just how dysfunctional the state's finances are, take a look at one bill co-sponsored by Assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani, D-Livingston. The bill, AB 2914, would levy a tax on all services defined as adult entertainment, everything from entry fees at a gentleman's club to blue videos at your corner store. Dubbed, naturally, a "porn tax," the bill would send revenues that
could be used, in vague language, on anything that would address the
societal costs of adult entertainment. That could be education, health
and human services, environment (Paper used for men's magazines? Air
pollution from cars driving to strip clubs? OK, maybe not). More
Lawmaker pushes for expansion of secret license plates
Swanson wants to expand the program, which already shields the home address on record for nearly 1 million cars owned by public employees. "We've had a code enforcement officer who was killed and his family murdered as a result of his information being obtained through DMV records," Swanson said on AirTalk on KPPC. "and so we've already had tragic examples." But the Register was unable to find even a single example of a code
enforcement officer killed because someone accessed their drivers' records.
And neither could the lobbyist supporting Swanson's proposal. An aide
to Swanson eventually acknowledged that the anecdote wasn't accurate.
More
California Lawmaker Floats Balloon Ban
The bill's sponsor, State Sen. Jack Scott, D-Altadena, said metallic balloons are responsible for hundreds of power outages every year when they drift into power lines. "I don't want to be a party pooper, but these things are causing a lot more damage than people realize," Scott said. The owner of the Sacramento Balloon Co. couldn't believe the legislature was considering the ban. Steve Rostratter said metallic balloons make up more than half his business. "There are thousands of jobs in California in the balloon industry,"
Rostratter said. More
Scientists: Big Quake Likely in Cali
New calculations reveal there is a 99.7 percent chance a magnitude 6.7 quake or larger will strike in the next 30 years. The odds of such an event are higher in Southern California than Northern California, 97 percent versus 93 percent. "It basically guarantees it's going to happen," said Ned Field, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena and lead author of the report. The 1994 Northridge earthquake under Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley was magnitude 6.7. It killed 72 people, injured more than 9,000 and caused $25 billion in damage in the metropolitan area. The damage created by an earthquake depends greatly on where it hits.
A 7.1 quake hit the Mojave Desert in 1999 but caused only a few injuries
and no deaths. More
Oakland cops: Mind if we search your house for guns?
It goes to the full council Tuesday, when the council will meet at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza. The consent-to-search program, as it is called, is based closely on a similar effort launched in St. Louis in 1994 and on ongoing programs in Boston and Washington, D.C. The idea is simple: To ask parents for permission to search their homes for weapons their children may be hiding. Under the program, officers would request permission to search homes
for guns. Guns would be taken away, but officers would not pursue prosecution
unless the weapon was tied to a crime. More
DWP users asked to pay breast-feeding bill
Because the contract for "lactation specialist services" is less than $150,000, General Manager H. David Nahai can award it without seeking approval from the DWP board once the proposals are opened March 7. But board member Nick Patsaouras criticized Nahai on Thursday for not bringing the controversial contract to commissioners for discussion. "In general, I respect the general manager has the authority (to award contracts) under $150,000, but in this case some board members in the past expressed objections and so it should come before the board," he said. Patsouras said it's inappropriate to continue the lactation program
at a time when the utility wants to raise electric rates by 9 percent
over three years and water rates by 6 percent over two years. More
Cops owe $170,000 from gun buyback
Tucker opted for the IOUs. As a result more than 1,000 weapons were turned in — many by gun dealers — and the final tally was significantly higher than the 300 guns organizers expected to collect. State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata raised about $80,000 from private donors, but the cash-strapped Police Department is on the hook for at least $170,000. Just where the department will come up with that much cash is anyone's
guess. "OPD is picking up the rest," said police spokesman Roland Holmgren.
"Where will we get it? That's a good question. I don't think we've really
identified that yet." More
Voting - California Style
If you are a registered Democrat, it’s easy—you will get a Democratic ballot to vote. If you are an Independent (Not Registered with a Party), you can vote in the Democratic Primary for President—but you have to ask for a Democratic ballot—otherwise, all you get is one that lists the ballot propositions. If you have requested a vote by mail ballot, and have not requested
a Democratic ballot, bring your ballot to the polling place on election
day, tell the poll worker that you want a Democratic ballot instead,
surrender your old one to the poll worker, and get and vote your Democratic
presidential primary ballot. More
Californians Approve Indian Gaming Increase
Voter approval of four citizen initiatives to expand Indian gambling operations came after months of TV ad wars and will result in the addition of enough new slot machines in California to equal the number at Las Vegas's top 10 casinos. On another ballot measure calling for an adjustment in term limits for elected politicians, Californians refused to budge from their long-standing position that state legislators, in particular, need to be on a short leash. They rejected it 51 to 49 percent. The huge spending on ads – $150 million on each side in the
gambling propositions and another $7 million on the term-limits measure
– showed the power of the purse to influence elections.. More
Kali Man Saves Year's Worth of Trash
The 35-year-old Berkeley caterer said he has saved every piece of trash he has generated over the past year to see how much garbage one person creates. The experiment began as a way to examine his own consumption habits,
Derfel said, but grew into a statement about consumerism and the environment.
More
Suit Over Socks Costs School $95,000
The parents went to court after a student was disciplined for wearing socks with the "Winnie the Pooh" cartoon character Tigger on the first day of school last year. The district's superintendent said Thursday that the settlement money
is for the plaintiffs' lawyers; the district is also on the hook to
pay the lawyers it hired. More
Glendale pair may find pruning trees is costly
City officials, though, say any attempt to collect the fine is on hold and they have no intention of charging that much. It's just a matter of regulations not being properly tailored to fit the offense, officials said. "None of us are going to put that kind of fine on the people," said City Councilman Dave Weaver. Within the next couple of months, the City Council is expected to
discuss the ordinance on which the fine was based - it's calculated
based on a formula - and examine how it could be changed. More
Who's the red-light violator?
The details are technical and still contested but the spirit of the law is clear: Camera vendors shouldn't have a financial incentive to target motorists unfairly. In Orange County, Laguna Woods has a contract that appears to be in
violation of the law. Costa Mesa's contract doesn't meet the test of
current law either, but because the contract was signed in 2003, before
the law changed, it is not required to conform. City officials say they
want to renegotiate to make their contract meet current law but haven't
been able to reach agreement with their vendor. More
California’s legislature approves 1000 new laws annually
Those and dozens of other micro-laws were approved by the 2006 legislature and signed by the Governator last fall, though few Californians ever got the word. And now, amid widespread criticism over their failure to achieve much of merit, Sacramento’s 120 legislators have again sent to Schwarzenegger reams of new laws that illustrate their flair for high volume — and minutiae. This year, in fact, the legislature accomplished so little —
failing to address major issues like prison overcrowding or the state’s
inadequate water infrastructure in the face of booming growth —
that Schwarzenegger asked lawmakers back from their annual September
break and into a special session to deal with health care reform, which
foundered amid endless partisan sniping. More
Schwarzenegger approves spraying of biological agent
An 11 month old child nearly died from breathing difficulties. A six year old child developed asthma as a result of the aerial spraying. Over one hundred people signed affidavits stating that they got sick from the spraying. Hundreds of people had symptoms like; shortness of breath, headaches, dizziness, burning lungs, nausea, and muscle aches. The excuse for aerial spraying is not a deadly disease carrying mosquito,
but a moth whose larva may eat some leaves of some plants; called the
Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM). The CDFA considers the moth an invasive
species since it is from Australia. More
San Francisco Plastic Bag Ban Goes Into Effect
Paper and biodegradable sacks can still be handed out, but officials
are encouraging shoppers to bring their own. "We really are trying to
get the message home that what we really want you to do is bring your
own bag,” said Alex Dimitriew of San Francisco's Department of
the Environment. More
Schwarzenegger says marijuana is not a drug
Schwarzenegger told the British edition of GQ magazine that he had not taken drugs, even though the former bodybuilder and Hollywood star has acknowledged using marijuana in the 1970s and was shown smoking a joint in the 1977 documentary "Pumping Iron." "That is not a drug. It's a leaf," Schwarzenegger told GQ. "My drug was pumping iron, trust me." Aaron McLear, Schwarzenegger's press secretary, said the governor
made the comments in a lighthearted context, noting his interviewer
was Piers Morgan, one of the judges on "America's Got Talent." Morgan
is a former British newspaper editor. More
Fabian Nuñez travels the world like a high-roller
It is not clear how these activities have related to legislative business, as state law requires, because the Los Angeles Democrat refuses to provide details on tens of thousands of dollars in such expenditures. The spending, listed in mandatory filings with the state, includes
$47,412 on United, Lufthansa and Air France airlines this year; $8,745
at the exclusive Hotel Arts in Barcelona, Spain; $5,149 for a "meeting"
at Cave L'Avant Garde, a wine seller in the Bordeaux region of France;
a total of $2,562 for two "office expenses" at Vuitton, two years apart;
and $1,795 for a "meeting" at Le Grand Colbert, a venerable Parisian
restaurant. More
Schwarzenegger Terminates Teen Tech Use While Driving
"The simple fact is that teenage drivers are more easily distracted. They are young, inexperienced and have a slower reaction time. We want to eliminate any extra distractions so they can focus on paying attention to the road and being good drivers," said Schwarzenegger. According to the California Highway Patrol, cell phone use is a leading
cause of distracted-driver accidents in California. A study conducted
by Ford Motor Company revealed that teenage drivers are four times more
distracted than adult drivers by cell phone use. More
Harvesting the Secret Gardens
At a news conference in Redding, officials involved in what is known as Operation Alesia trumpeted the successes of the three-tiered campaign, which involves at least 400 people from Shasta County law enforcement, the National Guard, and 15 other agencies. During the conference, Director of National Drug Control Policy John P. Walters described marijuana growing on public land as a threat to public safety and the environment, and referred to growers as “violent criminal terrorists.” Only 20 percent of gardens on public lands are found and eradicated. Following the eradication of a garden, National Forest Service personnel remove irrigation piping, clean up contaminants and trash, take water and soil samples, and replant native vegetation to avoid soil erosion – a restoration process that cost $11,000 per acre. “It’s like ‘Whac-A-Mole,’” says Bruce
Mirken, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project,
the nation’s biggest legalization advocacy group. “They
will chase them out of one area, and they will turn up somewhere else.”
More
Get a traffic ticket, your personal data goes to Mexico
Ignoring this peril, several municipalities have contracted data entry from tickets to a company that sends them to Mexico for processing to the lowest bidder. In response to public outcry, Orange County's Superior Court is halting the processing of traffic tickets in Nogales, Mexico. Court officials amended the contract with the company that handles the tickets, Cal Coast Data Entry. Cal Coast will now process all of the court's tickets at its Cerritos and Phoenix locations. "(The change) certainly wasn't because we lacked confidence in the contractor," said Chelle Uecker, assistant chief executive officer of the Superior Court of Orange County. "For us, it's the public's confidence – that's paramount to us." The brouhaha erupted when KFI radio's "John & Ken Show" attacked the outsourcing and urged listeners to complain. Hundreds called and e-mailed the court and county supervisors. Uecker said that critics had two primary concerns – security
of the personal information once it crossed the border and the possible
loss of jobs to Mexico. Uecker reiterated that the court felt comfortable
with the security issue. More
State of California's Property Stealing Operation
He's been fighting to get it back almost ever since. Valdes' stock was in an escrow account that the state declared dormant. But no one from the government tried to contact him before the shares were taken and sold. Valdes said he was effectively robbed of stock that would now be worth at least $100,000. "It's unbelievable to me that they can destroy records and sell your property without notifying you," Valdes, 71, said. "I've lived in the same Newport Beach area for 50 years. It's very easy to get ahold of me." Valdes is one of millions of people who have seen their financial
accounts and safe-deposit boxes drained under the state's "unclaimed
property" law, which generates about $400 million in annual revenue
for Sacramento, according to the state controller's office. More
Beyond first class: Arnold travels, Cali pays
But those of us who tend to fly coach were shocked to learn that Schwarzenegger, as rich as he is, doesn't pay his own way on private jets when going overseas the way he does when traveling in state. As it turns out, taxpayers are indirectly subsidizing his foreign flights and luxury hotel stays through a convoluted reimbursement strategy involving a secretive foundation, according to Thursday's Los Angeles Times. In effect, every Californian who pays taxes is helping to underwrite
the movie star lifestyle of a public servant. More
Living Large with Don Perata
It was mid-December 2000, and the state senator had just dropped $43,600 on an oversize luxury suite at the Oakland Coliseum for a single afternoon of festivities. At the time he said he was trying to convince East Bay business leaders to buy suites of their own. But like his other ideas involving the Raiders, this one misfired. Team officials later said the bash produced zero luxury box sales. Perata paid for the box, and the bash, from the treasury of one of
his political campaigns. Since the state senator often transfers cash
from one campaign to another, it is difficult to determine its exact
origin, but public records suggest that most of it came from the Three
Rs, a fund-raising committee Perata formed with then-Mayor Jerry Brown
a year earlier to improve Oakland schools. The same month as the Raiders
party, Perata transferred the remaining $32,668 from the Three Rs into
his main Senate account and paid for the luxury box. In other words,
money raised to help Oakland schoolchildren likely was spent on crab,
wine, and football for a bunch of rich people. More
State senator rear-ends car while talking on cellphone
Migden last year voted for a new law that takes effect in July 2008 that will impose a minimum fine of $20 for anyone caught using a cell phone while driving without a headset, ear bud or other technology that frees both hands. Migden, D-San Francisco, was driving her new state-issued 2007 Toyota Highlander Hybrid SUV at 10:40 a.m. on eastbound Highway 12 at Beck Avenue when she rear-ended Ellen Butawan, 31, of Vallejo, California Highway Patrol Officer Marvin Williford said. Migden, 58, accepted blame Friday for the accident. More
Cali Teachers dropping out of school
"I come from a family of teachers. It wasn't even a question of whether to do that," Goyne said. "The question was whether to do elementary, middle or high school." But after six years in the trenches -- bumped from campus to campus, forbidden from organizing field trips and ordered to teach math only after lunch -- Goyne left teaching. Teachers stifled by bureaucracy, faced with poor conditions and blocked
from making decisions in their own classrooms are leaving the profession
in droves, according to a new study released Thursday by Cal State University's
Teacher Quality Institute. More
"Light Bulb Lloyd" wants to ban incandescent bulbs
A bill by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys (Los Angeles County), would make the Golden State the first to make it illegal to sell incandescent light bulbs. Specifically, the legislation, which is set to be formally submitted in the Assembly in the next few days, would ban the old-fashioned bulbs between 25 watts and 150 watts by 2012. But forcing such a change by 2012 is not only unfair, but technically difficult, a representative of one of the largest light bulb manufacturers said. "It may not be rocket science, but it actually comes pretty close
when it comes to making lighting products that are acceptable and safe,"
said Earl Jones, a senior counsel for GE's consumer and industrial division.
"There are technology challenges to get them done by 2012." More
Schwarzenegger Plans to Insure Most Californians
Arguments for and against near-universal healthcare have already been fought out in the few other states that have moved ahead with health-insurance reforms, namely Massachusetts and Vermont. But the sheer numbers involved in Governor Schwarzenegger's proposal - a $12 billion price tag and coverage for 6.5 million people who currently don't have health insurance - are guaranteed to raise the stakes as the California legislature considers whether to approve it. Among the ranks of the uninsured are about 763,000 children. Of the plan's overall cost, about $400 million would be spent on those minors, no matter what their immigration status is. It should be noted that one Austrian embarked on an ambitious program
of social services for the people of his nation-state over 70 years
ago, and it ended with Jews being thrown into ovens.
More
Farming, California Style
Whoever was tending to the thriving pot farm at O'Neill Regional Park – likely underlings for a group or criminal cartel, authorities say – had showered their crops with love. Because some plants had grown to 15 feet and were poking through a
canopy of oak trees, sheriff's deputies on routine helicopter patrol
late Tuesday could spot them – and then follow a mile-long, serpentine
irrigation system that led to seven separate farms and three camps.
More
The Wannabe Governor
A memorable example of this was in 1996 and the Republicans decided to concede the White House to Bill Clinton, so they put up Bob Dole to schlepp around the country and do everything but campaign for office. This year the Democrats decided to concede the California Governor's race to Arnold Schwarzenegger, so they put up a non candidate named Phil Angelides. Mr. Angelides major claim to fame is that he bears a close resemblence to actor Herbert Anderson, who portrayed the father of the TV character Dennis the Menace. So far Angelides has run an uninspiring campaign, offering no tangible plan or program with which to govern this populous state. It is unlikely that even a well orchestrated smear campaign by "Baghdad Bob" Mulholland will do anything to nudge Angelides into the governor's mansion. "Baghdad Bob" Mulholland unleashed
If there is a rumor being pumped into circulation about Democratic Party enemies, then the more odious it is, the more likely that Baghdad Bob is skulking around in the background spewing forth the stench. Mulholland started to show up on the media radar in 1992 after exposing how Republican Senate candidate Bruce Herschensohn visted a strip joint in Hollywood. But his sleaze turned to menace in the campaign to smear Arnold Schwarzenegger during his run for governor. Mulholland warned Schwarzenegger that "real bullets" will be coming his way during his campaign to be governor. "Schwarzenegger is going to find out, that unlike a Hollywood movie set, the bullets coming at him in this campaign are going to be real bullets and he is going to have to respond to them," warned Mulholland in an interview with a camera crew from ABC News. Schwarzenegger's wife, Maria Shriver was very concerned about Arnold's safety after this comment by Baghdad Bob, as her family has a history with assassination. As the 2006 campaign ramps up, if some odious "puke bomb" is thrown at the last minute to try to knock a few points off of Democratic Party opponents, then take a very close look at the source. Baghdad Bob will surely be lurking nearby. Gray Davis, John Mark Karr not related
"I know that there is a strong resemblence, and they are both very unusually looking men, but there is no familial relationship between the two", said spokeswoman Sandy Allenbricker. "Mr. Davis wanted to be proactive and quiet the whispering campaign linking him with the accused killer, so I reiterate, there is no familial relationship between Gray Davis and John Mark Karr." Davis was the first governor in California history to be recalled. Since leaving public office, Davis has been working with the law firm of Loeb & Loeb. 'Meathead Tax' goes down in election
The controversial Proposition 82 "Meathead Tax" was turned down by voters in the Tuesday primary elections. Named after its proponent, Rob Reiner, who was a character in the 1970s sitcom All in the Family, the tax was to have funded state run preschools. The measure was voted down with 61% of voters deciding against it. The proposition has been plagued by scandal, with Reiner coming under scrutiny for his keeping his job with the state First Five Commission while at the same time campaigning for a proposition which would fund state-run preschools. The attention caused Reiner to resign from his position with the First
Five Commission on March 29, 2006. An audit of the commission's funds
will be conducted in the face of accusations of misuse of state money
for the political campaign for his proposition. Other
election results California students: Stupid or poorly educated?
That is different now, with many students passing through grades K-12 and not even attaining a ninth grade education. This sad truth has been uncovered with the implementation of exit exams which need to be passed in order to graduate from high school. Several parents filed a lawsuit to eliminate the exit exam, claiming it was so hard that their children were not able to pass. But how hard was it? Students have multiple guess questions with four
possible answers. 60 percent correct answers will pass the English portion,
while 55 percent correct will pass the math. So what amounts to a 'D'
grade in math and English at the ninth grade level is required to pass
the 12th grade and graduate. But this it still to hard for ten percent
of students. More
Mark Leno - back with more fun and games
For four years, Russell and Judy Hawthorne worked tirelessly for legislation in the hope that something positive would result from their son's death. But the state Assembly's Public Safety Committee recently voted down AB2808. . AB2808 proposed lengthening jail times for people who kill or injure
someone while driving without a license. Currently, driving without
a license is only a misdemeanor offense. The esteemed Mr. Leno is one
of the bill's opponents. More
Welcome to Mexifornia
According to news reports, the flag incident was prompted and implemented not by MHS students, but by a large group of students from neighboring schools: The incident took place about noon Monday, when a group of about 1,000 students from the El Rancho and Whittier Union High school districts marched through Pico Rivera to Montebello High, where students had walked out of classes in the previous week to protest proposed immigration reform legislation. By the time they reached Montebello High, the campus was on lockdown, district officials said. That's when the protesters took to the flagpole, added the Mexican
flag and turned the U.S. flag upside down. The school's California flag
was stolen in the process, [Assistant Superintendent Robert] Henke said.
More
Oceanside school district bans patriotic clothes, flags
Beginning Monday, the Oceanside Unified School District is banning all flags and patriotic clothing. According to school officials, some students are using the garments and flags to taunt classmates. School officials in Oceanside now say that flags -- whether they are
U.S. or Mexican or any other country's -- have now become a divider
on campuses, saying that some students are using them to taunt other
students.
More
Police fire pepper spray at California high school students
The scene at the campus subsided as school let out this afternoon and protesting students headed for the Oceanside Bandshell at the beach. Three boys have been arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly throwing chunks of concrete at officers during the incident at the school. Tensions arose at the school just before noon, when several hundred students tried to leave campus in protest of proposed immigration policies. Officers shot pepper-spray-filled pellets at the ground as students shook a locked fence surrounding the school. The students were chanting, "One people united will never be divided." After about an hour of tense standoffs, about 100 students were allowed
to walk to the Oceanside Pier in protest while others were locked down
in classrooms.
More
Still a Meathead
Later on he directed several so called romantic comedies (essentially chick porn) which attracted a decent number of viewers. Now he has gotten involved in politics, trying to do something "for the children" and has shown that he is once again a real meathead. Reiner has served in recent years as the head of the First 5 California Children and Families Commission, a state group that provides services to young children. It is allocated about $114 million a year from a 1998 voter proposition authorizing a 50-cent tax on cigarettes that he promoted and has raised $4 billion for early childhood development and health care. The First 5 panel was created by the ballot measure to administer 20% of the tobacco tax money. County commissions oversee the rest. Reiner has headed the First 5 commission since it was formed in 1999. Reiner's First 5 Children and Families Commission spent $23 million from November to January on TV and radio ads touting the benefits of preschool. At the time, Reiner also was leading a drive to collect signatures for a ballot measure that would tax the wealthy to provide free preschool for 4-year-olds. The proposal qualified for the June 6 statewide ballot as Proposition 82. So what you are looking at, is Reiner has had control of nearly a billion
dollars of taxpayer money, and had used $23 million of it as seed money
to get an initiative on the ballot to get even more funds, instead of
providing services that the original initiative was sold to do. More
California "Pervert Caucus" give sex offenders a break
Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, Jackie Goldberg and Lloyd Levine, both Los Angeles area Democrats, have opposed attempts to impose longer sentences on sex offenders, instead preferring to release them in the communities of the state to see what happens. Now, in an election year, Leno and many Democrats tout his Assembly Bill 50 as the best way to increase penalties on molesters. Republicans, angry about Sacramento foot-dragging, are touting a much tougher November ballot measure, Jessica's Law. Early on, AB50 was filled with loopholes that would make your skin
crawl. For instance, Leno provided an "exemption" from felony charges
if a suspect was caught with less than 100 pieces of child pornography.
In a creepy all-time low, Assembly Democrats voted for Leno's plan to
go soft on child porn.
More
Governor Arnold performs bad motorcycle stunt
The movie star-turned-California Governor was out riding on his Harley Davidson bike with his 12-year-old son Patrick in the sidecar when he collided with a car reversing from a driveway. Schwarzenegger was taken to St John's Hospital in Santa Monica where
he received 15 stitches in his lower lip. Patrick was also treated for
cuts and bruises.
More
California
colleges stick it to Americans from other states, If you come to California to attend state college, even from just over the state line, you will pay about three times the tuition that someone from in state will pay. But if you come to California from outside the USA, and do so illegally, you get your schooling at the lower rate with the taxpayer picking up the rest of the tab. If you can benefit from this, you owe a dept of gratitude to former governor Gray Davis, who ran a full time operation whoring out the state treasury to anyone who would come into his office bringing financial tribute. Now
this policy is under attack from lawsuits filed recently, alleging it
is a violation of federal law. More
Arnold sells out to Agribusiness, compromises on child nutrition
Dude, Where's my Car?
Cars
and trucks, including fire rigs, prison vehicles and others in the state
fleet have been lost by sloppy accounting techniques and mismanagement,
as uncovered in a recent audit. More
The
smog check program was designed in 1982 to identify cars that were running
poorly and adding greatly to smog production. In 1995 the program was
revamped, the so-called Smog II, and was supposed to more accurately
identify pollutor. It failed miserably, and made a typical smog check
cost hundreds and require two or more visits. Despite this, no state
official has been fired. More
Give me your tired, especially your poor... Despite
false reassurances that they are only taking jobs that Americans rufuse
to do, new INS guidelines permit immigrants and their children to use
certain non-cash benefits and special purpose cash benefits without
affecting their immigration status. More
Illegal Alien Lobby pushes for 'Illegal Alien Driver's Licenses' Bill Faced
with overwhelming public opposition and the passage of the federal REAL
ID Act, State Senator Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) has resorted to a
watered down version of his perennial legislation to grant official
state identity documents to illegal aliens. More
If 'Illegal Alien Driver's Licenses' bill fails, then buy a license Even
if State Senator Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) fails to get his bill to
grant official state identity documents to illegal aliens, they still
have an option. Buy a licence from the friendly neighborhood DMV. More
Minutemen to reverse Illegal alien tide The Minutemen, who last month stirred up the illegal immigration issue by exposing the porous nature of our U.S.-Mexican border, are now taking their fight against illegal immigration one step further. This month they will begin working at several area farms and picking their crops of lemons, strawberries and avocados to steal back the jobs that illegal immigrants have stolen from Americans. Radio talk show hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, "John and Ken" have endorsed this project and plan to do a live broadcast from a strawberry field in Campo, California.
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