Bill to Regulate Electronic Cigarettes Dropped in Assembly
State Senator Mark Leno, of San Francisco, announced that he was dropping his bill to regulate electronic cigarettes. He made the decision after an Assembly committee gutted the bill's main purpose, which was to designate e-cigarettes as a "tobacco" product. It would have also made giving minors e-cigarettes a misdemeanor. Opponents said the tobacco designation should come from the federal government.
LAUSD to Take on Sexting Problem Next School Year
The Los Angeles Unified School District is tackling the problem of sexting. That's when someone sends sexually explicit photos in text messages. The district wants to teach students about the dangers of hitting that send button.
County Jail Construction Booms with Realignment Money
Realignment is a sweeping state initiative that was meant to achieve two goals. The first was to reduce the overcrowding at state prison by turning over the responsibility of non-violent offenders to local counties. The second was to invest some of the money used to jail people and put it toward social services that might end the cycle of incarceration. Marshall Project reporter Anat Rubin says counties have taken very different approaches to how they spend the realignment funds.