Mother Jones wrote about a study this week from researchers at the USDA who grew the Wonderful variety of pomegranate trees using “deficit irrigation” on experimental farmland south of Fresno. The fruit were smaller and more were cracked. But the overall crop yield was not affected and in some instances increased. It was also tastier than usual.   read more

Jeffrey Lash told people he was some sort of secret agent, under surveillance by U.S. agencies. He shared an over-stuffed 2,000-square-foot condo with his fiancée, whose name is on the lease. Every room was crammed with guns, ammo, chemicals and stuff that had to be removed by a Hazardous Materials Unit (Hazmat). It was valued at between $500,000 and $1 million.   read more

Carey’s encounter with the police was caught on a surveillance camera at Union Rescue Mission and someone’s cellphone and went viral, but she received little attention at the time because she was not the focal point. All eyes were on Cameroonian immigrant Charly Keunang and his struggle with police, during which the homeless man allegedly pulled a gun from an officer’s holster and was promptly shot to death.   read more

Many people have heard that California will most likely be considering some form of legalized recreational marijuana initiative on the November 2016 ballot. But the state’s secretary of state has cleared 28 other prospective ballot initiatives for circulation and the gathering of qualifying signatures. This would be a very different state if they passed.   read more

The court did not pass judgment on whether the California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer who pulled over 76-year-old stroke victim Harrison Orr and gave him a hard time about his physical condition was responding to the pressure of a ticket quota. But jurors in June took a dim view of the circumstances leading up to Orr’s eventual beat down in Sacramento in 2013 and awarded the Citrus Heights man $125,000.   read more

A new report from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research says 24.8% of adult Californians were obese in 2011-12, compared to 19.3% in 2001. For the math challenged, that is nearly a 30% increase in 10 years. Adults of normal weight declined from 43% to 38.6%.   read more

Museum-goers with headphones could hear stories of misery from homeowners who tried to renegotiate loans with bankers as their home values plunged underwater and their jobs disappeared along with their futures. For the younger, more physically-engaged crowd, an interactive exhibit would allow individuals to “compete with former professional robo-signers of foreclosure affidavits to see who could review and sign more mortgage documents (without reading anything, of course) in less than a minute.”   read more

Poway has to reduce its water use 32% and officials say the push to hit that mark was responsible for the wasted water. Water usage was down 45% in May, best in the state, and the tank’s unused contents percolated during the unusually warm weather we’ve been having lately.   read more

The FBI is calling 11 separate attacks on fiber-optic cables in the Bay Area since July 2014 vandalism, but they have no idea who the perpetrators are. Could be pranksters, jihadists or a government conspiracy. Cybersecurity expert Jonathan Thompson told USA Today, “When it’s situations that are scattered all in one geography, that raises the possibility that they are testing out capabilities, response times and impact.”   read more

At one point in the video, an officer is heard expressing a desire to kick passive Sky High collective member Marla James, an amputee in a wheelchair, “in her fucking nub.” The cops may have mellowed a bit by the end of the raid, judging by the number of marijuana edibles they consumed.   read more

The 31,000-square-foot Emerald Glen Recreation and Aquatic Complex is under construction and under fire for its inappropriateness in Year Four of the drought. It is expected to be completed in 2017. The center includes an 11-lane Olympic-size pool, two other pools, six water slides, and an amphitheatre that seats 2,000. The pools would hold 480,000 gallons of water, about 5% of the water used by city residents in an average day.   read more

The feds and Orange County prosecutors are investigating around 600 cases dating back to 2006, according to the Register. The cases are misdemeanor and traffic offenses. Nearly all of them appear to involve Latino defendants accused of driving under the influence (DUI) or driving without a license. Early betting is that a single rogue clerk is the perpetrator. That would indicate an employee who is crazy, incompetent or―again, an early frontrunner―corrupt.   read more

“Texas was in a long period of drought until Governor Perry signed the fetal pain bill. It rained that night,” Assemblywoman Shannon Grove, Bible in hand, told attendees at the soirée put on by the California affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee. “Now God has His hold on California.” She was referring to Texas legislation that put a 20-week pregnancy limit on abortions.   read more

Schwarzenegger slashed Esteban Nuñez’s 17-year prison sentence for manslaughter to 7 years, but did not give advance notice to the prosecutor or family of the victim, as is the custom in commutations and the law in paroles. The governor signed the commutation on December 30, 2009, and announced it hours before he left office three days later.   read more

Tanishq, 11, picked up three associate degrees from American River College (ARC) in math and physical science, general science and language studies. He only spent a year in college. Tanishq was home-schooled early on by his mother, who reportedly put her own Ph.D. pursuits on hold, and began taking classes at ARC when he was 7. He graduated from high school with a 4.0 GPA when he was 10, but had already accumulated enough college credits to finish ARC quickly.   read more

Halpern’s complaint, filed in San Francisco Superior Court against the S.F.-based company, claims he was the “inventor of the idea, concept, coding, design, appearance, application and prototype” of what eventually became Uber. The suit alleges misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of contract.   read more