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On February 18, an explosion and fire occurred at ExxonMobil's refinery in Torrance, California. The Torrance refinery, the third-largest refinery in Southern California, has about 20% of the region's fluid catalytic cracking capacity and is an important source of gasoline and distillate fuel oil supply for Southern California. Unplanned refinery outages can have noticeable effects on liquid fuel markets, disrupting supplies of gasoline and distillate, particularly in regions that are tightly balanced, such as the West Coast (defined as Petroleum Administration for Defense District (PADD) 5). When refineries undergo planned maintenance, they make arrangements for alternative sources of supply to...

Hours after an explosion ripped through a Torrance refinery, residents for miles around continue to grapple with ash, a gas odor and concerns over poor air quality while inspectors confirmed that a filtration device was the source of the blast. A smoke advisory was issued for areas near the ExxonMobil refinery due to Wednesday morning's explosion and fire.

California Supreme Court Blocks Citizens United Measure From Ballot Sen. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), author of a non-binding ballot measure on Citizens United, said he was disappointed by the state Supreme Court's decision to hold it from the ballot. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times) By MELANIE MASON State Supreme Court asks for more time to decide validity of non-binding measure on Citizens United The court's order effectively prevents Prop. 49 from appearing on Nov. ballot, both sides say The California Supreme Court on Monday halted state action on a non-binding ballot measure seeking voter opinion about a landmark U.S. Supreme...

Another blow was struck for competition, common sense and low taxes as Toyota Motor Corp. announced that it will be moving its campus in Torrance, California to a suburb outside of Dallas, Texas. “Toyota Motor Corp. is moving substantial parts of its U.S. headquarters in Torrance, Calif., to suburban Dallas,” writes the Detroit News, “as the world’s largest automaker seeks savings from its U.S. sales unit, people familiar with the matter said.” Although no figures are yet available, anecdotal evidence suggests that people are fleeing California, not just companies. SFGate.com says that 66% of all state revenue now comes...

When it comes to inclusion and equal treatment of LBGT employees, Toyota is at the top of the list. And it helps that the majority of Toyota employees live in a tolerant state like California. But could that change when the company's U.S. headquarters move to Texas in a few years? Toyota is moving 5,300 employees from California (and some in New York and Kentucky) to Plano, Texas, a move Texas welcomed with open arms and an open pocketbook. It'll serve as a devastating blow to Torrance, Calif., who was apparently blindsided by the news. By all accounts, Plano seems...

The car-making giant Toyota is going to move its U.S. headquarters from the liberal state of California to the much more red state of Texas, according to several sources. The Dallas Morning News stated that the auto company is looking at a massive plant location in Plano, Texas — although an exact location hasn’t been determined yet. Toyota’s move will involve over 5,000 employees. Many experts view this as a “win” for both Texas and its Republican governor, Rick Perry. The governor has been actively recruiting companies from all over the country to move to the Lone Star State, touting...

Another blow was struck for competition, common sense and low taxes as Toyota Motor Corp. announced that they be moving their campus in Torrance, California to a suburb outside of Dallas, Texas. “Toyota Motor Corp. is moving substantial parts of its U.S. headquarters in Torrance, Calif., to suburban Dallas,” writes the Detroit News, “as the world’s largest automaker seeks savings from its U.S. sales unit, people familiar with the matter said.” Although no figures are yet available, anecdotal evidence suggests that people are fleeing California, not just companies. SFGate.com says that 66% of all state revenue now comes from personal...

The world’s leading automotive maker will follow the lead of its competitors and other large businesses, and leave California for better business climates elsewhere. Toyota had its US headquarters in Torrance for more than three decades, but now nearly 5,000 jobs will shift to Texas: Toyota Motor Corp. plans to move large numbers of jobs from its sales and marketing headquarters in Torrance to suburban Dallas, according to a person familiar with the automaker’s plans. …The automaker won’t be the first big company Texas has poached from California.Occidental Petroleum Corp. said in February that it was relocating from Los...

Rick Perry Takes A Victory Lap After Texas Takes Toyota From California Hunter Walker April 28, 2014, 5:04 PM ï‚™ Texas Gov. Rick Perry thinks Texas' "employer-friendly combination of low taxes, fair courts, smart regulations, and world-class workforce" are responsible for Toyota's decision to move its sales headquarters from California to the Lone Star State. "Over the past decade, Texas and Toyota have developed a strong partnership that has resulted in good-paying jobs for thousands of Texans," Perry said in a statement about the automakers move Monday. "Toyota understands that TexasÂ’ employer-friendly combination of low taxes, fair courts, smart regulations...

For Japanese auto brands, the logic of keeping their U.S. sales and administrative arms in California is breaking down under the outsized penalties of conducting business in the Golden State and the changing dynamics of the North American automotive industry. So Toyota is leaving, according to Automotive News. And where is Japan’s biggest automaker relocating its sales and marketing operations in America? Why, North Texas, of course. The move MOVE -5.08% to Plano, Texas, will involve most of the 5,000 managers and employees at Toyota’s current Torrance, Calif., headquarters, the magazine said. Texas Gov. Rick Perry apparently didn’t even have...

Toyota Motor Corp. plans to move large numbers of jobs from its sales and marketing headquarters in Torrance to suburban Dallas, according to a person familiar with the automaker's plans. The move, creating a new North American headquarters, would put management of Toyota's U.S. business close to where it builds most cars for this market. North American Chief Executive Jim Lentz is expected to brief employees Monday, said the person, who was not authorized to speak publicly. Toyota declined to detail its plans. About 5,300 people work at Toyota's Torrance complex. It is unclear how many workers will be asked...

<p>Torrance Mayor Frank Scotto blames the state of California for Toyota Motor's decision to relocate its North American headquarters from the city to Plano, Texas.</p> <p>"The state of California lost Toyota," Scotto said on "Power Lunch" Tuesday.</p> <p>He pointed to a number of issues in the Golden State that negatively affect companies' bottom line: tax structure, workers' compensation and liability insurance.</p>

California’s inhospitable tax policies may have struck again, this time costing Los Angeles one of its largest employers. According to multiple sources close to the situation, Toyota will be relocating its US headquarters from the LA suburb of Torrance to Plano, Texas. The company has yet to notify its employees of the news, but is expected to do so Monday, followed by a public announcement. While it’s unlikely that Toyota, which is ranked 8th on Fortune’s Global 500, will directly cite taxes as the reason for its relocation, it should come as little surprise that the financial burden of operating...

The express train hurtling to return racial preference admissions to California — in the form of State Constitutional Amendment 5 [1], which if placed on the ballot and approved by voters would have overturned Prop. 209 —has just been derailed [2] by an outburst of opposition from Asian Americans.The eruption of opposition caught SCA 5’s Democratic sponsors by surprise and caused a crucial three Asian American senators to withdraw their support, depriving the measure of the two thirds senate majority required to place an initiative on the ballot. “Prior to the vote on SCA 5 in the Senate,” Senators...

SACRAMENTO — When my family moved from northwest Ohio to pricey Southern California, we could afford an entry level house but couldn’t also spring for private-school tuition for the kids. So we scoured the test-score databases, looking for those neighborhoods where home values were reasonable and public schools were tops. Given the focus on schools, it will surprise no one that we settled in a city with a majority Asian-American population.

Are our boys and girls wrongIn expecting you who make your livingExclusively off the white raceTo stop patronizing Jap laundries.And thereby assist your fellow men and womenIn maintaining the white man’s standard in a white man’s country? — Placards belonging to the Anti-Jap Laundry League, Calif., 1908 California has a long and ugly history of discriminating against Asian Americans. From the Anti-Jap Laundry League, the Anti-Chinese League, the Asiatic Exclusion League, the alien land laws, the Anti-Coolie Act . . . the list is long. Much of that discrimination had its origins on the left, with the Ant-Jap Laundry Act,...

On April 1, Washington Mayor Vincent Gray was denied a second term, defeated in the primary by upstart city councilwoman Muriel Bowser. The beginning of the end came on March 10, when U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen struck a plea bargain with a wealthy businessman who confessed he'd spent $668,000 on an illegal "shadow campaign" to fund get-out-the-vote efforts that helped Gray win the mayoral office in 2010. So the corrupt mayor of America's most important city is thrown out. A political scandal? The same networks that were utterly breathless over the local story of Gov. Chris Christie's aides slowing traffic...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Suspended state Sen. Leland Yee pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to bribery and gun charges two weeks after he was arrested as part of an FBI sting targeting political corruption and an alleged organized crime syndicate based in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Yee entered his pleas in federal court to one count of conspiracy to traffic in firearms without a license and illegally import firearms; one count of conspiring to defraud citizens of honest services; and six counts of engaging in a scheme to defraud citizens of honest services. The San Francisco Democrat is accused of conspiring...

The stunning arrest of veteran Democrat Leland Yee will erode, at least temporarily, Democratic dominance in the very blue Golden State. Yee, arrested after a five-year FBI sting operation, faces federal charges related to conspiracy to traffic in firearms without a license and accepting campaign funds in exchange for political favors. An LA Times headline read, “Even old hands are stunned by Yee allegations.” “If there ever has been a more nauseating corruption scandal in Sacramento, I’m not aware of it, writes one observer. “The notion of a legislator masquerading as a gun control crusader while offering to help a...

July 12, 2002 Barriers Students Faced Count In University Admission Process By DANIEL GOLDEN Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL IRVINE, Calif. -- Stanley Park felt as if the University of California, Los Angeles, had revamped its admissions criteria just for him. UCLA was looking for students who had overcome "life challenges," such as family illness, being raised by a single parent or being the first in the family to go to college. After Mr. Park's parents, Korean immigrants of modest means, divorced three years ago, he lived with his mother. When she developed breast cancer, he began tutoring...