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Gay Inmates in California Can Get Married

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Photo Credit: derekskey

Photo Credit: derekskey

With the demise of Proposition 8 — the gay marriage ban — gay inmates in California can get married to their same-sex partners, the Associated Press has reported.

In an August 30 memo, state prison officials stated that due to the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that “effectively invalidated” Proposition 8, they “must accept and process applications for a same-sex marriage between an inmate and a non-incarcerated person in the community, in the same manner as they do between opposite sex couples.”

In case you didn’t notice the wording, there is a caveat in that statement…

While a gay inmate can marry a person who is not jailed, two gay inmates cannot get married.

Read more from this story HERE.

Tsunami Study Finds Southern California at Risk

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

A large tsunami hitting California would cause major flooding in Long Beach and parts of Orange County and force 750,000 people to evacuate coastal areas in just a few hours, according to an extensive simulation published Wednesday by the U.S. Geological Survey.

The study, released two years after a tsunami killed thousands in Japan, identified several communities that are particularly vulnerable to flooding because of their low elevation and lack of protection from waves.

They include Marina del Rey and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as well as the low-lying coastal areas extending from the ports to Newport Beach.

The report, compiled by dozens of scientists, emergency responders and industry representatives, is the most extensive examination of what a tsunami would do to California’s coastline. The research simulated a 9.1 quake off the Alaska coast that would send damaging waves to California.

While waves would be larger in Northern California — between 10 and 23 feet — the damage could be greater in Southern California because the region has more coastal development and fewer coastal cliffs.

Read more from this story HERE.

Calif. County Votes for Secession from State

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Photo Credit: Chris Stewart

Photo Credit: Chris Stewart

Supervisors in a far Northern California county where residents are fed up with what they see as a lack of representation at the state capitol and overregulation have voted in favor of separating from the state.

The Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 on Tuesday for a declaration of secession, the Record Searchlight of Redding reported (https://bit.ly/1cFTqUG ). The vote appears mostly symbolic since secession would require approval from the state Legislature and the U.S. Congress, but supporters say it would restore local control over decision making. They want other rural counties in Northern California and Southern Oregon to join them in the creation of a new state called the State of Jefferson.

“Many proposed laws are unconstitutional and deny us our God-given rights,” Gabe Garrison of Happy Camp said at the meeting. “We need our own state so we can make laws that fit our way of life.”

Garrison was among more than 100 people who attended the meeting, and most were in support of the declaration, according to the Record Searchlight.

The declaration does not launch any type of formal process toward secession, but only reflects the county’s support, said Tom Odom, the county’s administrative officer.

Read more from this story HERE.

Sierra Wildfire Now California’s Fourth-Largest

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The wildfire burning in and around Yosemite National Park has become the fourth-largest conflagration in modern California history, fire officials said Sunday as clouds and higher humidity helped crews further contain the biggest blaze in the United States this year.

The 2-week-old Rim Fire moved up a spot on the state’s list of large wildfires dating back to 1932 when it grew to 348 square miles – an area larger than the cities of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose combined – on Saturday, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant said.

Although the fire still is growing, it was 40 percent contained as of Sunday, up from 35 percent a day earlier.

Moister air was expected to slow flames from advancing through brush and trees, giving firefighters room to set backfires, dig containment lines and to strengthen lines around threatened communities, U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Pam Baltimore said.

Full containment is not expected until Sept. 20.

Read more from this story HERE.

California Pols Could Target Tax Status of Boy Scouts, Youth Groups Over ‘Discrimination’

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

California lawmakers are cruising toward a final vote on a bill that could threaten the tax-exempt status of American-as-apple-pie groups — ranging from the Boy Scouts to Little League — if their membership policies are found to be discriminatory.

If passed, the bill, SB 323, would remove an exemption from state taxes for any nonprofit youth group that discriminates on the basis of “gender identity, race, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, or religious affiliation.” Well-known organizations like Girl Scouts of the USA, Boy Scouts of America, and Little League International Baseball and Softball were cited in the bill, which was introduced in February by Democratic state Sen. Ricardo Lara.

Lawmakers are not accusing groups like Little League and the Girl Scouts of having discriminatory policies. The bill appears to be aimed more at the Boy Scouts, as Lara pushed the legislation on the heels of the controversy surrounding the Boy Scouts’ policy to exclude gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people as scouts or adult leaders. The national organization later voted to allow gay youth membership, but maintained its ban on openly gay adult leaders.

Lara told reporters earlier this month that the Boy Scouts’ decision was not good enough for him, and continued to push the bill.

Youth groups say they hope they won’t be affected. Brian McClintock, a Little League International spokesman, told FoxNews.com on Wednesday that the group already does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, creed, color, national origin, marital status, gender, sexual orientation or disability.

Read more from this story HERE.

Thanks to New START Treaty: Russians Inspect Missile Defense Base

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Photo Credit: Boeing

Photo Credit: Boeing

Russian officials this week carried out a secret inspection of the U.S. strategic missile defense base in California as part of the New START arms treaty, according to Obama administration officials.

The inspection of five missile defense interceptors is the only one allowed under the 2010 arms accord. The treaty requires cuts of U.S. and Russian deployed strategic warheads to 1,550.

A defense official said the visit was a treaty verification visit hosted by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

A State Department official declined to comment on the inspection but confirmed it was related to New START. “Implementation activities under New START are confidential,” the official said.

However, Thomas Moore, a former Senate Foreign Relations Committee professional staff member, said the inspection of the base was a controversial part of U.S. and Russian arms talks leading up to New START that was ratified by the Senate in December 2010.

Read more from this story HERE.

Editors Note: Both of Alaska’s US Senators voted in favor of the ill-advised New START Treaty.

California Wants Small-Business Owners To Pay Back $120 Million In Tax Breaks (+video)

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Photo Credit: Prayitno

Photo Credit: Prayitno

Small-business investors in California were promised big breaks five years ago, but now they’re being told to pay up, instead after a court ruling.

After following the law, many of them are getting hit with tax bills as high as $250,000.

“When we make a promise, we have to uphold it,” said Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Redondo Beach.

But that is not what the state government appears to be doing. Small-business owners are getting hefty tax breaks for tax credits they already got five years ago.

“They relied on California law as it was written, that they would get a tax break if they invested in certain kinds of businesses,” Lieu said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Calif. Man’s Charge Upped to Murder after Boasting about Speeding on Twitter

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Photo Credit: west.m

Photo Credit: west.m

An 18-year-old accused of killing a bicyclist with his car has had a vehicular manslaughter charge upgraded to murder in part because he boasted about speeding on Twitter, prosecutors said Thursday.

Cody Hall, of Pleasanton, was being held without bail after he was charged Wednesday with the murder of 58-year-old Diana Hersevoort, the San Francisco Chronicle and Oakland Tribune reported.

Hall was going more than 80 mph in a 40 mph zone when he hit Hersevoort and her husband along a busy boulevard in Dublin on June 9, prosecutors allege. Hersevoort’s husband only broke an arm, but she was killed.

An analysis of Hall’s driving record, along with Twitter posts in which he discussed how fast he liked to drive, persuaded prosecutors to change the charge to murder, the Alameda County district attorney’s office told the Chronicle.

Read more from this story HERE.

Bill to Allow Transgender Students to Choose Bathrooms Moves to California Governor’s Desk

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A bill that would let school kids use whatever bathroom or play on whichever sports team they believe matches their gender identity – and not necessarily their anatomy – is on the desk of California Gov. Jerry Brown.

Brown won’t say what he plans to do, but the measure passed easily in the two legislative chambers despite criticism from conservative groups who want biology to dictate bathroom use.

Supporters say transgendered kids feel alienated when they can’t use the bathroom of the sex with which they associate.

The law would end exclusion that “negatively impacts students’ ability to succeed in school and graduate with their class,” said Jesse Melgar, a spokesman for Equality California.

Read more from this story HERE.

Residents Ordered to Evacuate as Southern California Wildfire Rages

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Photo Credit: APAn out-of-control wildfire growing with great speed in Southern California mountains Wednesday night burned homes, forced the evacuation of several mountain communities and left three people including two firefighters injured.

The fire broke out about 2 p.m. near Banning and surge to at least 6,000 acres, or more than 9 square miles, within a few hours, state fire officials said.

One civilian was burned and airlifted to a hospital, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said in a statement. Two firefighters were also injured and both were taken to hospitals by ambulance. Officials would give no further details on the injuries.

Fire officials said about a dozen structures were damaged or destroyed, but could not say how many were homes. Footage from TV news helicopters and photos from the scene showed several houses in flames.

They include the Twin Pines home of Dave Clark, whose parents were killed in a house fire in Riverside in April 2012 the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported. Prosecutors alleged Clark’s sister Deborah Clark set the fire, and she was awaiting a mental-competency hearing to see if she was competent to stand trial for her parents’ murder in a case that has received extensive local media coverage.

Read more from this story HERE.