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For older adults, it can be a challenge just to get from home to the store or a doctor’s appointment. Add in a language barrier and the challenges increase exponentially. Layer on an end-stage illness or debilitating physical limitation and the obstacles feel insurmountable.

For many of the oldest members of the Japanese communities in Southern California, this has been a daily struggle because of a gap in medical and support services that meet their unique needs.

Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi and the ASPCA sponsored a Pet Adoption Day at Wilson Park in Torrance on August 26, which was National Dog Day.

The California State Senate passed a bill Thursday to penalize obstruction of future audits made by the California State Auditor.

AB-562 was introduced by state Assemblymembers Al Muratsuchi, D-Torrance, Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento and Philip Ting, D-San Francisco, in February but was amended in June after the California State Auditor, or CSA, found in April that UCOP had interfered with the audit process.

Hours before formally proposing an audit of three California districts’ spending under the state’s school funding formula, the sponsoring legislator pulled the request Tuesday.

Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, D-Torrance, faced the united opposition of school management organizations and teachers unions, which in a letter dismissed the idea as “wasteful, unnecessary and duplicative.”

But Muratsuchi said Wednesday he intends to reintroduce his proposal after “fine tuning” it in coming months based on feedback. On Tuesday, he was scheduled to seek approval for his plan from fellow members of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. If approved, his proposal would require the California State Auditor to audit a sampling of school districts to determine if they are complying with the intent of the Local Control Funding Formula. The committee won’t meet again until next year.

SACRAMENTO (CN) – A bill to criminally charge and fine state employees who willfully mislead the California auditor unanimously passed the state Senate on Thursday and now awaits Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature.

Assembly Bill 562, by Assembly members Al Muratsuchi, D-Rolling Hills, Phil Ting, D-San Francisco and Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, is one of about a dozen introduced this year addressing the University of California system after the state auditor revealed the UC Office of the President had obstructed and tampered with a recent audit.

Legislation that would clamp down on offshore drilling along California's coast stalled on Friday.

The measure, SB 188, had been introduced by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) after President Trump announced in April that his administration would consider allowing more drilling.

Californians are used to paying more for gasoline, but that may be tested soon if a pair of Los Angeles-area refineries are forced to stop their use of a toxic chemical.

Kids dribbled and dunked — with a little help from Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton — at Rolling Hills Country Day School on Thursday.

The basketball-filled-day was put on for children with Camp Escapades, a summer program for children with disabilities and their siblings.

Walton joined LA Kings mascot Bailey and community leaders, such as state Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi and Torrance Mayor Pat Furey, for the annual community game, which brings together the Escapades campers with children in Country Day Camp, a program on the Rolling Hills Estates campus.

Sacramento, Aug. 2 (Jiji Press)--A California assemblyman is calling on the United States to learn from the country's internment of Japanese-Americans during the World War II, amid turmoil caused by U.S. President Donald Trump's travel ban on Muslims.

"Education (on the wartime internment of Japanese-Americans) is desperately needed," said Al Muratsuchi, a 52-year-old assemblyman who supports a bill to fund education on the history of wartime internment.

On Wednesday, Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi's (D-Torrance) Assembly Bills (AB) 1646, 1647 and 1649 passed the Senate Environmental Quality Committee.

AB 1646 calls for the creation and maintenance of a publicly accessible community alert plan, using notifications such as reverse 911, text, email PSAs, as well as the maintenance of a public alert system.