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

Spinal fusion patients are filing lawsuits revolving around allegations that Spinal Solutions LLC of Murrieta obtained the bogus hardware from a mom-and-pop tool shop, inflated the prices and paid kickbacks to doctors who used them. The doctors then participated in an insurance scam that may have netted $500 million. The screw cost $300 to make and may have been billed at up to $12,500. The scam was allegedly facilitated by Democratic state Senator Ronald Calderon.   read more

She takes over a department, wracked by scandal and plagued by a lack of funding, whose $654 million budget is under intense scrutiny. Her predecessor, retired Marine Corps Major General Anthony L. Jackson, was hired in November 2012 with a mandate to reform the agency. His predecessor, Ruth Coleman, resigned four months earlier after $54 million was found stashed in department accounts while 70 state parks faced closure because of budget cuts.   read more

The 125 or so protesters who showed up Tuesday displayed signs with all the usual vitriol one comes to expect at passionate gatherings of this sort. A lot of threats, screaming, shaking fists and chants of “USA, USA.” This was not the Bundy Ranch in Nevada, so the protesters weren’t all packing heat. But it was hard to tell who they hated more, illegals or Obama. That might become clearer later in the week when more buses are expected to arrive, perhaps as early as Friday, July 4.   read more

The cheerleaders filed a class-action lawsuit in January, complaining that the $1,250 they are paid for working before, during and after games, including special events and team promotions, was nowhere near the minimum wage. The Raiders argued that they couldn’t be sued by the Raiderettes because their contracts obligated them to submit their claims to binding arbitration with the NFL commissioner as the arbitrator.   read more

The director takes over a department that has a lot of trouble getting its work done on time, according to the independent Legislative Analyst’s Office. A report in March said the DCA, which supervises around 37 boards and bureaus, fails at one of its primary responsibilities, disciplining licensees. Many of their reviews run way past deadlines for completing enforcement actions, led by the Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, which were an average 988 days late in 2012-13.   read more

One place where California’s polluting companies do good deeds and get cap-and-trade credit is El Dorado, Arkansas, home to the nation’s largest incinerator of chlorofluorocarbons. But on May 13, the EPA ordered Clean Harbors to pay a $581,236 penalty for “improperly identifying and disposing of hazardous waste, improper storage of hazardous waste, and failure to comply with air emissions standards” in El Dorado.   read more

The FBI was using the prisoner Brown in a sting and smuggled a cellphone to him using a corrupt deputy. When deputies found the phone, they began moving Brown around to avoid having to log him into the system while they questioned him and figured out their next move. One of the next moves was for two of the accused to show up at an FBI agent’s home and tell her they were getting a warrant for her arrest.   read more

By the end of the year, he was growing in at least two large warehouses: 2,168 plants at “Black Horizon” in Sutter County and 3,105 plants at “Blue Horizon” in Sacramento County. That’s when the feds busted him again. Ebyam faced 10 years to life in prison and a $10 million fine if convicted on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana. If the judge accepts the plea bargain, Ebyam is expected to get between six and eight years in prison.   read more

The complaint alleges that when FedEx found that a package containing hazardous materials was damaged, defective, broken or leaking at one of its three hubs or 31 terminals, the company would either ship the package to the recipient, rewrap the package and send it back to the sender, or take it out of the package and hang on to it.   read more

The epidemic was first noticed in Vancouver, Canada, and Washington State last June and dumbfounded scientists who had seen similar, smaller outbreaks in much warmer waters, usually spurred by an approaching El Niño. The rapidity with which the starfish decline can disguise the die-off because they are washed out to sea before casual observers notice. But scientists say millions have perished since April and have been sighted in Agua Hedionda Lagoon, La Jolla, Mission Bay and Point Loma.   read more

The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District voted last week to approve the expenditure of $76 million to install nets about 20 feet below each side of the bridge. The nets should discourage jumpers. Anyone who jumps anyway will likely be injured, but not killed, when they fall into the barrier.   read more

The California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) announced that it is launching an investigation of the insurance companies to see if they violated state laws in the way they configured smaller networks of doctors and hospitals for patients enrolled through the Covered California exchange. But as is often the case, the real scandal isn’t necessarily what’s illegal.   read more

Around 18 months ago, the California Military Department indicated that it wanted direct control of the museum’s resources and said the donations belonged to the state. The foundation disagreed and the Military Department cut off their money and sued them in Sacramento County Superior Court in September. The state claims it owns 90% of the artifacts.   read more

Investment banker, ex-University of Southern California (USC) economics professor, photographer and comic book creator Dr. Ayman Kandeel was sued in Los Angeles County Superior Court by a former student who claims he was scammed out of $88 million. The lawsuit alleges the Egyptian national committed securities fraud, negligent misrepresentation and other misdeeds when he convinced his Saudi Arabian economics student to invest his father’s money in his teacher’s private equity fund.   read more

Only 270 of the 443 urban water suppliers sent a survey by the state bothered to respond and 42 of them submitted incomplete data. Based on their self-reporting, water use was down just 5% statewide through May this year, compared to a three-year baseline from January-May 2011 to 2013.   read more

The number of alleged scofflaws doubled overnight to 13,500 a day when the Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) removed its tollbooths and went cashless last month, relying on an electronic system to track the violators and issue them expensive tickets. The move was meant to save money for the troubled agency by removing the human factor (80 full- and part-time workers), but could also be a bonus on the revenue side.   read more