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

Los Angeles renters spend 47% of their income on housing, the highest in the nation. The city leads the nation in both moderate (30-50%) and severe rent burden (more than 50%). They have the most people rent burdened and the highest burdens. The problem is particularly acute in L.A., where rentership is the highest in the nation at around 52%.   read more

The company said it contained the breach and patched it, and didn’t believe any data had been stolen. But it doesn’t really know. It assured customers they could continue to use their cards, but an investigation is just getting underway. The breach, which was not explained in any detail, allegedly occurred as early as June 22 and continued until July 17 at the latest.   read more

Police forces across the country have used the threat of terrorism since 9/11 to justify amping up their purchase of military equipment with federal money to control conventional criminal activity. At least $35 billion worth of equipment had been dispersed by end of 2011. Nationally, local law enforcement has received 93,763 assault weapons, 180,718 magazines of ammunition, 44,900 night vision goggles, 533 aircraft, 432 armored mine-resistant vehicles and 435 other armored vehicles.   read more

The charges reflected hospital rates before pre-payments or contractual adjustments, so insurance negotiations and payments probably reduced most costs. So why the outlandish charges? Kevin Drum at Mother Jones suggests, “No insurance company will pay $10,000 for a lipid panel, of course, so the only point of pricing it this high is to exploit the occasional poor sap with no health insurance who happens to need his cholesterol checked.”   read more

Richard Tom had the right to remain silent in the back seat of the Redwood City police car in 2007 after his speeding Mercedes slammed into a Nissan, killing an 8-year-old passenger—and he did. Justice Marvin Baxter, writing for the state Supreme Court majority, said Tom did not explicitly invoke his right to remain silent until later, so anything he didn't say before that could be used against him in a court of law.   read more

More than 20,000 students receive no English language training, and services are skimpy in one out of every four school districts in the state. On Tuesday, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James Chalfant ruled that was a violation of state and federal law and ordered California to rectify the situation immediately. “You've got to go ferret this out because you can't have even one child that isn't getting their instructional services,” Chalfant reportedly said when issuing the ruling.   read more

One of the reasons federal officials give for cracking down on medical marijuana dispensaries and growers in California, besides possession and sale of the drug being a federal crime, is the state’s disjointed and chaotic local governance of the estimated $1.8 billion industry. The legislation would have created a licensing and regulatory framework much like the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.   read more

Howle will focus on three counties, but the California Health Report said it was uncertain if she would select the same three counties—Fresno, Butte and Imperial—that it used for a damning story in June. The report found that half the primary-care doctors on lists given to low-income patients by insurance companies weren’t taking new patients or couldn’t be reached by phone for one reason or another.   read more

After extending a deadline two days to get an $11-billion bond on the November ballot, legislators hacked it down to $7.5 billion and promised that the money wouldn’t be used for tunnels. But environmentalists fear that money could still be siphoned from the water bond to help pay for a $25 billion plan, supported by the governor, that would, in part, build parallel Delta tunnels to divert water south to farmers and thirsty Southern Californians.   read more

After testing in the area late last year, the DTSC ordered Exide to clean up the property around 39 homes, although frustrated residents and environmental groups claimed hundreds of properties were dangerous. But Exide didn’t sign off on the March order and may not start on the other 37 homes before October, if then. In the meantime, the DTSC has added 144 homes to the list of those it wants tested within two months.   read more

In a 5-1 decision, the California justices effectively removed Proposition 49 from the November ballot, ruling that the courts needed to decide first whether purely advisory measures belong there. The majority opinion, a scant two paragraphs long, expressed no final view on the matter, but worried that some voters would be confused and others would be frustrated to find the measure on their ballots.   read more

The draft plan does not tinker around the edges. The report recommends creation of a nonprofit California Parks Conservancy to round up financial support from donors. It calls for a stable funding structure with “effective fee-collection systems” while encouraging more entrepreneurial schemes. Some critics worry about “public parks with private operators,” the substitution of corporate and community control for state management.   read more

“Order in seconds. Delivered in minutes,” its website proclaims. The S.F.-based startup launched last month in its hometown with an online program that is still awaiting Apple Store approval to be distributed as an app. Unlike other dispensaries that deliver (and often don’t have a storefront), Eaze provides a link between a customer, a driver and pot from a number of facilities.   read more

John Rogers at the Associated Press found a few folks who think they might not have gone far. “A lot are simply shooting in out-of-the-way places where they won't be caught,” Adult Video News senior editor Mark Kernes said. “Normally it's in people's homes who are willing to rent them out for a day. Sometimes it's out in the woods".   read more

As of March, the state auditor reported, the department had outstanding costs for 1,600 projects totaling $194 million that either hadn’t been billed ($142 million) or billed but not collected ($52 million). Preliminary indications are that 76 of the projects now exceed the statute of limitations for collecting any money from their operators, amounting to $13.4 million that the state will likely never collect.   read more

The developers received waivers to bypass zoning restrictions by agreeing to include some “affordable” housing. Low-income residents would enter through separate gates and, staffers pointed out, they would be able to look out over the complex's swimming pool from their apartments, but would be denied access. Seventeen of the upscale project's 81 units are designated as “affordable housing.”   read more