Medical System In Prisons

For many inmates that were/are serving a sentence in jail don’t really get any medical treatment. The jail system had a poor medical system for these inmates however; the state’s prison did something about this so the federal people would get off their back. California has a $840 million medical system which would provide care to more than 1,800 inmates. In July they opened the state-of-the-art California Health Care Facility. However, there was miscommunication and mismanagement between the medical staff and the prison. It wasn’t only that they weren’t getting medical care, but also not shoes, soap, or towels. Many complains arose and the inmates lawyers were the ones to voice them out. Prisoner’s advocates were fighting to help the inmates because some weren’t even allowed to shower. Now there has been change for these inmates and now have some kind of medical care. The state Corrections Department is in charge of the general custody and Kelso is in charge of the $1.7 billion a year prison medical care system.

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-ff-prison-hospital-20140413,0,7414773.story#axzz2ypfqduU5

Supreme Court

California’s Supreme Court is expected to have some change. For many years the Supreme Court has been dominated by Republicans. However, this might change because Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to change this if he is reelected. Two of the most powerful judges who are conservatives are now in their late 70’s. Gov. Brown of replacing them with the people he wants although it’ll take a couple more replacements to fully change the court around. Brown faces political pressure and many people are saying that he will pick a Latino. The court has never had an African American or Latino judge before. Some say that it wouldn’t be a surprise if he elected lawyer James Humes who is openly gay. For more than two decades the court has only had one democratic appointee. Brown may want to create a court that is interested in the ideas behind the laws as well as practical results.

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-brown-court-20140405,0,4034285.story#axzz2y5G7mO00

Affirmative Action

The issue of Affirmative Action started coming up in January. Senators passed a measure that if approved would ban the affirmative action California has on higher public education. However, there were worries from the upper class that there will be no more space for their children because of the minority groups. In 1996 a law was passed that forbids the state to consider race, ethnicity or gender in hiring, contracting or admissions to public institutions of higher education. People say that there are some groups that are not well represented because they don’t make that much of the population. The Chinese community is the ones who are talking more about the whole affirmative action situation. The senator wanted to make sure that the concerns of Asian Americans before doing anything. Several lawmakers in the assembly opposed the proposal. None of the proposals of Hernandez have never been enacted, he has only talked about them.  
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-affirmative-action-20140331,0,2270777.story#ixzz2xc4vmq5o

Obamacare

The time to apply for Obamacare is coming to an end. By Monday 03/31/14 everyone who wants to benefit from Obamacare must have applied by then. After this the question is what to do with the people who failed to enroll or those who weren’t eligible. Many of these people are poor or undocumented. There are some counties that are ignoring this issue and are leaving it up to the free clinics there are. However, Los Angeles is trying to set up some type of health care system for them, but is not sure how it will look like or will be funded. Every Tuesday they will meet up to talk about this system and see how it will be funded and if this will actually help the people. It I estimated by UCLA and UC Berkeley researchers that 3 to 4 million people in California will still be uninsured 5 years from now even after the Affordable Care Act is in effect. There are doubts that this plan will get far.

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-obamacare-undocumented-20140331,0,706064.story#axzz2xbcxHt36

Increase in Tax

There is a plan to increase the sales tax on things to help repair the damaged roads. The plan is to increase half-cent on the sales taxes which will produce $4.5 billion in 15 years. Increasing the tax is the only way to help repair the damage roads there are in Los Angeles. Public transit people are voicing out their worries because they worry that a city tax increase could jeopardize their proposal for a countywide sales tax for transportation projects. It’s said that if voters approve this in November the tax rate within Los Angeles’s city limits would go up to 9.5 cents on every $1 of retail sales. On Wednesday there will be hearing to talk about to see if people agree to increase the tax. If so, this will appear in the November ballot. However, most people think it’s better to go with the transit tax because it would be more beneficial.
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-0401-transportation-taxes-20140401,0,5346445.story#ixzz2xbj5KFEO

Concealed Weapons

In San Diego sheriffs will continue to review applicants for permits which will allow them to carry guns. “Despite a court ruling that struck down California’s concealed weapons statute, the San Diego county Sheriff’s Department” will continue to give out permits to those who meet the standards. People will continue to apply for permits and then those applications will be reviewed to see whether they’re capable of carrying a concealed weapon. On Thursday the ruling by a “three-judge panel of the 9^TH Circuit Court of Appeals found that the statute, as applied by the San Diego department, was overly restrictive and violate the 2^nd amendment”.  Those that don’t meet the standards will be denied their permit.  Many people in the San Diego area support this ruling and don’t have a problem with it. For example, Tony Kravic, a republican, tweeted his support for the ruling that was made on Thursday.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-san-diego-concealed-guns-permits-20140215,0,5803926.story#axzz2tXDv9NFy

 

West Hollywood Rainbow Flag

On June 2013 there was a rainbow flag that was hung above City Hall. Now the West Hollywood City Council has responded to a growing criticism of the removal of that flag. The flag will be removing, but there will be a compromise. In order for the flag to be moved, there will be another flag hung that incorporates rainbow colors into the city logo. In a last week meeting the council members agreed to this change. On January the flag was removed due to a unanimous vote by the council. As soon as the flag was removed they got complains from the residents because 40% of the people living there identify themselves as gay or lesbian and four the council members are gay men. The new flag that will have a rainbow city logo, this logo is already displayed on city vehicles and on the vehicles of Los Angeles County sheriffs’ deputies in the West Hollywood Station.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-west-hollywood-rainbow-flag-20140207,0,344943.story#axzz2stdFel5L