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

The show must not go on if it means cruelty for the animals involved, say Los Angeles politicians considering a ban on circus elephant shows. Next year the LA City Council will vote on a plan to prohibit circuses from using elephants in shows. Pushed by animal rights advocates, the ban would mostly affect The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which has been bringing Asian elephants to the city since 1919.   read more

Although Citibank, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a cumulative $3.35 million in fines levied by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FIRA), they did not admit or deny any wrong doing. They also agreed to pay $1.13 million in restitution.   read more

Nevada has never been truly happy sharing Lake Tahoe with California. Its state legislators―far more friendly to developers and far less cozy with environmentalists―have tried to dissolve the 43-year-old compact that binds them on at least a half dozen occasions since 1975, but failed each time.   read more

Cellphone talking and texting distractions leaped to #1 this year in a survey by the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), passing speeding and aggressive driving. Just over 51% of respondents listed cellphone use as the biggest problem in 2012, up from 38.8% last year and 18.3% in 2010. It was followed by speeding and aggressive driving at 22.7%, bad road surfaces (16.5%) and “other driver behavior” (15.3%). No other category received more than 10%.   read more

California has lost its appeal for a waiver from No Child Left Behind, probably losing millions of school dollars for failing to respond directly to some of the federal government’s waiver requirements. The waiver requirements included the use of standardized testing to measure student achievement, and—the part California educators and lawmakers gagged on—the use of those student achievement scores to evaluate teachers and principals.   read more

Southern California Edison’s proposal to restart one of the damaged reactors at the San Onofre Nuclear Power Generating Station—and run it at 70% power to see what might shake loose—received a cold reception from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).   read more

Wells Fargo won a victory in federal court Wednesday for banks in California using a controversial method of charging debit accounts that allows them to generate more consumer overdrafts and lucrative fees.   read more

A novel legal challenge to the federal government’s no-fly “terrorist” list gained some traction in U.S. District Court when Judge William Alsup ruled that the federal government should stop delaying and go to trial over a lawsuit brought by Stanford University Ph.D. graduate Rahinah Ibrahim. Alsup criticized the government’s “persistent and stubborn refusal to follow the statute” that governs the no-fly list, which the Malaysian citizen ran afoul of nearly eight years ago.   read more

California completed an 848-square-mile network of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) this month by opening its last link along the northern coast. It was a bruising process, begun after passage of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) in 1999, to establish a patchwork of new marine sanctuaries in five regions from Mexico to the Oregon border.   read more

The biggest problem about cellphones and churches may not have to do with remembering to turn the phones off during services. While no one in California keeps track, anecdotal evidence indicates that a growing number of churches in the state are contracting with telecommunications companies to put cellphone towers on the roof. The result is a few more dollars for the church and added health concerns for the congregation.   read more

A decade-long effort to replace the poorly-connected computer systems that the California State Controller’s Office uses to pay approximately 294,000 civil service employees has run aground. In a 37-page letter to contractor SAP Public Services obtained by the Los Angeles Times, project administrator Jim Lombord said the $371-million system was “foundering and in danger of collapsing.” The letter said SAP missed nine of its 44 deadlines this year.   read more

The City of Oakland expressed satisfaction and pride―in its Parking Ticket Management Audit―for gains made in fiscal year 2010-11, but admitted “further improvements are needed.” One of those admitted needed improvements is ending the illegal practice of not returning fines to residents who inadvertently paid twice for the same parking infraction. The city picked up $316,000 in overpayments that way, despite state law that requires citizens be notified when tickets are paid more than once.   read more

When the Brown administration decided to save the state some money and transfer 860,000 low-income children from the successful and admired Healthy Families program to HMOs participating in Medi-Cal, health care advocates feared that it would prove to be a wrenching experience that would provide a lower level of service to vulnerable patients.   read more

San Bernardino municipal officials and bondholders heaved a sigh of relief in bankruptcy court on Friday when Judge Meredith Jury blocked the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) from suing the city in state court for missed pension payments.   read more

When National Rifle Association (NRA) Vice President Wayne LaPierre arrived at his much anticipated press conference Friday he came armed with a slogan—“The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun” —and ready to do battle. Republicans were relatively quiet, although California Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen from the Modesto area emerged as an early booster.   read more

Somebody at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) smelled a rat in the Riverside County city of Lake Elsinore. It turned out to be 18,400 rodents and 600 reptiles crammed into a facility operated by Global Captive Breeders.   read more