Kern County Latinos’ Redistricting Fight Headed to Trial
Disgruntled voters have not done enough to prove that a redistricting plan in California’s Kern County discriminates against Latinos, a federal judge ruled.
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Adventures in Jury Duty
What do sports stars, cockroaches, Courthouse News Service reporters and the measles have in common? Jury duty!
Read moreRacist Bakersfield Shooter Gets 15 Years
A federal judge Monday sentenced a Bakersfield man to 15 years in federal prison for hate crimes: firing a sawed-off shotgun and yelling racist slurs at a Latino man.
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Policy Paper Seeks Info on California Oil Industry
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace released a study this week calling for more transparency in the oil industry, and nominating California as the leader in the fight for clean air.
Read moreKern County Settles Videotaped Beating Case
Kern County and its sheriff’s officers have settled a 3-year old lawsuit accusing them of illegally arresting a man and seizing his cellphone after he recorded them beating another man to death.
Read moreEnvironmentalists Take on Oil Industry and California
A California law on wastewater injection that has drawn the ire of the oil industry now faces objections from environmentalists. The Center for Biological Diversity is accusing the state of actually shirking its duty.
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Oil Industry Fights California Over Wastewater Injections
The oil industry sued California on Inauguration Day, calling its regulation of wastewater injection unconstitutional overreach that will shut down thousands of oil wells that do not threaten water supplies in 45 aquifers, as the state contends.
Read moreGreens Fight Giant Development in Kern County
The Center for Biological Diversity challenged Kern County’s approval of a enormous, long-planned community in the southern San Joaquin Valley, claiming it will cause a slew of environmental problems that the county’s studies failed to address.
Read moreCalifornia AG to Probe Kern County Police Agencies
Claims of excessive force and deaths in custody have spurred separate California Department of Justice investigations into potential civil rights violations by police in Kern County and Bakersfield.
Read moreCalifornia Wildfire Blamed on Stuck Power Line
Officials said Thursday afternoon that the cause of this summer’s deadly Erskine fire in Southern California was an electrical arc from a worn out power line.
Read moreL.A. County Prevails Over Kern in 10-Year Legal War
After 10 years of legal wars, a California state judge struck down a Kern County law prohibiting Los Angeles from dumping treated sludge on the agricultural county’s farmland.
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