Unusual News
Gay Man Medically Diagnosed with Chronic “Homosexual Behavior”
Moore is, indeed, gay. Openly gay. And, while he has no problem with people knowing he is gay, it is not an “affliction” that should be showing up on medical records. His doctor did not agree. Moore told NBC Southern California that she said treatment of homosexuality was still open for debate and that the orientation was still “thought of as a disease.” read more
Study Says Lurking Fruit Flies Are Poised to Ravage California Crops
“Despite the 250+ emergency eradication projects that have been directed against these pests by state and federal agencies, a minimum of five and as many as nine or more tephritid species are established and widespread,” researchers warned in a study published this week in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. read more
San Diego Mayor’s Defense: No One Told Him He Couldn’t Sexually Harass People
Embattled San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, facing allegations from at least eight women that he sexually harassed them, blamed his problems on the city for failing to give him mandatory training in sexual harassment prevention required for new managers. Jay Goldstone, the city’s former interim chief operating officer, said Filner’s office cancelled the scheduled briefing, not the city. read more
Fight over Government “Raisin Reserve” Spreads from Courts to Congress
In years when high raisin production threatens to cause prices to fall substantially, the RAC can decide that the government should seize part of the crop and keep it off the market by storing it in “reserve,” specifically in warehouses located in California. The result should be higher raisin prices. Here’s the rub: the government often does not pay the raisin growers for the raisins seized. read more
Ex-UC Davis Cop Requests Workers Comp for Distress after Pepper Spraying Students
A video of the pepper spray incident went viral on the Internet, prompting international criticism of the confrontation, and the university’s handing of it and the aftermath. The Sacramento Bee reported in August of last year that Pike received 10,000 text messages, 17,000 emails and “numerous items being ordered delivered to his home” as a result of the publicity. Hackers posted his personal information online and he was reportedly the subject of death threats. read more
Stanford Hit by Hacker Who Claims to Have Grabbed Entire IT Database
Stanford Chief Financial Officer Randall Livingston warned that “the school does not yet know the scope of the intrusion,” but the hacker taking credit for the invasion, “Ag3nt47,” tweeted a claim to have downloaded the whole database. If true, health information, personal financial information and Social Security numbers could be compromised. read more
California Gulls Take the Bay Area by Storm
In 1980, there were only 24 of the birds in the area and they were considered a “species of special concern” in California, according to MSN News. Now larus californicus are said to number more than 53,000 and continue to breed at a quickening pace. Cheryl Strong, a biologist with the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, told the San Jose Mercury News that the gull population could double in the next few years, but said, “I don’t want to think about that.” read more
Special Election Gives L.A. City Council Its Only Woman
Nury Martinez defeated Cindy Montanez in a runoff for the Sixth District seat to re-establish a female presence on the council that has been historically thin and intermittent at best. Only 17 women have been elected to the council, with almost all of them coming after 1953. read more
Just a Drone Prank or Signs of the Times in the Bay Area?
Drones are best known for their use by the military for surveillance and delivering missile attacks on targets in Afghanistan and the Mideast. But they are increasingly being used for domestic border patrol and by local law enforcement.
California Highway Patrol Officer Andrew Barclay told CBS that the signs were a distraction for drivers, but assured the reporter that it was all a farce. read more
Man, Distracted by Pot Bust, Stopped at the Border with $128,547 Stuffed in His Socks
He said he received the money in Mexico as part of a business transaction for his bean export company and knew he had to declare it at the border.
So, why didn’t he? Rakigjija’s reason was “he got distracted with the inspection of the vehicle and discovery of Marijuana in his sons vehicle,” according to the officer’s statement. read more
Disbarment Not Recommended for Lawyer Who Smuggled Client’s Witness "Hit List" out of Jail
Although Judge McElroy rejected the harsher punishment, the Chauncey Bailey Project, a group of investigative journalists, quoted from the judge’s 16-page report that Brown “willfully ignored her duties as an attorney, as well as the health and safety of witnesses who planned to testify.” read more
San Francisco’s Bohemian Club Elites Head for the Woods
But one man’s gay, satanic bacchanal is another’s “Greatest Men’s Party on Earth,” a “giant frat party with trees” where guys get drunk, pee in the woods and listen to a lot of speeches.
For others, it’s more simply a “right-wing, laisse-faire and quintessentially western” crowd of power brokers networking as they would at the Republican National Convention or the world economic summit in Davos, Switzerland. read more
California High Court Rejects Police Marijuana Smell Test for Opening Packages
The court rejected the “novel legal theory” that police could search a closed container without a warrant solely because they think they smell contraband. The written ruling by Justice Goodwin Liu said that the accepted legal principle about seizing illegal material that is “in plain sight” is far different than ripping into packages because something is “in plain smell.” read more
Man Faces 13 Years in Prison for Anti-Bank Chalk Scrawls on BofA Sidewalks
San Diego Mayor Bob Filner defended Olson: “This young man is being persecuted for thirteen counts of vandalism stemming from an expression of political protest that involved washable children's chalk on a City sidewalk. . . . I believe this is a misuse and waste of taxpayer money. It could also be characterized as an abuse of power that infringes on First Amendment particularly when it is arbitrarily applied to some, but not all, similar speech.” read more
“Landlords from Hell” Will be Relocating to State Prison
The couple pleaded guilty Tuesday to multiple felonies for terrorizing tenants in San Francisco between 2005 and 2007. They reportedly cut telephone lines, soaked tenants beds with ammonia, and power-sawed through the floor, twice. At one point, Nicole Macy sent an email to her own lawyer pretending to be one of the tenants, and threatened to kidnap and dismember the attorney’s children. read more
Confidential Marriage: A California Tradition for the Secretive at Heart
A state law—which has been on the books since 1878 and is pretty much unique to California—allows couples to keep their marriages out of the public record and away from prying eyes. Church officials liked the law because they became the go-to source of such marriages and fewer people were left living in sin. The state had an interest in clarifying inheritance rights. read more