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Man Who Pointed Laser At Aircraft Lands 30-Month Prison Sentence

Photo Credit: Adnan Yahya

A judge in California has sent a strong message to anyone who thinks that pointing lasers at aircraft is just harmless fun ‘n’ games.

U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson sentenced a 19-year-old man on Monday to 30 months in federal prison for shining a laser pointer at a plane and police helicopter, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case.

Adam Gardenhire deliberately pointed the commercial grade green laser at a private Cessna Citation that was landing at the Burbank Bob Hope Airport in California on March 29, 2012.

Gardenhire, of North Hollywood, California, was arrested and pleaded guilty in the incident as part of an agreement with prosecutors in October.

The pilot of the corporate jet was hit in the eye multiple times and had vision problems through the next day, court documents say.

Read more from this story HERE.

California Woman Dies After Nurse Refuses To Perform CPR (+video)

A California retirement home is backing one of its nurses after she refused desperate pleas from a 911 operator to perform CPR on an elderly woman who later died, saying the nurse was following the facility’s policy.

“Is there anybody that’s willing to help this lady and not let her die,” dispatcher Tracey Halvorson says on a 911 tape released by the Bakersfield Fire Department aired by several media outlets on Sunday.

“Not at this time,” said the nurse, who didn’t give her full name and said facility policy prevented her from giving the woman medical help.
At the beginning of the 7-minute, 16-second call on Tuesday morning, the nurse asked for paramedics to come and help the 87-year-old woman who had collapsed in the home’s dining room and was barely breathing.

Halvorson pleads for the nurse to perform CPR, and after several refusals she starts pleading for her to find a resident, or a gardener, or anyone not employed by the home to get on the phone, take her instructions and help the woman.

Read more from this story HERE.

$5 Gas Returns To California (+video)

Photo Credit: Muffet Gas prices in Southern Californiarose again on Monday, leaving some drivers paying over $5.00 per gallon.

CBS2′s Amber Lee reports the average price of a gallon of gas in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area climbed for the 25th consecutive day to $4.29 – over 50 cents higher than last month, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California.

One gas station in downtown Los Angeles was offering regular unleaded at $5.19 on Monday, prompting at least one potential customer to exit his vehicle, snap of a photo of the station’s prices – and then drive off in search of cheaper gas.

Nationwide, the average price of gas jumped to $3.73 per gallon, while customers paid only $3.30 just one month ago.

Orange County drivers are paying an average of $4.28 at the pump, while the price of gas in the Inland Empire has climbed to $4.24 per gallon. Drivers here in the Southland say they’re already feeling pinched.

Read more from this story HERE.

Students Told to Stop ‘USA!’ Chant, Take Off American Flag Bandanas (+video)

Photo Credit: Serfs UP ! Roger SaylesFour California high-school students were reportedly suspended for chanting “U.S.A! U.S.A!” and wearing American flag bandanas during a basketball game. While their punishment has since been rescinded, school administrators said “the incident is far from over.”

Oxnard Union School District superintendent Gabe Soumakian told Fox News Radio that “we need to pursue this further” and “work with teachers and students and the community about the concept of cultural proficiency.”

Soumakian and Camarillo High School principal Glenn Lipman felt that the students’ actions might have had racist undertones since the schools have large Hispanic student populations.

See video:

Read more from this story HERE.

Officials: Christopher Dorner May Be Dead Following Deadly Standoff

Andy Smith says that despite earlier reports, Christopher Dorner’s body has not been recovered from a burned out cabin where he was reportedly holed up during a deadly shootout with authorities earlier today.

Cindy Bachman of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department says authorities have not yet been able to enter the cabin, but when they do, they believe they will find a body inside.

Dorner, who allegedly shot and killed his fourth victim — a San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputy — was barricaded inside a Seven Oaks residence for several hours Tuesday afternoon. He is also accused of shooting a second deputy, who was undergoing surgery after being airlifted to Loma Linda University Medical Center.

The home, ironically, is located near the Sheriff’s outpost that was set up earlier this week as part of the search for him.

CBS2′s Carter Evans reported that tear gas was fired into the house before the fire broke out. A single shot was also heard at that time, according to CBS2′s Juan Fernandez. During a news conference earlier in the day, LAPD Cmdr. Andy Smith urged Dorner to surrender.

Read more from this story HERE.

California Lacks Doctors To Meet Demand Of National Healthcare Law

Photo Credit: Saul Loeb Lawmakers are working on proposals that would enable physician assistants, nurse practitioners, optometrists and pharmacists to diagnose, treat and manage some illnesses.

As the state moves to expand healthcare coverage to millions of Californians under President Obama’s healthcare law, it faces a major obstacle: There aren’t enough doctors to treat a crush of newly insured patients. Some lawmakers want to fill the gap by redefining who can provide healthcare.

They are working on proposals that would allow physician assistants to treat more patients and nurse practitioners to set up independent practices. Pharmacists and optometrists could act as primary care providers, diagnosing and managing some chronic illnesses, such as diabetes and high-blood pressure.

“We’re going to be mandating that every single person in this state have insurance,” said state Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina), chairman of the Senate Health Committee and leader of the effort to expand professional boundaries. “What good is it if they are going to have a health insurance card but no access to doctors?”

Hernandez’s proposed changes, which would dramatically shake up the medical establishment in California, have set off a turf war with physicians that could contribute to the success or failure of the federal Affordable Care Act in California.

Read more from this story HERE.

Southern California School Board Member Convicted Of Running Sex Ring

Photo Credit: Rios Pimpin’ ain’t easy, man, as Ice-T, The Notorious B.I.G. and a number of other celebrated rappers have incisively counseled for years. However, Moreno Valley school board member Mike Rios had to learn this wisdom the hard way.

On Friday, a jury in Riverside, California found Rios, 42, guilty on almost two dozen felony counts stemming from a prostitution operation, reports KNBC. Rios managed the venture out of his home in neighboring Moreno Valley.

The litany of charges against the school board member included rape, pimping, pandering and insurance fraud. Two of the prostitutes involved were underage girls.

The jury found Rios not guilty on another count of rape. It couldn’t come to an agreement on still another rape count, or an additional pandering charge.

At the trial, the Los Angeles Times reports, the jury heard evidence that Rios, a Democrat, approached one woman on the street and flashed a school district-emblazoned business card when he offered her a job.

Read more from this story HERE.

Controversial ‘Parent Trigger’ School Reform Prevails in California

California’s “parent trigger” law, which allows parents to make administrative changes at failing public schools, scored a major victory Thursday with the approval of a new plan for a troubled elementary school in Adelanto.

Parent trigger gives parents the right to enact massive overhauls of public schools. They can petition the school board to hire and fire teachers and administrative staff, change the curriculum, and hand over leadership of the school to a charter company.

Parents of kids at Desert Trails Elementary School chose the latter option, and their proposal to turn the school over to private operation was recently approved.

After visiting LaVerne Elementary Preparatory Academy — another school run by the charter company that will now take over Desert Trails — school board member Christine Turner said she felt comfortable with the new direction.

Read more from this story HERE.

Californians’ Support for Death Penalty Goes Against Trend

photo credit: wootom

Even as Californians voted to maintain the death penalty, the nation’s support for capital punishment continued to wane in 2012, with relatively few states performing executions.

Only nine states executed inmates in 2012, and three-fourths of the executions occurred in Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma and Mississippi, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a monitoring group critical of capital punishment. Connecticut became the fifth state in five years to abolish capital punishment.

California, whose voters rejected a November ballot measure to repeal the death penalty, is not expected to resume executions for three years, according to Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye. Litigation has blocked executions in California for nearly seven years.

Despite its unused execution chamber, California’s death row, already the largest in the nation, continued to swell in 2012. Fourteen inmates were added, mostly from Los Angeles and Riverside counties.

Nationally, there were fewer than 80 new death sentences, the second-lowest number since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, the center said.

Read more from this story HERE.

As Texas Attracts California Companies, Will Texas be Californicated?

Years ago, road signs at the border proclaimed: “Welcome to Oregon, Now Go Home” and: “Don’t Californicate Oregon,” met California motorists as they crossed into Oregon. Those signs are long gone as the process of transforming Oregon into a liberal blue state, have been completed.

California’s Apple Computer recently announced that expanding their Texas presence will make them central Texas’s largest employer.

Other large California corporations say they are transferring all or part of their operations out of the once formerly golden state. California has been getting deluged with television ads from other states, particularly Texas, who invite them to set up shop in their business friendly environments.

Apple, Campbell Soup, Comcast, Chevron Oil, Google and countless others are just the public tip of the iceberg, as California is engulfed in an economic wildfire burning up its private sector with record high taxes and miles of government red tape.

But will Texas and other business friendly “red states” soon regret what they wished for as they woo California business to their fold?

California’s recessions of the 70’s-80’s saw an outflow of residents seeking jobs and more reasonable living conditions in neighboring states. These new residents established themselves and invited extended families and friends to join them.

Soon these new residents started to outnumber the native Oregonians/Washingtonians and Nevadans. These former “red or red leaning states” with a rural flavor, started to see a distinct transformation of demographics, especially in their larger cities and urban areas. Today these states are reliable blue, or blue leaning states, supplying Washington DC, with an unending stream of liberal politicians who impose their values on the rest of America.

Google, another California company that has had Al Gore as one their senior directors, is a huge consumer of electric energy. Ironically/hypocritically, Google been quietly shifting operations to more energy friendly states/countries; translated: Fossil fueled energy states. Recently Google announced it especially loved Irelands cool rainy climate, which they claim make it a more energy efficient location. Ireland’s energy sector is fueled mainly with fossil fuel.

Last month, George Lucas announced he had sold his Lucas Film operation to Disney for a whopping 4 billion. Lucas had finally given up his decade’s long/multi million dollar battle with environmental zealots of Marin County California to expand his facilities. Eventually these hundreds of jobs will be transferred out of Marin to friendlier business climates. California’s film industry is already producing many of its films out of state where they are being wooed w/large tax credits.

California’s new main export seems to be companies and jobs that it once used to attract like a magnet. But will this export of California prove detrimental to the very business friendly states that are attracting them?
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Ed Farnan is the conservative columnist at IrishCentral, where he has been writing on the need for energy independence, strong self defense, secure borders, 2nd amendment, smaller government and many other issues. His articles appear in many publications throughout the USA and world. He has been a guest on Fox News and a regular guest on radio stations in the US and Europe.