In a surprise move yesterday, Assemblyman Mike Gatto’s (D-Los Angeles) stalled bill to allow for collection of DNA from accused felons has been revived. From Melanie Mason, LAT:
“Gatto's bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations committee last month, but has been granted a quick reprieve. The proposal will be amended into another bill, still to be determined, that's awaiting action in the Senate.
“Gatto's office attributed the bill's previous stumble to ‘a misunderstanding about [its] intent’ and said the new language would ‘clarify the objective’ of the proposal.”
Mervin Field, the polling pioneer behind the Field Poll, has died at 94. Dan Walters and David Siders have the story at the Sacramento Bee:
“Field once said he was ‘infected’ with polling when, as a New Jersey high school student in 1937, he was introduced to polling pioneer George Gallup.
“’The Gallup Poll was then in a loft over the five-and-ten,’ Field recalled in a 1996 Sacramento Bee interview. ‘It was just a big loft and here were these questionnaires and these card-counting sorters, and I was just fascinated by the whole method. I can remember quite vividly. … The whole idea that you can sample a microscopically small portion of the universe, and if you do it systematically, you can project the whole universe!’”
California’s Judicial Counsel voted Monday to end the practice of requiring people to pay a traffic fine before being allowed to challenge the ticket. Maura Dolan, Los Angeles Times:
“The emergency action by judicial policymakers comes as legislators in Sacramento prepare to vote on a proposal to slash the cost of delinquent fines, provide payment plans and reinstate driver's licenses that have been suspended for nonpayment and failure to appear in court.
“Nearly 5 million Californians since 2006 have had their licenses suspended for unpaid tickets, which have soared in cost because the state has attached a variety of fees to pay for various programs. On Monday, the Judicial Council adopted a new rule ending what has been called ‘a pay-to-play system’…”
The Supreme Court rejected an appeal by San Francisco gun owners challenging a local law requiring that guns have trigger locks and be stored in gun safes. Dan Brekke has the story for KQED:
“The court majority declined to hear an appeal, led by the National Rifle Association, of lower court rulings that found the 2007 law does not seriously affect gun owners’ ability to defend themselves…
“The majority’s position announced Monday drew a dissent… from Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by fellow conservative Antonin Scalia.”
Well, here’s a problem that would never happen to us:
“A Woburn man stopped by Transit police for evading a fare had almost $7,000 on him when he tried scoring the free ride, police said.
“Cops say they spotted Timothy Chapman, 35, attempting to ‘piggy-back’ behind another paying straphanger to avoid the fee at the Back Bay station around 2:20 p.m., yesterday.
“After stopping him to issue a citation, police said they found there was a warrant for his arrest out of Concord District Court for motor vehicle violations and took him into custody.
“But when they took Chapman to police headquarters to book him, police said they found nearly $7,000 on him…”
Some people….