California students could be restricted or banned from using smartphones at school under a bill by a state lawmaker who says the devices can interfere with classroom learning.

The measure by Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance) would require school boards to adopt policies that limit or prohibit the use of cellphones on school grounds, leaving it up to them what their rules would do.

Legislation introduced in California Tuesday would ban the sale of cosmetics that contain toxic chemicals associated with risk of cancer, reproductive issues or hormonal disruption. The bill, labeled a “common-sense proposal” by one supporter, was authored by two of the state’s Democratic assembly members who say its passage would lead to better protection for consumers nationwide.

California is considering a bill that would ban the sale of all cosmetics in state that contain certain chemicals known to cause cancer and other health effects.

State legislators introduced a bill Tuesday that would ban makeup made with 20 highly toxic chemicals including asbestos, mercury, lead, formaldehyde and fluorinated compounds known as PFAS.

On Nov. 3, 2018 (Japan Standard Time), the Government of Japan announced that Chogi Higa and Edward A. Perron would be recipients of fall decorations.

From the jurisdiction of the Consulate General of Japan in Los Angeles, Higa was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays for contributing in promoting the Japanese language and the welfare of Japanese nationals residing in the U.S. In the recent past, Higa has also been awarded the prestigious Foreign Minister’s Commendation (2015) and the Commendation of the Consul General (2013).

AB 1647, a bill sponsored by Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi  (D-Torrance) and signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown in 2017, will require by 2020 fence-line and community air quality monitoring around oil refineries along with reporting of the readings from those devices in real-time.

The South Coast Air Quality Management Agency in 2017 directed $2.77 million to enhance the monitoring and alert systems at the Torrance Refinery. But there is still a lot the public is not aware of.

A sea of pink traveled down Catalina Avenue in Redondo Beach on Saturday morning as the third annual Women’s March brought out hundreds of demonstrators.

Many marchers brought their children, saying they were using the event as a lesson in social activism.

“Democracy is in all of our hands,” said Audrey Judson of Manhattan Beach. “We choose our government.”

Two years after millions of women flooded streets around the world to decry the election of President Donald Trump, a smaller but determined contingency shared messages of empowerment and equality during Women’s March events held Saturday from Santa Ana to London.

“Our coming together today is a resistance,” actress and activist Laverne Cox told the estimated 200,000-plus demonstrators gathered in downtown Los Angeles.

“We come with demands for justice, for equity. We come today peaceably, but we also come to fight.”

PARADISE — Over a dozen state legislators came to see the Camp Fire burn areas for themselves Thursday, at the request of Assemblyman James Gallagher and State Sen. Jim Nielsen.

Gallagher, R-Yuba City, and Nielsen, R-Red Bluff, took the visiting bipartisan group on a tour of Paradise, then they all met with local representatives who explained current critical needs such as housing. Over 18,000 structures were burned in the Camp Fire and at least 86 people were killed.

Facing a $36 million deficit and a possible state takeover, the top budget officer at the Sacramento City Unified School District has a sober message for his counterparts around California.

Sacramento is “just one of the first dominoes,” said John Quinto, the district’s chief business officer.

By any measure, Sacramento City’s distress is worse than the vast majority of California school districts.