ICE agents have reportedly claimed to be police officers to gain consent to enter a person’s home – a tactic that is viewed as unethical, but within the powers granted to the officers. Civil rights groups supported Kalra’s bill, looking to stymie the Trump administration’s promise to use any and all available tools to deport undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes. Many groups fear Trump will expand deportations to include all undocumented immigrants, their families and relatives.   read more

San Francisco was forced to spend its own resources (about $500,000) to care for the patients. The city claims “virtually all” of the patients dumped in California required continuing medical care, something the Nevada hospital failed to arrange for. The complaint also notes that “many of these patients were not California residents” at the time they were discharged and put on buses.   read more

A class-action lawsuit was filed in San Francisco last month against Uber by two drivers who claim that the company cheats them out of money by banning tips. Uber’s website says its fares already include a 20% gratuity. The drivers also claim that they are being unfairly categorized as independent contractors, depriving them of access to unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation. Another lawsuit, filed last week against Lyft, makes many of the same arguments.   read more

Felicia A. Marcus has been an environmental leader, inside and outside of government, since the 1980s, co-founding Heal the Bay and working for the Los Angeles Board of Public Works. She was appointed chair of the State Water Resources Control Board in April by Governor Jerry Brown.   read more

Wells counted on by dozens of homeowners in the San Luis Obispo County wine country have run dry as the huge 790-square-mile aquifer that supplies them begins to feel the strain of agricultural expansion in the area. Acreage used to grow grapes for the burgeoning wine industry has tripled in the past 15 years, while aquifer levels have dropped 80-100 feet in some areas.   read more

A 25-year veteran of land and water conservation in California, Erik Vink, is the new executive director of the Delta Protection Commission. He succeeds former state Senator Michael Machado, who led the commission from 2010 until his retirement in July of this year.   read more

The Orange County Register reported last week that Edison formally asked California’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to ding ratepayers $2.4 billion over the next seven years to pay for the power they won’t be getting from the plant that Edison ran into the ground. Minority owner San Diego Gas & Electric asked for $808 million in a separate filing.   read more

Veronica Valdez, who had worked at the hospital for 13 years, was on the operating table for finger surgery. While she was out cold, Yang cut up medication labels, colored them and stuck them on her face to create teardrops on her cheek and a mustache. Everyone who was conscious had a good laugh.   read more

The dispute arose after the California Legislature passed reforms in 2012 that required, among other things, that public employees contribute more money to their pensions. That ran afoul of a 50-year-old federal law that says changes to transportation worker pensions can’t be made outside of collective bargaining.   read more

That’s not exactly the way California Attorney General Kamala Harris characterized the settlement that, as usual, did not include an admission of wrongdoing. “I am pleased this settlement forces these officials to resign, in addition to paying restitution,” she said. The complaint reportedly included accusations that the charity made false statements on tax filings and unlawfully diverted money to start another non-profit organization.   read more

The investigation of the “pattern and practice of inmate” abuse, which will also look at how the department treats mentally ill prisoners, will overlap another FBI investigation that was scheduled to end sometime later this year. That one, begun in 2011, is focused on excessive force and other bad stuff by deputies.   read more

Last week, Villaraigosa signed on as a senior advisor to Herbalife Ltd., a company that has been publicly accused of running a pyramid scheme and using its 60% Latino workforce to target poor Latinos. The company is also in the middle of a stock battle between billionaires and is being scrutinized over the safety of its nutritional supplements.   read more

The settlement addresses Safeway’s failure to promptly fix leaks of HCFC-22, a hydro-chlorofluorocarbon that is a greenhouse gas used as a refrigerator coolant. Safeway agreed to pay a $600,000 penalty and make repairs estimated to cost $4.1 million, but, in a not-unusual move, admitted no liability.   read more

The most cautious assessment of a broad sampling—from Paul Elias at Associated Press—found that a “majority” of the “justices appeared reluctant,” but most observers were more inclined toward the view of Howard Mintz at the San Jose Mercury News: “Each of the court's seven justices indicated that a nearly 20-year-old federal immigration law blocks them from permitting illegal immigrants to become licensed California lawyers.”   read more

The decision to add another potential $38 million to its tab just a few months after making a commitment to spend voter-approved school construction bond money on the computers raised questions about whether LAUSD had thought through the ramifications of its decision.   read more

The age-adjusted death rate from all cancers was 23.6% higher than the state average, led by a 57.8% higher death rate from lung cancer. Lake County residents smoke a lot. They also eat and drink a lot. Only one-third has what the foundation considered a “healthy weight” and 22% drink too much. They die of chronic liver disease and cirrhosis nearly twice as often as the rest of the state. They are also poor.   read more

The report estimates that repair costs would top $3.5 billion but that the damage to the economy would nearly double that, at $6 billion. Most of the economic damage ($4.3 billion) would come from loss of the ports, which could be reduced by 80-90% if “resilience strategies” are put in place ahead of time. Considering the state’s track record on long-range disaster planning, it might be prudent to bank on the higher figure.   read more