ICE agents have reportedly claimed to be police officers to gain consent to enter a person’s home – a tactic that is viewed as unethical, but within the powers granted to the officers. Civil rights groups supported Kalra’s bill, looking to stymie the Trump administration’s promise to use any and all available tools to deport undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes. Many groups fear Trump will expand deportations to include all undocumented immigrants, their families and relatives.   read more

The story of a woman who was told by a judge that she will have to pay alimony to the spouse who raped her—once he finishes serving time for his crime—has caught the attention of the California Legislature. AB 1542, which would prevent victims from being forced to pay support to ex-spouses who have been convicted of a violent sexual crime against them, was unanimously approved by the Assembly and cleared its first Senate hurdle Tuesday in the Judiciary Committee.   read more

The San Francisco bus system, under pressure by city voters to not be late, has been fudging its on-time reports for more than a decade by redefining a minute as anything less than two minutes.   read more

Although 93% of Americans favor labeling genetically modified food (GMO), Congress followed the lead of agriculture-biotech giant Monsanto last week in rejecting legislation similar to a bill proposed in California.   read more

California legislation to guarantee deregulation of low-cost internet phone service (VoIP) through 2020 has roots that can be traced to a model bill drawn up by ALEC, the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council whose nonprofit status has recently been challenged.   read more

The Pentagon is temporarily suspending part of a popular program that allows police departments to buy military weapons after news reports of million-dollar California buying sprees that included a tank. The military wants to conduct an inventory of where the material went and what happened to it once it got there.   read more

In a sign that the state’s housing shortage isn’t going away any time soon, a Southern California landlord was charged with turning a triplex into an illegal hive of 44 rental units a mile from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and apparently found tenants willing to live there.   read more

It all may be moot if the federal government amps up its crackdown on California medical marijuana, but for now lower state courts are setting the stage for a Supreme Court showdown over city and county bans on dispensaries. On Monday, California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal struck down Los Angeles County’s 2010 ban on medical marijuana dispensaries because state law allows collectives to grow and distribute pot.   read more

Add 20-year-old Ali Ahmed of San Diego to the growing list of U.S. citizens from California zapped by the U.S. government’s anti-terrorist no-fly list. Ahmed was traveling to Kenya last week—his first return visit to the country most of his family emigrated from in 1999—to see his father and meet his fiancée for an arranged marriage.   read more

Leading municipal bond insurer Assured Guaranty, which insures three Stockton bonds worth $161 million, says on its website that the beleaguered city should have demanded austerity in the form of “labor and retiree concessions,” pension reform, “curtailment of non-essential City services” and the sale of city property before filing for bankruptcy, implying a possible challenge to the move.   read more

The Secretary of State’s website for the Victims of Corporate Fraud Compensation Fund prominently warns of scams being perpetrated on unsuspecting Californians who think they will be getting a cash award. Some critics think it’s Secretary of State Debra Bowen who is doing the scamming.   read more

What better way to welcome the latest class of technology-hip San Francisco police cadets last week than with an announcement of a new, mobile-based information-sharing “app” that would be theirs to break in.   read more

California is planning to save oodles of money by moving 880,000 children into a Medi-Cal managed care program one year after transitioning 330,000 low-income seniors and disabled patients into one of their own. Advocates for kids fear the worst, and based on experiences of the older people those fears are justified.   read more

Members of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association will have to abide by California’s 3-year-old vessel fuel rules and stop burning some of the dirtiest, unhealthy motor fuel as they approach the state’s shore after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear its appeal of an adverse lower court ruling.   read more

Pacific Gas & Electric, citing a new report that it has identified 239 shoddy natural gas lines that could explode like the San Bruno blast that killed eight people two years ago, has asked for a big rate increase to help pay for repairs. The $12-a-month rate boost would generate $2 billion over three years.   read more

In Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2004 State of the State address, he said: “Every governor proposes moving boxes around to reorganize government. I don’t want to move the boxes around; I want to blow them up.” He didn’t blow them up, but Jerry Brown did.   read more

The University of California agreed to pay $162,500 to photographer David Morse, who was arrested by UC Berkeley police and had his photographs seized during a 2009 campus protest. Morse works for Indybay, an online publication from the San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center.   read more