By Michael Howard

Screenshot from City Council video: La Mesa City Attorney Gleen Sabine advises Council on free speech rights

March 3, 2024 (La Mesa, CA) - The La Mesa City Council in its February 27 meeting voted 4-1 to ban remote public comments moving forward, with Councilman Jack Shu casting the dissenting vote.

The agenda item cites a memo by City Clerk Megan Wiegelman that suggested “in the aftermath of COVID, remote public comment is no longer necessary.” But the move to disallow call-in and Zoom public comments during City Council meetings seems to be in response to theFebruary 13 Council meeting, in which several remote participants listed Jewish government officials and unleashed a barrage of anti-Semetic speech. 

Source:  Cal Fire

August 5, 2023 (Sacramento) - The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) announced its groundbreaking partnership with University of California San Diego’s ALERTCalifornia program. With the shared goal of improving firefighting capabilities and response times, CAL FIRE and ALERTCalifornia will embark on an innovative Artificial Intelligence (AI) implementation trial in collaboration with the San Bernardino Unit, Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit, Madera-Mariposa-Merced Unit, Nevada Yuba Placer Unit, Shasta-Trinity Unit and San Luis Obispo Unit.