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 attorneys want to look at public records that show what the department owns, what training manuals are used, and what guideline and restrictions exist for Stingrays. They would also like six months worth of any legal motions or documents submitted to a judge for use of the devices. The coalition filed a public records request for that information and received back from the department a single, heavily-redacted invoice for the Stingray purchase. So they sued.   read more

Only 12.6% of top corporate executives in California are women, up from 11.7% in 2006, according to the tenth edition of UC Davis' “Census of Women Directors and Highest-Paid Executives.” There are three more women CEOs. A little more than one-fourth of the 400 companies have all-male boards. That’s an improvement from last year’s 26.8%.   read more

Although this week’s volume of e-mails was low, like the trickle of communications that preceded it in previous months, it packed a wallop. “Some of the emails that we are reporting today suggest clear violations” of PUC rules, PG&E Chief Executive Officer Anthony Earley said in a prepared release. Federal and state law enforcement agencies are conducting investigations.   read more

Michael Picker worked for Governor Brown three decades ago. He has 30 years of experience in policy development, administration at local and state levels, grassroots campaigns, community organizing, non-profits and public relations. That last qualification may be the most important on his resume and the scandal-ridden agency is probed by state and federal investigators.   read more

KrebsOnSecurity first reported the suspected breach in October after hearing from banks about a pattern of credit and debit card fraud that implicated Staples. Staples acknowledged the problem and two months later put out a list of the 115 affected stores. Customers were finding out they had a problem when they saw their bills, not when Staples notified them of a breach.   read more

The California State Auditor used her own reports from 2012 and 2013 and found that important data in 17 of the 53 systems checked was “not sufficiently reliable.” Another 13 had “undetermined reliability.” The information in the computer systems is used to process payroll, manage programs, coordinate personnel transactions and generate myriad reports for a plethora of government departments.   read more

The “Tycoons” are actually a collection of known members of separate gangs who have joined together to divvy up turf and responsibilities in a more organized and efficient fashion. The multi-state prostitution ring allegedly used around 100 girls, many of them from Grossmont Union High School District, as the centerpiece of an operation that included drug trafficking, robberies, commercial burglaries and various forms of assault.   read more

“The simulations show that if the prisoners had left before 23.00, they would have had absolutely no chance of surviving. The strong currents would have taken them out to sea. However, if they left between 23.00 and midnight, there is a good chance they reached Horseshoe Bay north of the Golden Gate Bridge.” The model predicted that if they landed at the bridge, their debris would have floated to Angel Island, which is where a paddle and some of their stuff was later found.   read more

California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones thinks Aetna’s health insurance premium increase for small-business policies is “excessive and unreasonable” but can't do anything about it. According to the Department of Insurance, 64,000 people will experience average rate increases of 10.7%, with some as high as 19.5% beginning January 1.   read more

Corinthian Colleges, described as “one of the most abusive and deceptive for-profit college companies” in the country, was on its way to going out of business when student loan collector ECMC said it wanted to buy it. Officials in the U.S. Department of Education approved the deal in which ECMC will pay $24 million for 56 campuses operating under the names Everest and WyoTech. David Halperin says that ECMC stepping in to assume control of the schools is a “terrible mistake.”   read more

The Oakland City Council approved an ordinance, 5-2, to ban bullhooks―big spike-tipped, spear-like implements with hooks that effectively bend the will of multi-ton creatures to that of their much smaller masters. Animal rights groups hate them and won the political argument. Oakland joins a small group of cities, including Los Angeles in 2013 and Miami, that have banned bullhooks.   read more

The Richmond City Council voted in March to give all the seniors and disabled residents vouchers and kick them out of the moldy, rodent-plagued, roach-infested broken-down buildings. But it hasn’t. The city didn’t have a plan or the money. “Clearly, we’ve failed in some of our public housing,” Mayor Gayle McLaughlin said at the time. That might be a bit of an understatement.   read more

The agreement announced Thursday means the company will stop shaking down surfers at Paradise Cove, take down warning signs and open a locked gate. The agreement came after lawmakers passed legislation in the last session that armed two state commissions with long-sought authority to compel quick compliance with their orders. They threatened to fine Kissel $11,250 a day.   read more

Supporters regard it as a cost-effective way to continue down a path from virtual imprisonment to integration, begun 45 years ago when state lawmakers passed the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act. Critics complain that the state is abdicating responsibility for its most vulnerable residents by placing more of their care in private, for-profit hands, rather than funding improvements and managing the facilities better.   read more

Jacob Sollum at Reason argues that interference by the feds may indispose the state and its residents, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are preventing implementation of state laws, which the law proscribes. Sollum also thinks states that don’t explicitly refer to medical marijuana dispensaries in their laws, like California, might have a problem. Dispensaries are patient cooperatives in California, collective gardens in Washington State and caregivers elsewhere.   read more

An internal memo from then-PG&E Vice President Brian Cherry outlined his understanding of Commissioner Mike Florio’s commitment to helping shape a decision in a $1.3 billion rate case that would please the utility. Cherry wrote that Florio offered to help Commissioner Carla J. Peterman write her decision or, failing that, conjure up an alternative ruling for the commission’s consideration. Florio said the e-mail “does not accurately reflect my own recollection of that same conversation.”   read more