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

Mills, 42, takes over the stem cell program as it enters the final years of the 2004 voter-approved, $3-billion venture to fund projects. Although his predecessor was said to be leaving to spend more time with his family in Australia, Alan Trounson was immediately hired by one of the companies CIRM had awarded millions of dollars to, re-enforcing the perception that the agency had a serious conflict-of-interest and cronyism problem.   read more

The building contained 80 years worth of files, including W2s, payroll sheets, employment records and confidential files, and removal wasn’t really going anywhere. “Nobody really knew what was there, where it was hidden, or to whom it belonged,” district spokesman Troy Flint said. After the story broke, the district stationed security guards at the building and hired a company to box up the records and move them elsewhere.   read more

The annual Wiretap Report from the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts listed California third, based on the number of wiretaps judges approved per 500,000 residents, clocking in at 11.7. Nevada (mostly Las Vegas) dominated at 38.2, followed by the District of Columbia (17), Colorado (12.4), California and New York (10.7). Of the 3,576 wiretaps approved, 2,331 were installed. Only one request was not authorized.   read more

The continued influx of tech employees rolling in stock option money and Asian investors offering all-cash deals drove prices up 13.3% compared to a year ago, according to DataQuick. That is actually a slower pace than a year ago, when prices were up 23.8% over 2012. Not surprisingly, rents in San Francisco are also impressive. While RealFacts says the average rental asking price in the Bay Area for apartments and townhomes is $2,158 a month, San Francisco tops out at $3,229.   read more

The judge reduced the death sentence of Ernest Dewayne Jones to life in prison after blaming the state for unconstitutionally delaying the death penalty process for years. He noted that only 13 inmates have been executed since 1978 out of 900 who have been sentenced to death. “For all practical purposes then, a sentence of death in California is a sentence of life imprisonment with the remote possibility of death—a sentence no rational legislature or jury could ever impose,” he wrote.   read more

The state Department of Conservation slapped together some “emergency” regulations that took effect at the beginning of the year while it worked to complete final regulations by its January 1, 2015, deadline. The deadline was pushed back to jibe with a deadline for criteria to evaluate drilling plans being developed by the State Water Resources Control Board.   read more

Liew and his wife set up a California company in the 1990s and hired former DuPont engineers to obtain documents that detailed the process of making titanium dioxide (TiO2), a closely guarded DuPont secret that nets it $14 billion a year. The whitening agent is an ingredient in Oreo cookies, toothpaste, sunscreen and cosmetics. Liew received more than $20 million from the Chinese for the secrets.   read more

Apparently the reporting process from the water districts has been tightened up since media reports noted a lack of monitoring. The board imposed a $500 fine-a-day for a series of offenses for individuals, including washing a driveway with a hose, too much runoff while watering landscape, washing a car with a nozzle-less hose and using unrecycled, potable water in a water feature.   read more

Feuer called it a “public nuisance” and a violator of city land use laws, and said, “They couldn’t get a permit if they tried.” The city attorney argued that the market violated the spirit and letter of the law, Prop. D, which limits the number of dispensaries in the city. He wants the place shut down, but for now has won restrictions limiting the site to a single vendor and its employees, like a typical dispensary that buys its products from multiple vendors.   read more

On Tuesday, the police released a new 12-page report that says the officer who originally took the report said he saw no evidence of cellphone use, but the investigator who handled the case could not make any determination. The accident occurred about a week after Quan, who is running for re-election in November, was photographed driving while talking on the phone without a hands-free device. That is against the law.   read more

California will receive $200 million of the settlement with Citigroup. $102.7 million will go to the state’s public employee pension funds that were hammered in the economic collapse and $90 million will be available to the thousands of people directly smacked by the mortgage meltdown. But they will share that money with those receiving down-payment and closing-cost assistance, and organizations who are involved in redevelopment and affordable rental housing for low-income families.   read more

The lawsuit was the latest iteration of a conflict dating back nine years. Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, a Republican, announced his intention in 2008 to sue UnitedHealth for $1.3 billion over its slipshod takeover of PacifiCare in 2005. The insurance department alleged the company violated state laws 992,936 times between 2006 and 2008, with each violation punishable by a $10,000 fine.   read more

While most everyone on Wall Street is probably aware that the federal government essentially tolled the death knell for the giant for-profit company last month when it put a hold on the loans and grants that are its life blood, Corinthian won’t have to post warnings about it on its websites. The judge rejected the state's request for a court order requiring the company to post some sort of warning to its 81,300 students on 107 campuses that the company is having financial problems.   read more

In a tone that reflected surprise bordering on astonishment, Justice Werdegar recalled the simple language of Proposition 184 as it ticked off escalating penalties for repeated criminal acts. Separate strikes for a single act “contravene the voter’s clear understanding of how the Three Strikes law was intended to work.” It took 20 years for that “clear understanding” to be articulated by the High Court.   read more

California law doesn’t provide for a total recount of ballots paid for by the state. Instead, a challenger can select those precincts he wants reviewed and pays according to the size of his selection. As speaker, Pérez amassed a hefty campaign chest, and could end up paying $3 million to have votes recounted in selected districts among 15 counties that favored him.   read more

Frederico Buenrostro Jr. pleaded guilty to federal charges he accepted a series of bribes beginning no later than 2005 from his longtime friend and well-connected financial middleman, Alfred J.R. Villalobos, to influence who received investments from the giant public pension fund. Buenrostro admitted taking $250,000, expensive gifts, and travel and entertainment perks.   read more