California News: February 09

 

H&R Block Inc. to pay a $4.85 million; Attorney General of California sued Block in 2006, alleging the company used deceptive advertising to disguise refund-anticipation loans calling them early tax refunds and had unfair debt-collection practices in garnishing refund proceeds.  Settlement give $2.45 million in restitution to consumers taking loans between Jan. 1, 2001, and Dec. 31, 2008.  H&R Block denies wrongdoing.  Settlement limited to three years, with  $500,000 in penalties and $1.9 million in fees.

A bruising recession and stalemate in Sacramento have CA with a $42 billion budget shortfall.  The country’s biggest state won’t have cash to pay highway maintenance, fund schools and critical services. Residents expecting a state tax refund might get an IOU.  Thirty-seven other states also face budget shortfalls.

A man arrested at LA International Airport with a truck full of guns and nearly 1,000 rounds of ammunition said he is a law-abiding weapons enthusiast with no idea he broke the law, stating he will be exonerated. The Orange Country resident said he went to LAX to pick up a friend from Baltimore and that they intended to go target shooting at an outdoor range in San Bernardino County.

An Amtrak train carrying 400 passengers bound for San Diego struck and killed a woman walking inside a railroad tunnel by Chatsworth.  No train passengers were injured, but held on board for two hours pending completion of an investigation.  The woman was killed instantly.  She had been hiking and was walking with her husband and two sisters, who squeezed against the tunnel wall to avoid being hit.

CA’s ethics watchdog agency enacted rules prohibiting politicians, including the governor from using certain political accounts as slush funds to self-promote.   Funds raised by politicians for ballot-measures must be spent on specific propositions said the Fair Political Practices Commission.  Rules followed complaints that a governor-controlled committee called California Dream Team, spent $2.4 million last year to support a redistricting measure, and $2 million to cover expenses that some say benefited the governor and his other causes.

California law bans sale of toys and children’s products containing phthalates.  Goods cannot contain more than 0.1 percent of phthalates, a colorless, oily chemical used in thousands of consumer products to impart flexibility and durability.  The law authorized in 2007, sets the strictest standard nationwide for phthalates in consumer products.  In November, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a legal opinion that a federal ban on children’s products, which sets the same limits on phthalate levels as the state, applies to goods manufactured on or after Feb. 10, the date the federal law takes effect.

A man with a 2- to 3-foot-long sword was shot and killed by a Modesto policeman answering a call about a suspicious man carrying what appeared to be a sword or a large knife in front of the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Modesto.  The officer, was placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation.

University of California regents voted to trim freshman enrollment for next fall by 2,300 students (6%) as state funding worsens.  Six of UC’s nine undergraduate campuses will see significant cuts in enrollment. Irvine and UC San Diego are hit the hardest as their enrollment numbers are the highest.

CA Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger broke from tradition in his State of the State address vowing not to advance policy agenda this year other than to resolve the state’s fiscal crisis.  The governor said partisan beliefs rather than interests of Californians were at play in the stalemate.  The annual speech usually  lays out the governors list of accomplishments from the preceding year and their grand aspirations for the new one.   His remarks lasted less than 10 minutes.

A state panel urged legislators to change Jessica’s Law saying its restrictions on where sex offenders can live is a poor use of taxpayers’ money.  Residency restrictions, passed two years ago in Proposition 83, have not been shown to prevent new crimes and may reduce public safety, the panel says.  State corrections officials say that the number of homeless sex offenders on parole is 12 times larger now than it was when the law was originally passed.

CA highest court is the battleground in the debate over benefits for illegal immigrants and will hear arguments on the constitutionality of a state law allowing undocumented students to pay in-state tuition at public colleges and Universities.  The decision affects hundreds of illegal immigrant students attending community colleges, Cal State and UC campuses who say they can’t  afford higher education if required to pay out-of-state tuition.  At least nine other states, including Oklahoma, New York and Texas have similar laws providing reduced fees to illegal immigrants.  The CA court decision might not be legally binding in other states, but national politicians are looking at California for future legal challenges.

Church of Scientology critics accuse Riverside County of kowtowing to the religion and infringing on free speech by passing an ordinance limiting protest  outside the church complex.  Last year, demonstrators who believe Scientology is an abusive cult picketed Golden Era Productions, the church’s main center for the production and dissemination of videos and tapes.  The campus is home to 500 church employees who are often forced to wear masks out of fear.  They also encountered 56 bomb threats and 30 death threats last year.

Rebellious congregations who are parting with their original denominations could lose their church buildings and property, according to CA Supreme Court.  The recent case involved the Episcopal Church, but applies to other denominations such as the United Methodist and Presbyterian organizations, who also face upheaval over gay rights issues.  The ruling follows a decision by 700 conservative Episcopal congregations wanting to form a separate church in North America.

The East LA community sparked the Mexican American civil rights movement.  But  the community has never been an official  city.  So County officials announced they received enough signatures for the city process to formally begin.  Residents cast ballots in 2010 and are set to go door to door to raise $100,000 to pay for the study.

CA Governor’s administration plans to close many state offices on the first and third Friday of each month starting on Feb. 6, 2009 to save money on employee salaries.  The DMV is among the agencies affected; prisons, hospitals and veterans’ homes will not close, but will cut employee hours and issue furloughs so operations continue.  Spokes- man for Service Employees International Union Local 1000, Jim Zamora, said many agencies are already short-staffed and forcing employees to work overtime, citing the state unemployment insurance offices, where there aren’t enough people to answer phones.

Two City of Angels Medical Center, hospital executives are charged with  paying homeless people for having unnecessary medical treatment in a scheme to get millions of dollars from government health programs. Robert Bourseau and Dante Nicholson have been charged with the crime and are set to go to federal court in March. Among the charges are that the two men committed healthcare fraud by taking illegal kickbacks as part of a scheme to defraud Medicare and Medi-Cal according to assistant U.S. Attorney Vince Farhat. The homeless with Medicare or Medi-CAL cards were solicited from skid row.