UC DAVIS ROLLS OUT PUBLIC SAFETY MOBILE APP FOR STUDENTS: DAVIS. (AP) — University of California at Davis officials have rolled out a new mobile phone application they hope will provide an extra layer of security for students.
The Sacramento Bee reports that the school on Wednesday began offering the public safety app through Massachusetts-based Rave Mobile Safety.
The app allows users to alert police in emergencies and report suspicious activity through text message.
Students, staff and faculty can indicate that they are walking alone or to a particular place and use a timer with an estimate of the travel time. They can disable the timer if they reach their destination safely.
UC Davis police Chief Matt Carmichael says campus police dispatchers will be immediately notified if something happens and attempt to contact the person before sending out officers.
OAKLAND TO BAN SCHOOL SUSPENSIONS FOR DEFIANT BEHAVIOR: OAKLAND (AP) — The Oakland Unified School District has become the fourth California school district to phase out defiant behavior as a reason to suspend students in grades 4-12.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Oakland’s school board voted unanimously on Wednesday night to no longer allow teachers and administrators to kick students out of class for talking back, ignoring orders and other non-violent acts.
School officials in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Pasadena already prohibit suspensions for so-called “willful defiance.” Civil and child rights advocates have been lobbying for such changes based on statistics showing that minority students are disproportionately punished for disobedience.
A first-of-its-kind law that took effect in California at the beginning of the year prevents public schools from suspending pupils in kindergarten through 3rd grade for willful defiance.
ASSEMBLY APPROVES BILL TO HELP CORINTHIAN COLLEGES STUDENTS: SACRAMENTO — (AP) — The state Assembly is advancing legislation to help about 13,000 California students affected by the sudden closure of Corinthian Colleges.
AB573 would waive fees at community colleges for affected students and provide money to the colleges to help students transfer and enroll in new programs.
The college chain abruptly closed 28 campuses across the country last month after the U.S. Department of Education announced $30 million in fines for misrepresentation.
The bipartisan bill passed out of the Assembly Thursday with a unanimous 71-0 vote.
The bill also would offer $100 for legal aid to students seeking to have their student loans forgiven, restore $10 million in Cal Grant eligibility for Heald College students and help some students recover tuition and loans.
It now goes to the state Senate.
COVINA POLICE SAY ALLEGED CAR THIEF WAS HIMSELF CARJACKED: COVINA (AP) — Police in a Los Angeles suburb have arrested a man who reported being carjacked. They say he stole the car in the first place.
Twenty-five-year-old Cory Ball of Upland was arrested Thursday and remains jailed on $25,000 bail.
Police say Ball told them he met two men in a Starbucks and they decided to drive to a Covina home to buy marijuana.
But Ball said one man later pulled a gun and his new companions fled in the 2012 Honda Odyssey.
Sgt. Gregg Peterson says Bell later confirmed the minivan had been stolen earlier that day in Upland.
He also says Ball had some checks that had been taken from the stolen car.
Ball was arrested on suspicion of auto theft and possessing stolen property.
