LA County Sheriff Jim McDonnell opposes the 'sanctuary state' bill, while other politicians find themselves at odds with his position.
LA Times' CINDY CHANG/RICHARD WINTON: "Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell says he understands the struggles of immigrants trying to make a better life in America."
"His parents moved to Boston from Ireland a year before he was born. His father was a laborer whose gigs included digging ditches."
"But McDonnell now finds himself walking a political tightrope, breaking ranks with many other Los Angeles politicians by opposing a “sanctuary state” bill that aims to prevent federal immigration agents from taking custody of people being released from California jails."
READ MORE related to Immigration: Surprise findings for Santa Clara, Alameda counties regarding ICE requests to detain immigrants -- East Bay Times' ERIC KURHI; Latinos are reporting fewer sexual assaults amid a climate of fear in immigrant communities, LAPD says -- LA Times' JAMES QUEALLY; RNC chief says Trump's hard line on immigration is no obstacle to GOP gains -- LA Times' MICHAEL FINNEGAN
This week's latest storms aren't expected to burden the states aquatic infrastructure enough to do any serious damage.
Sacramento Bee's RYAN SABALOW/PHILLIP REESE: "While a nearly record-breaking rainy season has battered California’s dams and stretched the limits of local levees, the storms that began to hit Sacramento on Tuesday aren’t expected to put much additional strain on the state’s flood-control system."
"Spanning into next week, the storms are expected to drop as much as two inches of rain in Sacramento and two feet of snow in the higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada. But federal weather forecasters said Tuesday they aren’t too worried about widespread problems."
"These series of storms are definitely wet, but they’re not what we saw in January and February, by any means,” said Michelle Mead with the National Weather Service in Sacramento. “They’re more typical of our winter-into-spring storms, meaning we’re getting into that shower and thunderstorm season."
Meanwhile, the LA District Attorney is investigating a complaint about a local councilman's potential bigamy.
LA Times' DAKOTA SMITH: "The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office is reviewing a complaint filed over City Councilman Curren Price’s two marriages, a spokesman said Tuesday."
"Greg Risling, a spokesman for Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey, said investigators are reviewing the filing. He would not say who lodged the complaint or when it was filed."
"Price married Lynn Suzette Green in 1981 in Virginia. L.A. County Superior Court records show that Price’s 2011 divorce filing was never finalized."
READ MORE related to Local: Miners win $100m from Sacramento County in political influence case -- Sacramento Bee's ANDY FURILLO; Sacramento County approves broad plans to help the homeless -- Sacramento Bee's ELLEN GARRISON
Latest research shows that the LA earthquake fault believed to be at risk for catastrophic activity is much more serious than previously thought.
LA Times' RONG-GONG LIN II: "The Newport-Inglewood fault has long been considered one of Southern California’s top seismic danger zones because it runs under some of the region’s most densely populated areas, from the Westside of Los Angeles to the Orange County coast."
"But new research shows that the fault may be even more dangerous than experts had believed, capable of producing more frequent destructive temblors than previously suggested by scientists."
"A new study has uncovered evidence that major earthquakes on the fault centuries ago were so violent that they caused a section of Seal Beach near the Orange County coast to fall 1½ to 3 feet in a matter of seconds."
Gun injuries cost Americans hundreds of millions of dollars annually, a recent study shows.
LA Times' MELISSA HEALY: "Americans paid more than $6.6 billion over eight years to care for victims of gun violence, according to a new tally of hospital bills. And U.S. taxpayers picked up at least 41% of that tab."
"That’s just the tip of the iceberg, say the authors of astudy published this week in the American Journal of Public Health. Their sum does not include the initial — and very costly — bill for gunshot victims’ care in emergency rooms. Nor does it include hospital readmissions to treat complications or provide follow-up care. The cost of rehabilitation, or of ongoing disability, is not included either."
“These are big numbers, and this is the lowest bound of these costs,” said Sarabeth A. Spitzer, a Stanford University medical student who co-wrote the study. “We were surprised” at the scale, she added."
READ MORE related to Health: Trump to GOP critics of health care bill: 'I'm gonna come after you' -- WaPo's MIKE DEBONIS/KELSEY SNELL/ROBERT COSTA; An L.A. doctor races to cure deadly diseases and worries about Trump plan to cut NIH funding -- LA Times' STEVE LOPEZ; The GOP drive to repeal Obamacare threatens a quiet revolution in how US cities care for their poor -- LA Times' NOAM N. LEVEY; Sacramento's childless neighborhoods -- Sacramento Bee's PHILLIP REESE
South Korea is reporting that North Korea's most recent missile test has largely been a failure.
AP: "South Korea says the latest missile launch test by North Korea has ended in a failure."
"The reported failure Wednesday come as U.S. and South Korean troops were conducting annual military drills that the North calls an invasion rehearsal."
"Seoul's Defense Ministry says that the South Korean and U.S. militaries said the launch was not conducted in a successful way."
READ MORE related to Beltway: Schwarzenegger turns tables on Trump and ridicules approval ratings and buget cuts -- LA Times' LIBBY HILL; Labor nominee Acosta cut deal with billionaire guilty in sex abuse case -- WaPo's MARC FISHER; Colin Kaepernick donates $50,000 to Meals on Wheels -- AP; From the Internet to Trump's Twitter feed, how a phony conspiracy theory caught fire -- LA Times' MICHAEL FINNEGAN/MARK Z. BARABAK
An LA charter school network is finding itself having to defend its spending practices against critics who are blasting the network's founder for giving herself a half-million dollar income in 2013.
LA Times' ANNA M. PHiLLIPS: "A Los Angeles-based charter school network on Monday defended its spending practices — speaking out for the first time since The Times published a story documenting a history of potential conflicts of interest and questionable use of public money."
"Leading up to the publication of the story, Celerity Educational Group’s founder and former CEO Vielka McFarlane declined to speak to reporters. When The Times sent Celerity and its lawyer a list of questions about its finances, the network said it was having difficulty providing answers because many of its computers and records had been seized when federalagents raided its offices in late January."
"The nonprofit organization, which currently runs seven schools in Los Angeles County and four in Louisiana, remains the subject of a federal inquiry. It is also under investigation by the inspector general of the Los Angeles Unified School District. No one at Celerity, including McFarlane, has been charged with a crime stemming from the schools’ operations."
READ MORE related to Education: SF teachers union official on leave after sting video released -- The Chronicle's JILL TUCKER; California's schools suspensions are down, but black students still face higher suspension rates -- LA Times' JOY RESMOVITS; CSU trustees to vote on tuition hike -- AP
The recent legalization and medicalization of cannabis across the country has prompted an interested in cannabis-related work, especially in California.
LA Times' ROBIN ABCARIAN: "There were firm handshakes."
"Intense eye contact."
"And the sincere repetition of first names."
READ MORE related to Cannabis: Oakland: Council meeting on pot gets testy -- East Bay Times' DAVID DEBOLT
San Francisco Bay's latest ferry, the $15.1m 'Hydrus' has taken to open waters.
EBT's KARL MONDON: "As Al Lewis backed San Francisco Bay’s newest ferry, the Hydrus, out of Pier 9 on Monday on the San Francisco waterfront, the veteran captain was asked to compare it to older boats in the fleet."
"“Imagine a Lamborghini next to a beat-up old Bug,” he offered."
"The $15.1 million, 400-passenger Hydrus will provide a quicker 19-minute cruise between Oakland/Alameda and San Francisco."
READ MORE related to Transportation: Not my laptop! Airline passengers hit the device doldrums -- AP's BARBARA ORTUTAY
A man has been arrested after going AWOL nearly half a century ago.
AP: "Authorities say they've arrested a north Florida man who went AWOL from the U.S. Air Force 45 years ago."
"The Ocala Star-Banner (https://goo.gl/8UBRVG ) reports that 65-year-old Linley Benson Lemburg was arrested Tuesday. He had been living under an alias, William Michael Robertson, and military officials had asked the Marion County Sheriff's Office for help in locating him."
"Lemburg was initially taken to the sheriff's office headquarters, where his fingerprints were compared to prints taken when he enlisted. Military officials then took him to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa for further investigation."