http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/ca-news/ en-us Thu, 31 Dec 2009 07:41:13 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418210/posts The government of France awarded the Legion of Honor on Tuesday to a Bay Area man who was shot down over occupied France during World War II and then joined up with a secret French underground to fight the Germans. William Kalan, 91, a retired advertising executive who lives in the Rossmoor retirement community in Walnut Creek, received France's highest decoration from Pierre-Francois Mourier, the French consul general in San Francisco, during a ceremony at Rossmoor. Mourier called Kalan "an exemplary human being." "You left your country, your family and friends to fight at the risk of your life," he... San Francisco Chronicle / sfgate.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418210/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 07:41:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418177/posts LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles County prosecutors have decided no charges will be filed against a suburban police officer who kicked a surrendering suspect in the head after a dangerous car chase. Rodriguez, a parolee heavily covered in gang tattoos, was lying face-down on the ground during the May 13 incident, which was broadcast by a TV news helicopter. After four officers converged on Rodriguez, two of them did a "high five." msnbc.msn.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418177/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:55:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418118/posts California Pushes for Federal Help By STU WOO Facing a $21 billion shortfall through June 2011, California leaders want billions of dollars in budget relief from Washington that could head off deep cuts expected to state programs. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will ask the White House to waive rules that require the state to spend its own money on certain programs to receive federal funds, according to California officials briefed on the Republican's coming budget proposal. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, shown in November, is seeking federal relief as part of an effort to close a $21 billion budget gap. If the... Wall St. Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418118/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 03:19:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418021/posts TUCSON — As a Border Patrol agent continues to recover from a gunshot wound, the agency’s regional chief says the violence is part of a larger problem. There has been a 300 percent increase in assaults on agents in the first two months of this fiscal year (October and November) compared to last year — 108 compared to 27 in the Tucson Sector. Many of these assaults have involved rocks large enough to inflict serious injury or death. The assaults are usually used as a tactic to evade apprehension or draw agents away from other illegal smuggling activity nearby, the... SIERRA VISTA Herald/Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418021/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 00:22:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418027/posts The LAPD plans to launch its own Explorer program for young people this month, removing the Boy Scouts of America from management, officials said Tuesday. The Police Commission voted two months ago to end its relationship with the Scouts because of the organization's policies that discriminate against gays. The program had been operated by the Learning for Life Foundation, a subsidiary of the Boy Scouts. The move to create the Los Angeles Police Department's own teen program should be launched by Jan. 1, Deputy Chief Earl Paysinger told the Police Commission. "We have received inquiries from dozens of agencies on... http://www.dailynews.com/ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418027/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 00:35:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417831/posts AN DIEGO -- The founder of the San Diego Minutemen is facing more legal problems, 10News reported. Jeff Schwilk is the focus of another defamation lawsuit that will be filed next week. In May, a jury decided he helped defame activist Joanne Yoon and was fined more than $130,000. A jury found Schwilk e-mailed members links to a Web site that called her vulgar names and implied Yoon was a prostitute. Recently, another e-mail to Minutemen members allegedly defaming Yoon was obtained by her attorney, Dan Gilleon. 10 news http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417831/posts#comment Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:36:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417770/posts Something has gone horribly wrong with the California Public Employees’ Retirement System. The 1.6 million local and state government workers and retirees who rely on the pension giant should be deeply worried. State taxpayers who are going to have to bail out CalPERS should be infuriated. In area after area, CalPERS has been a disaster. •Public policy. The 1999 state law that led to an orgy of retroactive pension spiking by government agencies only passed because of Cal-PERS’ insane assurance that a perpetually rising stock market would always cover the cost of sharply increasing benefits. CalPERS is thus directly culpable... San Diego Union - Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417770/posts#comment Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:17:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417670/posts Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, proudly issued a news release recently showing his conservative side — he broke ranks with House Democrats on a bill that would raise the federal debt limit by $290 billion. McNerney says he's not as liberal as his critics say, yet Republicans trying to oust him from Congress next year say he agrees with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about 97 percent of the time. "Our district is a moderate district," McNerney said in a recent interview. "Sometimes I'm aligned with the speaker; sometimes I'm not. By and large, I'm a moderate." McNerney, who was elected in... Contra Costa Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417670/posts#comment Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:50:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417664/posts With much fanfare and celebration - by Chinese steelworkers and Caltrans officials alike - the first steel pieces of the new Bay Bridge suspension span were prepared to ship out of Shanghai on Tuesday - more than a year late but in time to meet a Dec. 31 deadline that officials hope will keep construction on schedule for a 2013 opening. "It's momentous," said Ken Terpstra, Caltrans' project manager for the Bay Bridge, from Shanghai where workers staged a ceremony complete with daytime fireworks. "It was a hard, challenging road, but they're ready to go." The first shipment, delayed by... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417664/posts#comment Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:43:08 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417419/posts If you work in Washington long enough, there are some things you get used to. One of them is the tradition of burying news by releasing it on a Friday afternoon. Or even better: on Christmas Eve. That's when the House Ethics Committee quietly announced the launch of an ethics probe into California Congressman Fortney 'Pete' Stark: The Chair and Ranking Republican Member of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (the Committee) have jointly decided to extend a matter regarding Representative Pete Stark, which was transmitted to the Committee by the Office of Congressional Ethics, for a 45-day period...... The Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417419/posts#comment Wed, 30 Dec 2009 04:27:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417402/posts Back County Messenger http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417402/posts#comment Wed, 30 Dec 2009 03:40:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417275/posts GPS-enabled mobile to aid migrants (UKPA) – 10 hours ago A group of California artists are developing a GPS-enabled mobile phone to help dehydrated illegal migrants find water as they trek through harsh deserts into the US. The Transborder Immigrant Tool created by faculty at the University of California, San Diego, is part technology endeavour, part art project. It introduces a high-tech twist to an old debate about how far activists can go to prevent migrants from dying on the border with Mexico without breaking the law. The designers want to load inexpensive phones with GPS software that takes signals... Google News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417275/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:59:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417264/posts Figuring that there would be no problem getting a copy of Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue" from our San Francisco neighborhood library, our college daughter, home for the holidays, was surprised to learn that although the SF Public Library system has 30 copies of "Going Rogue" that all 30 are out on loan and that there are 103 people on the waiting list! My daughter http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417264/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:49:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417208/posts Businesses operating in the city of Lancaster will be required to ensure that all their new hires are eligible to work in the United States by using an Internet-based federal program to check the immigration and employment eligibility of potential workers. The free online program, called E-Verify, allows participating employers to use federal databases to compare information provided by job seekers with millions of records kept by the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security. “We are working to ensure that all available jobs in our city go to hard-working, law-abiding citizens,” Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris said... Los Angeles Times / latimes.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417208/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:01:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417150/posts San Jose, Calif. (AP) -- Grainy cell phone images are often used against cops accused of using excessive violence. Now, officers are being armed with their own cameras. The so-called head cameras are the latest technology to come from Taser International Inc., makers of the stun guns popular with law enforcement. "It's like the helmet cam you've seen on X Games," said San Jose police officer William Pender, who demonstrated the camera on a recent afternoon. Eighteen of San Jose's more than 1,300 sworn officers have been trained to use the AXON head cameras as part of a free trial.... AP via SFGate http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417150/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:40:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417105/posts 'Million dollar tortoises' shed light on state's environmental laws James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer 12/28/2009 They might be the most expensive tortoises to walk the San Bernardino County desert. A northern California energy company will pay $25 million to relocate and protect 25 threatened desert tortoises before it can start building a massive solar power plant in the northeastern part of the county near the Nevada border. And while calculating the environmental impact is more complicated than saying "$1 million per tortoise," the case illustrates the tremendous complexity - and high cost - of environmental laws that come into play... The San Bernardino Sun http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417105/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:18:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417100/posts Days after becoming the nation's first female Speaker of the House in 2006, Nancy Pelosi pledged to create "the most honest, most open, and most ethical Congress in history." The statement appears ludicrous now given Congress' smarmy image, thanks in large part to Pelosi's theatrics on a host of issues. At the time, though, many Americans were willing to give Democrats a shot. President Bush was wildly unpopular, and congressional Republicans were plagued by scandal. Pelosi and her fellow liberals rode into office on a tidal wave of discontent. But although Pelosi has huffed and puffed vociferously, she's failed to... American Spectator http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417100/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:10:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416970/posts The CalPERS myths December 28, 2009, 12:01 AM ET CalPERS Responds, a new website created by the California Public Employees' Retirement System, represents an effort to “spin” information on issues regarding its oversight of public employee benefits and pension benefit finance. CalPERS created the website, calpersresponds.com, as it states “to educate — and separate fact from fiction — about issues and our response related to pensions, investments and national health care reform ... We hope this information provides education, insight and clarity.” The website falls far short on all of those objectives. It is a self-serving rhetorical device. There is... Pensions & Investments http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416970/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:45:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416758/posts The Kern High School District on Wednesday morning will hold a public hearing and consider a petition for a new charter school named after the nation's president. The Barack H. Obama Leadership Academy aims to teach disadvantaged, at-risk teenagers and at the same time provide mental health services and substance abuse treatment, according to the petition. The school board may vote on Wednesday to approve or deny the charter's petition. The district would not comment on the petition pending the hearing and board discussion. Bakersfield Californian http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416758/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 04:48:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416029/posts New population figures give a boost to the GOP By: Chris StirewaltPolitical EditorDecember 28, 2009 The 2010 census is sure to be controversial.Republicans will thunder about the community organizers who get hired to do the counting, and Democrats will wail that the homeless and migrant workers are undercounted.But in the final pre-count estimate just released by the Census Bureau, we already have a broad idea of where the results are headed and what they will mean politically.The numbers are cause for alarm for Democrats.Of the states gaining House seats -- Texas (three) and Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah... Washington Examiner http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416029/posts#comment Mon, 28 Dec 2009 02:44:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416481/posts Last Christmas, Ignacio Ramos was in a cramped cell at a federal penitentiary in Arizona, listening to Christmas songs on a small radio and wondering what his wife and children were doing. A lot has changed in a year for the former Border Patrol agent, who became a cause célebre among conservative lawmakers after jurors handed him an 11-year sentence in 2006 for shooting a Mexican drug smuggler near El Paso. In January, George W. Bush commuted his sentence during his last full day in office. Ramos then moved his family from El Paso to Houston, where he began the... San Antonio Express-News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416481/posts#comment Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:15:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416573/posts Another holiday. Another sweep of smoke scofflaws. Bay Area air pollution inspectors found 47 homes where wood fires were on Christmas Day during a Spare the Air alert when cold, unhealthy air was forecast. The tally was more than double the 22 violators detected on Thanksgiving Day when the Bay Area Air Quality Management District also called a Spare the Air alert. Violators get written warnings for a first offense and $400 fines for a second offense. While critics have bashed the air district for intruding on a holiday burning tradition, a spokesman for the agency on Monday defended the... Contra Costa Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416573/posts#comment Mon, 28 Dec 2009 23:15:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416547/posts The 2009 political year began on a high note of "change" and "hope" and ended in a thud of stalemate, despair and public fury over the economy, health care reform and the war in Afghanistan. No wonder it may go down as the year of the angry voter. (snip) San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416547/posts#comment Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:27:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416492/posts The LAPD is struggling to fill vacancies in gang units as a financial disclosure rule meant to fight corruption has been received by many rank-and-file cops as an insult -- and a deal-breaker when it comes to working the tough gangland assignments. After years of contentious battles with police union representatives over the issue, Los Angeles Police Department officials pushed through a policy in April that requires gang officers to disclose details of their personal finances. Intended to help supervisors catch cops who are taking bribes or to identify officers in financial straits who might be tempted to stray, the... Los Angeles Times / latimes.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416492/posts#comment Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:30:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416433/posts One of the solutions to Long Beach's ongoing budget problems may be buried deep underground. Complex contract negotiations involving the Wilmington Oil Field in and around the Port of Long Beach could uncover a cash gusher for public and private interests. Preliminary 10-year financial projections associated with the project include eye-popping numbers: $130 million for the city's general fund, which pays for services such as police and firefighting; $150 million for the city's Tidelands Fund, which pays for services such as lifeguards and coastal development; $240 million for Occidental Petroleum, which is under contract with the city to extract oil... Press-Telegram via Rig Zone http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416433/posts#comment Mon, 28 Dec 2009 19:17:04 GMT