Free Republic

At a time when election officials are struggling to convince more Americans to vote, advocates for the disabled say thousands of people with autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy and other intellectual or developmental disabilities have been systematically denied that basic right in the nation’s largest county. A Voting Rights Act complaint to be filed Thursday with the U.S. Justice Department goes to a politically delicate subject that states have grappled with over the years: Where is the line to disqualify someone from the voting booth because of a cognitive or developmental impairment? The complaint by the Disability and Abuse Project...

The terms “husband” and “wife” have been deleted from California’s marriage law under a bill signed into law Monday by Gov. Jerry Brown. The terms will be replaced with “spouse” to accommodate same-sex marriage, which became legal in the state last year after the Supreme Court struck down a voter-approved ban on it. SB1306, the bill signed Monday by Brown, takes effect Jan. 1 and reflects the legality of gay marriage after a decade of litigation. The law also removes limits on recognizing same-sex marriages performed out of state.

When American flag-waving protesters forced busloads of migrants to leave Murrieta earlier this week, the Southern California city became the latest flashpoint in an intensifying immigration debate that could heat up even more as patriotism surges on the Fourth of July. The city’s mayor has become a hero to those seeking stronger immigration policies with his criticism of the federal government’s efforts to handle the thousands of immigrants, many of them mothers and children, who have flooded the Texas border. Some of those immigrants were flown to California and were supposed to be processed at a Border Patrol facility in...

The crisis is sparking heated debate in Washington, where critics claim the Obama administration’s immigration policies are to blame, including the DREAM Act, which defers deportation for some children. Nearby residents who oppose the Escondido center said they’re concerned it will hurt property values, increase crime and cause other problems. But some also decried the idea of federal tax dollars being used for such purposes, especially in their city. “We want our City Council and the Planning Commission to push back to the federal government and adhere to the laws,” said Kitty Demry, who lives about a one-third of a...

Same-sex marriage isn't a debate in San Francisco. It's state law. Same-sex marriages take place every day in the city, including at City Hall. That's why, despite all the heat he's getting, it is puzzling that San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone continues to stubbornly insist on speaking at the March for Marriage on Thursday in Washington, D.C. A long list of local politicians and community leaders, including Mayor Ed Lee, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, have signed letters imploring Cordileone not to participate in the divisive, politically charged event. *** Cordileone is flying across the country as...

Veterans are outraged after a KMPH FOX 26 News investigation reveals the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Fresno was caught blocking the “Fox News Channel” from a hospital waiting room. Is it a mistake or something more? Veteran Bob McLaughlin says, “It was just beyond amazement because I know Fox News has been pretty heavy on any of the government things coming out, especially the Veteran Affairs Hospital scandal.” …

Los Angeles County jails have “deplorable” conditions that have contributed to a dramatic increase in suicides and the system isn’t doing enough to help mentally ill inmates, according to a federal report released Friday. Fifteen inmates have killed themselves in less than 2½ years, with the number increasing from four in 2012 to 10 the next year, and “dimly lit, vermin-infested, noisy, unsanitary, cramped and crowded” conditions contributed to the suicides, according to the U.S. Justice Department’s assessment of jail mental health care. …

Calling slain civil rights hero Harvey Milk a “predator” on its website this week, the fundamentalist Christian group American Family Association (AFA) urged members to refuse any mail postmarked with a recently-released commemorative stamp featuring the late San Francisco supervisor. “Harvey Milk was a very disreputable man and used his charm and power to prey on young boys with emotional problems and drug addiction,” reads the AFA’s press release. “He is the last person we should be featuring on a stamp.”

CKE Restaurants' roots began in California roughly seven decades ago, but you won't see the parent company of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's expanding there much anymore. Related Stories What's causing what company CEO Andy Puzder describes as "very little growth" in the state? In part it's because "the minimum wage is so high so it's harder to come up with profitable business models," Puzder said in an interview. The state's minimum wage is set to rise to $9 in July, making it among the nation's highest, and $10 by January 2016. In cities in other states where the minimum wage...

IRWINDALE >> Sriracha’s spicy relationship with the City Council cooled off a bit Wednesday after officials unanimously dismissed a lawsuit and public nuisance declaration against manufacturer Huy Fong Foods. The standoff between the city and Sriracha creator David Tran began in October when the city filed a lawsuit against his iconic company. The battle sparked fears among Sriracha fans there would be a global shortage of the popular condiment and its bottle with the tell-tale green cap. An informal meeting Tuesday between Tran and city officials, accompanied by a written statement from Tran, provided the council the assurance it needed...

Anyone having issues with their California state tax refund.

Call them the fortunate ones: Nearly 4,000 California companies, farms and others are allowed to use free water with little oversight when the state is so bone dry that deliveries to nearly everyone else have been severely slashed. Their special status dates back to claims made more than a century ago when water was plentiful. But in the third year of a drought that has ravaged California, these “senior rights holders” dominated by corporations and agricultural concerns are not obliged to conserve water. Nobody knows how much water they actually use, though it amounts to trillions of gallons each year,...

Long lines have formed in front of a U.S. Post Office in San Francisco’s Castro District this morning as supporters of assassinated city Supervisor Harvey Milk rush to get a stamp dedicated to the gay rights leader, a postal service spokesman said. The stamp with Milk’s laughing face, name and a small strip of the rainbow flag, first became available this morning at post offices throughout San Francisco and nationwide. Gay civil rights activist Cleve Jones is at the Castro District post office, located at 4304 18th St., along with filmmaker Dustin Lance Black, who wrote the 2008 movie about...

A half-century ago, a governor named Brown persuaded the California Legislature to embark on what those involved thought would be a modest new program of health care for poor Californians. Medi-Cal, as it was dubbed, was California's version of the national Medicaid program that had been attached to the new Medicare system of health care for the elderly. At the time, California's poor obtained medical care, if they did, from either charity or county-owned hospitals, and Medi-Cal was seen as a way of easing the burden on the counties' taxpayers. But as one of the participants in the Medi-Cal legislation,...

A Central California mayor’s remarks that bullying victims should toughen up and defend themselves has sparked anger among some city officials and gay rights advocates. At a recent City Council meeting, Porterville Mayor Cameron Hamilton said he opposes bullying but thinks it is too often blamed for the world’s problems. Hamilton said some people need to “grow a pair.” The mayor was responding to a student program proposing safe zones around town with signs directing children to places where they could seek refuge from bullies. Porterville is a community of 55,000 residents 70 miles southeast of Fresno. …

Isaac Barnett took a bold step last year: He told teachers and classmates at his Kansas high school that the student they had known as a girl now wanted to be accepted as a boy. His close childhood friend, who also identified as transgender, was ready to reveal his secret, too. […] With children rejecting the birth gender at younger ages and the transgender rights movement gaining momentum, schools in districts large and small, conservative and liberal, are working to help transitioning youth fit in without a fuss. California this year became the first state with a law spelling out...

Republican Rep. David Valadao says he’s not worried that Congress’ failure to pass immigration legislation will hurt his prospects for re-election to a district in California’s agricultural heartland. Same goes for GOP Rep. Jeff Denham, who represents a neighboring district in the state’s San Joaquin Valley. Still, the California congressmen are making sure voters know they support an immigration overhaul. They’re aware that Democrats will try to turn the congressional gridlock into an advantage during this year’s midterm elections. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent $300,000 on television ads in Valadao’s district, noting that he is the son of immigrants....

California Governor Jerry Brown released his state budget earlier this week and had some strong warnings about future cost impacts due to the effects of global warming. According to some scientists, over the next couple of hundred years, sea levels could rise up to four feet and that will affect the airports in Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as the nuclear plant in San Onofre.

Republican Congressman Darrell Issa on Thursday strongly condemned comments by GOP gubernatorial front-runner Tim Donnelly, in which the state lawmaker has tried to tie his Indian-American rival to fundamentalist Islamic law, calling his statements “hateful and ignorant garbage.” Donnelly, a state assemblyman who is popular with the tea party, has repeatedly said this week that Neel Kashkari supported Shariah banking code when he was a senior official at the U.S. Treasury Department in 2008. On Facebook, Donnelly posted a link to a banking seminar hosted by the department during which Kashkari, a Hindu, delivered opening remarks. “As far as I’m...

Sick of the gas tax? What about a tax on every mile you drive? A new bill going through Sacramento would tax drivers for every mile they are on the road. The state gasoline tax of 52.9 cents per gallon could be replaced with a "miles driven fee" of $0.05 cents or so per mile driven, under state legislation proposed by a Bay Area lawmaker. State transit officials note that there's not nearly enough money available to fix the many bridges and roads in California that are in desperate need of repair. A federal highway fund, based on taxes on...