Unusual News
New California Law Tries to Save Kids from Themselves Online
Senate Bill 568, which takes effect on January 1, 2015, lets minors delete photographs and other posts on social media like Facebook by doing it themselves or requesting a site operator to do it. The law only covers material posted by the individual, so pictures uploaded by vengeful ex-lovers or heartless compatriots live forever in infamy. read more
L.A. Sheriff’s Deputy Grounded, Again, after Seventh Shooting
Michael Gennaco, the office’s chief attorney, told the Times, “Seven shootings in the Sheriff's Department is extraordinary, compared to the number of patrol deputies and how many they get involved in, which is usually zero or one.”
Three of the seven shootings, reportedly over a 10-year period, involved unarmed suspects, according to the Times. read more
Gentrified San Francisco Has No Place for Homeless Chess Players
SFPD Capt. Michael Redmond told the San Francisco Business Times that the games were used to disguise illegal activities that included drug sales, illegal gambling and “barbecues on the street.”
But some observers feel the real crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. That stretch of Market Street has undergone gentrification and the block where the chess players held court is slated for a 10-story arts and education center, along with 250 housing units. read more
Thieves Stealing Water from Schools in Drought-Plagued Humboldt County
Over the Labor Day weekend, another 20,000 gallons was stolen from the county, this time from the Bridgeville Elementary School. The thief pumped the school’s water tank dry using a garden house and either a water truck or a trailer fitted with tanks, according to police.
School officials were forced to cancel school for the day, while maintenance workers replenished the tank with water from an underground well. read more
Doctor Sued for Decorating Patient’s Face with Stickers in Surgery
Veronica Valdez, who had worked at the hospital for 13 years, was on the operating table for finger surgery. While she was out cold, Yang cut up medication labels, colored them and stuck them on her face to create teardrops on her cheek and a mustache.
Everyone who was conscious had a good laugh. read more
Ex-L.A. Mayor and Governor Wannabe Villaraigosa Joins Embattled Herbalife
Last week, Villaraigosa signed on as a senior advisor to Herbalife Ltd., a company that has been publicly accused of running a pyramid scheme and using its 60% Latino workforce to target poor Latinos. The company is also in the middle of a stock battle between billionaires and is being scrutinized over the safety of its nutritional supplements. read more
Tsunami Study Sounds Dire Warning for West Coast
The report estimates that repair costs would top $3.5 billion but that the damage to the economy would nearly double that, at $6 billion. Most of the economic damage ($4.3 billion) would come from loss of the ports, which could be reduced by 80-90% if “resilience strategies” are put in place ahead of time. Considering the state’s track record on long-range disaster planning, it might be prudent to bank on the higher figure. read more
Conservative Siskiyou County Votes to Secede from California
Now that the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors has voted 4-1 to secede from California and form their own state, all that remains is similar action from sympathetic neighboring counties and approval from the state Legislature and Congress. They want to form a union with other like-minded rural counties north and south of the border with Oregon, and call their new state, Jefferson. They already have a Wikipedia page and are planning their next move. read more
How Bureaucracy Ruined an L.A. Unified School Program
Wilms and Ridley-Thomas trained hundreds of UCLA undergraduates to mediate disputes and then sent them to middle and high schools. There, they taught the younger kids how to use peer mediation techniques to solve problems like bullying and potential suicides peacefully, while also serving as role models. read more
No Questions Asked: Government Embezzler Hired by High-Speed Rail Agency
A woman imprisoned in 2007 for embezzling thousands of dollars from the state while working as a procurement analyst for the Department of Child Support Services, was later hired by the California High-Speed Rail Authority. Moore first came to the attention of authorities when she was suspected of using her position to embezzle $320,000 worth of merchandise, including a hot tub, a gazebo, electronics, porn videos, handcuffs, whips and chains. She sold some of the stuff to buy a Lexus. read more
Atheist Is Entitled to Compensation for Being Re-Imprisoned after Refusing 12-Step Treatment
Hazle told WestCare California, Inc., a private company that contracts with the state to provide substance abuse coordination services, that he was an atheist, and requested assignment to a non-religious treatment program. They sent him to Empire Recovery Center, where he found they used a 12-step program modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous, including references to “God” and a “higher power.”
Hazle refused to attend and was thrown back in prison for 125 days. read more
Old R&B Singer Sues after Being Attacked by Woman Onstage for Trayvon Song
Lester Chambers was attacked at the Hayward/Russell City Blues Festival in July, the day after Martin’s attacker, George Zimmerman, was found not guilty of committing a crime. Police arrested Barstow resident Dinalynn Andrews, aka Dinalynn Andrews-Potter, and charged her with misdemeanor assault and battery, according to The Guardian, but later added elder abuse to the list and refiled the misdemeanors as felonies. read more
10 Hospitals Fined for Sometimes-Deadly Lapses
Fines ranged from $50,000 to $100,000 were meted out to medical centers in eight counties: Los Angeles, San Diego, Alameda, Marin, Orange, Sacramento, Stanislaus and San Bernardino. Three facilities were in Los Angeles County.
The incidents included St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, where a patient with cancer of the right kidney inadvertently had his left kidney removed. It was the medical center’s fifth administrative penalty. read more
News Outlet Ridicules San Diego Mayor with Music Video Parody
The parody was produced by the local television arm of U-T San Diego, the city’s largest newspaper, and stars its news hosts. The gyrating, lip-synching journalists put professional considerations and, some would say, discriminating taste, aside to deliver a flashing message to the mayor and former 10-term congressman accused of making untoward advances to women: #RESIGN. read more
Hyperloop: Musk’s Futuristic Alternative to State’s Troubled Bullet-Train
The Hyperloop comes in two flavors: the $6 billion passenger-only aluminum pods and the $10 billion version that carries cars, too. The solar-powered pods, carrying 28 passengers and spaced up to 100 yards apart, would zip through pressurized tubes, elevated along the I-5 and I-580 freeways, floating on air at a top speed of 760 miles per hour, fast enough to make the L.A.-to-S.F. trip in 30 minutes. A ticket would cost $20. read more
Advanced Placement Exams Invalidated because Students Sat at Round Tables
The San Mateo Union High School District is now suing ETS and the College Board on behalf of 286 students at Mills High School whose exam scores were thrown out. ETS and College Board take the position that because students were facing each other, they had the opportunity to cheat, even if there was no evidence that they had actually done so. read more