Regulations

CARB’s punitive approach
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010
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MAY 7, 2010 By ANTHONY PIGNATARO Failing to file a report. That’s it. That’s all Nor-Cal Produce in West Sacramento did. And in late March it cost the small, family-run fruit and vegetable wholesaler $32,550. “The California Air Resources Board [CARB] last month came to terms with...

Mixed results from local crackdowns
Thursday, April 29th, 2010
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APRIL 29, 2010 By JT LONG An uneasy partnership that includes local police and sheriff officers in enforcement of immigration laws, may not be working as planned, according to a new report from the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General. According to the March 2010 rep...

CARB fines dealers for DMV mistake
Monday, April 26th, 2010
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APRIL 26, 2010 By ANTHONY PIGNATARO Where the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is concerned, trying to do the right thing often just isn’t enough to keep a company from paying tens of thousands of dollars in penalties. Just ask the guys who work at GP Motorcycles and Moto Forza in S...

Greenlining series: Another ACORN-like menace?
Friday, April 16th, 2010
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This is the fourth part of a series produced by CalWatchdog and the Examiner regarding the Berkeley-based Greenlining Institute, a low-income housing advocacy group that critics say intimidates banks and helped cause the housing meltdown. By TORI RICHARDS Both use controversial tactics to ...

Greenlining Series: Uncle Sam opens bank vault
Thursday, April 15th, 2010
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This is the third part of a series produced by CalWatchdog and the Examiner regarding the Berkeley-based Greenlining Institute, a low-income housing advocacy group that critics say intimidates banks and helped cause the housing meltdown. By TORI RICHARDS Congress gave Fannie Mae and Freddi...

Greenlining Series: Radical group’s legal heists
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010
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  APRIL 12, 2010 By TORI RICHARDS This series was produced by CalWatchdog and the Examiner. We will run additional parts during the coming week. It’s been called a bunch of shakedown artists, a growing menace, and a cousin of ACORN, the disgraced, disbanding national activist group ...

Cities create own traffic fiefdoms
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010
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  APRIL 6, 2010 By ANTHONY PIGNATARO According to aides to Sen. Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach, a Long Beach police officer recently gave a Torrance resident a choice: get a speeding ticket for violating the state’s Vehicle Code, which will go on the driver’s record and likely result i...

State fails to track hot waste
Sunday, March 7th, 2010
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March 8, 2010 By ANTHONY PIGNATARO Buried within the $3 billion state Department of Public Health is a tiny, troubled agency that deals with some of the most toxic and dangerous substances in the history of the world. Headquartered on Capitol Avenue in Sacramento, the $22 million, 120-empl...

State pushes costly new water standard
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
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Feb. 10, 2010 By JT LONG California water agencies face a groundbreaking proposal to eradicate -- at what could be a high cost to ratepayers -- all but trace levels of hexavalent chromium, the industrial byproduct made famous by the movie Erin Brockovich a decade ago. The California Off...

State’s health-mandate miasma
Sunday, January 31st, 2010
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Feb. 2, 2010 By JOHN SEILER The victory of Scott Brown in Massachusetts prevents Democrats from enacting a universal health-care reform bill. Something likely will be enacted. But the lack of universality means the states will continue to play a crucial role in their citizens’ health cho...