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Governor Pardons 104 for Christmas, Many Casualties from the War on Drugs
Sixty-five of those pardoned, including Glen Williams Carnes before his was withdrawn, were convicted of drug-related crimes. That’s 61.9% of the total. Forty-three of the offenses were for possession of enough drugs to merit a mention of sales. Twelve of the pardoned were convicted of drug transportation for sale, five for drug cultivation and five for drug manufacture. read more
PG&E Caves to “Emotional” San Bruno “Nuts,” Will Release All 65,000 E-Mails
Although this week’s volume of e-mails was low, like the trickle of communications that preceded it in previous months, it packed a wallop. “Some of the emails that we are reporting today suggest clear violations” of PUC rules, PG&E Chief Executive Officer Anthony Earley said in a prepared release. Federal and state law enforcement agencies are conducting investigations. read more
State Auditor Says a Lot of Government Data Is Unreliable
The California State Auditor used her own reports from 2012 and 2013 and found that important data in 17 of the 53 systems checked was “not sufficiently reliable.” Another 13 had “undetermined reliability.” The information in the computer systems is used to process payroll, manage programs, coordinate personnel transactions and generate myriad reports for a plethora of government departments. read more
Richmond Stumbles Through a Slow-Motion Public Housing Disaster
The Richmond City Council voted in March to give all the seniors and disabled residents vouchers and kick them out of the moldy, rodent-plagued, roach-infested broken-down buildings. But it hasn’t. The city didn’t have a plan or the money. “Clearly, we’ve failed in some of our public housing,” Mayor Gayle McLaughlin said at the time. That might be a bit of an understatement. read more
Obama Signs Bill to End Medical Pot Ban, but It’s Too Early to Light up Victory Joint
Jacob Sollum at Reason argues that interference by the feds may indispose the state and its residents, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are preventing implementation of state laws, which the law proscribes. Sollum also thinks states that don’t explicitly refer to medical marijuana dispensaries in their laws, like California, might have a problem. Dispensaries are patient cooperatives in California, collective gardens in Washington State and caregivers elsewhere. read more
Edison Has “Short-Sighted” Plan for Indefinitely Burying San Onofre Nuclear Waste
Edison announced last week that it plans to move spent fuel rods from above-ground pools to steel fuel canisters, wrapped in concrete, topped with steel and more concrete, and buried beneath the bluffs between Los Angeles and San Diego. The plan is to bury the dangerously radioactive material for at least 20 years, until some place can be found to permanently move it. Right now, there is no place. read more
U.S. Justice Department Says Tribes Can Grow and Sell Marijuana
It is unknown how the marketplace would change if tribes get aggressively involved. Marijuana-selling tribes may not have to pay state and local taxes, allowing them to slash prices and undercut the off-reservation competition. So far, there is no indication that Native Americans will get into the business. Tribes are divided on the issue. read more
Judge Tells Walmart It Illegally Punished and Intimidated Workers
NLRB Administrative Judge Geoffrey Carter ruled that Walmart officials in two cities, Placerville and Richmond, threatened workers and otherwise tried to prevent them from organizing. Carter said the company had to fix its overly broad dress code that prevented workers from displaying support for a union or its issues. He said Walmart was wrong to discipline six Richmond workers in 2012 for a one-day strike and ban other employees from talking to them. read more
Covered California Transfer to Medicare Is Fraught with Peril
Bazar detailed the plight of the Wooleys, a couple who called Covered California August 1 to cancel their plans on September 1 and October 1 to begin their respective Medicare coverage. But the bills kept coming from their Kaiser Permanente plan. Kaiser said they couldn’t discontinue coverage until they heard from Covered California and Covered California said they had already done that. Stalemate ensued. read more
Tree Rings Don’t Lie: It’s the Worst California Drought in at Least 1,200 Years
Although California has experienced 37 three-year periods of drought into the last millennium, the state did not suffer the same severe temperatures and low precipitation in the past. What we are experiencing is very different. The severity “was a surprise,” co-author Kevin J. Anchukaitis told the Los Angeles Times. “I don’t think we expected to see that at all.” read more
State Appeals Court Whacks California DNA Collection Law that Feds OK’d
The judges ruled that a state policy―authorized by voter passage of Proposition 69 in 2004 and effective as of 2009―violated the California Constitution when it allowed authorities to collect and store in a database DNA information taken from people arrested for a felony, but not yet charged. The court cited data that 62% of people arrested in California on suspicion of a felony were never convicted of a crime. Around 20% weren’t even charged. read more
FBI Raids L.A. School District over iPads-for-All Fiasco
Federal agents armed with a grand jury subpoena carted away 20 boxes of documents Monday having to do with the purchase of iPads and software in a controversial $1.3-billion program that is still being rolled out. The day after the FBI visit, Superintendent Ramon Cortines announced that he was reversing his earlier decision to immediately expand the project to 27 more schools, canceling the contract and putting it back out to bid. read more
Environmentals Sue Mendocino County to Halt Predator-Death Pact with Feds
The lawsuit, filed in Mendocino County Superior Court, claims the county illegally failed to conduct an environmental review of the impact the predator program would have. Wildlife Services, a federal agency that shouldn’t be confused with the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife Service, killed 4 million animals in 2013. read more
GOP House Leader from Polluted-Bakersfield Leads Fight for Dirtier Air
McCarthy, who was promoted from whip this year when Eric Cantor lost his House seat, vowed to do what he could to thwart a new, stronger standard proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for reducing smog-producing ozone. Ozone is so geographically problematic in California, the federal government has a given the state a longer timeline to meet the standards. read more
A Lot of Low-Income Disabled Seniors Reject Shift to Managed Care
As of October 1, 44% of the 195,000 targeted seniors in seven counties had opted out of the Cal MediConnect pilot project, according to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). They refused to trade a struggle with two giant bureaucracies for a single new one, while often giving up access to their doctors, flexibility and familiar settings. read more
Derailment Dumps 11 Train Cars of Corn—not Oil, This Time—in Feather River Canyon
It easily could have been very foul. One million gallons of volatile Bakken crude oil from North Dakota pass along these tracks every each week. “When you hear about a derailment, even if it's just corn, you can’t help but imagine, what if it was Bakken crude?” Stacey Geis, the managing attorney at Earthjustice told KCRA Sacramento. read more