February 3, 2012
CCPOA Endorses Kraft for Assembly
February 3, 2012
Inmate pleads guilty to murdering killer of Novato girl
A San Quentin inmate who stabbed a Novato girl's killer to death on a prison yard pleaded guilty Thursday in a deal to avoid the death penalty.
Frank Souza, 33, admitted to first-degree murder with special circumstances in the death of Edward Schaefer in 2010. The attack occurred shortly after Schaefer started his prison sentence for killing 9-year-old Melody Osheroff in a Novato crosswalk during a drunken motorcycle ride...
LINK - MarinIJ.com
February 2, 2012
Police Seek Public’s Help Locating Dangerous Bulldog Gang Member
Fresno police have released photos to the public of a suspect they say murdered a Fresno man on Sunday hoping someone can help lead to his whereabouts and arrest.
Police say Fernando Figueroa, a parolee and known gang member is responsible for the shooting death of Sergio Lopez, 30, who was found suffering from a gunshot wound in an apartment at 5145 E Lane in south east Fresno...
LINK - KSEE24.com
February 2, 2012
Man suspected of Bay Area crime robbery spree faces 37 felonies
A parolee suspected of committing dozens of Bay Area robberies using a chrome revolver has been charged with 37 felony counts in San Mateo County Superior Court.
In the most serious case, Ricky Renee Sanders, 34 -- known as the "chrome revolver bandit" because of the silver-barreled revolver he allegedly used in some of the holdups -- is accused of shooting a store clerk while robbing a PetSmart store in San Mateo on Oct. 8, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office.
The employee was shot in the leg and survived, but suffered a severed femoral artery, prosecutors said...
LINK - MercuryNews.com
February 2, 2012
Jerry Brown delivers pension reform language to legislators
Gov. Jerry Brown has sent language for his 12-point pension reform plan to the Legislature's Conference Committee on Public Employee Pensions.
The proposals are divided into two groups. The constitutional amendment Brown offered broadly outlines the pension changes more narrowly defined in the language to change state law. The governor's plan won't go forward without two-thirds of the Legislature voting to put the constitutional changes on the Nov. 6 ballot, which would then need voter approval from a majority....
LINK - SacBee.com
February 2, 2012
Refusal to fund California prison construction could delay end of federal oversight
For six years, a federal receiver has been in charge of fixing California’s broken-down prison medical system.
The receiver says he can finish the job soon, but he needs state lawmakers to pay the full $2 billion they promised for medical facilities. The state has already spent a billion dollars on improvements. Lawmakers now say they don’t need to spend any more. The receiver worries that the improvements in prison medical care could slip away...
LINK - SCPR.org
February 2, 2012
another realignment parolee sought - this one for domestic violence, assault with a deadly weapon
The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office is considering 33 year old Joshua Lee of Montague to be “armed and dangerous” after he allegedly assaulted his wife and drove her towards Hawkinsville Tuesday night, Jan. 31, 2012.
She got away and was picked up on Hwy 263 by a passing “good samaritan,” who kept driving, dragging Lee along, after he lunged into the car through an open passenger window, according to a press release from Sheriff’s Office public information officer Allison Giannini...
LINK - MTShastaNews.com
February 2, 2012
Realignment presents challenges in housing, mental health treatment
After four months of California’s realignment program, jail overcrowding, homelessness and inadequate mental health reporting have overburdened local agencies now responsible for prisoners shifted from state to local institutions.
County parole agents and mental health workers have had to deal with a growing number of state prison returnees who have mental health issues, which county officials say were poorly described in their state prison information packets that preceded release...
LINK - PE.com (The Press-Enterprise)
February 1, 2012
Deputy punched, suspect Tasered
Sheriff’s deputies arrested a parolee on drug and other charges on Tuesday after he punched a deputy and had to be subdued with a Taser, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office said.
Deputies were sent to a report of a possibly wanted male sitting in his car and smoking drugs on Newlyn Street in North Salinas...
LINK - TheCalifornian.com
February 1, 2012
Tech tool helps nab parolee in stolen car
Pasadena police arrested a parolee in a stolen car last week, using a computerized license plate readers inside a patrol car. On Friday at 10 p.m. the automated license plate reader in a patrol car alerted a patrol officer to a stolen car driven by Christopher Castillo, 24, a Pasadena resident on active parole.
Castillo was arrested. The license plate reader can check thousands of license plates each day, leaving officers to focus on other aspects of their patrols...
LINK - PasadenaSun.com
February 1, 2012
UPDATE: Burglary Suspect Not Found in Search
Police continue to search for a high-risk parolee as part of a burglary investigation, Livermore Police Officer Dave Blake said.
At around 11 a.m. Wednesday, a SWAT team was called to the 700 block of Holmes Street, near Aaron Street. Officers believe the wanted parolee, Jay Marcus Johnson, was inside his home in the area.
Johnson, 22, was not found in the search. He is a suspect in a Jan. 10 burglary and is considered armed and dangerous, Blake said...
LINK - Livermore.Patch.com
February 1, 2012
Parolee booked for having drugs, stolen property
A parolee was booked into County Jail Tuesday after an officer found him with stolen property and methamphetamine, police said.
Christopher Page, 33, was seen by an officer acting suspiciously over by Laurel and Center streets late Tuesday afternoon. Page fled when the officer tried to contact him and he was eventually apprehended by the river levee. Officers found him in possession of a file of paperwork that had been stolen from a local title office. He also had a credit card belonging to someone other than himself and had an identification card belonging to yet another person, Santa Cruz Police Deputy Chief Steve Clark said. Officers also found hydrocodone in Page's possession...
LINK - MercuryNews.com
February 1, 2012
Inmate Fire Crews Focus Of New Bill From Lake Elsinore Lawmaker
Lake Elsinore Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries introduced legislation Monday that would put in place one option for keeping inmate fire crews up and running.
The bill, AB 1562, was drafted to address anticipated cuts in the number of inmate fire crews available to Cal Fire as a result of a new law that shifts prisoners from state-run fire conservation camps into county jails, according to Jeff Greene, spokesman for the Assemblyman’s office.
The legislation gives counties an option over the current alternatives of hiring added fire personnel or losing the inmate firefighters altogether, Greene said....
LINK - LakeElsinore-Wildomar.Patch.com
February 1, 2012
California’s youth prisons nearing an end
In January 2011, Gov. Jerry Brown announced his plan to shut down all state youth prisons by 2014. If backed by the Legislature, the governor's proposal would have counties share $10 million to develop prudent local alternatives to state custodial facilities. By January 2013, the Division of Juvenile Justice will no longer accept any new admissions, and the entire system will gradually phase out in 2014.
There is significant opposition to this proposal from many youth advocates, probation chiefs, judges and district attorneys. Some are concerned that the counties do not have the programs and resources to manage the current DJJ population, that the youth facility closure will lead to more youth being sentenced to adult prisons and jails, and that there will be wide disparities in treatment and confinement conditions across the diverse counties of the Golden State...
LINK - SFGate.com
February 1, 2012
Man arrested after short chase in American Canyon
A man was arrested at about 1:15 a.m. Wednesday after a short pursuit that ended when the suspect crashed the car he was driving near American Canyon Road and Elliott Drive, according to the American Canyon Police Department.
Steven Young, 39, of Fairfield, allegedly tried to flee on foot before he was taken into custody, Police Chief Jean Donaldson said...
LINK - NapaValleyRegister.com
February 1, 2012
Parolee arrested after fleeing from cops
Police arrested a 25-year-old man who was on parole for sex trafficking after he saw the officers and ran the other way.
The man, Von Correia, is on parole for a 2010 conviction for assault with a deadly weapon and was talking on a cell phone about 12:35 a.m. on the 1600 block of East Colorado Street when he saw a patrol car, turned around and began running, according to Glendale police reports...
LINK - GlendaleNewsPress.com
February 1, 2012
Redding parolee crashes, keeps going with toddler in car, police say
A 39-year-old Redding parolee was arrested today on suspicion of child abuse and drug charges after he crashed his car and allegedly drove off with his 2-year-old daughter inside.
Around 11 a.m., James Richard Atkinson Jr. was driving erratically when he crashed his 2001 Suzuki Esteem into a car near the intersection of Park Marina Drive and South Street, Redding police say...
LINK - Redding.com
February 1, 2012
Parolee arrested after scuffle with deputies
A Salinas man was arrested Tuesday after he allegedly punched a sheriff's deputy and was subdued with a Taser, the Sheriff's Office said.
Deputies spotted the man, a parolee, smoking drugs while sitting in a car on Newlyn Street in North Salinas about 10 a.m...
LINK - MontereyHerald.com
February 1, 2012
Editorial: State must grapple with aging prisoners
California finally is making headway in reducing numbers in overcrowded prisons – enough to get the federal courts to say that the end of federal receivership "appears to be in sight."
But to get California prisons back under state control, the state will have to provide a credible plan by the end of April for tackling the other major problem in the prison system: An aging inmate population....
LINK - SacBee.com
February 1, 2012
Event celebrates Calipatria’s State Prison’s 20th anniversary
While the surrounding community has changed a lot in the past 20 years, so has Calipatria State Prison, said Robert Silvas.
Silvas, a 17-year prison employee who serves as a sergeant, said Tuesday that in addition to being one of the first California correctional facilities to feature an electrical fence, Calipatria State Prison was also the place in 2005 where one of the worst-ever prison riots occurred....
LINK - IVPressOnline.com
January 31, 2012
California cuts prison staffing
With about 14,000 fewer inmates in its prisons because most of them have been transferred to county jails, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is sending notices to 548 workers that they will lose their jobs.
The first wave of firings is set for Feb. 29. A second round is expected in the fall.
Those losing their jobs include about 140 guards...
LINK - CentralValleyBusinessTimes.com
January 31, 2012
CMC facing limited layoffs
Of the 545 layoff warning notices the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation sent out last week, only seven went to employees of the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo.
As part of a state prison realignment that is slated to reduce the prison population by 33,000 within two years by moving some offenders to county jails, staff numbers are also slated to decline. Throughout the state prison system, there are now 14,000 fewer inmates than there were six months ago...
LINK - CalCoastNews.com
January 31, 2012
Campaign finance watchdog highlights money behind Florida prison privatization move
The National Institute on Money in State Politics released a report yesterday that highlights the money behind the state’s renewed plans to privatize state prisons.
Even though a judge struck down the state’s plans to privatize prisons in some regions of the state last year, the Legislature has fast-tracked bills this session to allow them to take another stab at last year’s plans. In just a few weeks the state’s plans have passed through two committees and are ready for a floor vote...
LINK - FloridaIndependent.com
January 31, 2012
Barbs Fly in FL Private Prison Conflict
Florida correctional officers say a proposal to privatize some prisons amounts to the government picking winners and losers. They claim the losers will be correctional officers who would be unemployed or displaced, along with their families and communities. Proponents, including private prison operator GEO Group, counter that privately-managed prisons are money-savers for the state.
Captain Mike Riley, a corrections officer in Ocala, says private operators may throw current officers out the main prison gate...
LINK - PublicNewsService.org
January 31, 2012
Parolee leads officers on chase
A 29-year-old man wanted for an alleged parole violation was arrested early Sunday after trying to flee police, authorities said.
A Watsonville police officer spotted Iran Cota Perez behind the wheel of a white Chevrolet Sebring at an East Lake Avenue market and followed him when he left the market, deputy April Skalland said. Perez had a female passenger...
LINK - SantaCruzSentinel.com
January 31, 2012
Corning parolee arrested for allegedly carrying billy club
A 27-year-old Corning parolee was arrested early this morning by Tehama County sheriff's deputies for allegedly carrying an illegal billy club.
About 1 a.m., deputies pulled over Jonathan Michael Stamper in a traffic stop on Hall Road in Corning, deputies said...
LINK - Redding.com
January 31, 2012
Deputies: Realignment parolee caught with stolen property
Deputies said they caught a man who was recently paroled because of realignment after he allegedly stole several items from a Shasta Lake home.
David Weston Allen Jones, 27, allegedly stole several miscellaneous items and clothing from a home on the 4100 block of Willamette Street at around 11 a.m. today, said Tom Short, a sergeant with the Shasta County Sheriff's Office...
LINK - Redding.com
January 30, 2012
State wavers on future of closed Paso Robles correctional facility
The governor’s decision to withhold more than $100 million to revamp the closed El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility into a re-entry facility for state prisoners is not necessarily permanent, a state spokesman said Monday, but local officials want more clarity about what the state intends to do with the place long-term.
“I’m a little confused” about the state’s intentions, said Frank Mecham, county supervisor and former Paso Robles mayor. He said he hopes the governor doesn’t plan to “leave it as a big white elephant, gathering weeds and dust.”
Meanwhile Paso Robles City Councilman Fred Strong has disinterred an old idea: asking the state to sell the land to Paso Robles for $1, so that “we could repurpose it in any number of possible ways....”
LINK - SanLuisObispo.com
January 30, 2012
Traffic stop leads to chase, crash
A parolee led police in a brief car chase Saturday evening before crashing into a truck. There were no injuries.
Police officer Joseph Silva noticed a vehicle exit the parking lot of a convenience store at 500 Rimrock Road at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday night without its lights operating, according to a Barstow police report.
Silva attempted to stop the vehicle, but it fled the scene, crossing the center lane divider and nearly crashing with an oncoming vehicle, according to the report...
LINK - DesertDispatch.com
January 30, 2012
Wanted parolee leads officers on chase
A 29-year-old man wanted for an alleged parole violation was arrested early Sunday after trying to flee from police, authorities said.
A Watsonville police officer spotted Iran Cota Perez behind the wheel of a white Chevrolet Sebring at an East Lake Avenue market and followed him when he left the market, Sheriff's deputy April Skalland said.
Perez had a female passenger, Skalland said...
LINK - SantaCruzSentinel.com
January 30, 2012
Man sought for breach in second-strike parole
U-T San Diego is profiling a wanted suspect each week in an effort to make our community safer. We are partnering with Crime Stoppers and local law enforcement to profile known fugitives as well as draw attention to unsolved crimes committed by unknown suspects. This week’s most wanted suspect:
Harold Grigsby, 43
Wanted: Grigsby is wanted for violating parole. He is a second-strike parolee with a criminal history that includes armed robbery, auto theft, making threats and multiple narcotic- and firearms-related charges...
LINK - UTSanDiego.com
January 30, 2012
Hundreds Of Calif. Prison Employees Get Layoff Notices
California prison officials sent layoff notices to 545 employees, including 140 guards, as the inmate population declines to comply with a federal court order.
Corrections officials told KSBW on Friday that all 33 of California's prison institutions, including Salinas Valley State Prison and the correctional training facility near Soledad, will be impacted by the layoffs.
Layoffs will take effect Feb. 29, although some of those affected can transfer to other prisons that have vacancies...
LINK - KSBW.com
January 28, 2012
West Covina parolee arrested following 10-hour stand-off in Whittier
A sheriff's SWAT team, with the help of a K-9, found and arrested a West Covina parolee Friday who barricaded himself in a Whittier garage for more than 10 hours after shooting at police, authorities said Saturday.
Matthew Cloutman, 36, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder of a peace officer and a parole warrant, Whittier police officials said in a written statement.
He was found hiding in a crawl space and bitten by a sheriff's K-9 shortly before 11 p.m. in the garage in the 6200 block of Washington Avenue where he had remained barricaded since about 12:30 p.m., according to Los Angeles County sheriff's Capt. Mike Parker...
LINK - SGVTribune.com
January 27, 2012
Juvenile Justice Cut Would be a Mistake
One of Governor Brown’s budget trigger cuts for California is the $72 million spent on the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ, formerly the California Youth Authority). The governor is proposing to shut down the state juvenile justice detention system and send the youth back to the counties for rehabilitation. On the surface, this seems like a good move—DJJ has a horrible reputation for punishing wards and providing little rehabilitative services.
Santa Clara County is well positioned to take back the14 youth they currently have in the state facility. Its two juvenile ranches are under capacity, and one could easily be converted to a higher-level program with additional funding. Other counties are less equipped to take people back. These counties do not have ranch programs and their juvenile halls are short-term holding facilities, not treatment programs. Also, many rural counties don’t have separate juvenile facilities and kids are held in a separate part of an adult jail—not a very good alternative...
LINK - SanJoseInside.com
January 27, 2012
End of prison oversight not certain
The court-appointed receiver overseeing California's prison health care system said Friday the state must keep its promise to spend more than $2 billion for new medical facilities before the federal courts can end an oversight role that has lasted six years.
California has committed to spending $750 million to upgrade existing medical facilities, building a new medical center and converting juvenile lockups. So far, only the new medical center in Stockton is being built.
Receiver J. Clark Kelso told The Associated Press that the state must begin all the upgrades before it should be allowed to retake control of a prison medical system once deemed so poor that it was found to have violated inmates' constitutional rights. They are his first public comments since a federal judge last week told officials to begin preparing for an end to the receivership...
LINK - FoxNews.com
January 27, 2012
Meet & Confer Notice: Chuckwalla Valley State Prison
Access to Care Unit Operational Assessment - Corrective Action Plan - Chuckwalla Valley State Prison (Supervisory)...
January 27, 2012
Statewide Agreement: COMPSTAT
Statewide Agreement Between CCPOA and the State of California, CDCR Regarding the COMPSTAT Administrative Segregation Unit (ASU) Tracking Log...
January 27, 2012
Statewide Agreement: AB 109 Conversion CSP-LAC
Statewide Agreement Between CCPOA and the State of California, CDCR Regarding the AB 109 Conversion for Facility "B" and "D" from Receiption Center to General Population (GP)...
January 27, 2012
Public Officials Talk About Public Safety Realignment
"If California took the resources made available for prison expansion or realignment, and invested them in re-entry services, affordable housing and jobs and all of the programs that are being cut ... that's going to have much more impact on public safety than building law enforcement.” Emily Harris, Statewide Coordinator for Californians United for a Responsible Budget Daily Breeze, Christina Villacorte, January 25, 2012
“We’re going to make some adjustments, and sometimes they will be some fairly large adjustments. With sufficient resources, I do believe counties can and do already perform some of these services.” Sacramento County Supervisor Don Nottoli Elk Grove Citizen, Brian M. Gold, January 25, 2012...
LINK - Turnto23.com
January 27, 2012
Darrell Steinberg: Pension reform must pass ‘strength test’
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said today that the Legislature will consider some sort of pension reform bill this session, and he didn't rule out sending a hybrid plan for new hires to Gov. Jerry Brown for a signature.
The Sacramento Democrat talked at length about pensions during a morning meeting with the Capitol press corps on Thursday. The Bee's Torey Van Oot was there and passed this six-minute audio file from the event.
(Warning: To hear the file, you'll need software that plays m4a files, such as RealPlayer or QuickTime. The recording is clear but low-volume, so turn up the sound on your listening device.)...
LINK - SacBee.com
January 27, 2012
California Supreme Court denies challenge of Senate maps
The California Supreme Court ruled today that state Senate maps drawn by a citizens commission will be used in this year's elections, despite a pending referendum to overturn them.
The issue came before the High Court after a Republican-backed group, Fairness and Accountability in Redistricting, filed more than 711,000 signatures with county elections offices in a referendum to overturn Senate maps drawn by a 14-member citizens commission.
Californians will decide the fate of the newly drawn Senate districts in November if 504,760 of the signatures are from valid voters. Legislative candidates must file and run their campaigns before then, however, so justices needed to identify district maps to be in effect immediately...
LINK - SacBee.com
January 27, 2012
Man arrested on suspicion of drugs
A 30-year-old man on parole was arrested at about 2:35 a.m. Friday on the 900 block of Main Street on suspicion of being in possession of a controlled substance, police said.
Kurt Breiten, a known parolee with no fixed address, was standing near a vehicle in a parking lot on Main street, police said. Police found a small quantity of suspected methamphetamine in the vehicle, authorities said....
LINK - NapaValleyRegister.com
January 27, 2012
Skinheads arrested after chance encounter with deputies
Two white supremacist gang members — one a parolee at large — were arrested as authorities investigated what first appeared to be a vehicle burglary, San Bernardino County Sheriff's Hesperia station officials said Friday.
Hesperia SMASH Gang Team members on Thursday arrested transient Jeremy Hagen, 31, and Glenn Petrak, also 31, of Victorville after Petrak was found allegedly trying to break into a vehicle in the 13000 block of Trona Court.
At about 3 p.m., officials spotted Petrak outside a vehicle, according to Susan Rose, spokeswoman for the Hesperia station. It turned out Petrak — a documented skinhead gang member on parole — was working on the vehicle, she said....
LINK - HesperiaStar.com
January 27, 2012
Man barricaded in Whittier house, wanted in connection to a West Covina crime
Residents in the quiet historic Uptown Whittier neighborhood said they heard gunshots Friday afternoon on Washington Avenue just south of Beverly Boulevard.
Whittier Police officials said that at approximately 12:15 p.m., U.S. Marshals were shot at during the surveillance and attempted arrest of a male parolee wanted for carjacking in Whittier.
The incident took place in the 6000 block of Washington Ave in Uptown Whittier...
LINK - SGVTribune.com
January 27, 2012
Parolee barricaded after allegedly firing on U.S. marshals in Whittier
U.S. marshals trying to arrest a parolee in Whittier early Friday afternoon were fired on by the man, who then barricaded himself, police said.
The incident took place in the 6000 block of Washington Avenue, where marshals had been conducting surveillance of the man, who was wanted for a carjacking in the City of Industry.
When they tried to arrest him about 12:15 p.m., the man allegedly opened fire on them, according to a Whittier police statement...
LINK - LATimes.com
January 27, 2012
Parolee linked to six Altadena burglaries
A man who deputies say was caught in the act of burglarizing a home Jan. 20 has been linked to five other burglaries in Altadena.
Jeremiah Billingslea, 20, was arrested by sheriff's deputies during an attempted burglary of a home on the 300 block of East Calavaras St. according to Lt. Duane D. Allen of the Altadena sheriff's station. Subsequent investigation linked Billingslea to five other burglaries clustered in the Morada Place neighborhood in recent weeks...
LINK - AltaDenaBlog.com
January 26, 2012
Update: Ruling in the McGowan Case
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal ruled at 8:20 this morning (view the decision below) in the case of Rob McGowan. While the decision is quite complicated, and doesn’t free Rob immediately, it is an incredible victory, and presents the opportunity to get Rob home in the near future.
In a nutshell, the Court denied Rob’s appeal on the conviction, saying the appeal should be brought as an ineffective assistance of counsel claim under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 before the trial court on remand...
January 26, 2012
WHAT TO DO IF YOU RECEIVE A LAYOFF NOTICE
Bargaining Unit 6 employees subject to layoff should anticipate receiving a layoff notice soon, perhaps as early as Friday, January 27, 2012. If you receive a layoff notice and you believe you have reasons to contest your layoff due to errors in your seniority score, the form of the notice, or the layoff procedure itself, contact our CCPOA field representative, Corey Davis, immediately so that your case can be evaluated in a timely manner. Corey Davis can be reached by calling our Sacramento Office at (800) 821-6443 or (916) 372-6060...
January 26, 2012
Female parolee arrested following police pursuit
A wanted parolee led police on a chase through Whittier on Wednesday before she ultimately pulled over and surrendered, authorities said.
Monique Ramos, 30, was booked on suspicion of evading police and violating parole, Whittier police Sgt. Gregg Hamilton said.
An officer tried to stop her car for running a red light about 9:35a.m. at Whittier Boulevard and Mar Vista Street, police said...
LINK - WhittierDailyNews.com
January 26, 2012
‘Puffy Coat Bandit’ suspect indicted for seven bank robberies
A federal grand jury has indicted a 46-year-old parolee known as the "Puffy Coat Bandit" for seven bank robberies across Southern California.
Steven Dwayne Paulson was arrested Jan. 10 by an Upland police detective who spotted him driving shortly after authorities released a description of the "Puffy Coat Bandit," the Press-Enterprise reported.
The nickname was created by FBI agents because of a ski parka worn by the robber in several heists...
LINK - LATimes.com
January 26, 2012
Pair arrested on drug, weapons charges in Santa Rosa
A Santa Rosa gang member, out of prison on parole, was back in custody Wednesday after police detectives found he was carrying a gun and drugs for sale.
Mario Ochoa Gonzalez, 26, was known to police as a parolee and a gang member, reported Sgt. Ray Navarro.
Gonzalez was seen driving Wednesday in Santa Rosa, followed by a car also registered to him...
LINK - PressDemocrat.com
January 26, 2012
Police looking for missing registered sex offender
Local law enforcement is searching for parolee and registered sex offender, Gilbert Avalos Jr., who removed his GPS tracking ankle monitor and his whereabouts are unknown.
Avalos is a Hispanic male, 23 years old, 5’8” tall, 195 pounds with black hair, brown eyes...
LINK - KGET.com
January 26, 2012
Visalia standoff with parolee in garage ends
A standoff with parolee at a southwest Visalia home ended about 11:10 a.m. today when police found Michael Nash, 35, hiding in the back of a car in a garage.
An ambulance took Nash to a hospital because he was in "some sort of medical distress," police Sgt. Amy Watkins said.
Visalia animal control was called to the home to deal with a vicious pit bull dog...
LINK - FresnoBee.com
January 26, 2012
Yuba rape suspect released in December
An Olivehurst man accused of sexually assaulting a woman at knife-point last week served seven months of a two-year sentence, with credits for time served, and was released in late December, authorities said, but Joseph Scott Mason did not recieve an early release from prison, the California Department of Corrections said Thursday.
“Realignment did not have anything to do with (Mason’s) release date,” said Luis Patino, spokesman for the state corrections department. “He would still have been at exactly the same time.”
Mason, 48, was arrested Monday after Yuba County sheriff’s deputies said he raped a 46-year-old woman at least twice last week...
LINK - Appeal-Democrat.com
January 26, 2012
Bill on media access to prisoners advances
The Assembly voted 47-22 today to pass a Bay Area lawmaker’s bill that would lift the ban on media interviews with specific inmates in California’s prisons.
Since the ban on pre-arranged inmate interviews went into effect in 1996, bill author Tom Ammiano noted, eight versions of this bill have been vetoed by three governors.
“Independent media access to prison inmates is a critical part of keeping our prisons transparent and accountable while providing information to the public,” Ammiano, D-San Francisco, said in a news release...
LINK - iBaBuzz.com
January 26, 2012
New acting Warden at CCI
Kim Holland is the new Acting Warden at the California Correctional Institution. Mike Stainer, the former Acting Warden who was formally appointed to the Warden’s position by Gov. Jerry Brown on Jan. 17, is on assignment as Acting Associate Director of the California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation in Sacramento. Holland was introduced at a recent meeting of the CCI Citizens Advisory Committee.
Newly appointed Acting Warden Kim Holland was introduced at the Jan. 17 meeting of the Citizens Advisory Committee at the California Correctional Institution.
Holland replaces Michael Stainer who has temporarily been stationed in Sacramento as Acting Associate Director. Stainer had been Acting Warden since December 2010 and was formally appointed as Warden at CCI by Gov. Jerry Brown on Jan. 17...
LINK - TehachapiNews.com
January 26, 2012
Sheriff releases inmates to avoid overcrowding
A recent surge in the population at county jails has prompted Sheriff Bill Gore to start shaving up to 10 percent off jail terms for some inmates to avoid overcrowding.
The number of men held in custody this month in San Diego County swelled to 96 percent of capacity. Most of the increase can be traced to a law Gov. Jerry Brown sought and the Legislature approved last year that allows some lower-level criminals to be sentenced to local jail instead of state prison.
Around Jan. 19, Gore authorized the release of about 260 inmates, most of whom were serving misdemeanor sentences or were nonviolent felons ordered to serve jail time as a condition of probation. The average number being released now is about 35 to 40 a day, he said...
LINK - UTSanDiego.com
January 26, 2012
Number of Older Inmates Grows, Stressing Prisons
The number of Americans in prison older than 55 is growing at a faster rate than the group’s share of the population at large, and many prisons are unprepared to provide them with health care, which can cost as much as nine times more than for younger inmates, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Friday.
The complications in handling the swelling number of aging prisoners range from making allowances for those with Alzheimer’s or dementia and finding sufficient ground-floor cells for inmates in wheelchairs to ensuring that older prisoners are not exploited or robbed by younger inmates...
LINK - NYTimes.com
January 26, 2012
SFPD arrests 20 CDCR parolees
The San Francisco Police Department announced Thursday that it led a multi-agency operation the previous evening that target wanted suspects throughout the city, netting 70 arrests.
According to a press release issued Thursday, the operation was led by the department's violence reduction team and utilized officers from all ten district stations in partnership with the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department, state parole agents, and San Francisco adult probation officers...
LINK - KTVU.com
January 26, 2012
Sentence overturned for Chino prison guard
A federal appeals court panel has overturned the sentence of a former guard convicted of abusing two shackled inmates at a Chino prison.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that 42-year-old Robert McGowan was deprived of due process when a judge relied on an inmate's allegations as the basis for the four-year sentence imposed.
McGowan has served 19 months....
LINK - SFGate.com
January 26, 2012
Appeals Panel Tosses Prison Sentence Given To Chino Guard Convicted Of Abusing Inmates
A federal appellate panel Thursday threw out a four-year sentence given to a former Chino prison guard convicted of abusing inmates.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a district judge in Los Angeles should re-sentence Robert McGowan. He was convicted by a federal jury in 2007 after being accused of assault in a case in which shackled inmates were thrown to the ground.
In his appeal, McGowan, 42, of Apple Valley successfully argued that he was deprived of due process when the trial judge relied on a state prison inmate’s “unreliable allegations” as a basis for the 51-month sentence imposed in 2010...
LINK - LosAngeles.CBSLocal.com
January 25, 2012
Parolee arrested in theft from 104-year-old coast man
The son of a 104-year-old Little River man's care giver was arrested Tuesday for allegedly charging thousands of dollars to the elderly man's credit card, according to the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.
A deputy was assigned to investigate the reported fraud and responded to the man's home in the 5000 block of Albion Little River Road at 3:20 p.m.. Friday.He learned that the victim, William Wesatfall, had a caretaker who managed his credit card, according to the MCSO...
LINK - UkiahDailyJournal.com
January 25, 2012
Parolee arrested in Santa Cruz on suspicion of possessing drugs, firearm
A 28-year-old man was arrested after officers conducting a parole compliance search turned up ammunition, a firearm and drugs, according to Sheriff's deputy April Skalland.
Officers conducted the search at the Santa Cruz residence of Daniel James Mendoza just before 1 p.m. Tuesday. Mendoza was suspected of being under the influence when officers arrived at the residence...
LINK - MercuryNews.com
January 25, 2012
Lawmakers urge Brown to provide details on pension proposals
Members of a conference committee charged with crafting comprehensive pension-reform legislation this year urged Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday to quickly provide full details on how he envisions his proposed reforms would work.
"The public is starting to question if this committee is going to accomplish anything," said Sen. Mimi Walters, R-Laguna Niguel. "We need to prove to the public that we are very, very serious about moving forward with pension reform."
She urged the Brown administration to quickly provide the committee with proposed legislative language that would detail his proposals on reform for public employee pensions...
LINK - VCStar.com
January 25, 2012
Parolee convicted of murder for killing his wife in front of children
A paroled rapist who shot his wife to death in front of her two young children in Oceanside as the family prepared to go to church was convicted Tuesday of first-degree murder.
After a day of deliberations, a jury found Dontaye Henderson guilty in the Jan. 1, 2011, death of his wife.
Henderson, 29, was also convicted of being a felon in possession of a gun. He faces up to 82 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Feb. 23 by Superior Court Judge Robert Kearney....
LINK - 760kfmb.com
January 25, 2012
Parolee arrested after car chase in Fairfield
Fairfield police arrested an El Sobrante parolee Monday night after a short car chase through the city that ended with the suspect running from the car, which had been reported as stolen, and apprehended by a Fairfield K-9, authorities said.
An officer spotted Kevin Panlaqui, 34, in the Travis Boulevard area at about 8:30 p.m., said Fairfield Sgt. Matthew Thomas. The officer attempted to stop Panlaqui, who was driving a 1994 Acura Integra, after he noticed one of the car's lights were out, Thomas said.
Rather than pulling over, Panlaqui led officers on a pursuit that wound through the streets of Fairfield, during which an officer had to dive out of the way to avoid being hit, before he was finally boxed into the Chamberland Drive area by seven Fairfield officers, Thomas said...
LINK - TheReporter.com
January 25, 2012
Gov. Jindal reveals Pension Reform Plan
Governor Jindal unveiled a dramatic redesign of the state employee retirement plan. The Governor, in three parts, tries to help the state dig itself out of an $18 billion hole. No all state workers are on board.
"Louisiana taxpayers are spending nearly $2 billion just this year in state retirement," said Jindal.
He called the state's current retirement system irresponsible, pointing to out of control costs that are impacting what he calls critical investments in priority areas; like classrooms and healthcare...
LINK - WAFB.com
January 25, 2012
Calif. Prisons Chief: Despite “Bumps,” There’s “Hope” in Realignment
Nearly four months into California’s shift of responsibility for low-level criminals from the state to counties, the state prisons chief says he’s “gratified” with how realignment is going so far.
Corrections Secretary Matthew Cate says realignment isn't perfect. He acknowledges hearing "anecdotes" about crimes that might not have happened without it. But he says realignment might prevent a lot of crimes too...
LINK - CapRadio.org
January 25, 2012
Editorial: Lawmakers spin their wheels on pension reform
A joint Senate/Assembly conference committee will hold its third (ho-hum) informational hearing today on the 12-point pension reform plan that Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled with such fanfare last October. Don't expect anything to come of it. So far, a lot of talk has emerged but no pension bill. Efforts to substantially reduce state pension obligations are a sham in this Legislature, and most people who work in the Capitol know that.
A conference committee was formed to produce a reform package, but after three months, no author has emerged willing to champion the governor's proposal and no language has been drafted that would give substance to the modest plan Brown outlined...
LINK - SacBee.com
January 25, 2012
Solano’s First Sweep of Felons Under Gov’s New Prison Realignment Program
Three arrests off the top, during Solano County law enforcement officers' very first sweep of felons under the Governor's new prison realignment program.
"They are dangerous people that are coming out of prison, that are left with probation and law enforcement to deal with," said Lt. Brad Dewall, during one of the first arrests of the day.
"What we're doing is compliance checks to make sure that they are with terms and conditions of their release," Solano County Sheriff Gary Stanton said...
LINK - Fox40.com
January 25, 2012
More state prisoners may be moved to Rio Cosumnes jail
The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors chair said last week the county will continue to feel Gov. Jerry Brown’s ongoing push to help slash California’s deficit by shifting some of the state’s responsibilities to local governments.
In his State of the State speech, Brown said that last year California was facing “a structural deficit” of more than $20 billion.
“It was a real mess,” he said. “But you rose to the occasion and together we shrunk state government, reduced our borrowing costs, and transferred key functions to local government, closer to the people..."
LINK - EGCitizen.com
January 25, 2012
More parolees than expected entering Yolo County
While Yolo County officials have more figures concerning prison realignment, the full effects won't be known for at least several more months, if not years.
Chief Probation Officer Marjorie Rist presented the latest update on AB 109 to the Yolo County Board of Supervisors Tuesday. Prison realignment, which was implemented in October, transfers the state's responsibility for non-violent, non-sexual and non-serious inmates to county jurisdictions.
As of Dec. 11, Yolo County had 89 parolees on post-release community supervision, said Kevin O'Connell, a probation department data analyst. This is 16 more than expected...
LINK - DailyDemocrat.com
January 25, 2012
Four months in, some California judges want more say over state’s new sentencing rules
Some California Superior Court judges are calling for a major shift in Gov. Jerry Brown's 4-month-old realignment policy -- the power to keep track of certain nonviolent felons for a lot longer than the policy now calls for.
The judges say the change is necessary because it's nearly impossible to rehabilitate some offenders and discourage them from committing new crimes in the limited time the new realignment system allows...
LINK - MercuryNews.com
January 25, 2012
CDCR’s Matt Cate talks to Sacramento Press Club
California's enormous budget problem is making it difficult for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to comply with the court-ordered reduction in its prison population, Corrections Secretary Matthew Cate told 80 Sacramento Press Club luncheon guests Tuesday.
But, said Cate, "It's getting done."
Cate said the inmate population is 200 percent over capacity, and the goal is to reduce that to 137.5 percent. The major effort now --called Realignment-- is aimed at moving less violent inmates into county facilities. But the state budget problem is getting in the way. Cate said some counties want remuneration from the state for their added costs, and the state doesn't have the money...
LINK - CapitolMR.com (Subscription Only)
January 25, 2012
Fight brewing over historic California plan to close last three youth prisons
California, often a trendsetter, could make history if it approves Gov. Jerry Brown’s bid to close all state-run youth prisons and eliminate its state Division of Juvenile Justice.
Much depends, though, on whether the state’s politically influential prison guards, probation officers and district attorneys can be convinced — or forced by legislators — to agree to Brown’s proposal. That won’t be an easy sell, due to both public-safety arguments and sure-to-surface haggling over just who pays to house juvenile offenders...
LINK - iWatchNews.com
January 25, 2012
VSPW inmates opposed to prison conversion?
Inmates at Valley State Prison for Women (VSPW) have flooded the office of Madera County District 2 Supervisor David Rogers with letters expressing their concerns and fears over the state's plan to convert the prison to a men's facility.
"These concerns," Rogers said, "range from losing valuable rehabilitative programs and the potential of being housed near women who have threatened their safety."
Recent numbers show about 3,000 women are housed in VSPW, Rogers said, which is 150 percent of design capacity. At Central California Women's Facility (CCWF), the second women's prison located in Chowchilla, there are about 3,400 inmates, 180 percent of design capacity, Rogers said. The only other women's facility, California Institute for Women (CIW), houses almost 2,000 inmates and was designed for 1,200...
LINK - SacBee.com
January 25, 2012
Chowchilla gets temporary restraining order on state’s plan to convert female prison to male
The city of Chowchilla said it was granted a Stipulation and Order temporarily prohibiting the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) from proceeding with the conversion of a women’s prison to a men’s prison as a part of the state’s prison realignment plan.
On Jan. 6, a petition for a Writ of Mandate was filed for CDCR’s failure to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Later, the city said it learned that CDCR was moving forward with the conversion. On Jan. 24, the city filed a Temporary Restraining Order against CDCR...
LINK - MercedSunStar.com
January 24, 2012
Testimony starts in grand theft trial of Westlake Village parolee
Testimony began Monday in the trial of a parolee on charges he stole thousands of dollars from a woman.
Prosecutors allege Daniel R. Coffman, 57, convinced the woman his wife froze his assets and that he needed to pay an attorney to free up his account, which had $700,000, including money to run his Agoura Hills business....
LINK - VCStar.com
January 24, 2012
Investigators: Man shot in Selma was a wanted Parolee
Action News has acquired cell phone video showing what happened at a Selma hotel right after police shot and killed a suspect.
A resident of the Villager Inn Motel shot the video after hearing gunshots. Officers can clearly be heard yelling at a woman who was in the room with 32-year-old Clayton Cass.
Fresno County Sheriff's investigators are looking into the officer-involved shooting. They say Cass was a wanted parolee out of Tulare County. That agency asked Selma Police to find Cass...
LINK - ABCLocal.go.com
January 24, 2012
Suspect killed by Selma cops was wanted parolee
Fresno County authorities say the man fatally shot by police officers at a motel over the weekend was a parolee wanted for burglary and sexual assault.
The coroner on Monday identified the man as 32-year-old Clayton Cass of Exeter.
Cass was wanted by the Tulare County Sheriff's Department, who alerted Selma police that he was staying at a motel in town...
LINK - MercuryNews.com
January 24, 2012
More work to do on pension reform in New Jersey
In talking to state legislators, there appears to be a willingness to address a fresh concern with the New Jersey public pension system.
News reporter Lauren Taniguchi has written stories the last two Sundays about public employees retiring, collecting pensions and then getting new public jobs. Labeled “double-dipping” by critics, the practice amounts to two hefty public paychecks for many of these individuals.
It’s a practice our state cannot afford and one that should be ended....
LINK - NJ.com
January 24, 2012
San Bernardino County pension reform measure moves forward
The president of San Bernardino County's most powerful labor union announced Tuesday it is bankrolling an initiative to reduce county supervisors' jobs to part-time status.
The announcement by Laren Leichliter, president of the San Bernardino County Safety Employees Benefit Association, or SEBA, came hours after he appeared before the Board of Supervisors to protest pension reforms proposed by Supervisors Janice Rutherford and Gary Ovitt.
On a narrow vote, the board authorized county counsel to draft a ballot measure requiring any proposed pension increases for county employees be put to a vote by taxpayers....
LINK - ContraCostaTimes.com
January 24, 2012
Parolee Cruises Sierra Madre
An officer stopped a 26-year old Los Angeles motorist for a Vehicle Code violation in the Orange Grove Ave. and Orlando Dr. intersection at 11:35 p.m. on Thursday January 19.
Further investigation revealed that the driver had three outstanding no-bail warrants. Also, the 26-year old passenger was a parolee-at-large...
LINK - SierraMadre.Patch.com
January 23, 2012
Our View: Signs of progress in state prisons
Gov. Jerry Brown's realignment already is having a positive impact on the statewide prison system.
The population in these overcrowded prisons has dropped by 11,000 inmates -- to 133,000 -- in just six months. And the state is on track to get to 110,000 by June 2013.
That's a big change from 2006, when then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency. Overcrowding in the prisons, Schwarzenegger said, "causes harm to people and property, leads to inmate unrest and misconduct, reduces or eliminates programs, and increases recidivism as shown within this state and in others."
California's prison medical care system was so broken that a federal judge took the drastic step of taking it away from the state and placing it in federal receivership. The goal, declared the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, was to "reverse the entrenched paralysis and dysfunction and bring the delivery of health care in California prisons up to constitutional standards."
Well, California finally has turned a corner on that front, too...
LINK - MercedSunStar.com
January 23, 2012
Prisoners ride shift; inmates return to Shasta County under new state law
Randy Cates, a 38-year-old homeless man staying at the Good News Rescue Mission in Redding, has been in and out of prison before. But this time it's different.
Cates was among the first of Shasta County's recently released state prison inmates to return this fall under a contentious new law that transferred responsibility of some of those who once were called parolees to the county's probation department.
Cates, who has a lengthy history of drug-related crimes, is now assigned to probation's "post release community supervision" program. The state classifies him as a "nonserious" offender...
LINK - Redding.com
January 23, 2012
Suspect was recently released from prison
A man Butte County Sheriff's deputies arrested Thursday night following a brief vehicle and foot chase is a low-level offender recently released to the area from prison.
Officials said Stephen Clifford Miller, 28, is currently suspected of selling methamphetamine.
A confidential informant revealed details of his activities to sheriff's investigators, and said the man was driving a light-colored Chevrolet Impala...
LINK - ChicoER.com
January 23, 2012
Police briefs: Man arrested after foot chase
Salinas police and county probation officers captured a parolee Thursday after a chase that started when he climbed out a second-story window.
Probation officers went to an apartment in the 900 block of Rider Avenue about 2 p.m. They spotted a man climbing out of an upstairs window, then someone threw a backpack to the man, and he jumped down and started running, police said.
Salinas police joined the chase and cornered the man at Gee Street and Rider, taking him into custody after a struggle...
LINK - MontereyHerald.com
January 23, 2012
Milpitas parolee arrested, three handguns seized
Milpitas Police Department officers arrested 53-year-old Milpitas resident Johnny Munoz on charges of being a felon in possession of weapons and drugs on Jan. 17 at about 11 a.m.
Munoz, a known parolee, and Ramon Garcia, a 21-year-old transient, were stopped by officers on the 900 block of Jacklin Road. Officers allegedly found brass knuckles in Munoz's possession. He was arrested for possession of an illegal weapon.
Garcia, who was also on parole, was allegedly in possession of several baggies of methamphetamine, police said...
LINK - MercuryNews.com
January 23, 2012
Newark burglary suspect involved in fatal crash dies
One of three burglary suspects involved in a police chase and car crash that killed a Pleasanton man last week has also died, police said.
Rajwaun Watkins, 20, of Oakland and Hayward, died Friday at Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley of injuries from the crash, according to a Newark police press release.
The two other burglary suspects, Deshon Collier, 20, and Jabrie Watts, 20, are in jail on probation and parole violations, according to the release. Watts lived in Oakland and Hayward; Collier listed addresses in San Leandro, Union City and Hayward....
LINK - ContraCostaTimes.com
January 23, 2012
Man arrested in Facebook threat on ex-girlfriend’s family
A 22-year-old parolee was arrested Sunday when he allegedly made threats via Facebook to “put a hit” on his 15-year-old girlfriend’s family after they forbade him from seeing her, police said.
Raul Reinoso of Glendale was arrested at his home in the 300 block of East Chestnut Street on suspicion of making a criminal threat, unlawful sex with a minor and oral copulation with a minor, according to Glendale police.The girl’s parents told police that Reinoso threatened them on Facebook after they logged into their daughter’s social network account and sent him a message saying that he was not allowed to see her again, Sgt. Tom Lorenz said...
LINK - LATimes.com
January 23, 2012
The pension clock is ticking
It's the norm in January: After the governor proposes a new budget and delivers his State of the State address, legislators slide into hibernation until spring.
Oh, there's some rustling around in the dens — a few committee hearings, brief floor sessions — but no strenuous activity, no risk taking until May, when deadlines sprout and the governor revises his budget proposal.
Not every year follows that pattern — last March, the governor and the Legislature made sharp spending cuts — but winter 2012 has all the signs of the rhythmic long nap...
LINK - LATimes.com
January 23, 2012
Inmate Death at SATF in Corcoran Being Investigated As A Homicide
Officials at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) Substance Abuse Treatment Facility (SATF) are investigating an inmate death as a homicide.
Jeffrey Lynn Goodwin, 43, was found on the institution’s recreation yard with an apparent head injury Thursday, January 19. Goodwin succumbed to his injuries at approximately 12:40 p.m. Sunday, January 22.
Officials from the prison and the Kings County District Attorney’s Office have named inmates Cedric Jerome Mills, 47, and Charles Morris, 41, as suspects in the case. Both inmates have been placed in administrative segregation while the investigation continues...
LINK - CDCRToday.Blogspot.com
January 23, 2012
UPD officers ‘maxed-out’ with each handling 1,200 calls a year
Chief Dewey exploring ways to ease burden on his staff
The Ukiah Police Department "has maxed-out its officers' time" and is looking for ways to reduce their workload by enlisting interns, volunteers and expanding its Community Services Officer (CSO) program.
"I think we're doing a fantastic job handling the calls we have," said Public Safety Director Chris Dewey, addressing the Ukiah City Council Saturday during a special meeting to discuss ways to streamline city operations...
LINK - UkiahDailyJournal.com
January 23, 2012
Reform Washington state’s pension system to help state close its budget gap
Washington state must reform its overly generous pension system. The Seattle Times editorial board favors pension reform of the type proposed by state Sen. Joseph Zarelli.
IN the work to balance the state budget, short-term gains are nice, but the long term is critical. One of the most fruitful areas for saving money long term is public-employee pensions. This cannot mean taking away a benefit already promised, which is illegal. Surely it will mean changing what is promised to new employees.
An example is Senate Bill 6378, sponsored by Sen. Joseph Zarelli, R-Ridgefield. Under the bill, new state employees would no longer get a full pension at 62 after 30 years service or an 80 percent pension at age 55 — a benefit light-years away from what most private-sector workers have...
LINK - SeattleTimes.NWSource.com
January 23, 2012
Shooting death of unarmed parolee being investigated
An investigation was under way today into the death of a wanted parolee and suspected gang member who turned out to be unarmed when he was shot and killed by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies in Lancaster while allegedly running away and appearing to reach for a weapon.
The man killed late Saturday night was Christian Cobian, 26, of Lancaster, the Los Angeles County coroner's office said this morning.
Cobian was on probation following felony convictions and was wanted on a narcotics warrant, according to the Sheriff's Department...
LINK - ContraCostaTimes.com
January 23, 2012
Parolee and Companion Arrested, Guns and Drugs Seized
Two men were arrested in Milpitas this week, and police officers seized firearms, other illegal weapons and drugs in their possession.
On Tuesday, Jan. 17 at approximately 11:06 a.m., Milpitas Police officers performed a traffic stop on the 900 block of Jacklin Road. The vehicle they stopped contained 53-year-old Johnny Munoz of Milpitas - a former convicted felon out on parole - and 21-year-old Ramon Garcia, a transient...
LINK - Milpitas.Patch.com
January 23, 2012
Parolee pleads no contest in Hillsborough slaying
A parolee faces seven years in prison after pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of his longtime friend in Hillsborough.
Bradley Kleiman, 31, entered his plea Friday in San Mateo County Superior Court while pretrial motions were being heard in advance of his trial in Redwood City.
Kleiman also admitted a firearm allegation in connection with the June 15, 2010, slaying of Christopher Calvache, 30, who was shot at the De Sabla Road home where Kleiman lived with his parents, authorities said...
LINK - SFGate.com
January 23, 2012
Man suspected of DUI to face trial in woman’s death
A 39-year-old man will be tried in Napa Superior Court in connection with a fatal collision in March at the intersection of the Redwood Road and Linda Vista Avenue that killed a local woman, a judge ruled Thursday.
Christiaan Dewet faces charges of vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence causing injury with special allegation in connection with the death of 59-year-old Sandra Hamilton when he allegedly ran a red light, according to court records and court testimony...
LINK - NapaValleyRegister.com
January 22, 2012
More Lockouts as Companies Battle Unions
America’s unionized workers, buffeted by layoffs and stagnating wages, face another phenomenon that is increasingly throwing them on the defensive: lockouts.
From the Cooper Tire factory in Findlay, Ohio, to a country club in Southern California and sugar beet processing plants in North Dakota, employers are turning to lockouts to press their unionized workers to grant concessions after contract negotiations deadlock. Even the New York City Opera locked out its orchestra and singers for more than a week before settling the dispute last Wednesday.
Many Americans know about the highly publicized lockouts in professional sports — like last year’s 130-day lockout by the National Football League and the 161-day lockout by the National Basketball Association — but lockouts, once a rarity, have been used in less visible industries as well...
LINK - NYTimes.com
January 20, 2012
Meet & Confer Notices: Week of January 20, 2012
Meet and Confer notices for the week of January 20th including: Emergency Revision of January 2012 Institution Activation Schedule and Issuance of February 2012 Institution Activation Schedule; Implementation of EO B-11-11 and Senate Bill 26 Supervisory; Access to Care Unit Post Redirections at Chuckwalla Valley State Prison; and AB 109 Position Elimination at CCC...
