How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
Business News
- Details
- Written by: Editor
Los Angeles attorney Luis J. Rodriguez was elected on Friday as president of the State Bar of California for 2013-2014.
He will be the first public defender and first Latino to hold the office.
Rodriguez, 46, will be sworn in as the 89th president of the 243,000-member organization at the State Bar’s annual meeting in October in San Jose.
He currently serves as vice president and ran unopposed in the Board of Trustees election.
Craig Holden, 43, a partner at Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP of Los Angeles, was elected vice president. Heather Linn Rosing, 41, of Klindest PC in San Diego was elected treasurer.
Rodriguez, the son of Mexican immigrant parents, was born in Los Angeles and moved with his family to Ciudad Juarez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua when he was 3. About 10 years later, his family moved back to L.A., where Rodriguez attended public schools.
The first in his family to attend college, Rodriguez graduated with honors from Santa Clara University. He received his law degree from Santa Clara Law School. He has been an attorney with the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office since 1994.
“Because of the obstacles that I faced and the support that I received from many, I have committed myself to being the voice for those who have no voice,” Rodriquez said.
Previous leadership roles include president of the Mexican American Bar Association of Los Angeles County, president of the California La Raza Lawyers Association, president of the Latino Public Defenders Association, member of the California State Board of Education and chairman of the State Bar of California’s Council on Access and Fairness.
Rodriguez said that as president he will work to ensure that California courts are adequately funded and to protect the public against immigration fraud by attorneys.
Rodriguez is married and has two daughters.
- Details
- Written by: Editor
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Lake County Websites & Computer Repair in Middletown is offering a computer workshop beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 27.
It will be held at 15642 Armstrong St., in the Jazzercise Center (two blocks behind the post office).
“Everything Email” will focus on using online email accounts (i.e. gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail) and client-based email (i.e. MS Outlook, Outlook Express, and Windows Live Mail).
They will discuss ways to get less spam, how to insert attachments and pictures, how to save attachments to folders on your computer, and how to automatically filter/sort incoming mail into custom folders.
The presenter, Mark Rudiger, is the owner of Lake County Websites & Computer Repair in Middletown and has more than 18 years of experience installing, trouble-shooting, and working with computers.
If you have a laptop, bring it along and connect to the high-speed Internet. If you don’t, you will still get all the same information as Rudiger’s laptop screen will be projected on a 120-inch screen so you can follow along.
Admission is $15 per person. Space is limited.
To keep informed and receive information on future workshops, go to www.facebook.com/lakecountywebsites and “Like” the page.
To register, email
- Details
- Written by: Editor
SACRAMENTO – State Controller John Chiang on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against a Missouri-based life insurance company for refusing to turn over records needed to audit the company, which is suspected of failing to pay life insurance benefits to the heirs of deceased policy holders.
“Through a series of audits, my office has seen a harmful and systemic trend in the insurance industry that often robs families of life insurance benefits after their loved ones have passed on,” Controller Chiang said. “Kemper has fought to keep its books closed, and refused to show that it has delivered on the company's promises to policyholders and their families. That is simply unacceptable, and my office will hold them accountable to both the law and to their customers.”
The complaint alleges that Kemper failed to turn over data needed for the controller to conduct audits, which will determine whether the company failed to pay deceased policyholders' beneficiaries or turn the proceeds over to be safeguarded in perpetuity by the State Controller's Unclaimed Property program.
This follows a similar complaint the controller filed against Texas-based ANICO Insurance in May of this year.
Controller Chiang began auditing insurance company practices in 2008, revealing an industry-wide practice of companies failing to pay death benefits to the beneficiaries of life insurance policies, despite having access to federal records indicating that policyholders had died.
This information is contained in the “Death Master File” – a database maintained by the Social Security Administration and regularly scanned by companies that sell and administer life insurance policies.
Despite having access to these records – and in many cases, having direct confirmation from family members that the policyholder had passed away – some companies would instead use the policies' cash reserves to continue paying premiums to the company. Once the cash reserves were depleted, the company would cancel the policy, leaving the beneficiaries empty-handed.
To date, Controller Chiang has reached global settlements with 18 life insurance companies, with an aggregate value of $266.7 million belonging to California beneficiaries, and an estimated $2.4 billion nationally.
These 18 companies – which write more than 50 percent of all the issued and active life insurance policies nationwide – have agreed to restore the value of expired life insurance policies and payout future benefits more quickly.
Kemper, however, has steadfastly refused to even make its records available to the controller's office.
The Kemper Corp. is the parent company of Mutual Savings and Life Insurance Co., Reliable Life Insurance Co., Reserve National Insurance Co., Union National Insurance Co. and United Insurance Co. of America.
Unclaimed property laws have been in place in every state since 1959 to protect private property from being lost during mergers or bankruptcies, drawn down by service or storage fees, or simply used by private businesses.
Administered by the controller, the California Unclaimed Property program generally provides that businesses must send lost or abandoned financial accounts to the State after three years of inactivity.
The controller maintains an unclaimed property database accessible by any California resident to identify all unclaimed property the state has collected on their behalf. The database is available at www.claimit.ca.gov .
- Details
- Written by: Editor
California’s gasoline consumption declined 1.5 percent, while diesel consumption increased 3.8 percent in the first quarter of 2013, according to fuel tax data released by Betty T. Yee, First District member of the California State Board of Equalization.
“Even with modest price declines, California families continue to find ways to reduce their gasoline consumption, benefitting family budgets, as well as our environment and economy,” said Yee.
The BOE’s gasoline fuel tax report shows Californians consumed 3.50 billion gallons of gasoline in the first quarter of 2013, a 1.5 percent decline from the 3.56 billion gallons consumed during the first quarter of 2012.
In California, the average price of gasoline in the first quarter of 2013 was $4.00 per gallon, which is a six cent decrease over the average price of $4.06 per gallon in the first quarter of 2012.
Nationally, the average price of gasoline during the first quarter of 2013 was $3.64, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
BOE estimates statewide gasoline tax-related revenues for the first quarter of 2013 are $424 million in sales taxes and $1.261 billion in excise taxes in California.
California’s diesel fuel consumption increased 3.8 percent in the first quarter of 2013 to 619 million gallons, compared to 597 million gallons in the first quarter of 2012.
In California, the average price of diesel fuel in the first quarter of 2013 was $4.22 per gallon, which is a decrease of six cents over the average price of $4.28 in the first quarter of 2012.
Nationally, the average price of diesel fuel in the first quarter of 2013 was $4.03 according to the EIA. BOE estimates statewide diesel fuel tax-related revenues for the first quarter of 2013 are $235 million in sales taxes and $77 million in excise tax in California.
For more information on California fuel statistics, or reports based on fuel tax receipts paid by distributors in California, visit: www.boe.ca.gov/sptaxprog/spftrpts.htm .