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 drug costs $1,000 a day, or $84,000 for a full regimen of treatment for a single patient. That works out to $1.43 billion if administered to all infected state prisoners. A study out of Stanford University says that might be a reasonable price to pay, considering the longterm cost of administering less effective drugs. But corrections officials, and probably a lot of taxpayers, say that's not going to happen   read more

The report found that active rigs along the coast were the best fisheries of any marine habitat studied (in scientific lingo) by an order of magnitude. That would be 10 times better than the next best competitor. The scientists attributed the popularity of the rigs to their verticality. Rockfish, for instance, tend to seek greater depths as they age, and oil and gas rigs offered the prospect of never having to move to a new locale.   read more

The suit sought a full review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The air quality district asked for the permit back after Earthjustice filed a lawsuit last month on behalf of the Sierra Club. The suit claimed that the district failed to consider the potential risk to public health and safety posed by shipping the crude in outdated tanker cars along aging rails to within seven miles of the state capital   read more

The judge said the prosecutor’s office repeatedly engaged in misconduct and showed a “cavalier attitude toward the constitutionally-required Brady procedure” in the case of mass murderer Scott Evans Dekraai. That attitude was “patently inappropriate and legally inadequate.” Fallout from the Dekraai case was immediate.   read more

Career public servant Richard Gillihan has been the acting director since Julie Chapman stepped down in February. Gillihan was a top official in the Department of Finance when Brown appointed him acting director at CalHR almost to the day that the independent Little Hoover Commission released a scathing report about the agency.   read more

Judge Breyer acknowledged “the severity of the housing crisis” but said the law would prevent some landlords from changing the use of their property, which he deemed a “per se taking” by the government of private property without just compensation. He said landlords were being made “to pay for a broad public problem not of their making.”   read more

In two weeks, Lake County voters will decide if they want to loosen up, or even eliminate, the restrictive medical marijuana ordinance they passed in June. For now, the county sheriff will have to stop enforcing that ordinance illegally. Judge Henderson did not buy the county’s argument that the three-year drought constituted an emergency that warranted not seeking a warrant. Marijuana needs a lot of water.   read more

O’Rourke claims he was overcharged for services, denied free premium services he had been promised and eventually sent equipment he didn’t order, for which he was charged $2,000 after signing up for Comcast television and Internet service in February 2013. O'Rourke said in his lawsuit that his employer, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, fired him after a top Comcast executive called to complain about his complaining.   read more

If the unencrypted medical records of 4 million people vanish with a stolen desktop computer, has there really been a security breach? Sutter said unless there was proof that the files had been read, there had been no breach of confidentiality. A Superior Court disagreed but was overruled by an appellate court. Last week the California Supreme Court issued a one-line statement that it would not get involved.   read more

Scientists believe that there is almost certainly going to be a big quake in California within the next 30 years, but have usually considered the state’s southern portion as being most at risk. The new study bears down on the northern half. The analysis predicts a 70% likelihood that one of the four faults, segments of the 800-mile San Andreas Fault, will rupture within the next 30 years. And by “the next 30 years,” they mean it could happen tomorrow.   read more

Georgia-based Aaron’s Furniture, with around 75 outlets in California, agreed to put up $25 million as reimbursement for an estimated 100,000 customers. The company will also pay the state $3.4 million in civil penalties and fees. The program logged keystrokes, captured screen shots and used a computer’s camera to take photographs. The information included passwords, medical records, Social Security numbers, financial information and pictures of the family in their most private moments.   read more

A CBS Los Angeles investigation uncovered public documents from the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) that indicate trucks leaving the plant are leaking their toxic materials onto streets and sidewalks, which would invariably lead to them being washed into the Los Angeles River via storm drains. DTSC Chief of Enforcement Paul Kewin told CBS it was apparent the leaks had been going on for a long time and said, “I can’t explain how that got past us.”   read more

The corridor, which parallels the I-5, the I-405 and the Pacific Ocean, has been plagued by awful revenue and ridership projections from the start. Last week, the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency agreed to refinance the debt for a second time, raising the total amount owed, and keep tolls around until 2050.   read more

Eleven schools in the Ocean View school district have been undergoing remodeling work, and tests found trace amounts of asbestos fibers in three. Construction has been halted at all the schools, but parents and teachers wonder if asbestos removal was underway while students were in the classroom. That would be a common sense no-no and a violation of state law.   read more

Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee acknowledged that many of those being sent notices of deficiency may not actually be culpable. “We are quite confident where people have not provided information it's not because they are not citizens,” Lee reportedly told a CC board meeting. “Rather, it's a challenge of getting the information to us.”   read more

In its day, the newspaper was the social conscience of San Francisco with a strong focus on local news and a hearty appetite for muckraking. It was fierce in its defense of the underclass and its criticism of moneyed interests that perpetuated social injustice. It was one of the great alternative weeklies in the '60s and '70s when every city seemed to have a good one, but they have all but vanished.   read more