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 appearance of Ceritos native Rene Enriquez—the subject of the book “The Black Hand: The Bloody Rise and Redemption of “Boxer” Enriquez, a Mexican Mob Killer” —was meant to be an educational experience “to learn how a transnational criminal enterprise was built, branded and marketed,” according to a statement by the LAPD. 125 wealthy business leaders and local police chiefs attended.   read more

E-cigarettes, which vaporize liquids containing nicotine, have been marketed as a less harmful way of smoking and a way to help kick the old-school tobacco habit. The report acknowledged that vaping may, indeed, be safer than cigarettes, but that doesn’t mean they are safe. “Exposure to nicotine during adolescence can harm brain development,” it says, while maintaining there is “no scientific evidence that e-cigarettes help smokers successfully quit traditional cigarettes.”   read more

The federal government’s best information identifies around 400 “justifiable homicides” by police per year. But that is woefully lacking. The website "Killed by Police" logged 157 California police-related killings in 2014, out of 1,103 nationwide. The death rate in California is .41 per 100,000 people, compared to .35 nationally.   read more

Adelanto (pop.31,304), in the high desert of San Bernardino County, has three prisons, just OK’d a fourth and was giving serious consideration to a fifth. But on Wednesday, Geo Group Inc. dropped its plans for a 1,051-bed facility in the face of community opposition on the eve of a City Council vote that was not expected to go their way.   read more

Blacks and Latinos combined are 89% of the victims, but only 57% of the population. Around 62% of the killings were linked to gangs and 86% of all victims were male. Although the public image is of young street toughs going berserk before their short lives reach a violent end, one-third of the victims are 26-35 years old, compared to one-quarter of those 18-25.   read more

It remains to be seen if the settlement will get the estimated 4,200 homeless veterans off the city’s streets by the end of the year—a promise made by L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti. But it may do something about the spectacle of officials using the 387-acre site for a wide range of activities that don’t benefit veterans while a new long-term care facility languishes half-occupied.   read more

California Resources Corporation (CRC) announced this week that it was abandoning a plan to drill some 200 oil wells in the Dominguez Oil Field, despite having the personal support of Governor Jerry Brown. The company, a spin-off of Occidental Petroleum Corporation’s California assets last year, still holds the lease to the property and could change its mind anytime.   read more

Proposition 63, the “Millionaires Tax,” raised billions for treatment of mental health. “Has homelessness declined? Are programs helping Californians stay at work or in school? Who is being served and who is falling through the cracks?” the report asks. Your guess is as good as theirs.   read more

On Tuesday, the county Board of Supervisors declared a fiscal emergency in anticipation of a massive hit in property taxes, 30% of which comes from oil and gas companies. Crude oil prices have dropped 60% since last July and are approaching the 10-year low in 2009 during the depths of the Great Recession.   read more

More than 100 birds died after being brought to the International Bird Rescue facility in Fairfield for treatment. They were covered in a sticky goo with rubber cement qualities, which mats their feathers, causing them to lose insulation and suffer from hypothermia. Another 220 birds are recovering.   read more

The Legislative Analyst's Office calculated that 91.4% of school districts (81 of 944) would fail to meet the new standards if they were applied to present budgets, setting off a scramble among them for ways to comply. Overall, school district reserves would have to shrink from $7.3 billion to $2.8 billion. The smallest district would suffer the most.   read more

The BlueCross BlueShield Association published a study (pdf) last week of hip and knee replacements in 64 health care markets across the country. Nowhere was a gaping price differential more pronounced than California. Only the Boston area had a wider disparity in pricing for hip replacement surgery than the L.A.–Long Beach area.   read more

Governor Jerry Brown’s new head of the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) replaces Toby Douglas, who announced his resignation last September after three tumultuous years of change generated by the Affordable Care Act and the state’s expansion of its version of the federal Medicaid program. The department oversees Medi-Cal and its 11 million participants.   read more

Blue Shield accuses Sutter, which operates 23 hospitals, of charging way more than other providers and wants a rate rollback. Sutter disputes that and wants to short-circuit lawsuits alleging anti-competitive behavior, not just medical disputes, by requiring binding arbitration instead of court review.   read more

“We jumped the gun, and we shouldn’t have,” DMV Director Jean Shiomoto said in a statement. “There remains uncertainty about the interaction and effect of this law governing vehicle registration requirements with the more recent regulatory and statutory changes affecting ride-share operators.”   read more

The four-term congressman, whose Fourth District encompasses Yosemite National Park, told a “Washington Journal” audience it would “rip the first rung in the ladder of opportunity for teenagers, for minorities, for people who are trying to get into the job market for their first job.” He did not expand upon why he included minorities among those just entering the job market.   read more