California CPS News Archive

Porcupines an increasingly rare sight in California forests

by Matt Weiser

The porcupine is not among the cuddly critters most forest visitors hope to stumble upon. The large rodent seems aloof as it waddles through California woods.

Biologists and other resource managers who spend their working hours in California forests say it has become increasingly rare to lay eyes on a porcupine. No one knows how many are left, because very few people ever paid attention to the porcupine except to put a bounty on it for eating trees.

sacbee.com

March 3, 2012

Yosemite's alpine chipmunk seeking cooler habitats

by David Perlman

Backpacking scientists from UC Berkeley have gathered compelling evidence that the warming High Sierra climate is pushing still another animal species to seek cooler habitats amid the higher regions of Yosemite National.

Their new study, tracking changes in the home range of a single chipmunk species during the past 90 years, follows many other recent reports by field biologists that salamanders, field mice and ground squirrels, among others, also have been driven by rising temperatures to seek new homes at higher elevations in the park.

sfgate.com

February 20, 2012

Morro Bay may restrict outdoor smoking

by David Sneed

Morro Bay is moving ahead with new regulations that would ban smoking in all outdoor public places.

A divided City Council voted last week to consider a law that would make Morro Bay only the second jurisdiction in the county to comprehensively regulate secondhand smoke. Another ordinance would require permits for tobacco retailers.

sanluisobispo.com

February 19, 2012

17 News examines Urgent Care policy following death of Taft girl

There is a growing community uproar against the mother of a 3-year-old Taft girl beaten to death last week, allegedly by the mother's boyfriend. But, the Sheriff's Department says Angela Hanna is not considered a suspect.

The story has generated a lot of feedback from the community. Of the 850 people who voted in a KGET poll Wednesday night, 98% said the mother should face criminal charges. Some viewers compared the case to a similar one in Delano. During a heated argument at a home on Oak Street in Taft, Eric Foster told detectives he let his girlfriend's daughter fall from his lap and slam her head on the coffee table. An autopsy found the left side of her skull was fractured and her brain was severely swollen.

kget.com

February 3, 2012

Taft man charged with murder for death of toddler

The man accused of killing his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter is facing a murder charge. The coroner said Thursday, the toddler died of blunt force trauma to the head and abdomen and her death has been ruled a homicide.

26-year-old Eric Foster is set to be in court Friday, facing charges of first degree murder, child abuse, felony injury to a child, and torture for the death of Trinity Hanna. Trinity died Tuesday night at San Joaquin Community Hospital after her mother, Angela Vickrey, brought her there from their home in Taft. On Wednesday, Sheriff's Deputies arrested Vickrey's live-in-boyfriend, Foster. Deputies believe he abused and tortured the little girl.

kget.com

January 26, 2012

Hikers Spot 2 Mountain Lions Near Santa Cruz Park

SANTA CRUZ - Two hikers told police they spotted two full-grown mountain lions in a Santa Cruz park early Tuesday morning.

Around 6 a.m. the hikers said they saw the big cats near the upper meadows of Pogonip Park near the Spring Street entrance, Santa Cruz police said.

sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com

January 18, 2012

Dad pleads guilty to tossing son from boat

by Doug Irving

An Irvine man pleaded guilty Monday to a child-abuse charge for throwing his young son from a Newport Beach harbor boat, but avoided jail time under a sentencing deal.

Sloane Steven Briles, 35, was sentenced instead to one year in a child-abusers treatment program and 180 days in a residential alcohol-treatment program run by the Department of Veterans Affairs. He was also put on three years of formal probation.

ocregister.com

January 9, 2012

Civil rights leaders, elected officials call for reform of child welfare system

SAN JOSE -- Dolores Huerta joined local and state leaders in San Jose this morning to call for a reform of California's child welfare system.

Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers labor union with Cesar Chavez, and other community and elected leaders gathered to testify at a legislative hearing this morning convened by Assemblyman Jim Beall, chairman of the Assembly Select Committee on Foster Care.

abclocal.go.com

January 7, 2012

Cuts to welfare, tax increases in Brown's budget proposal

by Alex Cantatore

Just days into 2012, the effort to pass a state budget has already begun. Governor Jerry Brown fired the first salvo of the budget year with a proposal combining cuts to welfare and child care with tax increases on the wealthy to balance the budget.

The $92.6 billion budget hinges on $6.9 billion to be generated through two new taxes collected through 2016: a half-cent sales tax increase, and an increased income tax on the wealthy. Brown said he will pitch those taxes to voters, who must approve any tax hikes, as devoted solely to education. The income tax rate increase would amount to 1 percent for singles who make between $250,000 and $300,000, 1.5 percent for those earning between $300,001 and $500,000, and 2 percent for those making more than $500,000. The cutoffs are doubled for those filing jointly.

turlockjournal.com

January 6, 2012

Former foster care child, youth advocate

by Rachel Cook

Being the unofficial spokeswoman for Kern County foster youth isn't Olivia Villarreal's favorite role, but it's a part she's willing to play if it brings attention to her cause.

Unassuming but blunt, Villarreal's mission is to improve the lives of former and current foster care children through her job, advocacy and some day -- she hopes -- through her own nonprofit. At age 22, she has already rejuvenated the local chapter of a foster youth advocacy group and brought a fresh perspective to the Kern County Network for Children as a youth advocate.

bakersfield.com

January 1, 2012

States change how they recruit foster parents

by Kelli Kennedy

MIAMI (AP) - For decades, it was common for officials around the country to approve foster parents by room and board criteria: Did they pass a background check? Is their home clean? Are their dogs safe and vaccinated?

Now several states including Florida, California and Wisconsin are trying to find ones who they know upfront will help with homework, sew Halloween costumes and accompany kids to doctor appointments. Complicating the efforts is the longtime problem of finding enough adults to house children in need.

CNS News

December 31, 2011

Changing the Narrative of Child Welfare

by Matthew Fraidin

The nuclear secret of child welfare is that most of the children in foster care should not be there.

Most children in foster care are harmed more than they are helped by being taken from their families, and by being kept in foster care for too long. Children in foster care are torn from their schools, separated from their siblings, over-prescribed psychotropic drugs, and housed in dangerous group homes rife with abuse -- and it all happens behind the iron curtain of secret court proceedings.

huffingtonpost.com

December 30, 2011

Disbelief after JSerra teacher's arrest on suspicion of underage sex

by Frank Shyong

Ricardo Aldana, 37, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of underage sex with a student and fired Thursday morning from the Catholic high school.

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO - The campus of Jserra Catholic High School seemed calm Friday morning, two days after the arrest of a Spanish teacher on suspicion of sex acts with an underage female student and the teacher's subsequent dismissal.

ocregister.com

December 18, 2011