California News

The California Report, KQED Public Radio
  • UC Students Protest Fee Hike

    Students with bullhorns have taken over Wheeler Hall at UC Berkeley this morning. A similar situation is unfolding at UC Santa Cruz and many arrests were made at UC Davis yesterday. The match that lit the unrest: yesterday's vote by the University of California Board of Regents, meeting in Los Angeles, to raise student fees by a third.

  • Riverside's Cash King Dethroned

    A man who called himself the Cash King sits in a Riverside county jail this morning. Federal and state authorities accuse him of running a multi-million dollar securities and mortgage fraud scheme.

  • Affordable Central Valley Harvest

    Some of the state's largest wine grape growers gather today for a report on this year's harvest in the region that grows most of the grapes for cheaper wines -- the Central Valley.

  • Caltrans Hazards

    We begin this month's program out at the Bay Bridge Toll Plaza, to talk about one of the most dangerous job sites: a highway bridge.

  • Workplace Safety Trends

    Health Dialogues discusses trends in California workplace safety figures. While overall numbers of fatalities and injuries have been declining in recent years, the percentage of victims are increasingly Latino.

  • The Safety of Green Jobs

    Health Dialogues takes a look at the health and safety of green jobs - such as weatherizing old homes or installing rooftop solar panels - in the "clean tech" sector.

  • Postcard from the Field

    Hear from Gustavo, a Salvadoran day laborer, about the work he does and the hazards that come with it.

  • Cal/OSHA and Worksafe

    Scott Shafer speaks with the head of Cal/OSHA, as well as with an attorney from a workplace safety watchdog group, about the role and effectiveness of Cal/OSHA.

  • Keeping Clean (and Safe)

    Health Dialogues looks at a not-so-obvious workplace hazard: industrial strength chemicals used by janitors to clean supermarkets. Janitors with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) rallied recently in front of Safeway and Lucky supermarkets throughout the greater San Francisco Bay Area, demanding that their employers provide "green" cleaning products.

  • Taxi Cab (Drivers) Confessions

    Ever wonder how dangerous it is to be a cab driver? Jump in the backseat with us, and hear from drivers with Citywide Taxi in San Francisco.

San Francisco Chronicle
  • Inmates' flushing habits prove costly

    San Mateo County has agreed to pay $2.3 million to settle a lawsuit that accused county jail inmates of clogging Redwood City's sewage system by flushing clothes, sheets and other items down toilets, officials said Thursday. The settlement was reached with...

  • Ex-guard, friend guilty in Brink's slaying

    A former Brink's armored-car guard and a friend were convicted today of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of the guard's partner in Oakland in 2006. Former guard Clifton Wherry Jr., 31, and co-defendant Dwight Omar Campbell, 26, showed no reaction...

  • Blue Angels ready to roar, soar for Fleet Week

    With smoke and a roar, the Blue Angels arrived in high style Tuesday in San Francisco, the star performers in the annual Fleet Week air show that promises to rattle windows, wow thousands of spectators and annoy those whose idea of city life does not include...

Oakland Tribune
SacBee -- Bee State News
  • Officials link 2 inmates' deaths to swine flu

    Two California prison system inmates have died from possible H1N1-related complications, officials said Wednesday.

    One inmate in a Central California prison died Monday. The other, in a Southern California prison, died Friday. Prison officials would not name the prisons.

    The two deaths are the prison system's first H1N1-related deaths, but 28 inmates have been hospitalized for H1N1.

    While prison officials are not sure the two deaths stemmed from swine flu, both inmates tested positive for influenza A. The vast majority of current cases of the strain are swine flu.

  • Geologists to map new fault near Truckee

    Geologists from two national engineering firms will begin mapping the recently identified Polaris earthquake fault near Truckee.

    Martis Creek Dam – plagued by seepage as well as the fault – has been deemed one of the riskiest of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' 610 dams nationwide and is the subject of a long-term study and remedial efforts.

    Kleinfelder and AMEC-Geomatrix will be paid $250,000 for their part of the continuing study of the dam in Martis Valley, which lies between Truckee and North Lake Tahoe.

    "Seismically, it's very active up there," said Ronn Rose, a corps geologist and dam safety program manager for the corps' Sacramento district.

    Discovery of the fault, in which Rose had a part, is "exciting for the geology community," he said. "It's not common that you find a brand-new fault."

    The fault is about 21 miles long, extending from a few miles south of the Northstar-at-Tahoe ski resort northward into the Sierra Valley near Loyalton, Rose said. It has been recently active – geologically speaking – "probably within the last 11,000 years," he added.

    In a conference this summer, a corps presentation included a 2008 U.S. Geological Survey calculation that the Polaris fault "may be capable of a 6.9 event."

    More mapping and trenching are needed to determine the exact length of the fault and whether it is linked to other known faults, Rose said.

    "The longer the fault, the larger the earthquake that could occur," he said.

    Maps expected to be ready by next spring or summer will help determine sites for future trenching and information-gathering.

    Seepage at the dam is less of a concern, he said, as "it's for flood protection and we don't store a lot of water behind it."

    By 2014 the corps expects to determine what should be done about the dam – "from leaving it as is, to removing it, to new construction," said Adam Riley of the corps' Civil Works Project Management office.

    He said construction could begin in 2019 if that option is chosen.

  • Some California banks struggle despite bailout

    Thirty-three banks across the country that received federal bailout money didn't pay the government a dividend this summer – and one-third of them are based in California, federal data show.

    Two of the 11 California banks that didn't pay dividends – which can indicate they are short on cash – were seized by state and federal regulators in the past two weeks. The failures left taxpayers with $302 million in losses under the government bailout, known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

    Now eight other California banks that received bailout cash and aren't paying dividends are displaying "danger signals," according to a finance expert tracking the program's progress, suggesting more trouble may loom for state banks before the recession ends.

    The latest casualty was Pacific Coast National Bank of San Clemente. A fledgling two-branch lender whose Web site featured links to ocean surf reports, it received $4.1 million in bailout money in January.

    Last Friday, Pacific Coast was seized and closed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which blamed its demise on "unsafe and unsound practices."

    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was named receiver of Pacific Coast – and it immediately arranged a deal to transfer its assets and $130.9 million in deposits to Sunwest Bank of Tustin.

    Regulators said they saw "no reasonable prospect" that Pacific Coast National would survive without additional federal assistance.

    A week earlier, San Francisco-based United Commercial Bank also was seized by state and federal regulators, handing taxpayers another $298.7 million loss.

    Beth Mills, a spokeswoman for the California Bankers Association, said banks here have been hit harder because California has suffered more than other states from the economic contraction.

    A recent report by Moody's Economy.com says that while many Western states have seen their economies stabilize or begin to recover, California has yet to show much improvement.

    "Banks' financial results are a reflection of what's going on their communities, and there's hardship," Mills said, noting that CBA President Rodney Brown believes the state is only halfway through its recession.

    "The FDIC said it expects bank failures (to continue) into 2010, so it's inevitable that there will be more failures here this year and next," Mills added.

    More than 70 California banks received $27.6 billion under the TARP program in late 2008 and early 2009, though $25 billion of that went to San Francisco-based Wells Fargo alone.

    When it unveiled TARP, the Department of Treasury said it would inject taxpayers' money only into banks that bureaucrats considered healthy.

    In exchange for the federal cash injection, Treasury received a mix of preferred shares and warrants in the banks it supported.

    Yet two California banks that were supposedly healthy have failed less than a year later, raising questions about why the government used public money to make risky bets on badly managed private banks.

    Linus Wilson, a University of Louisiana finance professor who closely tracks the bank bailout program, said banks that halt or make no dividend payments to the Treasury are typically short of capital.

    "It's a danger signal that indicates that a bank's having problems," Wilson said.

    "When they have problems preserving capital, they're at risk of regulatory sanctions or being seized," he said.

    Federal data reviewed by both Wilson and The Bee shows that eight other California banks have either stopped paying or never paid the Treasury dividends after getting TARP money.

    Those banks received a total of $239.3 million under the bailout, the data shows.

    Wilson cautioned that not paying dividends doesn't necessarily mean these other banks will also collapse. For example, Commerce National Bank of Newport Beach didn't pay a dividend this year, according to federal reports, but returned all of its TARP money in October.

    "I'm surprised by the number of banks in California that aren't paying Treasury dividends," Wilson said. "Obviously, California was hard hit by the housing downturn, but so were Nevada, Florida and Georgia."

    A mix of small, medium and larger California banks are among the eight that either halted or never made a dividend payment to the Treasury.

    Locally, Nevada City-based Citizens Bancorp of Northern California received $10.4 million in TARP money in 2008.

    Since then, it replaced its president in July, "deferred" its $140,000 dividend payment to the Treasury in August and restated its prior financial results in September.

    Though Citizens had a $363,000 profit for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, its loss for the first nine months of 2009 is $1.7 million.

    Chief executive Gary Gall said Citizens will defer another $140,000 dividend payment to the Treasury this quarter. "Right now it's wise for us to preserve our capital," he said.

    Citizens thinks it has now set aside enough money for future loan losses, while working to resolve past-due loans and selling its foreclosed properties, Gall said.

    The largest bank to skip its TARP dividend payment to the Treasury is Pacific Capital Bancorp of Santa Barbara. It landed $180.6 million in TARP cash in November 2008.

    Pacific Capital, a holding company, operates five Central Coast banks with 48 branches and $7.4 billion in assets. It paid just over $2 million in dividends before halting payments this summer, and spokesman Tony Rossi said the firm cannot say when they will resume.

    It reported a $362.6 million second-quarter loss and another $40.7 million loss in the third quarter.

    Vice President Debbie Whiteley said in a financial statement that the bank's capital still meets regulatory guidelines but is below levels it promised its federal regulator it would maintain.

    The smallest bank – it's never paid the government a dividend – is Saigon National Bank of Westminster. It landed $1.5 million in TARP money in 2008.

    Roy Painter, Saigon National's chief financial officer, said the lender pays a dividend to the government only when it declares one – and a dividend hasn't been declared yet. He declined further comment.

    Saigon National's most recent financial report to the FDIC for the period ending Sept. 30, offers insight: It started 2009 with $10.6 million in capital. However, it has since reported $6.8 million in losses.

    Despite mounting criticism of the bank bailout, federal officials have repeatedly defended it – until recently.

    Sheila Bair, one of the top federal banking regulators, said during a recent interview on PBS' "NewsHour" that TARP "was not a good thing to do."

    "It's not worked out well at all," she said, pointing to a "horrible public outcry" over misused money and excessive executive compensation.

    Bair said she wishes – in hindsight – that her own officials had persuaded Treasury officials not to launch it.

San Jose Mercury News
Los Angeles Times
  • A teen party, a mysterious death -- and a town's unanswered grief

    Joe Loudon attended a gathering in Orinda, drank some beer and later died. Miscues in the investigation led to finger-pointing, igniting a debate over whether his death was an accident or a crime.

    The telephone rang shortly after 8 a.m. on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. The caller was a friend of my son's who said he needed to speak to him. "It's important," he said.


  • California launches probe into alleged scam targeting churches

    Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown says dozens of African American churches were defrauded of thousands of dollars over lease agreements for computerized advertising kiosks that were supposed to be free.

    State Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown said Friday that he is investigating an alleged scam that forced more than 30 African American churches in Southern California to pay thousands of dollars for substandard computer equipment that was supposed to be free.


  • Mexican teen admits killing U.S. Border Patrol agent

    The 17-year-old pleads guilty to fatally shooting Agent Robert W. Rosas Jr., who was lured out of his vehicle in July while patrolling a remote area east of San Diego.

    A Mexican teenager pleaded guilty Friday to fatally shooting a U.S. Border Patrol agent last summer while attempting to rob him of government property in a remote area east of San Diego.


San Diego Union-Tribune
Fresno Bee
KPCC, Southern California Public Radio
  • California attorney general investigates scam targeting black churches

    State Attorney General Jerry Brown Friday said he?s investigating whether 30 African-American churches in Southern California were the target of a computer scam.

  • Behind the scenes at House ethics committees

    Last month, the committee that serves as the "ethics cop" for the House of Representatives launched new investigations. It's checking into several members of Congress - including Long Beach's Laura Richardson and L.A.'s Maxine Waters. The Richardson case involves a house that was in foreclosure. The Waters case involves federal bailout money and an L.A. bank. KPCC's Washington Correspondent Kitty Felde closes her series on ethics in Congress with a look at the secretive committee that will decide whether Richardson and Waters broke any rules.

  • LAUSD and teachers union agree to substitute teacher changes

    Los Angeles Unified and its teachers union announced Thursday they?ve solved a conflict over the school district?s approach to filling substitute teaching slots.

KPBS, San Diego Public Radio
  • More Families Coping With Hunger

    One in seven Americans are coping with hunger, according to a new report by the Department of Agriculture. The San Diego Food Bank has doubled its emergency food program since June 2008 to serve 75,594 local families. The editors discuss this new trend.

  • San Diego Faces Largest Budget Deficit In City History

    Next year, the city will face a $200 million shortfall forcing city officials to make difficult decisions about which programs to cut. The editors discuss.

  • Parks And Beaches Suffer From Budget Cuts

    KPBS Reporter Sharon Heilbrunn explains how the recent state budget cuts impact Old Town and San Diego beaches.

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