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

LEEDIR is leading the way in anonymous crowdsourcing surveillance of people not suspected or accused of criminal activity. Access to the system is free for law enforcement agencies. They are enthusiastic about the system; privacy advocates, not so much. "There's a reason we don't crowdsource photo lineups and the like—crowds aren't good at it,” civil liberties attorney Nate Cardozo told AP.   read more

A coalition of labor, environmental and tenant activists filed a lawsuit last week challenging a new San Francisco ordinance that lets private shuttles use public bus stops to transport residents to work at tech companies throughout the Bay Area. The lawsuit argues that the ordinance violates CEQA, which requires an environmental impact report to assess damage it may cause to roads, the air, bicyclists, pedestrians and human health in general.   read more

In a report released last week, the State Legislative Analyst's Office stopped short of recommending that the Legislature reject Assembly Bill 1839, which would extend and expand for five years tax credits annually totaling $100 million to film and TV productions. But it did point out that the benefits to the state are dubious and the credits probably bring a return of only 65 cents on the dollar.   read more

The rolling recall of 8.7 million pounds of meat that culminated with the closure of Rancho Feeding Corporation of Petaluma in March ended with very little explanation of what went wrong and how it happened. Last week, CNN illuminated a portion of the story of how the company hid cancerous cow parts while an inspector for the USDA carried on an illicit affair with an assistant plant manager. Employees reportedly cut off heads and sliced off meat to avoid detection.   read more

State agriculture officials responded to an invasion of aggressive big-headed ants from Africa—in the Orange County city of Costa Mesa—by beginning placement of 1,500 traps, loaded with the popular meat derivative as a lure. The ants aren't considered a threat to humans, unless one considers finding them storming your house or inundating your swimming pool a threat. But they could spell trouble for native ants, agriculture and ecological balance.   read more

The lawsuit argues that limitations on the number of pot shops will force “thousands of patients” to drive great distances to buy pot, causing traffic and air pollution, and should have triggered an environmental impact report. Some areas will be more heavily impacted than others, with no mitigation measures in place to relieve the burden.   read more

Thirty-six percent of the 2,511 schools in 15 California counties with the highest use of “pesticides of public concern” were within one-quarter mile of the dangerous chemicals. The survey found that more than 118,000 students attend schools close to the heaviest use of pesticides. More than 140 of the most dangerous pesticides—linked to cancer, reproductive problems and nervous system damage—are used close to schools.   read more

The list of schools includes Occidental College, the Butte-Glen Community College District, University of Southern California and University of California, Berkeley. It also includes elite schools from across the country, including Harvard College, Dartmouth College, Princeton University and the University of Chicago.   read more

The state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has never wanted for controversy during Debbie Raphael's three years as its director. The department, which oversees and regulates the treatment and disposal of hazardous waste, has been accused of being too cozy with corporate polluters and lax in its enforcement of environmental laws. Raphael, 54, announced on Thursday that she is resigning at the end of the month to become director of the San Francisco Department of Environment.   read more

In other words, the state won't do anything for now about BigAg pumping up, and plumping up, animals with antibiotics for financial gain regardless of medical need or the threat to the humans who eat their products. Antibiotics could only have been used to treat already-sick animals. Mullin said his bill lacked the necessary votes to pass its first hurdle in the Assembly's Agriculture Committee.   read more

No report was filed with the state on at least 47 fracking jobs in Southern California during the first two months of the year, the group alleged. Those reports are required to be filed with the state within 60 days of fracking. Dozens more were posted late, and only then after the center notified the state of the lapses. Other reports were missing information about the chemicals used in the fracking and where the fracking waste water was disposed of.   read more

California was the first state, in 2009, to enact a menu nutrition labeling law but may not necessarily be the first state to implement one. Then again, maybe California's law doesn't really exist at all. It depends on who you talk to. The bone of contention is apparently a conflict with federal law. But sort of, in a complimentary way.   read more

Perry hailed his state's “employer-friendly combination of low taxes, fair courts, smart regulations and world-class workforce.” That translates for some into fewer government services, corporate-friendly courts, little oversight of corporate behavior and a cheap, intimidated workforce. One could also add a lot lower workmen's compensation fees and lower insurance costs (and payouts). “Low taxes” includes no income taxes.   read more

When Pasadena City College unceremoniously dumped Oscar-winning screenwriter and PCC graduate Dustin Lance Black as commencement speaker three weeks ago over the presence of scandalously sexual images of him on the Internet, school officials hoped to put the affair behind them by picking a safe replacement. Robin Abcarian at the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that didn't work out too well when it picked Pasadena Department of Public Health Director Dr. Eric Walsh.   read more

Payne pleaded guilty to burglary and grand theft and will be under two years of mandatory supervision after she's released from county jail, a spokesperson for the Riverside County district attorney's office told the Los Angeles Times. Payne has promised in the past to try to go straight, but no one really buys it, including her. She told the makers of a documentary called “The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne” that “I don’t have any regrets about stealing jewelry. I regret getting caught.”   read more

It's official. California is now 100% covered by “moderate to exceptional” drought, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). What is still unofficial, but suspected by a growing number of scientists, is that the drought is linked to global warming. “We found a good link and the link is becoming stronger and stronger,” researcher Simon Wang told AP reporter Seth Borenstein.   read more