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

The mayor’s attack on Ervin, an Air Force veteran who served in the Middle East, featured a picture of the council candidate at a 2012 rally in response to the Trayvon Martin shooting in Florida under the headline, “Anti-Law Enforcement Candidate Johnathon Ervin Attacks Our Lancaster Deputy Sheriffs.” The mailer says Ervin wants to “make Lancaster a magnet for street gangs and section 8 housing abuse once again.”   read more

“In a nutshell, Southern California Edison is getting out of future litigation and hearings into how they screwed up potentially, so they're giving up $1.4 billion that they asked for,” said Ray Lutz at San Diego-based Citizens’ Oversight. But "on its face it's a pretty good deal for ratepayers and about the best deal that we could imagine.”   read more

Three months after Phillips 66 announced its intention to bring crude oil to its Santa Maria Refinery via train from up north, Bay Area communities in the presumed path of the rail highway have shaken their fists and thrown down the gauntlet. Whether there is anything they can actually do to stop convoys of 80 train cars or more rattling through the city and countryside, carrying dangerous crude oil from the Bakken Fields of North Dakota and tar sands of Alberta, Canada, remains to be seen.   read more

The 2009 Safe Storage Law mandated that handguns must be kept in locked containers or have an approved trigger lock installed when not being carried, even within private homes. A second ordinance upheld by the court barred the sale of hollow-point bullets within city limits, but did not prohibit the ownership or use of such ammunition.   read more

State Senator Leland Yee, known for his promotion of gun control and government transparency, was among 26 people arrested Wednesday by the FBI in a corruption probe that focused on San Francisco’s Chinatown. The Bay Area Democrat was charged with conspiracy to traffic in firearms and trading government favors for bribes.   read more

Pumps & Dumps, a website devoted to schemers who traffic in the seedy world of penny stocks, nominated Sherman Mazur for the lead in a remake of “The Wolf of Wall Street” after he was arrested by the FBI last year and charged with market manipulations that cost 20,000 investors $30 million. Earlier this week, federal prosecutors dropped the charges against Mazur and eight others when it became clear that key wiretap evidence was inadmissible because it was obtained through a faulty procedure.   read more

“It is a Herculean effort to avoid disaster in three years,” Andrew Hughan, spokesman for the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife, told the Los Angeles Times. “By disaster, I mean . . . no commercial fishing and no recreational fishing.” At stake is a $1.5 billion industry that employs around 22,000 people and much more expensive fish.   read more

It wasn't until 2007 that the Navy acknowledged what others already knew: radioactive residue was scattered across the island from its work on ships and aircraft with materials using paint that glows in the dark. Over the years, the Navy has alternated between denying and downplaying media allegations and evidence that radiation could be a health hazard to people living there.   read more

The Financial Aid Office of Loyola Law School in Los Angeles exposed the personal information of what may very well have been the school’s entire 395-member student body to 14 members of its 2014 graduating class. The email included the name, internal system ID number, Social Security number, graduation year, academic status and program (JD, LLM) of “some” students. The document also contained information on loans, and their amounts, taken out by some students graduating in spring 2014.   read more

The next California State Librarian is not a librarian. Governor Jerry Brown announced that Greg Lucas, a longtime Bay Area political writer with deep political connections, will take over the post. “What the hell?” Roy B. Stone, president of the Librarians’ Guild, inquired of a Los Angeles Times reporter. The Guild represents 350 librarians in Los Angeles. “I’m tired of political appointments everywhere you go for everything,” Stone said.   read more

Although Oakland police regulations discourage use of bean-bag guns for crowd control and forbid shooting people in the head with them, an officer fired from 20 feet away and hit Olsen. People rushed to his aid, prompting another officer to fire a tear-gas grenade at them. No officers came to Olsen's assistance.   read more

A Southern California seller of firearms components engaged in a legal battle with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) after the agency sought the names of customers who purchased an illegal gun base. Ares Armor sold thousands of the bases, used to build the AR-15 assault weapon. The store's owner refused to comply, prompting the ATF to threaten to shut down his business. The next day ATF agents raided the store.   read more

Henning, who has been Brown's chief deputy appointments secretary since 2011, comes from a family with a deep history of involvement in government and labor. Henning's father, Patrick Sr., ran EDD for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger from 2004-2009. Henning's grandfather, Jack, led the state labor federation for 26 years, was ambassador to New Zealand and served as U.S. undersecretary of labor in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.   read more

It is unclear how many people may be affected, but former Washington Post reporter Brian Krebs, who broke the Target credit card story last year on his website, KrebsOnSecurity, called the breach “wide-ranging.” MasterCard confirmed that it sent alerts to five financial institutions with information about their customers who may have been affected.   read more

The AQMD approved a plan submitted by Exide to address some of its pollution issues although agency executive officer Barry Wallerstein said he doubts Exide's “ability and/or desire” to execute it. He noted for the Los Angeles Times a string of misdeeds by the company, its poor track record at making meaningful adjustments and resistance to regulation. He also essentially called them liars.   read more

The cops argued that their arbitrary scanning and storage of license-plate information is legal because, “All [license plate] data is investigatory.” In other words, if the cops do it, it must be legal. The EFF responded, “The agencies’ arguments would allow law enforcement to conduct around-the-clock surveillance on every aspect of our lives and store those records indefinitely on the off-chance they may aid in solving a crime at some previously undetermined date in the future.”   read more