Compiled by the El Reportero’s staff
SAN FRANCISCO – According to the office Assembly member Tom Ammiano, fof or the fi rst time ever in a statewide Field Poll, a majority of state voters – 56 percent – expressed support for legalizing and taxing marijuana in a poll released last week.
Earlier this year, Ammiano (D-San Francisco) announced the introduction of groundbreaking legislation that would tax and regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol.
The Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education act (AB 390) would create a regulatory structure similar to that used for beer, wine and liquor, permitting taxed sales to adults while barring sales to or possession by those under 21.
“With the state in the midst of an historic economic crisis, the move towards regulating and taxing marijuana is simply common sense. This legislation would generate up to $1.3 billion in much needed revenue for the state, restrict access to only those over 21, end the environmental damage to our public lands from illicit crops, and improve public safety by redirecting law enforcement efforts to more serious crimes”, said Ammiano. “California has the opportunity to be the first state in the nation to enact a smart, responsible public policy for the control and regulation of marijuana.”
Mothers urge Mayor not to make devastating cuts to domestic violence programs
San Francisco – Days before Mother’s Day and a few weeks before the Mayor will release his budget, a consortium of domestic violence advocates and mothers they serve held a press conference to urge the Mayor NOT to make devastating cuts to the City’s programs serving victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and sex trafficking, said a Mujeres Unidas’ statement.
Amidst a $450 million deficit, the Mayor issued budget instructions for all departments to provide his offi ce a budget that includes up to 25 percent of possible cuts. Following the Mayor’s instructions, the Department of Status of Women (DSOW) which administers 100 percent of the City’s Violence Against Women (VAW) grants, have submitted a budget that could cut up to 32 percent of cuts to the community based agencies providing services to the most vulnerable women and children in our communities.
Programs such as the Asian Women’s Shelter, SF Women Against Rape, Community United Against Violence are under severe threat.
Currently, our crisis lines receive 25,000 calls and shelters are at capacity. Free legal services are provided to over 1000 victims of DV, sexual assault, and stalking every year.
State Attorney files criminal charges against six for fraud on Medicare and Medi-Cal
LOS ANGELES – Continuing his fight to combat Medicare and Medi-Cal fraud, Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. last night fi led criminal charges against six individuals who paid healthy seniors to be admitted to a hospice for the terminally ill and then billed state and federal health care programs for “phantom procedures” never performed, said a statement from the State Attorney’s Office.
The six defendants – including a mother and her two children – were physicians and staff at “We Care” hospice in Sherman Oaks. One defendant was arrested today. Another four will surrender to authorities later this month. One remains at large.
Brown’s Office and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched a joint investigation in 2008 after an audit found that a suspiciously large number of patients admitted to We Care were in good health and the mortality rate was low for a hospice.
