Controversies
USDA Alleges Large-Scale Animal Abuse by Biotech Company Again
The complaint profiled in detail a number of individual distressed goats suffering from injury, disease and neglect―some near death. It also accuses the company of demonstrating “bad faith” by hiding an unidentified number of regulated animals in undisclosed facilities to avoid inspection. The Santa Cruz Sentinel said the number is around 800. read more
Governor Won’t Let SoCal Treat Any of Its Carpool Lanes like NorCal Does
While the Bay Area and other NorCal metropolitan freeways have short specific times when HOV lanes are in effect, Los Angeles carpool lanes are 24/7. Governor Brown vetoed Assembly Bill 210, which would have eased the restrictions on short stretches of two L.A.-area freeways, indicating he didn’t really care what the arguments were in this specific case. read more
L.A. County Sheriff Lets ICE Back in Jails Four Months after Supes Booted Them
Critics had complained of racial profiling and the harm done to local crime fighting efforts by having sheriff’s deputies identified so closely with ICE. Agents can now check fingerprint records of all prisoners and have interviews with those that qualify for deportation. The county will let the feds know when the prisoners are being released and give detainees a chance to consult an immigration attorney before they are cut loose. read more
Jury Awards Fired Oakland City Hall Whistleblower $613,302
Daryelle LaWanna Preston sued the city in 2014, claiming her supervisor, then-City Administrator Deanna Santana, retalitated against her for speaking out in contradiction of her boss on a union issue and on an action taken against a city council member. She alleged the city violated her First Amendment free speech rights and California law protecting whistleblowers. read more
Judge Rules Nation’s Largest Peach Grower Interfered with UFW Vote
The UFW sought to sit down at the bargaining table with Gerawan after a 20-year absence, but the Fresno-area company refused and tried to decertify the union. That set off a nasty battle for the hearts and souls and votes of around 5,000 farmworkers that ended in the ballots being locked up uncounted.Last week, a judge tossed out the election and the decertification effort because of unfair labor practices read more
Some Senior Rights Holders Get Their Water Back, for Now
The 238 holders of pre-1914 senior rights in the Sacramento and Feather river watersheds got the green light last week to resume drawing water for the first time since drought restrictions took hold on June 12. The curtailment, part of a larger set of state restrictions ordered between April and July, had been the first-ever significant curb on century-old senior water rights. read more
Can Anti-Evolution GOP Evolve on Immigration in California?
The new platform substitutes "undocumented immigrant" for "illegal alien," drops calls for deportation and doesn't insist immigrants be biometrically tracked. It does, apparently, still call for English as the official language of government, but leaves out the old explanation that this means all election ballots and other government documents should only be printed in English. read more
Comcast Pays $33.4 Million, Mostly to the State, for Customers’ Privacy Loss
Around 74,774 Californians who paid Comcast for unlisted phone services—some for security reasons—won’t be able to get their privacy back, but they will each get $100 in compensation from the giant telecom for publishing their names, phone numbers and addresses. Two hundred and sixteen customers who were put at special safety risk—victims of domestic violence, law enforcement officers, and judges—will receive $432,000 in additional services, like home security. read more
What Happened to the Refinery Re-Start that Would Slash California Fuel Prices?
ExxonMobil and regulators, both state and federal, were already not seeing eye to eye over what changes and repairs were needed to meet safety standards when a small leak of modified hydrofluoric acid on September 6 complicated matters. This week, two members of California’s congressional delegation asked the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) to broaden its ongoing investigation of the refinery blast to include the acid incident. read more
LAUSD’s “Antiquated” Air-Conditioning Wilts in the Heat Despite Assurances
The mammoth school district, with some 32,000 classrooms, has more than 2,600 requests for air-conditioning service, receiving 341 on Tuesday alone, LAUSD spokeswoman Elvia Cano told the Los Angeles Daily News. She said the district maintenance workers get fewer than 100 calls a day during normal heat and are capable of clearing 1,000 calls for service a week. read more
New Student Tests; Usual Wealth Disparity; Even Lousier Scores
Only 44% of students (third- through eighth-grade and 11th-grade) met or exceeded English standards, and just 34% did that well in math. Both of those numbers are a lot worse than two years ago when students last took the old kind of standardized multiple-choice STAR test. Only 56% of 11th-graders were deemed college-ready in English and just 29% in math. read more
Feds Cancel Cancer Study Around San Onofre and Other Nuclear Sites
“The NRC determined that continuing the work was impractical, given the significant amount of time and resources needed and the agency’s current budget constraints,” a commission spokesman said The cost was $8 million, $1.5 million of which has already been spent. The NRC has a budget of more than $1 billion. Cindy Folkers, radiation and health specialist at Beyond Nuclear, blamed nuclear industry manipulation. read more
Bottled-Water Supplier Is Second Outfit Hit with Hefty State Drought Fine
Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought state of emergency on January 17, 2014, and five months later the board notified all holders of pre-1914 rights in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Watershed that they could no longer draw water, except in very limited circumstances. Fahey indicated to the SWRCB that he would continue to take water, but had limited contact with the board. read more
State Agrees to Dramatically Scale Back Solitary Confinement
The agreement was reached in response to a lawsuit brought in 2009 that was eventually expanded into a class action on behalf of an estimated 2,858 prisoners—down from 4,000—held in prolonged, and almost complete, isolation. Jeffrey Beard, the secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), said at a press conference Tuesday that as many as 1,800 prisoners could be affected. read more
California Embraces a Radical Concept: Equal Pay for Women
State lawmakers sent legislation to Governor Jerry Brown this week that attempts to move the needle on women's pay disparity by expanding the meaning of equal work, increasing transparency, protecting workers who ask about equal pay and beefing up enforcement mechanisms. The governor has said he will sign it. The most important change no longer limits pay comparisons to the precise same work. Instead, the work need only be “substantially similar.” read more
State Lags Nation in Vaccinations One Year Before Strict Law Kicks In
New statistics from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that California grants more exemptions from vaccinations and has lower immunization rates than the national median. The vaccine exemption rate in California is 2.7%, compared to the national median of 1.7%. That is actually an improvement for the state over the 2013-14 rate of 3.4%, inspired in part by the high-profile debate over vaccines nationally. read more