Driverless and Clueless: Consumer Watchdog Battles Google’s Driverless Cars
<p><b>Consumer Watchdog are fighting Google's self-driving car plans, because computers are fickle and humans are dumb</b></p>
Energy
Energy and utility watchdog coverage — gas prices, oil-industry profits, utility rates, and clean-energy accountability.
‘This is a threat. This is not a report.’ Critics Call Blackout Warnings A Scare Tactic To Keep Aliso Canyon Open
<p>If energy agencies and utilities ever want to scare consumers, they need say little more than "blackouts."</p>
Blackout Warnings From Porter Ranch Gas Leak Are Scare Tactics, Say Advocacy Groups
<p>Local advocacy groups accused state regulators Tuesday of buying in to scare tactics after a report <a href="http://www.energy.ca.gov/2016_energypolicy/documents/2016-04-08_joint_agency_workshop/Aliso_Canyon_Action_Plan_to_Preserve_Gas_and_Electric_Reliability_for_the_Los_Angeles_Basin.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released last week</a> predicted 14 days of power outages and higher electricity rates in Southern California this summer if a San Fernando Valley natural gas storage facility remained offline.</p>
Air Regulators Weigh Return of Full Operations At Exxon Mobil’s Torrance Refinery
<p>For a year, Los Angeles area motorists have seen their gasoline prices soar as high as $1.50 a gallon more than the rest of the nation following an explosion at Exxon Mobil's Torrance refinery that destroyed the plant's pollution control system and constrained California inventories.</p>
<p>Angry neighbors called for a permanent shutdown of the facility after reports revealed that the February 2015 explosion, which triggered state and federal investigations, could have unleashed harmful chemicals into their community.</p>
Brown Adviser Investigated For Stock Nondisclosure
<p>The Fair Political Practices Commission opened an investigation into Nancy E. McFadden, a former senior vice president at Pacific Gas & Electric Co., after receiving a complaint that she advised Gov. Jerry Brown on energy-related legislation and appointments to regulatory boards in 2011 and 2012 while holding $1 million in energy-related stock.</p>
<p>The commission said it would limit its inquiry to McFadden’s failure to disclosure the stock holdings on economic interest statements in lieu of a larger conflict-of-interest investigation, citing insufficient evidence.</p>
Governor’s Aide Is Focus Of Inquiry
<p><strong>State ethics panel is looking into whether Nancy McFadden failed to report the sale of stock in PG&E.</strong></p>
<p>The state's ethics watchdog agency has opened an investigation into whether Nancy McFadden, a top aide to Gov. Jerry Brown, failed to properly report the sale of stock in Pacific Gas & Electric Co., where she worked before joining the administration, officials said Thursday.</p>
FPPC To Investigate Brown’s Top Aide
<p>SACRAMENTO — The state’s political watchdog commission will investigate whether a top aide to Gov. Jerry Brown failed to properly disclose her stock in her former employer Pacific Gas & Electric Co.</p>
California Ethics Body To Review Governor’s Top Aide Filing
<p>SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - California's political watchdog said Thursday it is opening an investigation into whether a top aide to Gov. Jerry Brown properly disclosed her stock holdings in Pacific Gas & Electric Corp, but declined to launch an investigation into a more serious allegation that her holdings posed a conflict of interest.</p>
Top Jerry Brown Aide’s PG&E Stock Disclosure Investigated
<p>California’s campaign finance watchdog will investigate whether a top aide to Gov. Jerry Brown accurately disclosed the status of her stock holdings in a major utility.</p>
Gasoline Price-Gouging Indications Grow Stronger
<p>As corporate profit reports rolled in this winter from the gasoline refining industry, the case for gas price gouging grew steadily stronger.</p>
Jerry Brown Aide Had Interest In Siding With PG&E, Group Says
<p>SACRAMENTO — A consumer group has filed a complaint asserting that a top aide to Gov. Jerry Brown had a financial interest in helping her former employer Pacific Gas and Electric Co. lobby for friendly appointees to the California Public Utilities Commission and influencing legislation that would benefit the firm.</p>
Corruption Allegations Get Closer To Brown
<p>Gov. Jerry Brown has tried for many months to ignore the growing scent of corruption now afflicting his administration, instead pushing the worldwide battle against climate change even as he virtually ignored the world's largest methane leak while it spewed greenhouse gases for months in his backyard. <br />