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

Last September, when California became the first state to issue regulations governing the app-driven, ride-on-demand companies popping up across the country, Uber, Lyft, Sidecar and others reluctantly agreed to obtain permits from individual airports before letting their employees cruise there for customers. They have not done that.   read more

Most everyone has acknowledged the college has struggled to do well by its 80,000 students and that the commission’s assessment of the school last year was harsh, but not totally off the mark. However, many critics agreed with S.F. City Attorney Dennis Herrera, who said the commission’s action was meant to “restrict the mission of community colleges by focusing on degree completion to the detriment of vocational, remedial and non-credit education.”   read more

The ruling, if it stands, is a blow to teacher unions and a victory for administrators, union opponents, charter school enthusiasts, public school critics and anyone who blames teachers for the sorry state of education. Whether it is a victory for students, as the judge and supporters of the decision claim, remains to be seen.   read more

The last of the report’s 12 recommendations suggests that state agencies get timely and complete data so they can evaluate and regulate oil by rail. They don’t get that now. First responders in cities and counties get even less. And the public gets nothing. The report doesn't suggest the state order the railroads to provide info to the public or otherwise compel them. It just asks them to do better.   read more

U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken ruled two years ago that the 3-year-old realignment plan did not absolve the state from monitoring and protecting its former inmates who were now sent to county jails for parole violations instead of being returned to prison. The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision that the state was obligated to track the 2,000 or so disabled inmates in its custody and inform counties when they are headed their way.   read more

A few weeks ago, the enthusiastically-nicknamed state Office of Business and Economic Development (Go-Biz) announced that 396 applicants had sought $559 million in tax credits as an incentive for them to relocate to California―or just stay put. However, the first phase of the California Competes Tax Credit program only doled out $30 million to a few lucky winners in the first phase of its debut. A total of $150 million will be made available for the fiscal year beginning in July.   read more

The results (pdf) of a Los Angeles Times/USC Dornsife poll found that 40% of people considered the drought a “crisis,” 48% thought it was a “major problem” and only 2% thought it wasn’t a problem at all. But only 25% of those polled would strongly support a mandatory 20% reduction in their water use and another 24% would be somewhat likely to go along.   read more

The polyphagous shot hole borer (PSHB) bores its way into a wide variety of trees, implanting a deadly fungus for which there is no treatment. It now appears to be established (pdf) in at least the counties of Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and, most recently, San Diego. By the summer of 2012, it had attacked more than 200 species of trees, including the native Coast Live Oak and the California sycamore.   read more

The famed Tule fog of the Central Valley gives a moist cover to fruit and nut trees when it rolls in after the first big rainfall in November, and wreaks havoc on motorists for the next four months. Not much of it rolled in this year, which is not surprising, considering the drought. But researchers at UC Berkeley say this is just an intensification of a pattern of dramatic decline in the past three decades and it bodes ill for the region’s dominant agricultural industry.   read more

SB 1132 would have imposed a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing until it was proven safe. The 15 counted Senators who voted against the moratorium received, on average, $25,227 from oil and gas interests between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2012. Those who voted for the moratorium averaged $1,772 and abstainers, $7,930.   read more

At issue were documents related to pressure-testing of the utility’s 6,000-mile pipeline system prior to the natural gas explosion that killed eight people and leveled a neighborhood in the Bay Area town. Critics alleged that PG&E failed to perform routine inspections and tests, did not properly maintain its pipeline infrastructure, and kept incomplete and inaccurate records. The PUC told an administrative judge it would no longer pursue the documents Cagen had ardently sought.   read more

Although Chevron calls the project a “modernization,” critics call it an “expansion.” The changes ostensibly won’t increase the refinery’s capacity, but will allow it to process dirtier oil without, it maintains, spewing more pollution into the atmosphere than it already does. Critics say the refinery already poses a major health threat to the community and this will make it worse.   read more

Where would municipal finances in California be without $400+ fines for red-light violations captured by cameras? That’s a question that need not be answered after the California Supreme Court unanimously upheld use of the system Thursday and denied a plaintiff’s demand that a representative of the manufacturer testify in red-light camera cases about the technology’s reliability.   read more

The breach was in March and was just a small part of a much larger release of 7 million records from AmEx, Visa, MasterCard and Discover customers nationwide blamed on Ukraine Anonymous. Three months later, only American Express has begun the notification process. The data release was accompanied by some bragging and a threat from Ukraine Anonymous,   read more

Researchers from the Keck School of Medicine at USC and the University of Washington found ultrafine particulate matter, which may contribute to heart and lung disease, from the exhaust of planes taking off and landing at LAX 10 mikes away. They stopped at 10 miles because, “We just ran out of drive time,” researcher Scott Fruin told a writer for American Chemical Society’s Chemical Engineering & News.   read more

Not many Californians came out to vote on Tuesday, but many of those who did made some curious choices. Selecting someone under indictment to run an office that supervises elections in the state and is responsible for political transparency shows either loyal support, a certain lack of discretion, a mischievous temperament or gross ignorance. Or, all of the above.   read more