This story also appears in the Washington Post. A former intelligence specialist with Immigration and Customs Enforcement pleaded guilty last week to embezzling more than $50,000, the second agency employee recently convicted in an unfolding travel voucher kickback scheme that stretches from Arizona to Washington. William J. Korn, 53, of Tucson admitted in a plea […]

Since 9/11, the federal government has spent $34 billion helping state and local law enforcement and other agencies prepare for terrorists attacks and other catastrophes. Much of that money has been spent on combat-style equipment and apparel. A 180,000-square-foot showroom of such gear accompanied the International Association of Chiefs of Police annual conference in Chicago […]

A crackdown by federal prosecutors is casting a long shadow over the state’s marijuana industry, but there is one bright spot, at least for some Northern California growers willing to risk prison time: Wholesale prices appear to be on the rise. After slumping precipitously, prices for a pound of high-grade, outdoor-grown marijuana are stabilizing and […]

This article also appeared in the Washington Post. A former intelligence analyst with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pleaded guilty Thursday in Federal District Court in El Paso to stealing at least $70,000 from the government as part of a travel receipt scheme and using a diplomatic passport for personal trips to the Middle East. […]

Federal prosecutors are preparing to target newspapers, radio stations and other media outlets that advertise medical marijuana dispensaries in California, another escalation in the Obama administration’s newly invigorated war against the state’s pot industry. This month, U.S. attorneys representing four districts in California announced that the government would single out landlords and property owners who rent buildings […]

Police outside California say more and more marijuana is drifting into their territory – as the Golden State’s burgeoning medical marijuana trade has pushed down prices here and prompted growers to seek more lucrative business across the country. In a recent string of high-profile arrests in places like Michigan, Ohio, Utah and Illinois, Californians have […]

This story was also published by the Bay Area News Group and The Chauncey Bailey Project. OAKLAND — Former Your Black Muslim Bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV — who a prosecutor said terrorized Oakland — was convicted Thursday of three counts of murder for ordering journalist Chauncey Bailey and two other men killed in summer […]

Jeffrey Rodriguez is one of 44 Californians released from prison since 2000 who have been denied money after a hearing before the state’s victim compensation board, which can award $100 a day for each day spent behind bars after a wrongful conviction. READ FULL STORY