In February, a federal judge ruled that election districts for the board of supervisors in a Central California county illegally dilute the voting power of Latinos and deprive them of an opportunity to elect candidates of their choice. The ruling came in a lawsuit against Kern County by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational […]

In February, the city of Sacramento filed a federal lawsuit against Wells Fargo that alleged that the bank directs African American and Latino borrowers into high-risk and high-cost mortgages. The lawsuit is also seeking monetary damages against Wells Fargo because the city claims that the mortgages forced the city “to divert resources intended for other […]

According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Sacramento, a former DMV employee with access to computer records that included personal information used it to steal victims’ identities and open phony bank accounts. Sarah Laray Sandoval, 39, is the subject on an ongoing federal bribery probe into the misuse of department computer files […]

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, California’s solar power industry has started to shrink after years of steady job growth. The Solar Foundation research group released their annual survey in late January and it found that the number of solar jobs in the state fell more than 13 percent in 2017. The reason for the […]

In late January, the first formal state audit of the California bullet train project was authorized by the legislature’s joint audit committee. The audit was authorized after the rail authority disclosed that the cost of building the first 119 miles of track in the Central Valley would cost $10.6 billion, which is a 77 percent […]

In late December, a class action lawsuit was filed in San Diego federal court that alleges that immigrants at Otay Mesa Detention Center are paid at most $1.50 per day, and sometimes not paid at all, for their work. The lawsuit further alleges that the facility doesn’t provide all of the basic necessities that detainees […]

It’s been almost four years since Californians saw the price for gasoline at $4 a gallon, which peaked at that price in the summer of 2014. According to some industry observers, that price may be back by Memorial Day. Californians already pay for highest-priced gasoline in the nation, which has been averaging at $3.30 a […]

CashCall, an Orange County personal loan lender, and its owner, J. Paul Reddam, were ordered to pay $10.3 million for violating consumer protection laws. However, the fine is only a fraction of the $287 million in penalties and restitution sought by the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The CFPB sued CashCall in 2013 and […]

Motel 6 is facing another lawsuit, which alleges that it violated the civil rights of Latino immigrants by voluntarily giving the personal information of guests to federal immigration authorities. The lawsuit was filed by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) on behalf of the guests in federal court in Arizona. The lawsuit […]

Last month, California filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration regarding the repeal of a rule regulating hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, on publicly owned lands under Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra stated, The risks of fracking to our health and our environment are real. President Trump and Interior Secretary Zinke didn’t […]