Sacramento County Local News: Crime & Justice

01/22/2024
Locking up a California state prisoner for one year costs nearly twice as much as tuition at the state’s top private universities—due to inmate medical costs and pay boosts for prison guards and other workers.

01/16/2024
An auto burglary trend shows that thieves are targeting travelers.

01/12/2024
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case related to whether cities and towns can ban camping on public property. The high court could overturn Martin v. Boise, a 2018 federal court decision that keeps western cities and counties from blocking public camping when sufficient shelter space is unavailable.

01/12/2024
Michel Moore, chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, announced he will resign. The departure of Moore, who has been in the job since 2018, will spur the appointment of an interim chief and a nationwide search for his replacement, according to Mayor Karen Bass.

01/11/2024
To keep more police on patrols, law enforcement groups want officers to spend less time in court. Legislation would allow non-sworn community service officers to testify in preliminary hearings.

01/09/2024
Sacramento attorney Mark Merin has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the family of a man who died in May after being held at the county jail. Other inmates have died in recent years, and the jail is under a federal consent decree to improve its health care.

01/09/2024
Cal State San Bernardino’s Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism found that hate crimes rose 12.9% between 2022 and 2023. The spike follows a particularly stark increase in crimes against Jewish people.

01/07/2024
Gun owners in California can no longer carry firearms into amusement parks, museums, churches, zoos, banks, public parks or a whole slew of other places, even if they have a concealed carry permit—part of a new state law that it is already facing scrutiny in the courts.

01/05/2024
California correctional officers train like ‘they are going to war’ to work in state prisons. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to transform San Quentin could require a kinder approach.

01/04/2024
Sean Loloee, a first-term Sacramento councilmember, has resigned from office—a move that came weeks after he was federally indicted on charges related to his business Viva Supermarkets.

12/29/2023
Former college student Carlos Reales Dominguez, accused of stabbing two people to death and wounding a third in Davis, will return to court on Jan. 5 and criminal proceedings will be reinstated if there isn't any challenge to his mental state.

12/29/2023
A judge has refused to order the father and son duo charged with starting the 2021 Caldor Fire—which destroyed Grizzly Flat and burned across three Northern California counties—to face charges that they recklessly started the fire by target shooting.

12/29/2023
Sheriff Jim Cooper, a Democrat and former Elk Grove Assemblyman once called law enforcement’s biggest advocate in the state capital, infuses his politically honed instincts with experience forged by a 30-year career wearing a badge.

12/28/2023
Kern County agrees to better protect free speech in a deal with the state Justice Department—inspired by the county’s’ 2020 squashing of COVID contracts to organizations that advocated defunding police.

12/28/2023
The Sacramento Courts announced the appointment of two additional court commissioners, both tilting toward the prosecution side. While judges are appointed by the governor, court commissioners are appointed by the judges—and often become judges themselves when vacancies on the bench open up.

12/27/2023
Under new state laws, five cities will test cameras to catch speeding drivers and cruising bans will be lifted statewide. The first is supposed to improve road safety, but critics of the second say it will endanger the public.

12/27/2023
A new law, sponsored by Attorney General Rob Bonta, will create a fund designed to fully compensate victims of false advertising or unfair competition.

12/26/2023
Under two new laws, employers in California can’t ask workers about their use of cannabis outside the workplace and can’t use hair or urine tests. Employees in construction are excluded, as are applicants for federal jobs with background checks.

12/21/2023
Some firefighters and police officers who worked long enough in California to earn pensions are heading to more conservative destinations like Idaho in retirement. Some of these people even run for political office in these places.