CCM Staff

L.A. School Group Offers List Of ‘Best Practices’ Facilities

December 14, 2015 By CCM Staff

The LA Times 12/17/15 article reports, “Sarah Angel, a regional director for the California Charter Schools Assn., praises charters at a recent forum on the future of Los Angeles public education. A new group is trying to launch more of these schools. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)”

The educational reform group “Great Public Schools Now” has issued a list of possible model schools for Los Angeles County, and the L.A. Times reports that the full list includes 23 magnet programs, 19 charter schools and seven traditional neighborhood schools. The Times says that “… each has a low-income enrollment of at least 75% and more than 60% of students met state targets in English.”

Charter schools, especially those crated by teh “parent trigger” that allows parents to take over private schools, have been a civil litigation magnet in recent years. The Times report includes defining terms: “Charters are independently managed and exempt from some rules that govern traditional schools. Most are nonunion. Magnets are district operated and typically offer a special academic program. They were set up initially to encourage voluntary integration.”

And the paper repeats that “… questions still surround Great Public Schools Now, including the names of the financial backers and how much money they hope to raise. A confidential draft proposal, obtained by The Times, called for raising $490 million. Critics have questioned whether the underlying goal of the original draft plan — which called for more than doubling the number of charter schools — has changed. That draft was apparently intended for supporters and potential donors.”

Keep up with the issue here.

Filed Under: Community, Courts Budget Tagged With: charter schools, education, Great Public Schools Now

Private Church Camps Prepare To House ‘Border Kids’

December 11, 2015 By CCM Staff

The Dallas Morning News is reporting that “…. operators of two private camps in Ellis and Rockwall counties are scrambling to get ready for the arrival of at least 800 young immigrants from Central America, part of a recent surge crossing illegally into the U.S. from Mexico.”

Citing government sources, the paper says that about 300 immigrants — ages 12 to 18 — are expected to arrive at Sabine Creek Ranch next week for temporary shelter, and at least 500 children age 17 and under will stay at Lakeview Camp and Retreat Center near Waxahachie and could get there as early as Friday, officials in Ellis County said. At least one camp is run by a religious group.

Immigration detainment, especially of children, has been a controversial issue for months since an inflx of “Border Kids” began showing up on the U.S. border. Typically, they are not “caught” but turn themselves in and request asylum. Read more here.

Filed Under: Border Kids, Community Tagged With: Border Kids, immigration, Legal news, texas border

In L.A., Student Tickets Give Way To Counseling, Other Intervention

December 9, 2015 By CCM Staff

According to a 11/3/15 LA Times Report, “L.A. Unified sees success in counseling rather than arresting truants and kids who fight.”

The Los Angeles Times is following up on measures taken last year to reform an out-of-control truancy system. The shift actually began under pressure from civil rights groups and was approved back in 2012 when the LAT reported that: “Under the old policy, a student who received a truancy ticket had to appear in court with a parent. A judge would issue a fine and order the student to be on time for the next 60 days or face more legal trouble. Both the parent and student had to return two months later for a follow-up, causing the student to miss school time and the parent to lose wages.”

The update offered this background that the shift involves: “… 405 sworn L.A. Unified police officers who, along with more than 125 safety officers, make up the nation’s largest independent school police force. Across the nation, campus officers are facing criticism that they’re pushing children into a “school-to-prison pipeline” with citations, arrests and excessive force for issues that could be resolved by other means. National studies show that one arrest doubles a student’s odds of dropping out.”

The student truancy policies were also seen as a path to criminal records. While the initial “tickets” were treated as civil cases, failing to comply with the results, like paying fines or doing community work, led to criminal arrests.

Read the excellent Times coverage here.

Filed Under: Community, Courts Budget Tagged With: civil court, Civil gideon, Los Angeles, truancy

Govt. Adding More Beds To Handle ‘Border Kids’

December 8, 2015 By CCM Staff

The new surge in unaccompanied children showing up at U.S. borders seeking asylum has prompted the federal government to move toward two new shelters, the New York Times is reporting. The paper says that the government is moving toward “two shelters in Texas and one in California this month, adding at least 1,400 beds to handle the increased flow, senior Obama administration officials said Monday.”

According to a 12/7/15 NYT report, “A United States Border Patrol vehicle at the border wall near Abram, Tex., last month. Credit Delcia Lopez/The Monitor, via Associated Press”

Family detention centers and the unaccompanied youth centers have been controversial and a federal judge has ordered the family shelters closed, although officials hope to work around that order. The Times also notes that “… on Monday, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the secretary of health and human services, asked the Pentagon to also prepare tentative plans to provide shelter for 5,000 more youths. Those beds are not needed at this time, officials said, but the health department, which runs the shelters, would give the Department of Defense 30 days’ notice to get them ready if the numbers of young border crossers continue to rise.”

Immigration cases are often incorrectly seen as criminal court issues. The “courts” are actually a function of the U.S. Justice Department and those facing actions are classified as civil court participants. One effect of that is they do not have the same rights to counsel as if they were criminally charged.

Read the NYT report here: U.S. to Open Shelters for New Surge of Youths Crossing Southwest Border

Filed Under: Border Kids, Community, National Tagged With: Border Kids, border patrol, border wall, detention, detention centers, family detention centers, immigration

WSJ Report Outlines Delays For Federal Civil Court Dockets

December 7, 2015 By CCM Staff

Detailing the case of a man awaiting his day in court since 2007, the Wall Street Journal notes that the example is only one of “… more than 330,000 such cases” and that “… thee number of cases awaiting resolution for three years or more exceeded 30,000 for the fifth time in the past decade.”

The report gives reasons, and makes the case that the civil justice system slows when the criminal justice system gets busy: “… the Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to a jury trial in civil cases. But the Sixth Amendment gives people in criminal cases the right to a “speedy” trial. The upshot: Criminal cases often displace and delay civil disputes, creating a backlog.”

It also says that “… federal court for California’s Eastern District [where the example case is located] has a particularly deep backlog. The number of cases filed per judge, 974 last year, is almost twice the national average. More than 14% of civil cases in that district have been pending for three years or more.” The report outlines the political challenges to fixing the tardy system. Read the WSJ story here: In Federal Courts, the Civil Cases Pile Up

Filed Under: Community, Courts Budget Tagged With: access to justice, civil court, court budget, federal court

Patent Cases Jump In Front of New Rules

December 4, 2015 By CCM Staff

Fortune Magazine is reporting a surge in patent cases, mostly in East Texas, as new rules that will “raise the bar” for what a patent owner must state in a lawsuit. The report says that “… while the new pleading standards are intended to make patent complaints more like other federal lawsuits, some complained that requiring specific facts for each lawsuit will make it more expensive for patent owners to assert their rights.”

The new record is 257 cases filed in a single day.

Read the Fortune report here: Ouch! 257 Patent Lawsuits in a Single Day Hits New Record

Filed Under: Community Tagged With: Legal news, legal rights, patent law, Texas

San Bernadino and Savannah

December 3, 2015 By CCM Staff

Our hearts and prayers are with the families and communities of the mass shootings in San Bernadino, CA and Savannah, GA. <3

Filed Under: National

In-depth Analysis of Silver Conviction Implications

December 2, 2015 By CCM Staff

CCM publisher, Sara Warner, writes an in-depth analysis of the Sheldon Silver conviction implications in her latest Huffington Post blog. Take a look!

Filed Under: Community, National Tagged With: asbestos, corruption, new york, Sheldon Silver

IVP Conference: CA Courts Filling With Out-of-State Cases

December 1, 2015 By CCM Staff

A recent conference hosted by the Independent Voter Project in California hit upon an issue we’ve been reporting on repeatedly here at CCM. California courts are filling with a backlog of out-of-state cases, as class action lawsuits fill the courts. This, in turn, is buckling the limited resources of the court system, leaving California residents either without nearby courts, or pushing their cases to the back of the line.

The conference focused on business interests, specifically, but a recent blog they posted noted that businesses are being impacted, alongside residents:

“The fairly recent development of mass-action lawsuits conglomerate residents of multiple states into one lawsuit. Usually it is filed in California due to plaintiff-friendly court policies. Consequently, California courts are filling up with lawsuits where many plaintiffs are not CA residents and don’t receive adequate legal representation.”

At USC, Law Students Provide Immigration Legal Advice

November 30, 2015 By CCM Staff

Legal assistance for asylum seekers arriving at the U.S. border has been an issue, whether that means trained volunteers or lawyers. How about a legal clinic staffed by law students looking for experience? The University of Southern California student newspaper reports that “… in January, the year-round USC clinic — the only one of its kind among Southern California law schools — will mark its 15th year of offering representation to asylum clients… since 2001, the clinic has taken on more than 170 clients. Approximately 120 of them, one-third of whom identify as LGBT, have received either asylum, withholding of removal or protection under the Convention Against Torture.”

While the Immigration Clinic clients receive life-saving legal representation, its students receive valuable experience.