Free Republic

California.. All Male Schools.. No Girls Allowed.. Published reports say the Stockton Unified School district is looking at the possiblity of all male schools. The idea is to tackle some behavioral and academic problems for male students in K-8 classes. If the plan moves forward it would be similar to what officials in Long Beach established for their male students. Their mission statement includes: ".. to improve the graduation rate of underrepresented promising male students and to encourage lifelong learning by preparing them for college and career options."

ALLEN, Texas — After the appeals court ruling banning same-sex marriage as unconstitutional, Rick Santorum on Wednesday pounded President Barack Obama for being anti-family values. Santorum attacked the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to reverse Proposition 8, the ballot measure passed by California in 2008 that outlawed same-sex marriage. “Look at the 9th Circuit decision, which said the people of California said, in a constitutional amendment, that marriage is between a man and a woman,” Santorum told a women’s group in North Collin County. “And they found the constitution unconstitutional. Imagine that. The constitution...

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — When you head down to the beach for a little fun this summer, county officials want you to leave the pigskin at home. The Board of Supervisors this week agreed to raise fines to up to $1,000 for anyone who throws a football or a Frisbee on any beach in Los Angeles County. In passing the 37-page ordinance on Tuesday, officials sought to outline responsibilities for law enforcement and other public agencies while also providing clarification on beach-goer activities that could potentially disrupt or even injure the public. The updated rules now prohibit “any person to...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California voters this fall may have the chance to answer a question of deep interest to politicians around the United States: will populist appeals to "tax the rich" resonate more than pragmatic arguments for budget-balancing solutions? Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, has all but staked his governship on a tax hike ballot initiative consisting of temporary increases in sales and income taxes. He has positioned the measure as a practical and necessary move to combat chronic budget deficits .. By contrast, the California Federation of Teachers (CFT), the smaller of two statewide teachers unions, last week...

Two sweeping public employee pension reform measures won’t be placed on the November ballot, as their backers couldn’t raise the $2 million or so to mount petition drives for either, it was announced today. And if you think that’s bad, consider the fact that three huge tax increase measures are likely to be on the ballot, as our editorial today notes...

The big news on the culture-war front is a federal court's striking down of Proposition 8, California's constitutional amendment protecting marriage. In a two-to-one ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit wrote, "The people may not employ the initiative power to single out a disfavored group for unequal treatment and strip them, without a legitimate justification, of a right as important as the right to marry." Now, I'm not sure why the judges mention a "disfavored group," as if singling out a "favored" one for unequal treatment would be okay. As far as I know, the...

When gay couples first sought the right to legally wed in California, they argued that they were entitled to all of the benefits of marital bliss. It was only a matter of time before that benefit extended to the right to split up. Even as the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found California's ban on gay marriage unconstitutional Tuesday, one of the state's first gay couples to tie the knot was calling it quits. Robin Tyler filed for divorce from Diane Olson on Jan. 25. The pair were among 14 same-sex couples who originally challenged the ban in 2008.

Thank you for participating in our poll. Here are the results so far: I do. Government should recognize these unions. 79% I do not. Marriage is between a man and a woman. 2% I don't really care. 19% I don't know. 0%

Today, the 9th Circuit upheld the absurd ruling of Judge Vaughn Walker of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California, striking down Proposition 8, the voter-approved constitutional amendment that would uphold traditional marriage in the state. The ruling itself was highly political and in no way legally oriented. “Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians,” wrote the Court, “and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior… the Constitution simply does not allow for ‘laws of this sort.’” -snip-President Obama has...

There were thousands fewer crimes reported in 2011 than 2010 in areas the LAPD and Sheriff's Department patrol. The trend puzzles some but reinforces a common police view that other factors are at play. Even since the economy began stalling several years ago, there have been dire warnings that crime would rise. But in Southern California, crime continues its long decline despite the weak economy.... yet streets in many parts of the region were the safest they've been in decades. The trend continues to puzzle some criminologists Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said crime rates are determined largely by...

Mexico arrests figure in Fast and Furious gun-smuggling scandal REPORTING FROM MEXICO CITY -- Mexican authorities have arrested a reputed enforcer for the country's most powerful drug cartel -- a man also alleged to have amassed weapons from the U.S. government's failed Fast and Furious gun-smuggling operation (link, in Spanish, includes video). Jose Antonio Torres Marrufo, 33, is also wanted by U.S. officials on drug-trafficking charges in El Paso. Mexican and U.S. authorities say he served as a top lieutenant to Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and the Sinaloa Cartel and was in charge of operations in the border state of...

As L.A. Probes Sex Abuse Charges, Staff Replaced At Elementary Schoolby Mark Memmott February 7, 2012 08:00am "In a dramatic move to quell parents' fears, Los Angeles school officials said they will temporarily replace the entire staff of an elementary school south of downtown Los Angeles, where two teachers have been accused of lewd acts against students," the Los Angeles Times writes. KPCC's Pass/Fail blog says that "the district has never relocated an entire staff before." The changes at Miramonte Elementary School "will affect everyone from the principal to secretaries to teachers to custodians, [L.A. Unified Superintendent John] Deasy said....

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The California Republican Party will host presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich during its convention later this month. Party Chairman Tom Del Beccaro said Tuesday that Gingrich will address the twice-annual gathering in Burlingame on Feb. 25th. Del Beccaro calls Gingrich one of the most dynamic figures in GOP politics in the last 50 years....

A federal appeals panel in San Francisco ruled Tuesday that California’s Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, a decision that could lead to the Supreme Court’s consideration of the controversial social issue. By a 2 to 1 vote, the panel overturned the proposition, which was approved by 52 percent of the state’s voters in 2008 and amended the state’s Constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman. “Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships...

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued their decision Tuesday to uphold a ruling in which now-retired U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker of San Francisco struck down the measure.

The Chronicle has learned that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will be speaking at the Saturday lunchtime slot — that’s priiiiiiiimetime at these things — at the California Republican convention in lovely Burlingame. The Feb. 25 gig will be part of a three-day presidential campaign swing through California for Newt. Details are still coming together, but he may do a public event in the Bay Area along with a fundraiser, which of course is the point of coming to California.

NOTE The following news release is a quote: www.ice.gov/news/releases/1202/120206denver.htm FEBRUARY 6, 2012 DENVER, CO Chinese national indicted in Colorado for trying to illegally export to China radiation-hardened computer circuits used in satellite communications DENVER – Philip Chaohui He, aka Philip Hope, a Chinese national, made his initial appearance in U.S. district court on Thursday after he was named in a three-count indictment charging him with attempting to export defense articles without U.S. State Department authorization. The indictment was announced by U.S. Attorney John Walsh, District of Colorado and Michael A. Holt, special agent in charge of the Denver office of...

You know the border is a place where drugs and illegal immigrants transit every day. But you have no idea how bad things really are.

If you want to build a rail line between Anaheim and San Francisco, people are going to have to get out of the way. Literally. The proposed California High-Speed Rail would require a lot of land, meaning thousands of California families and businesses will have to move if the project is ever built.

The second armed robbery occurred on January 19th, 2012, at about 9:57 hours. The suspect brandished rifle at the clerk. The rifle used in the second robbery appears to be one of the many models of Russian Military Mosin Nagant, bolt action high, powered rifle.

Snips from excerpt website: Japanese solar company Sanyo plans to lay off about 140 employees in California, or about 40 percent of its manufacturing workforce in the United States, as it shifts its strategy in order to compete with large rivals, particularly those from China. The company, which is part of Panasonic, is buiding a large factory in Malaysia that will make wafers and turn them into solar cells and then panels. Panasonic plans to invest 45 billion yen (about $580 million) in the new factory. A fellow manufacturer in Japan, Sumco, announced Friday it would get out of the...

The Oakland, Calif., chapter of the US Occupy movement overwhelmingly endorsed a proposal in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel. According to Twitter accounts by pro-Palestinian activists pushing the proposal, the statement won nearly unanimous backing in a vote Wednesday following a brief discussion. A lengthy statement on the Occupy Oakland website attacked US aid to Israel and suggested that Israel had "prodded" the United States into the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Oakland branch of the Occupy movement, which focuses on what it sees as economic discrepancies in the United States, has become increasingly...

Gov. Jerry Brown laid out a detailed plan to alter California's state and local public retirement systems on Thursday – and immediately drew fire from his core labor constituency. The details delivered to the Legislature on Thursday generally tracked with an outline he unveiled in October. Representatives of a union coalition hoped to negotiate what they consider a less severe package. On Thursday, they said they felt blindsided. "To launch this bomb in the early stages of the legislative season can only be counterproductive," said Steve Maviglio, spokesman for the union coalition Californians for Retirement Security. "The timing and severity...

It's good news in the sense that a state going broke is one way to stop the spending. A better way, of course, is to cut the budget.Alas, Governor Moonbeam doesn't appear to have it in him: California will run out of cash by early March if the state does not take swift action to find $3.3 billion through payment delays and borrowing, according to a letter state Controller John Chiang sent to state lawmakers today.The announcement is surprising since lawmakers previously believed the state had enough cash to last through the fiscal year that ends in June.But Chiang...

California state and local government employees remain among the highest-paid in the nation, according to revised 2010 data released this month by the U.S. Census Bureau. Full-time monthly pay for March 2010 in the District of Columbia averaged $5,900, followed by California at $5,774 and New Jersey' s $5,540. Nationally, the average pay for full-time state and local public employees was $4,388 for the March 2010 period sampled by the bureau.

If anyone is tired of the daily European soap opera with surrealistic tragicomic overtones, they can simply shift their gaze to the 8th largest economy in the world: the insolvent state of California, whose controller just told legislators has just over a month worth of cash left. From the Sacramento Bee: "California will run out of cash by early March if the state does not take swift action to find $3.3 billion through payment delays and borrowing, according to a letter state Controller John Chiang sent to state lawmakers today. The announcement is surprising since lawmakers previously believed the state...

LOS ANGELES – Coroner's officials on Friday identified a man whose dismembered head, hands and feet were found in a Hollywood park as a 66-year-old from Los Angeles, and police continued to hunt for his killer. The victim's name is Hervey Medellin, coroner's Lt. David Smith said. Public directories show Medellin lived in a Hollywood apartment near the rugged, hillside park where his remains were found. Investigators served a search warrant Thursday night on a Hollywood apartment in the area, but it wasn't immediately clear if it was Medellin's apartment. "They did serve a search warrant last night. They are...

California continues its leading role as the national laughingstock of regulatory absurdity. This week, the California Air Resources Board (CARB), forged another link in its unbroken chain of disastrous environmental policies. New CARB regulations reflect a decision process heavily influenced by three primary sources: Joseph Stalin, Al Gore and Pee-Wee Herman. Let's look at the latest batch of lunacy from those swell 'crats in Sacramento. As an added bonus, we read from SFGATE, the reliable Left Coast mouthpiece that happily shills for the hard left Democratic mouth breathers. ".... the California Air Resources Board unanimously approved strict vehicle emissions regulations...

A Sacramento federal judge has struck down as unconstitutional the part of California's so-called Victims' Bill of Rights that governs parole revocation. The law, enacted by voter approval of a 2008 ballot initiative known as Proposition 9, was a sweeping amendment to the state constitution, conferring a long list of entitlements on crime victims. The sections dealing with parole revocation were made part of the state's Penal Code. U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton ruled Tuesday that those sections fall short of providing the minimum due process guaranteed by the Constitution and two U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Morrissey v. Brewer...

300 arrested in daylong Occupy Oakland protestsBy TERRY COLLINS/Associated Press Posted: 01/29/2012 05:04:33 AM PST OAKLAND - Dozens of police maintained a late-night guard around City Hall following daylong protests that resulted in 300 arrests. Occupy Oakland demonstrators broke into the historic building and burned a U.S. flag, as officers earlier fired tear gas to disperse people throwing rocks and tearing down fencing at a convention center. Saturday's protests - the most turbulent since Oakland police forcefully dismantled an Occupy encampment in November - came just days after the group said it planned to use a vacant building as a...

Have you purchased your new, all electric car yet? Me neither. Of course, I can’t decide whether it’s because I hate the environment, hate America, or a result of my severe allergy to burning to death in a fiery roadside inferno. But we shouldn’t feel too alone. It seems that drivers have been rather cool on the idea all over the country. This is producing a significant impact on Indiana in particular. Reporting from Elkhart, Ind.— For politicians betting on electric vehicles to drive job growth, the view from inside Think City’s plant here is their worst nightmare: 100 unfinished...

A California Supreme Court ruling Friday significantly raised Democratic Party prospects of gaining the supermajority needed in the state Senate to pass tax or fee increases. The high court decided that Senate maps drawn recently by a 14-member citizens commission will be used for this year's legislative elections, even if a pending referendum qualifies for the ballot. The decision brought certainty for dozens of prospective Senate candidates awaiting final adoption of the maps as they begin their campaigns. And it offered the commission at least temporary validation that it performed its job as the voters intended. Political analysts of both...

You’ve heard that interest rates are low right? But how about a 0 % interest rate for a $4.5 million loan? Is it free money? California has reportedly agreed to give a state prison guard union an interest free loan to pay back money that it owes the state. Published reports say California's prison officers union is getting a multi-million dollar interest-free loan (from taxpayers) to ‘settle a multimillion-dollar debt it owes the state.’

California's $98.5-billion bullet train project has become "increasingly risky" because of uncertainty about where the money will come from to finish even the first phase, the state auditor warned Tuesday. In the latest in a series of cautionary reports by outside agencies and groups, the report found that the California High-Speed Rail Authority has made some progress in addressing planning and fiscal concerns but still has important work to do to ensure that the project can be built as promised. "The program's overall financial situation has become increasingly risky, in part because the authority has not provided viable funding alternatives...

One of former GOP presidential hopeful Rick Perry's most vocal California backers has thrown his support behind former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's campaign. "I think the people of America want to go back to work more than anything," Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Penn Valley, said today. "Mr Gingrich has the courage and the intelligence to turn the economy around." Logue, who founded the Committee to Draft Rick Perry for President last year, had campaigned for the Texas governor in Iowa earlier this month. He said he decided to endorse Gingrich late last week, after Perry dropped his own campaign and announced...

The Monterey/Santos oil field in California is estimated to four times the technically recoverable oil as the Bakken Oil Field in North Dakota. The Monterey field is also estimated to have 500 billion barrels of oil in place The Bakken oil field oil in place estimates range from 271 billion to 503 billion barrels (average estimate of 413 billion barrels).

The amazing part isn’t that she tried but that she seems to have succeeded, at least in mice: This is a great American story and also, obviously, a great statement about the value of legal immigration. We’re lucky to have Angela and she’s equally lucky to have this country. Talk about a win-win situation.

Jerry Brown evidently does not want to join the nascent movement to overhaul – perhaps radically – California's dysfunctional political structure. "Contrary to those critics who fantasize that California is a failed state, I see unspent potential and incredible opportunity," Brown said last week in his State of the State address to the Legislature, chastising "dystopian journalists (who) write stories about the impending decline of our economy, our culture and our politics." Implicitly, Brown is telling us that he and the Legislature can govern California effectively without making the structural changes that are often touted in books, op-ed articles and...

San Francisco police arrested a total of 23 protesters during Occupy San Francisco's "Day of Action" Friday, including 19 during the bank protests in the day and four people involved the evening's occupation of an abandoned hotel. Of the 19 arrested during the day, police arrested 17 on suspicion of trespassing at Wells Fargo, one at Bank of the West and another for attempting to remove a baton from a police officer, San Francisco Police Department spokesman Carlos Manfredi said Saturday. Police arrested four people in connection with the evening's occupation of the empty Cathedral Hill Hotel at Van Ness...

Say, remember when the state of Illinois took the Democratic approach to fixing their budget woes by raising taxes? The debt problems of the Land of Lincoln would disappear, Governor Pat Quinn argued, if the state hiked corporate and personal income tax rates by as much as two-thirds. The extra revenue would stabilize the state’s fiscal footing and pull them from the brink of financial disaster.How well did that work out? As the Wall Street Journal reports today, Illinois debt has now been downgraded to the lowest rating of all 50 states by Moody’s: Though too few noticed, this month...

Adjusting for inflation, California spent $27 BILLION more on K-12 public education than they did the first time Governor Moonbeam was elected.

Los Angeles police detectives are investigating the slaying of a man believed to be of Armenian descent whose head was discovered Tuesday afternoon by two dogs off a hiking trail below the Hollywood sign. Two women were hiking with nine dogs in the rugged hills near the 3200 block of Canyon Drive when two of the dogs found a plastic bag in the brush containing the head... In addition to combing the area for evidence, investigators will seek help from the Los Angeles County coroner to identify the victim through dental records

Congressional support for controversial online piracy legislation eroded dramatically on Wednesday in the face of an unprecedented online protest supported by tech titans such as Google, Wikipedia and Facebook. Several key senators withdrew their support from the Senate's Protect IP Act (PIPA), including Tea Party favorite Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), an elected member of his party's leadership. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who leads the Senate GOP's campaign team, said the legislation should be put on hold, while Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a sponsor and the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, retreated from the...

Meet the Honorable Mary Hayashi. Assemblywoman Hayashi, D-Hayward, was nabbed for pinching $2,500 in merchandise from Neiman Marcus. Normally at Neiman $2,500 might get you a pair of socks and a pocket hankie, so Ms. Hayashi's fingers must have been sticky during a blowout sale since her haul included a pair of leather pants and other pricey items. What's more frightening: a shoplifter with the power to make laws and spend taxpayer money, or the idea of any member of the state Assembly in leather pants? When confronted, Ms. Hayashi said she was yakking on her phone and absentmindedly walked...

In a move the technology sector will surely see as a victory, a controversial antipiracy bill being debated in Congress will no longer include a provision that would require ISPs to block access to overseas Web sites accused of piracy. Rep. Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), one of the biggest backers of the Stop Online Piracy Act, today said he plans to remove the Domain Name System or DNS-blocking provision. "After consultation with industry groups across the country," Smith said in a statement released by his office, "I feel we should remove DNS-blocking from the Stop Online Piracy Act so that...

The University of California is banning cigarettes and all other tobacco products from its campuses over the next two years, in a move designed to both protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke and prevent young people from developing the bad habit. Students and staff alike will be prohibited from smoking anywhere on a UC campus - including outdoor spaces, parking lots and private residences. There won't be any designated smoking areas. But a major benefit, they hope, will be an overall reduction in smoking among those who work or study on the campuses. "Our young students who come here as freshmen,...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Federal Court Upholds Obama/Holder Gun Registration Scheme; Congressional Action Needed   Friday, January 13, 2012   Moments before this alert was to go out, a federal district court in Washington, D.C. issued a ruling upholding an Obama administration policy that requires federally licensed firearms retailers in states bordering Mexico to report multiple sales of semi-automatic rifles.  The case was brought by two NRA-backed firearms retailers and by the National Shooting Sports Foundation acting on behalf of its affected members.  Plaintiffs plan to appeal immediately—but in the meantime, your help is urgently...

What's good for Facebook and its employees could be very good for California's treasury. If the Menlo Park company goes public this year, as many have speculated, the state stands to reap hundreds of millions of dollars in capital gains taxes from Facebook investors and employees profiting from stock transactions. That could bring a much-needed windfall to a state government facing a $9.2 billion deficit.

Police are looking for a 16-to-17 year old female suspect in the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old male in front of his home in Winnetka Wednesday evening. The unnamed suspect fled in a green sport utility vehicle, said Los Angeles police Officer Karen Rayner Police were called to the 6900 block of Cozycroft Avenue, one block north of Vanowen Street, at 6:10 p.m. on a shots fired report, Rayner said. The victim — a high school soccer player — was hit at least three times and taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. The victim —...

When Jermaine Green and his fiancee Violet Roberts got on a Metro bus in Bellflower Monday night, they took notice of another passenger. "The lady got on the bus with a stroller full of pillows, she was very polite, said hello to everyone and sat down," Green said. At the next stop, two LA County sheriff's deputies, one male and one female, boarded the bus and called the passenger by name. "They said get off the bus. She then started cursing at (the female deputy). You could tell she had special needs. After that they grab her, she curses him...