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 group listed 10 concerns about the project, not the least of which is that customers of those insurance companies are automatically included in the system unless they proactively opt out. The group wants to know: if customers will be able to see their information stored in the database; who are the providers of information; who has access to the data; how is incorrect information fixed? Will insurers use this information for any purposes other than providing information to medical providers?   read more

In a 2-1 ruling (pdf), the U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB) said the state couldn’t interfere with the $68-billion project because it would potentially link to the U.S. transportation network, which is under federal supervision. The board’s action comes as more than half a dozen lawsuits challenging high-speed rail work their way through state courts.   read more

By virtue of its size, L.A. becomes the largest U.S. city to adopt a body-camera policy, and the Los Angeles Times says its decision to put them on 7,000 of its 9,900 officers would be the largest deployment. Oakland police have been disciplined 24 times over the past two years for not turning their cameras on.   read more

Veterans and their advocates are none too pleased that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) allowed construction of an amphitheater to continue after a federal judge voided leases with businesses and organizations using the sprawling Westside campus for things that had questionable connections to vets. On Monday, a two-judge panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals put a halt to any further development until the government completed its appeal of the lower court’s ruling.   read more

Edison announced last week that it plans to move spent fuel rods from above-ground pools to steel fuel canisters, wrapped in concrete, topped with steel and more concrete, and buried beneath the bluffs between Los Angeles and San Diego. The plan is to bury the dangerously radioactive material for at least 20 years, until some place can be found to permanently move it. Right now, there is no place.   read more

The tiny office—three investigators, a legislative aide and a director—wrote 27 reports in its first five years. They examined a broad range of subjects and they did it with former journalists, instead of more traditional government investigators. The results were very readable, well-documented reports that showed more than a little heart.   read more

California is going to have to find another way to steer convicted criminals into drug treatment programs following the passage last month of Proposition 47, the measure reducing sentences of some lesser crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. Without the threat of felony hard time, drug offenders are already opting to take the misdemeanor and skip the rehab, the Los Angeles Times reported last week.   read more

The Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFP), chaired by David Koch, claimed the information was a violation of its First Amendment right to free speech. This is the first year Attorney General Kamala Harris required the group to provide the information, although the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires it for tax purposes.   read more

In an exchange of tweets, PredPol’s Claire Lovell asked him to remove the information, claiming the document contained her home phone number. That wasn’t true. It was her very public office phone number that she set up to ring at home. BondGraham refused to take down the posting and she complained to Twitter. Twitter wouldn’t talk to BondGraham and temporarily suspended the account, with a warning last Thursday that it would be permanently eviscerated if he didn’t take the post down.   read more

Almost one year ago to the day, U.S. District Judge Larry Burns put a lump of coal in the stockings of Christian activists when he ruled the 43-foot-tall white cross sitting on federal property atop Mt. Soledad near San Diego had to come down. On Friday, the U.S. Senate passed the $585-billion defense bill, which includes a provision that might keep it on the mount where it has existed in some form for more than 100 years.   read more

It is unknown how the marketplace would change if tribes get aggressively involved. Marijuana-selling tribes may not have to pay state and local taxes, allowing them to slash prices and undercut the off-reservation competition. So far, there is no indication that Native Americans will get into the business. Tribes are divided on the issue.   read more

When researchers recently sought access to the material, they were told the documents were sealed and unavailable until 2028 because of confidentiality concerns. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press filed a Public Records Act request with the university but LeVale Simpson, the university's public records coordinator, said the documents were not “public records” as defined by the act.   read more

The California State Auditor, in a scathing October report, found a backlog of more than 11,000 complaints at the Department of Public Health related to long-term health care facilities, many of them with “relatively high priorities.” Around 370 situations involved patients in “immediate jeopardy―indicating a situation that poses a threat to an individual’s life or health.”   read more

NLRB Administrative Judge Geoffrey Carter ruled that Walmart officials in two cities, Placerville and Richmond, threatened workers and otherwise tried to prevent them from organizing. Carter said the company had to fix its overly broad dress code that prevented workers from displaying support for a union or its issues. He said Walmart was wrong to discipline six Richmond workers in 2012 for a one-day strike and ban other employees from talking to them.   read more

The Monterey police say they arrived at the scene and found the unarmed student dangerously belligerent. They say to campus cop froze, but he has a different recollection. He said the student was calm when the Monterey police arrived, but they were overly aggressive and blew up the situation. He refused to participate in Tasering the student into submission.   read more

The county Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to have attorneys draft a plan for publicizing at least the names of men convicted of soliciting a prostitute. Supervisor Don Knabe envisioned posting pictures of Johns on the Internet and billboards, and newly-elected Supervisor Sheila Kuehl said public shaming was probably as effective now as it was 1,000 years ago. Maybe more so. They didn’t have the Internet in 1014 A.D.   read more