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Transgender Teacher to Return to California Classroom as ‘True Self’

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Photo Credit: Kellie ParkerParents of students at a California high school are reacting to news that a long-time male high school science teacher is going to return after spring break as a woman.

The teacher, Gary Sconce, informed the Yosemite School District that he will be back in the classroom April 22 as his “true self,” a woman by the name of Karen Adell Scot, KFSN-TV reported Thursday.

“When you aren’t who you really are, it’s like being smothered. It’s like being rolled in a wave, if you’ve ever been rolled in a wave in the ocean where you can’t find your way up, you don’t know which direction you’ve been turned,” Scot told the station.

The 56-year-old husband, father and award-winning teacher came out to his family last April. Since then he has been undergoing hormone replacement therapy to transition to the person he says he is intended to be. He has been a teacher for 24 years

School district Superintendent James Sargent announced that Sconce was “in the midst of gender transition” in a March 19 letter to the parents of all 650 students at Yosemite High, the Fresno Bee reported.

Read more from this story HERE.

First of its Kind California ‘Erase’ Law Allows Minors to Delete Social Media Posts

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Photo Credit: REUTERSThe Mean Girl tweets, the Spring Break selfie that probably tanked a summer internship or Ivy League application … . California is now requiring social media companies to give young users the opportunity to deletes such Internet postings.

The first-in-the-country law is being hailed as good step — especially in the absence of a federal law — toward giving under-18 Internet users a chance to remove regrettable postings and preserve their reputation.

“This puts privacy in the hands of kids, teenagers and the parents, not under the control of an anonymous tech company,” James Steyer, founder and chief executive of Common Sense Media, told FoxNews.com.

However, not everybody agrees, arguing Facebook, Twitter and other big, social media sites already allow users of all ages to remove posts. They also argue the law could become burdensome for companies because they would have to figure out who lives in California.

Steyer, whose San Francisco-based group advocates for safe and responsible online use, said critics make a “reasonable point” on that issue. But California had to act in hopes a dysfunctional Washington will take notice and pass a federal law to solve the potential problem of a patchwork of state statues, he said.

Read more this story HERE.

California College Student Teaches School $50,000 Lesson on Constitution (+video)

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsA California college student who was blocked last year from handing out copies of the Constitution gave his school a lesson in civics and the law, winning a $50,000 settlement and an agreement to revise its speech codes.

Robert Van Tuinen, 26, settled with Modesto Junior College just five months after his run-in with school officials on Sept. 17 – National Constitution Day. Van Tuinen said he’s more excited about getting the school to revise its speech codes, which previously confined the First Amendment to a small area students had to sign up to use.

“They were maintaining an unconstitutional speech code, and now any of my fellow students can go out and exercise their right to free speech,” Van Tuinen, an Army veteran who grew up in Modesto and now studies photography, told FoxNews.com.

Back in September, FoxNews.com aired the video Van Tuinen took of his confrontation with school officials.

In the video, Van Tuinen is confronted by an unidentified campus police officer within minutes of passing out the pamphlets. When he protests, he is told “there are rules.”

Read more this story HERE.

Drought Leaves California Farmers Choosing Which Crops Get Water and Which Wither

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Photo Credit: GETTY IMAGESA federal agency’s recent announcement that the California’s Central Valley will get zero percent water allocation this year was devastating for farmers already dealing with the worst drought seen in decades.

One of the world’s most productive agricultural regions, the enormous valley is reeling after the driest year in more than a century. But last week, the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation, which supplies water to a third of the irrigated farmland in California through a 500-mile network of canals and tunnel, said it won’t be able to deliver any of the water sought by farmers.

“It goes beyond devastation, you’re going to see farms that have been in business 30 and 40 years, they do not have any water, they are out of business,” said Dennis Falaschi, general manager of the Panoche Water District.

The drought, combined with continued protections for endangered species, has forced farmers to find alternatives. Most farmers have already switched to drip irrigation, which is much more efficient than the flood irrigation technique used when water was plentiful. But it still may not be enough, as farmers are now choosing which crops to water – and which to let wither.

“This farm’s been here for over 90 years and we recognize that Mother Nature throws a drought occasionally and so we made the decision not to plant more than a third of this farm,” says Mike Stearns, a Central Valley Farmer.

Read more this story HERE.

Conservative Hollywood Activist to Challenge GOP Rep. Paul Cook

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Photo Credit: Newsmax With some Republican House members under fire from tea party-backed insurgents, one of the more intriguing primary contests is between freshman Rep. Paul Cook of California and Rodney Lee Conover, a writer and longtime conservative activist in the entertainment community.

Cook was elected in California’s Eighth Congressional District in 2012 with the backing of outgoing Republican Rep. Jerry Lewis. A former state assemblyman, Cook has generally voted a conservative line. His district encompasses much of California’s Inland Empire, the area east of Los Angeles that has been a Republican stronghold despite California’s trending blue.

By voting for the continuing House resolution that funded Obamacare, Cook, 70, opened himself up to dissatisfaction from the right and a challenge in the June primary.

“Along with the funding of Obamacare and voting to cut military pensions, the congressman also opposed [California Republican] Rep. Tom McClintock’s bill to rein in the excesses of the National Security Agency,” Conover, 54, told Newsmax.

“These are critical issues, and he’s on the wrong side of all of them,” Conover said.

Read more this story HERE.

California Farmers Won’t Get Federal Water; Threatens ‘Food Basket of America’

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Photo Credit: REUTERS/Robert GalbraithWithout a lot more rain and snow, many California farmers caught in the state’s drought can expect to receive no irrigation water this year from a vast system of rivers, canals and reservoirs interlacing the state, federal officials announced Friday.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released its first outlook of the year, saying that the agency will continue to monitor rain and snow fall, but the grim levels so far prove that the state is in the throes of one of its driest periods in recorded history.

Farmers who rely on the federally run Central Valley Project received only 20 percent of their normal water allotment last year and were expecting this year’s bad news. Some communities and endangered wildlife that rely on the federal water source will also suffer deep cuts.

The state’s snowpack is at 29 percent of average for this time of year, which means that for farmers it’s going to be a hard year.

Read more this story HERE.

Plan To Split California Into Six States Gets OK To Gather Signatures

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Photo Credit: Six CaliforniasSupporters of a plan to divide California into six states can begin collecting signatures to get the proposal on the ballot.

Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced that the proposed ballot initiative – known as Six Californias – could move forward Tuesday.

Under the plan, from venture capitalist Tim Draper, most of the Bay Area would be considered “Silicon Valley.” Napa, Sonoma and Marin Counties would become part of “North California.”

Read more this story HERE.

California Bill Seeks to Extend Subsidized Health Care to Illegal Immigrants

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Photo Credit: REUTERS/Lucy NicholsonA California Democrat is looking to extend taxpayer-funded health-care benefits to illegal immigrants.

State Sen. Ricardo Lara of Long Beach introduced legislation late last week that would extend health-care coverage to all Californians “irrespective of immigration status.”

“The purpose of the Health For All Act is simple — provide health care coverage to California’s remaining uninsured by expanding Medi-Cal and creating a new health exchange where the undocumented can purchase coverage,” Lara said in a statement.

Read more this story HERE.

After Calling for Shared Sacrifice During CA Trip to Survey Drought, Obama Plays Water-Guzzling Desert Golf Courses

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Photo Credit: Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty ImagesPresident Barack Obama traveled to California on Friday to highlight the state’s drought emergency at two events near Fresno, calling for shared sacrifice to help manage the state’s worst water shortage in decades. He then spent the rest of the weekend enjoying the hospitality of some of the state’s top water hogs: desert golf courses.

Vacationing with DVDs of his favorite television shows and multiple golf outings with his buddies, the duffer in chief played at two of the most exclusive courses in the Palm Springs area. On Saturday, Obama played at the Sunnylands estate, built by the late billionaire Walter Annenberg, which features a nine-hole course that is played like 18 holes. The following day he golfed at billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison’s 19-hole Porcupine Creek. On Presidents’ Day, Obama hit the links at Sunnylands once again.

The 124 golf courses in the Coachella Valley consume roughly 17% of all water there, and one-quarter of the water pumped out of the region’s at-risk groundwater aquifer, according to the Coachella Valley Water District. Statewide, roughly 1% of water goes to keep golf courses green. Each of the 124 Coachella Valley courses, on average, uses nearly 1 million gallons (3.8 million L) a day because of the hot and dry climate, three to four times more water per day than the average American golf course.

Of course, golf is a vital industry to the tourist paradise with streets named for Presidents and Hollywood stars, but the two courses Obama selected are among the most exclusive, seeing far fewer rounds per year than nearby courses. Sunnylands, owned by a trust, is not open to the public. Ellison’s course hosts charity events, but is also closed to the general public. Ellison himself has said he doesn’t golf.

Read more this story HERE.

Court Overturns Concealed-Carry Rule in Blow to California Gun Law

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Photo Credit: ReutersBy Dan Whitcomb.

A federal appeals court on Thursday struck down a requirement by San Diego County that residents show “good cause” to carry a concealed firearm, a ruling that could force local governments across California to revisit the way they license handguns.

A three-member panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, acting on a 2009 lawsuit, ruled in a 2-1 decision that San Diego County’s restrictions amounted to an unconstitutional infringement on citizens’ Second Amendment rights to bear arms.

Coupled with a California state law that largely bans the open carrying of firearms in public, San Diego County’s “good cause” rules on concealed weapons effectively bar residents from carrying a gun altogether, the panel said.

“In California, the only way that the typical, responsible, law-abiding citizen can carry a weapon in public for the lawful purpose of self-defense is with a concealed carry permit. And, in San Diego County, that option has been taken off the table,” Justice Thomas O’Scannlain wrote in the 77-page opinion for the majority.

California, which has enacted some of the nation’s strictest gun laws, allows residents to carry a concealed weapon if they meet several requirements, including completing a training course, demonstrating good moral character and establishing “good cause” to have the gun.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: ReutersCalif. concealed weapon law tossed by fed appeals court

By Associated Press.

A divided federal appeals court on Thursday struck down California’s concealed weapons rules, saying they violate the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

By a 2-1 vote, the three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said California was wrong to require applicants to show good cause to receive a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

“The right to bear arms includes the right to carry an operable firearm outside the home for the lawful purpose of self-defense,” Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain wrote for the majority.

Judge Sidney Thomas dissented, writing that the good cause requirement limited the number of people carrying concealed handguns in public to those legitimately in need.

“It limits the risk to public safety by reducing the number of guns in public circulation, but allows those who will most likely need to defend themselves in public to carry a handgun,” Thomas wrote.

Read more from this story HERE.