California and the Nation
Is Southern California a Hub for Covert China State Radio Network?
At least 15 U.S. stations, including Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Boston, Houston and San Francisco, were connected to G&E Studio in Southern California’s West Covina. It is majority-owned by a subsidiary of China Radio International (CRI). That bumps up against at least a couple of federal laws. read more
Put that Dungeness and Rock Crab Down, Now
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) warned consumers not to eat Dungeness and Rock crab caught between the Oregon border and Santa Barbara because of potentially deadly levels of the neurotoxin domoic acid. The toxin accumulates in seafood when it encounters a “bloom” of the single-celled plant Pseudo-nitzschia. The largest algal bloom in more than a decade has been lurking off the coast for months. read more
LAPD Is No. 1 in High-Speed-Chase Bystander Deaths
The Los Angeles Times crunched numbers from 2006 to 2014 and found that innocent bystanders were injured twice as often in LAPD pursuits than the state average. One out of every 10 chases bagged an unfortunate soul in the wrong place at the wrong time. Those chases also resulted in the bystander's death more often than in any other locales. read more
FCC Acts on 12-Year-Old Petition, Limits Gouging Inmates for Phone Calls
In making its announcement last week that it was reining in “excessive rates and egregious fees,” the FCC acknowledged that it had been a long time coming. The commission mentioned in passing that it was a petition from Martha Wright in 2003, asking for relief from the high costs of talking to her grandson in prison, that spurred them to action. read more
FEMA Warns Californians to Buy Flood Insurance NOW
FEMA wants folks to insure now because, unlike other types of insurance, there is a 30-day delay before coverage becomes effective and El Niño is expected to arrive this winter. Standard homeowner insurance policies don’t cover floods and insurance companies are loath to offer it to customers, so the federal government took responsibility in 1968. read more
Study Says It's Too Late to Save Some California Cities from Rising Tide
A new study says there is no need to worry about whether 414 U.S. cities will lose at least 50% of their populated area to rising seas from climate change in the future. Their fate is already sealed. The only questions are how many cities will join them (could be as high as 1,544) and when. Eight California cities are among 44 cities with populations above 100,000 that are locked in to having at least 25% of their populated areas eventually underwater under certain conditions. read more
California First State to Ban “Redskins” as School Team Name or Mascot
Governor Brown signed Assembly Bill 30, which requires any school using the controversial name—there are four in the state—to change it by January 2017. The law also prohibits any school from switching to that the name, which denigrates Native Americans and is considered offensive by many. read more
California Regulates the Rampant Use of Antibiotics on Livestock
Senate Bill 27 “addresses an urgent public health problem,” Governor Brown wrote in his signing statement. “The science is clear that the overuse of antibiotics in livestock has contributed to the spread of antibiotic resistance and the undermining of decades of life-saving advances in medicine.” He vetoed a similar measure last year, arguing that federal regulations (which proved ineffectual) were good enough. read more
Nevada Pays S.F. $400,000 and Agrees to Stop Dumping Mentally-Ill Patients
Nevada claimed the events were isolated and not systemic, but the Sacramento Bee, in a series of stories beginning in April 2013, claimed as many as 1,500 patients were given bus tickets to go from the state-run Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas to other cities between 2008 and 2013. Five hundred were said to end up in California. read more
EPA Has New, Tougher Smog Standard; California Can’t Meet the Old One
The new anti-smog rule lowers the ground-level ozone limit from 75 parts per billion (ppb) to 70. Health advocates and environmentalists pushed for 60 ppb. California already has pretty aggressive air pollution measures in place, but they have to. The air is still the worst in the nation and the state already gets a break on deadlines for achieving improvement. Southern California is still struggling to reach 80 ppb by 2023 and 75 by 2031. read more
San Francisco Bay, and Probably Its Fish, Are Loaded with Plastic Microbeads
The report, from the San Francisco Estuary Institute, said the bay receives a fresh load of plastic, at least 3.9 million pieces daily, from eight sewage treatment plants examined out of 42 that discharge into the bay. Contamination is nine times worse than Lake Erie in the Midwest and 330 times worse than Lake Huron. read more
L.A. Region Pays for Water from Drought-Stricken Lake Mead
The Metropolitan Water District (MWD) will pay around $45 million a year to receive 150,000 acre-feet of water, enough to supply 300,000 homes. That water will come via the Colorado River and is half of Nevada’s annual allotment. Technically, the water isn’t being sold to California. It’s being banked for future access. Meanwhile, Lake Mead is at around 38% capacity. read more
Sacramento Sheriff Much Prouder of His New Stingray Policy than the ACLU
The main sticking point for the ACLU is that the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department does not explicitly say it will get a warrant to use the surveillance technology. But the department also displays a hearty appetite for secrecy about Stingray and the operations. The ACLU lawsuit wants to know out how the department is using technology that mimics cellphone towers to spy on people. read more
California Tries to Shine a Little Light on Political “Dark Money”
California’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) toughened up its “Top 10 Contributors” regulation that requires nonprofit groups to reveal who funds them. In the past, those contributors could have generic names like “The Committee to Reform Reformers,” but now they have to name the two humans who contributed the most to that group. read more
China Joins Deal to Build Vegas Bullet Train that Almost Reaches Los Angeles
If the project actually gets going in September 2016, as planned, the joint venture with an American company would mark China’s entry into the barely-existent U.S. high-speed rail market. The country has built more than 10,565 miles of domestic high-speed rail, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Bloomberg said federal records indicate that XpressWest has already secured approvals and permits from a number of federal agencies for the 185-mile leg to Victorville. read more
Navy Agrees to Scale Back Explosive Sonar Testing that Rocks Marine Mammals
The Navy faced multiple lawsuits as it sought to protect its unchallenged authority to do anything, anywhere at sea without regard for ecological consequences. “This settlement proves what we’ve been saying all along,” said Marsha Green, president of Ocean Mammal Institute. “The Navy can meet its training and testing needs and, at the same time, provide significant protections to whales and dolphins by limiting the use of sonar and explosives in vital habitat.” read more