California Attorney General

The Medical Board of California would be stripped of its power to investigate physician misconduct under a sweeping reform plan by legislators who say the agency has struggled to hold problem doctors accountable. The medical board has come under fire for failing to discipline doctors accused of harming patients, particularly those suspected of recklessly prescribing drugs. Under the proposed legislation, amended Thursday, investigations of doctors would be handled by the California attorney general, leaving the board to deal mostly with licensing doctors.

State and federal authorities cleared the way Friday for Tesoro Corp. to buy BP's Carson refinery, the Arco brand and other assets, and the Texas oil giant agreed to California restrictions on prices, jobs and retrofits to protect the environment. The $2.5-billion deal, cut in the aftermath of the BP oil drilling disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, could be completed as early as June 1. Under the deal with the California attorney general's office, Tesoro agreed to maintain the 1,000 jobs at its Wilmington refinery for the next two years.

California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown waded into the controversy Tuesday over a new law that aims to reduce the state prison population by saying it applies to county jails but should not be read as requiring immediate, large-scale reductions of their populations. The bulletin to law enforcement agencies throughout the state came as the union representing Orange County sheriff's deputies became the second major policing organization to go to court to block use of the law, which appears to speed the process under which county jail inmates are released by changing the formula used to determine time off for good behavior.

Chris Kelly has agreed to pay a $2,500 fine for failing to properly report $9.86 million in spending by his unsuccessful 2010 campaign for California attorney general. The enforcement staff of the state Fair Political Practices Commission found that Kelly's campaign hired Media Strategies and Research Inc. to purchase airtime for media advertisements. In 2010, the firm bought airtime for media advertisements from subvendors, but the campaign did not report the identities of the subvendors or a description of why they were paid until after a deadline.

Today, 19 months after her death, we may finally have a good idea of what killed Paula Rojeski. According to a lawsuit and public autopsy records, the causes included her doing business with the 1-800-GET-THIN folks and the slicing of her aorta during weight-loss surgery at one of their affiliated surgical centers. There was also regulatory indifference on a truly majestic scale. Rojeski, 55, died Sept. 8, 2011, shortly after surgery to implant a Lap-Band at Valley Surgical Center in West Hills, which her family's lawyer says is affiliated with 1-800-GET-THIN and the two brothers behind it, Julian and Michael Omidi.

Three years after falling short in a bid for higher office, Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo has taken the first step toward launching a second campaign for California attorney general, a spokesman said Thursday. Term limits prevent Delgadillo, 48, from seeking reelection as city attorney this year. Papers filed with the secretary of state this week allow Delgadillo to begin fundraising for a statewide campaign for attorney general in 2010, according to Delgadillo spokesman Stephen J.

Republican attorney general candidate John Eastman must change the way he identifies himself to voters on the June 8 primary election ballot, a judge ruled Thursday. Eastman wanted his job described as "assistant attorney general," a title given to him for work on a single case in South Dakota. The judge said the title could mislead voters and also ruled against Eastman's second choice: "taxpayer advocate/attorney." Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley ordered Eastman, who recently resigned as dean of Chapman University School of Law in Orange County, to be identified instead as a "constitutional law attorney."

After a 16-month investigation that revealed "gross misconduct and widespread abuse" by the Maywood Police Department, California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown announced Tuesday that he would seek a court order to impose reforms on the troubled force. His comments coincided with the release of a 30-page report that detailed the findings of the investigation into the tiny department, which polices the densely populated cities of Maywood and Cudahy southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

Stressing his tough anti-crime posture, Republican state attorney general candidate Dan Lungren on Tuesday showcased several crime victims' advocates who praised him while questioning the crime-fighting credentials of his Democratic opponent, San Francisco Dist. Atty. Arlo Smith. Lungren "is a man of character and . . . commitment," said Collene Campbell, the sister of slain motor sports promoter Mickey Thompson and a leader of the Crime Victims California Justice Committee.

Declaring that "most members of gangs in Los Angeles and all over the state . . . aren't bad kids," Democratic state attorney general aspirant Arlo Smith predicted in a weekend speech that street gangs would "ultimately deteriorate" if their leaders were systematically jailed. Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, Smith's opponent in June's primary, responded that such thinking is "naive."

The Medical Board of California would be stripped of its power to investigate physician misconduct under a sweeping reform plan by legislators who say the agency has struggled to hold problem doctors accountable. The medical board has come under fire for failing to discipline doctors accused of harming patients, particularly those suspected of recklessly prescribing drugs. Under the proposed legislation, amended Thursday, investigations of doctors would be handled by the California attorney general, leaving the board to deal mostly with licensing doctors.

Today, 19 months after her death, we may finally have a good idea of what killed Paula Rojeski. According to a lawsuit and public autopsy records, the causes included her doing business with the 1-800-GET-THIN folks and the slicing of her aorta during weight-loss surgery at one of their affiliated surgical centers. There was also regulatory indifference on a truly majestic scale. Rojeski, 55, died Sept. 8, 2011, shortly after surgery to implant a Lap-Band at Valley Surgical Center in West Hills, which her family's lawyer says is affiliated with 1-800-GET-THIN and the two brothers behind it, Julian and Michael Omidi.

California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris is the top prosecutor in the most populous state in the nation, but her counterparts in six other states, including Tennessee and Alabama were paid more last year, a state salary survey has found. The California attorney general's salary was also less than the pay received by the city attorneys of Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco and Sacramento. The survey was conducted by the staff of the California Citizens Compensation Commission in preparation for a meeting Thursday at which it will consider whether to provide pay raises to the governor, legislators, attorney general and other statewide constitutional officers.

SACRAMENTO -- State electronic-crime investigators have arrested two Sacramento men and charged them with the fraudulent purchase of large quantities of smartphones for resale in Hong Kong. California Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris announced Tuesday the arrest of Shou Lin Wen, 39, and Yuting Tan, 27, both of Sacramento, following a six-month, multi-state investigation of alleged stolen smartphones. According to court documents, the scheme involved the dispatching of homeless people to purchase up to five smartphones at subsidized prices from wireless dealers as part of a contract for cellphone service.

SACRAMENTO - Officials at the California attorney general's office have reversed course and begun a deeper examination of the accounting scandal at the state parks department that could result in criminal charges. The renewed probe was disclosed Wednesday during a legislative hearing on state parks. Previously, the attorney general's office had concurred with a decision by the Sacramento County district attorney not to pursue a criminal case, much to the chagrin of some lawmakers. During the hearing, state Sen. Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa)

The California state attorney general's office is investigating whether the Santa Catalina Island Conservancy's controversial executive director misappropriated funds, sources close to the case said Tuesday. That allegation and others against Ann Muscat were made in complaints submitted to the attorney general by former officers of the nonprofit that manages nine-tenths of Santa Catalina Island, according to documents obtained by The Times. Muscat declined to comment. Lynda Gledhill, press secretary for Atty.

Anthem Blue Cross may be breaking California law by requiring some policyholders to buy their prescription drugs from a single mail-order pharmacy, according to the state attorney general's office. Anthem, the state's largest for-profit health insurer, had notified members with conditions such as HIV/AIDS and cancer that they will have to buy their medications from the mail-order pharmacy CuraScript or pay full price at a retail drugstore. Other Anthem members, including those with chronic conditions such as diabetes, face no such requirement.

A wave of consolidation among hospitals and physician groups has drawn scrutiny from the California attorney general's office amid concerns that these alliances could boost medical prices. Some hospital chains and insurance companies in the state said they have received civil subpoenas from the attorney general's office seeking information about market concentration among medical providers and the effect on healthcare pricing. Sharp HealthCare, which runs seven hospitals and two affiliated medical groups in the San Diego area, said it was contacted by investigators, as were some insurers such as Health Net Inc. of Woodland Hills.