As Black Lives Matter activism continues across the country, Los Angeles had its own march, as protestors placed police tape around LAPD headquarters and attempted to march into City Hall.
James Queally in L.A. Times reports: "Dozens of Black Lives Matter demonstrators remained on the steps of Los Angeles City Hall Tuesday night into Wednesday afternoon in protest of a fatal police shooting, and later marched on the LAPD’s headquarters, roping off the building with crime scene tape."
"The sit-in followed protests involving hundreds of people descending on a meeting of the city’s Police Commission early Tuesday morning."
"A segment of the crowd marched on City Hall after the commission ruled that an LAPD officer did not violate the department’s deadly force rules when he shot and killed 30-year-old Redel Jones last year. Jones, who was black, was killed in a South L.A. alley after officers noticed that she matched the description of a suspect in a nearby robbery. Police said she moved toward an officer with a kitchen knife before she was shot."
VW's woes with its diesel cars took center stage Wednesday, when the ARB gave a thumbs down to the company's proposed fix.
From the Chronicle's David R. Baker:"California regulators Wednesday again rejected Volkswagen’s plan to fix diesel cars that were programmed to cheat on air pollution tests, saying the proposal lacked enough detail for the state to gauge its effectiveness."
"The California Air Resources Board, which helped uncover the cheating last year, sent a letter to Volkswagen executives saying the plan’s details are “incomplete, substantially deficient, and fall far short of meeting the legal requirements” to ensure that the cars follow the state’s pollution regulations."
PG&E's manager has testified that the company has long known about regarding the safety and efficacy of its oldest pipelines, but instead of fixing the issue, the company chose to lobby for laxer oversight from the federal government.
Bob Egelko writing for The Chronicle reports: "Pacific Gas and Electric Co. knew more than 15 years ago that it lacked information about the dimensions and strength of its oldest gas pipelines, but did not order its engineers to inspect them, a PG&E manager testified Wednesday at the utility’s trial on pipeline-safety charges."
"Instead, PG&E joined other gas and electric companies in lobbying federal regulators to ease inspection requirements, said Todd Hogenson, the utility’s senior manager for pipeline engineering design."
"The lobbying succeeded when the government agreed in 2003 to allow visual examination of pipelines for signs of corrosion as an alternative to more expensive methods, such as high-pressure water testing, required for transmission lines in populated areas. The method is known as “direct assessment.”
SEE ALSO in Energy & Climate Change: L.A. County and SoCal Gas in court fight over gas leak cleanup -- Sharon McNary with KPCC.
Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer has released the bodycam footage of the officer-involved fatal shooting of Dylan Noble last month.WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO, NSFW
Matt Hamilton and Richard Winton in L.A. Times write: "The chief of the Fresno Police Department took the rare step Wednesday of publicly releasing the body-camera video footage of officers fatally shooting an unarmed 19-year-old man last month -- a shooting that has generated fierce protests amid a roiling national debate over police brutality."
"Chief Jerry Dyer said at a news conference that he decided to release the graphic videos of officers firing four gunshots into Dylan Noble, a white man, because of the intense public interest in the shooting."
"His decision is expected to heighten the debate about whether video from body-worn cameras on officers should be routinely made public, something that law enforcement agencies and police unions have strongly opposed."
SEE MORE in Public Safety: Sacramento Sheriff Scott Jones accused of unwelcome sexual advances towards deputy -- Christopher Cadelago with Sacramento Bee; Man questions events that led to brother's death by Sacramento Police -- Bill Lindelof with Sacramento Bee. The FBI investigated the Orlando mass shooter for 10 months -- and found nothing. Here's why. Del Quentin Wilber with L.A. Times.
A bill in the Legislature could give inmates the ability to vote from behind bars, much to the unhappiness of law enforcement officials.
Patrick McGreevy reports with L.A. Times: "Thousands of felons serving time in county jails would be allowed to vote in California elections from behind bars under a bill moving swiftly through the state Legislature despite widespread opposition from law enforcement officials."
"Assemblywoman Shirley Weber (D-San Diego) introduced the measure with an aim that providing convicts the right to vote will give them a better sense of belonging to society and possibly reduce their chances of committing new crimes when released."
"“Civic participation can be a critical component of re-entry and has been linked to reduced recidivism,” Weber told her colleagues during a recent heated floor debate on the bill."
An oil train derailment in Oregon raises similarities to a current situation in San Luis Obispo, where many oppose the rail spur extension of a local refinery.
Robin Abearian with L.A. Times reports: "Arlene Burns, the mayor of a teensy Oregon town on the Columbia River, was speaking into a bullhorn in a park here the other day, telling a crowd about what happened when a mile-long train loaded with crude oil derailed in Mosier last month."
"Sixteen of 96 cars toppled from the tracks. Four exploded. The area, a windsurfing mecca known for its constant high winds, was spared more explosions only because the air was unusually still that day. “If it had been a normal, windy day,” Burns said, “the explosions would have had a domino effect."
"Still, a monstrous plume of black smoke could be seen for miles."
And in education, California's UC system has again placed No. 1 on a list of universities across the country that receive U.S. patents.
Winston Cho with Daily Californian reports: "For the third consecutive year, the University of California topped the list of universities granted U.S. patents in 2015, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Academy of Inventors and the Intellectual Property Owners Association."
"The 10 UC campuses issued 520 patents in the 2015 fiscal year, 489 of which were utility patents. This number is up from the 395 total patents issued in 2013 and the 496 issued in 2014."
"UC is the world’s largest academic research system,” said Dorothy Miller, director of systemwide programs and initiatives at the University of California Office of the President. “This research innovation generates some of the world’s most significant inventions every year, from cutting-edge cancer therapies to climate change solutions to ground-breaking gene editing tools.”"
