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

Twenty-two years after a San Francisco journalist first filed suit against the FBI and the Department of Justice to obtain records on former President Ronald Reagan, a federal judge has awarded him $470,459 in legal fees.   read more

A secretive, conservative Phoenix-based special interest group just dropped $11 million into campaigns opposing Governor Jerry Brown’s Proposition 30 and supporting the anti-union Proposition 32 that bills itself as anti-special interest.   read more

Thousands of pages of internal Boy Scouts of America documents detailing sexual abuse allegations against 1,247 Scout leaders were made public Wednesday as part of an Oregon civil suit. The cases mostly range from 1959 to 1985 and were contained in reports, known internally as the “Perversion Files.”   read more

All that CalPoly San Luis Obispo student journalist Sean McMinn wanted was a copy of a public document so he could finish writing his story for the Mustang Daily. The school told McMinn he could send them a check for 20 cents and they would email it to him. But only a check would do and he didn't have time to get one to them.   read more

Los Angeles County Assessor John Noguez, arrested Wednesday in an alleged bribery scheme that resulted in large property tax reductions for wealthy campaign contributors, will continue to receive his $192,000-a-year salary while waiting to see the outcome of his trial. Since Noguez is an elected official, only a felony conviction, a recall or the end of his term in 2014 allows for his removal from office.   read more

California’s prison system stumbled ahead on measures to control rampant use of illegal cellphones in correctional institutions by firing 20 workers suspected of smuggling the devices in for inmates. Another 21 are under investigation and allegations were dropped against 13 others, according to a report published by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s Office of the Inspector General.   read more

California community colleges have smaller budgets, higher fees, fewer class offerings and, out of necessity, more mobile students. The number of students forced to attend more than one community college at a time—seeking to complete the requisite number of courses to complete a course of study or advance to a four-year school—has more than doubled, from 2.2% in 1992 to 5.2% in 2011.   read more

Schools in the Pasadena Unified School District have put out the word on Frito Lay’s Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Even in a junk food world, where obesity rates of American children have tripled since 1980, and schools have limited control over what students put in their bodies, Flamin’ Hots are not welcome.   read more

Environmental groups who claim the state is allowing energy companies to drill using a controversial method called fracking without providing oversight required by law filed suit Tuesday to halt the practice. Earthjustice, a nonprofit public interest law firm, filed a lawsuit in state Superior Court accusing the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) in the Department of Conservation of rubber stamping the issuance of drilling permits for projects.   read more

Yuba City officials want George Louie to go away and will pay him $15,000 to stop filing lawsuits in their town alleging violations of the federal Americans With Disablities Act (ADA). Describing the deal as the first of its kind, the officials said a settlement was reached with Louie, who has filed hundreds of such actions against Northern California cities and businesses, according to the Sacramento Bee.   read more

An unprecedented strike that began at a Walmart store in Los Angeles, has spread to 28 stores in 12 cities, including Chicago, Dallas, Miami Orland and Seattle. More than 70 workers walked off their jobs within 24 hours at nine stores in Los Angeles October 4, and though they returned to work within days, the action against the notoriously anti-union retailer did not go unnoticed by other Walmart workers and management.   read more

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) will mark the 100th anniversary of water diversions from Owens Lake—which eventually turned it into a dustbowl—in federal court, suing the state and federal government over orders, it is defying, to expand its anti-dust efforts.   read more

City Manager Bill Lindsay of Richmond, home to Chevron’s oldest California refinery, reportedly says the oil company used to hold up the city of El Segundo as an example―during contentious negotiations over municipal taxes―of how an appreciative and cooperative city government ought to act. Now, according to the Los Angeles Times, a Los Angeles County civil grand jury is looking at how El Segundo might have earned that reputation for congeniality.   read more

The economic crash of the past four years has been very good for Portfolio Recovery Associates (PRA). The innovative, debt collection agency was named one of Fortune’s 100 Fastest Growing Companies in 2012 and its stock is trading near its 10-year high. On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, told the company, which has offices in California, to stop chasing after alleged debtors by making robocalls to cellphone users in violation of federal law.   read more

Public hearings on the 2010 San Bruno gas pipeline blast that killed eight people and leveled a Bay Area neighborhood have been suspended to allow regulators and Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) to negotiate terms of a settlement over fines that could run as high as $200 million—behind closed doors.   read more

Daring to go where no municipal government has apparently gone before, the city of Oakland has sued the federal government to block forfeiture proceedings against the giant Harborside medical marijuana collective and its dispensaries.   read more