The new mandate restricts how quickly and broadly Correctional Health Services physicians can prescribe the medication. Priority will be given to people when they first enter the jail system — the largest in California — which houses roughly 13,000 people across nine main facilities. Everyone else who wants medication will be placed on a waitlist. “It’s misleading because we just put people on this list and then they stay on the list,” said a physician. That means that if someone does not accept treatment upon arrival, they won’t be able to access it during the remainder of their incarceration, even if they change their mind, said both physicians who spoke with CalMatters.
The Trump administration filed a lawsuit Monday over California’s new laws banning federal agents from wearing masks and requiring them to have identification while conducting operations in the state.
The federal government has argued the laws threaten the safety of officers who are facing “unprecedented” harassment, doxing, and violence and said it will not comply with them.
California became the first state to ban most law enforcement officers, including federal immigration agents, from covering their faces while conducting official business under a bill that was signed in September by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The law prohibits neck gaiters, ski masks and other facial coverings for local and federal officers, including immigration enforcement agents, while they conduct official business. It makes exceptions for undercover agents, protective equipment like N95 respirators or tactical gear, and it does not apply to state police.
“California’s anti-law enforcement policies discriminate against the federal government and are designed to create risk for our agents. These laws cannot stand,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a press release.
Attorneys representing Eaton Fire survivors filed a lawsuit Monday against Southern California Edison and Genasys Inc. over the death of a woman who died in Altadena. The lawsuit accuses the utility of igniting the blaze and Genasys of failing to issue evacuation warnings in her neighborhood.
The family of Stacey Darden accuses Genasys, hired by L.A. County to provide evacuation warnings, of being negligent the night of the fire. Lawyers for the family said while the company provided warnings in enough time to the houses on the east of Lake Avenue, they came too late for those on the west. 18 of the 19 deaths in the fire were people who lived west of Lake Avenue in Altadena.
On the evening of January 7, and into the early morning hours of January 8, Darden and her sister Gerry consistently monitored the news for the evacuation zones for the Eaton Fire to confirm that Stacey and her home were safe for her to remain in.
Stacey Darden’s last cellphone activity is believed to have been around 3:30 a.m. Jan. 8. Attorneys alleged the one and only communication regarding an evacuation order she received was not until 5:43 a.m. that same day. This is the first lawsuit targeting the alerts system in Altadena.
