Jim Greenhill/FlickrA U.S. Army National Guard soldier watches the U.S./Mexico border near Nogales, Ariz.
The number of illegal immigrants in the United States has declined for the first time in 20 years, and California's share of the undocumented population has shrunk, from 42 percent in 1990 to 23 percent in 2009, according to a study released yesterday by an independent research group.
The Pew Hispanic Center estimates there were 11.1 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. in 2009 – an 8 percent drop from a peak of 12 million in 2007 and about the same as in 2005.
The analysis suggests that fewer illegal immigrants – particularly those from the Caribbean, Central America and South America – were entering the U.S. amid increased border enforcement and the economic downturn. About 300,000 illegal immigrants entered the country each year between 2007 and 2009, compared to 850,000 annually from 2000 to 2005.
The figures are based on an analysis of census data. Researchers estimated the number of illegal immigrants largely by subtracting the estimated number of legal immigrants from the foreign-born population....
A commission that advises the University of California on its long-term goals this week recommended increasing the proportion of graduate students at the UC from 22 percent to 26 percent of the student body.
The 25-member UC Commission on the Future discussed the need for more graduate students at their Aug. 31 meeting [PDF], saying the move was necessary to serve the university's research mission and educate California's future professors.
Considering the university's tight budget, however, moving to increase graduate students would cost the university hundreds of millions of dollars to recruit the best students with competitive financial aid packages. That makes the commission's goal of increasing graduate student enrollment "purely aspirational," said Daniel Greenstein, the UC's vice provost for academic planning, programs and coordination and a member of the panel.
The recommendation was one of several discussed this week and will be included in a draft report that the commission will review during a meeting Oct. 11.
The San Francisco Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times reported that the commission also recommended the UC increase the number of out-of-state undergraduates – a move that would bring in extra revenue but also poses political...
An audit released this week that accuses a former San Fernando Valley charter school administrator of misusing roughly $2.7 million in taxpayers funds could tip the scales in favor of more transparency and accountability for all charters.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the LA Unified School District's inspector general office found that Edward Fiszer, former principal of NEW Academy Canoga Park, allegedly transferred nearly $1.1 million from the school accounts to his personal Ameritrade account.
Auditors say Fiszer ultimately lost the money speculating on unsuccessful investments in the financial market. The money transfers took place between July 1, 2007 and Sept. 30, 2009, the report stated.
Auditors also contend that Fiszer paid a former teacher $129,450 to be a grant writer, although the school already had a company on contract for grant-writing services. It turns out the former teacher was married to Fiszer, although auditors couldn't pinpoint when.
The audit also questioned $62,247 paid to a company called Burgundy Bunny. Auditors were unable to confirm the business even existed.
The report concluded that the problems were made possible because of a total lack of oversight by the school's board members. Fiszer could not be reached for comment and apparently has left the state, according to the Times...
Tuesday at midnight marked the rancorous end to yet another legislative session here in California. And like many sine dies before, it was filled with hours of last-minute wrangling to cram through as much unfinished business as possible.
By our count, 98 bills were passed and sent to enrollment Tuesday. In the interest of transparency, we pulled together a list (based on the state's raw daily data updates) and did a little digging to flesh out what each of those bills were for, which lawmakers carried them, and any special interest sponsors they may have had.
Enjoy. And if you see anything interesting or something we missed, drop us a line...
Meg Whitman has finally given a specific example of jobs she would go after should she become governor: 150 jobs in the California Department of Education.
"The Legislative Analyst's Office found that the Department of Education has 150 staffers working on programs it no longer administers," she declared at the top of a recent radio ad.
For months, Whitman has indicated that a major way she intends to reduce California's budget deficit is by eliminating 40,000 jobs for a savings of $3.3 billion. But she has been reluctant to give specific numbers as to where exactly those jobs would come, and how she would even come close to reaching her target of 40,000.
In the radio ad, she linked the 150 jobs to a broader attack on waste fraud and abuse in state government, implying that there might even be something criminal about these jobs. If elected governor, she said she would impanel a grand jury to go after the wrongdoers.
"If you are caught robbing the taxpayer, you will go to jail," she warned....
Charlie Nguyen/Flickr
As the Bay Citizen noted, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom was “conspicuously absent” from the City Hall steps last month when a cheering crowd gathered to celebrate the landmark ruling overturning Prop. 8. Newsom’s early and defiant support of same-sex marriage – in 2004, without legal authority, he began issuing marriage licenses to gay couples – was the signature move of his mayoralty.
It won him abiding, deeply loyal support from gay voters, and that support bulletproofed him from the consequences of later missteps and excesses that otherwise might have ended his career.
But Newsom is running for lieutenant governor now, locked in a tight race with the appointed Republican incumbent Abel Maldonado. Perhaps, in that context, a video photo-op that would remind voters of Newsom’s support for a controversial measure may not make political sense. At any rate, the mayor had a scheduling conflict during the Prop. 8 rally. It’s going to be a tough campaign.
Just how tough is suggested by the remarkable eight-minute web video cobbled together by Maldonado’s campaign, mostly from San Francisco news footage. It’s got an edge to it...
KQEDReport says high-speed rail would create jobs and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Scientists say a California high-speed rail system will not only get you from San Francisco to Los Angeles in less than three hours, but will create thousands of jobs and eliminate millions of pounds of carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere.
At least that’s what they're saying in a new report released by the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Irvine.
The transportation researchers estimate the train will require one-fifth the total energy, per passenger, of a typical single-occupancy car – and one-tenth the energy of a commercial airplane.
The high-speed rail plan also calls for 100 percent renewable energy for the rail network, which would virtually eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from the system.
Together, the researchers forecast a carbon dioxide emissions reduction of nearly a half-billion pounds by the year 2035.
But that’s not all, say the authors of the report.
The network will create more than 320,000 permanent jobs statewide as a result of the economic development associated with the...
Tony Alter/Flickr
Californians are increasingly overweight, obese and diabetic, a study by UCLA researchers found. The epidemics are worsening throughout the state and disproportionately affect ethnic minorities, the poor and the least educated.
More than half of the adults in the state – 15.3 million – are overweight or obese, and more than 2 million are diabetic, according to the report released yesterday by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
In 2001, 19.3 percent of California adults were obese and 6.2 percent were diabetic. By 2007, 22.7 percent were obese and 7.8 were diabetic, the study found.
American Indians, blacks and Latinos have the highest rates of obesity and diabetes, but the rates have increased significantly among whites and Asians as well.
UCLA Center for Health Policy Research
Lower income and less educated Californians have higher rates of obesity and diabetes, the report said. Nearly 28 percent of adults living below the poverty line are obese, compared to about 20 percent of those with higher incomes. Adults without high school education were twice as likely to be obese and...
Sitting members of the California Legislature have raised more than $380,000 during the last five days, as lobbyists and special interest groups scramble to push their bills through the Assembly and Senate before this year's legislative session draws to a close.
Before we dig in deeper later this week, we thought we'd show you how things are stacking up.
The Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association, which is pushing a slate of bills related to mobile homes and property taxes, has contributed the most, giving $22,700 to nine different lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
The Consumer Attorneys of California, which backed legislation that would streamline jury trials as well as several other bills, gave more than $14,000.
Groups representing telecommunications, insurance companies, doctors and pharmaceutical companies round out the top of the list, which you can see here as a Google spreadsheet. The biggest donors are listed below...
On the first day of preschool in Richmond, students received crayons, writing paper and tracking microchips embedded into jersey tops.
As reported by KTVU, preschoolers in Contra Costa county have been outfitted with these monitoring devices, which transmits a signal to sensors installed throughout their buildings.
momentimedia/Flickr
Officials told the news station that the devices would help administrators secure the child's whereabouts at all times. Parents will also digitally sign the child in and out of school, thereby eliminating the need for attendance records filed by hand.
“Now, when we feed the children lunch, we just have to push a button and it’s done,” said teacher Simone Beauford. “We don't have to check the papers, check the papers, check the papers.”
Tracking microchips have become popular in recent years as the technology of choice for pet owners, prison guards and cattle wranglers. But the rapid social acceptance of such technology troubles some civil rights and privacy advocates.
In 2007, California became one of the first states to ban forced implantation of microchips under a person's skin. Yet a year later, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed Senate Bill 29 that would have outright banned...
Five out of nine members of a scientific panel that advises the state on toxic chemicals have been fired in recent weeks, following disputes with the chemical industry and a conservative group that targets environmental laws.
"It's been gutted," said Paul Blanc, a professor of occupational medicine at UC San Francisco and one of the panel's four remaining members.
While the Scientific Review Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants is not well known outside of regulatory circles, its work carries clout in state environmental policy. Since its inception in 1983, the panel has evaluated more than 300 chemicals – everything from pesticides to secondhand smoke – and advised the state on how these chemicals should be regulated.
Among the dismissed members is panel chairman John Froines, who also heads the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at UCLA's School of Public Health. Froines has served on the panel since it was founded and has been its chairman since 1998. Froines says he learned of his dismissal July 22 in a two-sentence letter from Assembly Speaker John A. Perez, D-Los Angeles.
Panel members, including Froines, have come under fire over the years when their designation of certain substances as toxic came at a cost to industry...
Flickr photo by Valentin Ottone
Although tobacco use among teens has dropped over the past decade, the trend has slowed in recent years, suggesting a greater need for tobacco prevention efforts, a U.S. government study has found.
In 2009, 8.2 percent of middle school students and 23.9 percent of high school students reported using any tobacco products, according to an analysis of a national tobacco survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Cigarettes were the most common tobacco product used, followed by cigars, smokeless tobacco and pipes. Boys were more likely than girls to use tobacco of any kind.
In middle school, Latinos reported the highest rates of tobacco use (11.1 percent), followed by blacks (8.3 percent), whites (7.1 percent) and Asians (3.6 percent). In high school, tobacco use was highest among whites (26.7 percent), followed by Latinos (24.8 percent), blacks (14 percent) and Asians (13.1 percent).
Tobacco use is generally lower among California teens than American teens overall. In 2008, 14.6 percent of California high school students and 6 percent of middle school students reported smoking, according to the state Department of Public Health...
Fifty years ago, guards fired shotguns loaded with sawed-off broom handles to control threatening inmates.
Then came wooden and rubber bullets as a means to keep inmates under control without killing those on the receiving end. Stun guns emerged from another evolutionary line, with the Taser most popular among police officers and jailers.
Law enforcement has classified these methods as “less-than-lethal.” Critics, including a number of medical examiners, have argued the label is inaccurate.
A little more than a week ago, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department created the latest flash point in the long-running argument over these weapons with a relatively new piece of technology: literally, a ray gun.
As the LASD said in its press release:
The device, dubbed the Assault Intervention Device (AID), transmits a focused, invisible millimeter wave at the suspect which causes an intolerable heating sensation. The suspect can simply move away from the beam to stop the sensation. The beam is directed toward its target by a deputy using a standard joystick and computer monitor.
The idea is to allow deputies to break up an inmate melee without putting themselves at physical risk. The ray gun deployment is part of a six-month test at the Pitchess Detention Center's North County Correctional Facility...
Marijuana seizures in California could eclipse last year’s record haul of seven million pot plants, according to law enforcement officials and local reports from ongoing eradication operations.
With the major fall pot harvest fast approaching, law enforcement agencies are reporting busts of unprecedented size, especially at large-scale grow sites in remote locations.
Earlier this month a senior federal drug official speculated that 2010 seizures could top eight million plants if agents continue to uncover massive outdoor operations through the end of the growing season.
The Shasta County Sheriff’s office reported it destroyed some 300,000 plants in the first three weeks of July. That’s about half the total amount of pot seized in the county in 2009, according to figures from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency's Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program.
Also last month, federal authorities said more than 465,000 marijuana plants were destroyed as part of Operation Trident, a multi-agency task force targeting illegal growers in Madera, Fresno and Tulare county. The three-county total for all of 2009 was 734,000 plants.
Meanwhile, Mendocino Sheriff Tom Allman predicts pot seizures in his county could surpass one million plants this year, nearly double the 2009 figure. “It’s hard to...
UPDATE: Sarah Palin's speech contract was released last night. The document shows that Palin requested $75,000 for a 30-minute speech and private jet travel, among other demands. A copy of the contract is below...
goa_entranced/FlickrA turtle eats a piece of a plastic bag.
Just as the state Legislature ends its 2010 session with a flurry of major bills, lawmakers are being bombarded with a TV ad campaign mocking them for a proposed ban on plastic bags in grocery stores.
"California is in trouble … 2.3 million unemployed … $19 million deficit … What are some Sacramento politicians focused on?" the announcer asks.
"Grocery bags."
The ad is part of a last-minute campaign commissioned by the American Chemistry Council, a group that represents the interests of chemical companies, including 80 percent of companies around the country that produce plastic bags. Five manufacturing companies in California make up the list.
Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica, who authored the bill, recently told KABC News about the campaign: "I've never witnessed this kind of opposition to a bill."
The bill would prohibit grocery stores from providing single-use plastic bags and would allow stores to charge 5 cents per bag – or higher – for paper bags if consumers do not bring in their own reusable bags.
The American Chemistry Council's ad campaign has been airing only in Sacramento...
Like many good stories, this one starts with a simple question and ends with a lesson.
First, rewind to last December. We knew GOP Senate nominee Carly Fiorina had at one point chaired an external advisory board charged with giving advice to the CIA (she's said as much on the stump). So naturally, we wanted to figure out a couple things: How often did she show up, and what did she do once she got there?
It sounded easy enough, so we fired off a FOIA request to CIA headquarters asking for attendance records and meeting minutes. Pretty standard stuff.
Remember: This was nine months and one hard-fought primary election ago. So imagine our delight earlier this week when a parcel arrived at the office, emblazoned with the CIA seal and filled with what appeared to be actual documents. Not a rejection letter, not a status update, but real, actual documents. From the CIA. They didn't even charge us for copies! Talk about luck! This was government transparency at its best.
By now, you know where this is headed.
They gave us documents, all right. About 30 pages of them. Problem was, most of them looked like this:
Yes, that's a blank sheet of paper. Or, more accurately, it's a sheet of paper that has been redacted from top to bottom. We think it's from some meeting minutes, but the only evidence of that comes from another page that lists two agenda items: "Opening remarks" and "Concluding remarks." The rest, of course, is also redacted...
CPCA
Scores of medical providers that rely on the Medi-Cal program for funding are now getting "value of claims" statements in lieu of payments.
The Medi-Cal agency ran out of funding for providers that typically see $300 million per month from the state, said Anthony Cava, a spokesman with the Department of Health Care Services, which runs Medi-Cal.
He said about $188 million of that typically goes to health clinics.
Carmela Castellano-Garcia runs California Primary Care Association, a nonprofit that represents about 800 of the state's health centers and clinics that serve about 4 million patients, mostly uninsured. She said the facilities tend to get half to 80 percent of their funding from the program for low-income residents.
Castellano-Garcia, president of the association, said funding cuts instituted last year and this year’s dire budget situation have left some clinics on the brink of closing their doors. Short of that, she said the budget shakiness leads to health worker layoffs and limits to services.
“We’re in cash-strapped and precarious circumstances to lose 50 to 80 percent of our revenue – that’s a devastating blow to the health care safety net,” Castellano-Garcia said.
Staff from the group walked the halls of the Capitol last week, handing out "You owe Us" statements to...
In a March interview with San Francisco columnist Debra J. Saunders, Meg Whitman said she would probably start eBay in Texas if she had the chance now. And tech blog ReadWriteWeb maintains an ongoing "Never Mind the Valley" series about "communities outside the Silicon Valley that have become thriving centers for entrepreneurship."
But when you crunch the numbers, California hasn't lost its startup luster just yet.
Mike Dierken/Flickr
According to an analysis by Pete Warden, the state is still home to a significant chunk of the zip codes where startups are located. In response to venture capitalist Brad Feld's musing about the "entrepreneurial density" of Boulder, Colo., Warden collected data from the CrunchBase website and the U.S. Census Bureau to take a stab at actually measuring the problem.
CrunchBase is a "free directory of technology companies, people and investors that anyone can edit," according to its website. Taking this directory and using Census data, Warden looked at "the total number of companies in a location, and how much venture money they'd raised between them," and...
Bluewater Productions
Political biographies of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have never really attained liftoff. Perhaps the best of them was Laurence Leamer’s 2005 ”Fantastic: The Life of Arnold Schwarzenegger” – “a tale of relentless self-promotion,” as Publishers Weekly said. But the governor’s own autobiography, “Education of a Bodybuilder” – written when the recall of Gray Davis was far in the unanticipated future – sold a lot more books.
Perhaps 100,000 words between hard covers isn’t the proper format for the story of this larger-than-life, if presently politically unpopular, figure. That’s the thinking over at Bluewater Productions, which just published the “engaging story” of the governor’s life as a $3.99 comic book.
“Arnold Schwarzenegger is the governor of the most populated state in the country,” said publisher Darren Davis in a news release. “He is undeniably an important man. He was also the most sought-after action movie star in more than a decade.
“Arnold Schwarzenegger certainly deserves his own comic.”...
