As recreational cannabis legalization looms on the horizon for California, many are calling for stricter oversight on the substance's cultivation and distribution.
Sacramento Bee's Peter Hecht writes: "California will need extensive regulatory oversight for cultivation, distribution and sales for pot intended for both social and medical use if voters approve recreational use of marijuana this year, according to a leading public policy group."
"A 32-page report, released Wednesday evening by the Public Policy Institute of California, said the state will need to create “robust licensing and tracking systems” for all legal marijuana production and sales, similar to measures that have been enacted in Washington and Colorado."
"Both of those states, which legalized recreational marijuana use in 2012, implemented “seed-to-sales” technology to track supply from pot producers to retail dispensaries selling cannabis products to both recreational and medical users."
It turns out Alameda County -- despite a high number of fatal officer-involved shootings -- has the least amount of investigations involving use-of-force cases.
Dan Lawton reports with EBT: "Hernan Jaramillo, Roy Nelson, James Greer, Kayla Moore, Mark Bennett and Martin Harrison all have tragedy in common: Each died since 2010 during scuffles with police in Alameda County."
"But unlike similar incidents elsewhere in the Bay Area, none of the deaths was independently investigated by the district attorney. Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley does not automatically probe use-of-force deaths unless the decedent was shot by police."
"Told by this news organization that her policy is at odds with peers, O'Malley expressed surprise and said she would consider a change. Currently, she said, her office simply follows an officer-involved shooting protocol agreed to by the county chiefs of police."
Meanwhile, it seems that organized abor will not be backing business-friendly Democrats in the coming election.
LAT's John Myers reports: "One of the state's most influential labor organizations has sent a not-so-subtle message to some of the Democrats often seen as aligned with business interests: We're not backing your reelection."
"The California Labor Federation announced a full slate of legislative and congressional endorsments on Wednesday afternoon. And what stands out are the non-endorsements of some legislators who identify as being members of the informal legislative Moderate Caucus."
"Five of those Assembly members were not endorsed by the labor group: Adam Gray of Merced; Rudy Salas Jr. of Bakersfield; Matt Dababneh of Encino; Cheryl Brown of San Bernardino; and Tom Daly of Anaheim."
Speaking of politics, the latest Field Poll shows billionaire business mogul Donal Trump leading among the GOP contenders in the California presidential primary.
From David Siders in the Bee: "Buoyed by the support of many of the same Republicans who voted for Arnold Schwarzenegger for governor in 2003, Donald Trump leads his challengers in California two months before the state’s presidential primary, according to a new Field Poll."
"Yet support for Trump varies widely across the state, suggesting Ted Cruz – and perhaps John Kasich – could dilute a strong overall showing by the GOP frontrunner, dividing the state’s massive delegate haul."
"The poll, released Thursday, comes two days after Trump’s loss to Cruz in the Wisconsin primary, amid intensified efforts from within the Republican Party to block Trump’s nomination. For the first time in decades, California’s late-arriving primary, on June 7, is expected to be critical."
The health and safety of fashion models has been an international concern for policymakers -- a concern that may give weight to a new bill which would force accountability for modeling agencies, protecting models by giving them more employee rights.
From the Bee's Jeremy B. White: "Fashion models accused their industry of rampant sexism and making demands to stay dangerously thin as they advocated on Wednesday for a California bill that would give models more employee rights."
"The health of fashion models has become an international issue for policymakers. A new French law prohibits models from working if their body mass index falls below a certain level and authorizes penalties for violators in fashion houses and modeling agencies."
"In a similar vein, Assembly Bill 2539 would impose licensing requirements on modeling agencies to bring them under the jurisdiction of the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board. Regulators would then have to establish workplace health standards that include treating and preventing eating disorders."
A corruption probe in Los Angeles finds ex-Undersheriff Paul Tanaka guilty of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice after he tried to interfere with an FBI investigation involving county jails.
AP's Brian Melley reports: "The former second-in-command of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department was convicted Wednesday in a corruption probe that also brought down his boss and several underlings who tried to thwart a federal investigation into abuses in the nation's largest jail system."
"Ex-Undersheriff Paul Tanaka was found guilty by a federal jury of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice."
"Tanaka helped orchestrate efforts to hide an inmate when they discovered he was an FBI informant, prosecutors said. Underlings were ordered to intimidate an FBI agent in the case by threatening to have her arrested."
The Aliso Canyon/Porter Ranch pipeline will resume injecting natural gas into its storage as soon as late summer -- the first time since last year's leak caused one of California's worst pollution spills ever.
From the LAT's Alice Walton and Paige St. John: "Southern California Gas Co. says it intends to resume injecting natural gas in its shuttered Aliso Canyon storage field as soon as late summer, using a small number of high-production wells."
"Under the timetable disclosed in an interview Wednesday, the company said it intended to meet state requirements for preliminary testing on all 115 wells at the storage facility. However, it intends to resume injections of high-pressure gas into some wells that will have undergone a full range of testing for risks of failure."
"The strategy would allow the utility to resume operations sooner than if all wells had to be fully tested before any were placed back into production."
And from our "What's in a Name?" file comes the tale of the Antonin Scalia law school.
"George Mason University was forced to change the name of its law school twice in the last week after the acronym for the school set social media afire."
"The Arlington, Va. school immediately found out they had a problem with the newly named Antonin Scalia School of Law when it was pointed out the acronym for the school would be either ASSOL or ASSLAW."
"The first name change occurred when the college received $30 million in donations. When National Public Radio's Nina Totenberg tweeted the renaming, the school officially confirmed it on March 31 and soon regretted they did."
"Students and others were quick to either make fun of the name or criticize the university for not vetting the name more carefully."