Edition no. 36
I'm just a guy from the IE. I went into journalism because I believe honest and accurate news are key to good governance, economy and quality of life. I don't take a salary, and all my money goes to production costs, document fees and freelance writers. I want to grow this newsroom into something that informs thousands of people all over the IE—but I need your help to get me there.
Please subscribe
Defense attorney Farooqi joins SB bench as nation's first Afghan-born judicial officer
Malalai Farooqi speaks to her family following her oath of office.
Malalai Farooqi took her oath of office as San Bernardino’s newest commissioner Feb. 6, making her the first known Afghan-American judicial officer in the United States.
"Today isn't just about me. It's about all the young Afghan women and girls that have been forced back into the shadows. There's over 2.2 million of them that still can't get an education beyond the sixth grade, and I have thought of that every step of the way," Farooqi said.
Her husband, Kareem Abou-Ramadan, said Farooqi is the bravest person he knows.
"She doesn't wait for opportunities, she creates them. That trust is how she earned the role of managing attorney for (Michael Scafiddi's) office. She's the kind of person who shows up fully, no matter how heavy the moment is, and that's not something you turn on, that's how she's felt. I'm very blessed," Abou-Ramadan.
Prosecutor Jill Gregory called Farooqi authentic.
"She's not afraid to speak up for her beliefs. She's also good at communicating them," Gregory said.
Criminal defense attorney Michael Scafiddi, who hired Farooqi for his criminal defense office, said she not only did the work of two attorneys, but she made him a better person.
"She changed my worldview. She not only made me a better lawyer every day. She made me a better person every day. You may feel complete, fulfilled, and then you need someone who says, ‘Man, you don't know anything. You don't know anything,'" Scafiddi said.
Read the speeches from her swearing in ceremony
San Bernardino man testifies in D.C. about shooting by federal agents
Martin Daniel Gascon, a U.S. citizen and resident of San Bernardino, testifies at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., during a hearing on the disproportionate use of force by federal immigration agents with the Department of Homeland Security on Feb. 3, 2026. Screenshot via MS Now livestream
Martin Rascon of San Bernardino gave his first public statements about the Aug. 16 shooting at his family by federal agents in front of a panel of Democratic senators and representatives public forum in Washington D.C. Feb. 3.
Rascon was in his brother-in-laws' pick up truck, with his father-in-law Francisco Longoria, when federal agents surrounded the truck, smashed a window, and fired shots.
"It felt like we were about to be attacked for no apparent reason, by no law enforcement that was legit. It just seemed like masked individuals. Once they had broken the windows and my father-in-law bravely drove away, and the shots fired into the vehicle, I just thought that one of us would have been killed. I am thankful that we were all OK. And I'm sorry for the victims (of federal shootings) who didn't survive," Rascon said.
See his testimony
State rep introduces to bill to cap ticket scalping
Assm. Matt Haney (D-San Francisco) announced a bill that would cap online ticket resales at 10% if enacted.
"Professional scalpers and bots buy up tickets in seconds and resell them at massive markups. This bill puts an end to that system and puts the concert experience back where it belongs: with fans and artists," Haney said in a Feb. 5 press release.
The Declaration: He has refused elections
In celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary, Inland Empire Law Weekly is examining each of the 27 reasons for independence as spelled out in the Declaration of Independence. Reason number 6:
He has refused for a long time, after such Dissolutions (of legislatures), to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from without, and convulsions within.
The background on this: New York didn't give salt and pepper to British soldiers.
Independence was about soldiers' rations?
Reading
Every week, Inland Empire Law Weekly recommends a book. Today's book is Justice Stanley Mosk: A Life at the Center of California Politics and Justice by Jacqueline R. Braitman and Gerald F. Uelmen
This is the first biography of Stanley Mosk (1912-2001), iconic protector of civil rights and civil liberties during his 37 years as a justice of the Supreme Court of California (1964 to 2001). He had quickly risen as a well liked leader among Los Angeles reformers, as executive secretary to California governor Culbert Olson and then 16 years as a superior court judge. His 1958 election and service as state attorney general soon won national attention and the promise of likely election to the U.S. Senate, but an unexpected campaign twist augured a new course. This book frames Mosk's Supreme Court years and the landmark cases in which his opinions or biting dissents continue to resonate.
$42
Listening
Judges on Civility, Credibility, and the Future of the Jury Trial | ABOTA Speaks Podcast
Protecting the People | CAOC Conversations
This day in history
On Feb. 8, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy spoke against the Vietnam War in Chicago.
"No war has ever demanded more bravery from our people and our government—not just bravery under fire or the bravery to make sacrifices—but the bravery to discard the comfort of illusion—to do away with false hopes and alluring promises.
"Reality is grim and painful. But it is only a remote echo of the anguish toward which a policy founded on illusion is surely taking us.
"This is a great nation and a strong people. Any who seek to comfortrather than speak plainly, reassure rather than instruct, promise satisfaction rather than reveal frustration—they deny tat greatness and drain the strength. For today as it was in the beginning, it is the truth that makes us free."
Texan sues California doctor under new Texas law allowing lawsuits over abortion pills
A Galveston County, Texas, man has filed a lawsuit against a California doctor he accuses of providing abortion-inducing pills to his partner, leveraging for the first time a new Texas law that allows private citizens to sue abortion providers for up to $100,000.
In July, Jerry Rodriguez filed the original lawsuit that accused Dr. Remy Coeytaux of providing his girlfriend with abortion pills at the direction of her ex-husband.
Read it here
California sues websites that publish blueprints for 3D printer ghost guns
Two websites that distribute instructions for how to manufacture ghost guns are facing a new lawsuit from the state of California alleging that they provide access to illegal and untraceable firearms.
The lawsuit, filed by Attorney General Rob Bonta and San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu, is aimed at the Gatalog Foundation Inc. and CTRLPEW LLC.
The lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court argues that the websites violated multiple state laws, including the distribution of computer code and guidelines for 3D printing firearms, illegal large-capacity magazines, and other firearm-related products.
Read it here
These California trucking schools broke state laws. Regulators couldn’t do anything about it
An instructor teaches students about air brake releases at Dolphin Trucking School in the city of Vernon on March 11, 2024. Photo by Zaydee Sanchez for CalMatters
When commercial truck drivers are speeding down California’s highways and interstates with thousands of pounds of cargo in tow, a single mistake can be catastrophic.
Yet California fails to regulate most of the schools that train truck drivers, allowing nearly 200 unlicensed schools to operate with effectively no oversight, according to a CalMatters analysis of state and federal records. And when the state has tried to use its limited authority to discipline schools for shortchanging students or flouting the law, its regulators are often powerless, according to the analysis.
Without regulatory oversight, industry experts say there is no way to know whether students coming out of those schools are prepared to operate a big rig safely.
Read it here
Two men charged with assaulting agents in ICE shooting released by a judge, re-detained by ICE
Federal Bureau of Prisons officers on the scene where a federal immigration agent shot a man Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in north Minneapolis. (Photo by Max Nesterak/MInnesota Reformer)
Two Venezuelan men who were charged with assaulting a federal immigration agent were re-detained after a judge ordered them to be released on Tuesday.
On Jan. 14, the two men allegedly assaulted an ICE officer when one was being detained by ICE; the officer then shot one of the men in the leg when he sought to escape inside his home in north Minneapolis.
Read it here
US Senate Republicans block attempt to sue Trump administration over Epstein files
Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic proposal Thursday to sue the Trump administration over allegations that it did not fully release the Epstein files, as mandated under a law unanimously approved by senators and signed by the president nearly three months ago.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., asked for unanimous consent on a resolution compelling the Republican-led Senate to challenge President Donald Trump in court to release more records from the government’s investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019 awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Read it here
Read the Don Lemon indictment
The indictment against former CNN anchor and independent journalist Don Lemon was made public last week.
Lemon, along with eight others, was charged on a single count of violating Section 241 of Title 18: conspiracy against rights. The law establishes that a crime is committed "if two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State...in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States."
The maximum sentence for the crime is ten years imprisonment.
Read the indictment
News from around the web
6 Turpin children to split $13.5M settlement over placement with abusive Riverside County foster parentsRiverside County will pay $2.25 million, while foster family agency ChildNet agreed to pay $11.25 million, the settlement agreement states.Press EnterpriseBrian RokosHe died in a jail cell, pleading for help. No one told his father whyFive years after Jamall Brown died in a Riverside County California jail cell, his father learned the truth from leaked video and documents.USA TODAY, USA TODAYLeader of Hemet-based religious group struck congregant with microphone for disobedience, woman testifies at hearing in double-murder caseWoman said Shelley ‘Kat’ Martin, charged with murder along with 4 others, grew more controlling and violent as head of His Way Spirit Led Assemblies.Press EnterprisegqlshareJury finds Uber liable in driver rape lawsuit, awards $8.5 million to passengerA federal jury in Phoenix ordered Uber to pay $8.5 million to a passenger who said she was raped by her driver, finding the company liable under an “apparent agency” theory.San Francisco ChronicleAidin VaziriSupreme Court allows California to use congressional map benefitting DemocratsThe Supreme Court on Wednesday afternoon cleared the way for California to use a new congressional map intended to give Democrats five additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. …]SCOTUSblogAmy HoweAppeals court overturns former UCLA gynecologist’s sex abuse convictionA California appeals court has overturned the conviction of a former campus gynecologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, on sex abuse charges. Dr.AP NewsUpdated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year][California Attorney General Rob Bonta sues Rady Children’s Health for dropping gender-affirming careCalifornia Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against Rady Children’s Health on Friday for shuttering its gender-affirming care program for patients under the age of 19.NBC San DiegoRenee Schmiedeberg, Christina Bravo
Discussion in the ATmosphere