How a lot cash does the DMV get from towed automobiles?

After a Lamborghini Murciélago Roadster obtained towed in 2023, nobody claimed it. The long-lasting sports activities automotive sat at a Torrance tow yard for 5 months, lengthy sufficient that the towing firm had the best to promote it.

The sale allowed the corporate to recoup its prices for the tow, storage and lien sale, about $11,332. However there was lots left over: $99,668.

All of it went to the California Division of Motor Autos.

A brand new story from CalMatters investigative reporter Byrhonda Lyons reveals that the DMV doesn’t notify homeowners of proceeds from gross sales like this and, it says, it doesn’t need to.

From the start of 2016 via fall 2024, the DMV collected greater than $8 million from practically 5,300 vehicles offered at public sale, based on a CalMatters evaluation of DMV information. In 2016, the DMV recorded $760,000 from the gross sales. That quantity rose by about 76% to $1.33 million in 2023, the info reveals.

Not all of the vehicles are as fancy because the Lambo. However numerous them introduced in cash for the state that possible would’ve been significant for his or her former homeowners.

• Shayla Myers, senior legal professional for the Authorized Support Basis of Los Angeles: “If there are excess funds, but people don’t know how to get them, they’re as good as vanished.”

Learn extra right here.

Additionally:

• Had a foul expertise with getting your automotive advised? Inform us your story and assist inform our reporting.
• See in case your towed automotive has been offered for a revenue with our lookup software.

From CalMatters native information fellow Joe Garcia:

After a five-month strike and unresolved bargaining negotiations, Southern California Kaiser Permanente agreed to mediation with the union representing its psychological well being staff.

The settlement follows Gov. Gavin Newsom urging Kaiser to enter “focused mediation” one month in the past. On Monday the Nationwide Union of Healthcare Employees mentioned former Well being and Human Providers Secretary Mark Ghaly and former Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg will start mediation talks March 10.

This doesn’t imply the strike is over. However Steinberg helped resolve the same Northern California strike in 2022. The Southern California therapists need the identical contract and advantages that their counterparts negotiated, but, thus far, Kaiser executives keep that the 2 geographic markets have completely different enterprise fashions.

The practically 2,400 Southern California putting therapists and psychological well being staff are demanding much less hectic scheduling with extra time for affected person follow-up, price of residing wage will increase and assured pension plans for all union members.

With California colleges dealing with overwhelming numbers of scholars in comparison with counselors, some colleges have adopted chatbots powered by synthetic intelligence to assist guarantee college students get vital recommendation. However whereas the know-how is alleged to fill a spot in pupil companies, specialists warn it might additionally chip away at essential social connectionswrites CalMatters’ Tara García Mathewson.

In 2022 California’s student-to-counselor ratio was 464-to-1, based on federal information — far beneath the American Faculty Counselor Affiliation’s really helpful ratio of 250-to-1. To deal with pupil wants, one Richmond constitution college is growing an AI software that permits highschool seniors to textual content a chatbot about their futures and plan their subsequent steps after commencement.

The California nonprofit CareerVillage additionally aggregates crowd-sourced questions and solutions to assist individuals navigate their profession paths, which excessive colleges and schools throughout the U.S. are beginning to combine with their very own advising sources.

However Julia Freeland Fisher, the training director on the nonprofit analysis group Clayton Christensen Institute, argues that creating an “army of self-help bots” can erode the “network-building opportunities” that assist college students get their foot within the door.

• Freeland Fisher: “It’s so tempting to see these bots as cursory. ‘They’re not threatening real relationships.’ ‘These are just one-off chats.’ But we know from sociology that these one-off chats are actually big opportunities.”

Learn extra right here.

For a lot of in Central California’s mixed-status households, the trail to U.S. citizenship feels more and more unsure. Susana Canales-Barrón and video technique director Robert Meeks have a video section about how the controversy over citizenship helps strengthen neighborhood bonds as a part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it right here.

SoCalMatters airs at 5:58 p.m. weekdays on PBS SoCal.