Yolo County Crime & Justice Digest

The Davis Police Accountability Commission sent a proposed draft ordinance to the Davis City Council to ban use of facial recognition technology by the city.

California failed to ban private detention centers. Now, it’s focusing on their working conditions, for immigrants who toil for $1 a day.

California State Hospitals can bill patients for the care they receive during confinement. The charges often run in the tens of thousands of dollars, putting vulnerable people in debt for years.

California courts have long upheld below-minimum wage pay for prison inmates working a wide range of jobs. A 2024 ballot measure that would ban forced labor could alter those decisions.

After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, California’s Democratic leaders moved fast to shore up reproductive rights: They persuaded voters to enshrine the right to an abortion in the state constitution, approved a dozen bills strengthening abortion protections and passed a law in May to enable Arizona doctors to temporarily provide abortion services for their patients in California.

In three rulings the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a body blow to the federal bureaucracy. From healthcare to climate to workers’ rights, California’s rules often go farther.

Assemblymember James Gallagher speaks during the floor session at the state Capitol in Sacramento on June 13, 2024. Photo by Cristian Gonzalez for CalMatters

California advanced reparations efforts with an initial $12 million in funding included in the 2024-2025 state budget.

The ruling by the conservative court majority means cities no longer are prohibited from punishing homeless people for camping if they have nowhere else to go.

The Supreme Court 6-3 ruling in the City of Grants Pass v. Johnson case found that the fining and arresting of homeless people does not violate Eighth Amendment rights.

EdSource reports that police are dispatched thousands of times per school day across California.

California lawmakers voted to offer an official apology for the state’s role in supporting slavery and moved several reparations bills but let others die.

Pending legislation would lift requirements for California’s doctors to report all domestic abuse cases to police. The Assembly’s three physicians had different opinions.

At many universities across the country, graduation for the Class of 2024 will feel more like making it through airport security than a procession through a free-flowing campus green or a cheering stadium crowd.

The Police Accountability Commission for the City of Davis considered use of facial recognition software by the Davis Police Department, noting concerns about reliability and potential harm to the community.

The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office has charged three East Bay police officers with involuntary manslaughter in the 2021 death of 26-year-old Mario Gonzalez.

Alejandro N. Mayorkas, a Cuban immigrant who grew up in California, is the first U.S. Cabinet official impeached in nearly 150 years.

The City of Woodland is increasing fines for possession or use of illegal fireworks to $1,000 per device.

A majority of the guns found were loaded, according to the TSA.

Thirty years after prisoners with disabilities sued the state of California and 25 years after a federal court first ordered accommodations, a judge found that state prison and parole officials still are not doing enough to help deaf and blind prisoners.

A judge ruled GOP Reps. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene can move forward with their lawsuit against two California cities where rallies were canceled.

California prison officials announced they will move the last 457 condemned prisoners out of San Quentin's death row by summer. They will be transferred to other state prisons and housed in the general population.

After receiving bipartisan support, California Senate Bill 400, legislation intended to increase law enforcement transparency, was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Proposition E broadens police surveillance powers and Proposition F mandates drug screening and treatment for people receiving county welfare benefits who are suspected of drug use.

The City Council is poised to authorize a $400,000 three-year contract with the organization to continue its services that city staff reports has produced positive outcomes.

A report of a 12 month study which ended in February indicates almost half of those cited for drug usage were not residents of the city, leading to questions about city approaches to drug addiction.

In his decision, a judge agreed that the alleged white nationalists were being selectively prosecuted instead of 'far-left extremist groups, such as Antifa.'

Assemblymember Bill Essayli (R-Riverside) this week introduced a measure in the Legislature here to mandate at least one armed police officer on campus in every California school during regular school hours.

License plates are getting stolen from vehicles, Livermore officials say.

The eight-week Citizens Academy is designed to involve diverse communities in learning about the criminal justice system with the goal to improve relationships between Yolo residents and the criminal justice system.

In April, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case that could reshape how cities manage homelessness. The legal issue is whether they can fine or arrest people for sleeping outside if there’s no shelter available.

Commercial beekeeper Andrew Strehlow estimates he’s had 1,000 hives stolen over the years. The latest theft, of 96 hives from a Fresno County orchard, was his last straw.