SANTA BARBARA, Calif. /California Newswire/ — The Council of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT) today announced formation of a strategic business relationship with BioJet International. CERT is comprised of 57 sovereign Indian tribes as members. CERT members collectively own and manage more than 30 percent of the coal west of the Mississippi; 40 percent of domestic uranium; and 10 percent of known national oil and gas reserves in the United States.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ –- Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments. First, Denise Brown, 60, of Fair Oaks, has been appointed director of the California Department of Consumer Affairs.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — On the same day as the college football national championship game, California State Senator Alex Padilla announced he will be introducing legislation that would require that student-athletes injured during their college career be provided the necessary medical and financial support to complete their degree.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — S.F. Mayor Edwin M. Lee today appointed Christina Olague as District 5 Supervisor, filling the vacancy left by Ross Mirkarimi. ‘Christina Olague is my appointment for District 5 Supervisor,’ said Mayor Lee.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — On Friday, San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee announced that Salesforce.com is again expanding and creating more jobs in San Francisco, entering into the largest long-term lease in the City in more than a decade. Salesforce will occupy 400,000 square feet of office space at 50 Fremont, which when fully occupied, will accommodate 2,000 employees.

IRVINE, Calif. /California Newswire/ — PowerGuard Specialty Insurance Services announces that leading Chinese solar manufacturer, LONG ENERGY (Shenglong, Suzhou Shenglong PV-Tech Co., Ltd.), a client of Marsh Los Angeles, has joined the growing number of China-based solar panel manufacturers to adopt PowerGuard’s unique PowerClip extended warranty protection.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Mayor Edwin M. Lee today announced today a partnership with Code for America to launch the world’s first Civic Startup Accelerator. Based in downtown San Francisco, the Code for America Accelerator will support entrepreneurs that launch companies to make City government more responsive, efficient and connected.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. /California Newswire/ — On Sunday, January 8, 2012 at 2 p.m., former USA National Team members Diana Mkhitaryan and Rebecca Terzian and the 2011 VISA USA National Qualifier Heather Chan from the Los Angeles School of Gymnastics (LASG) will perform at UCLA’s Women’s Gymnastics 7th Annual John Wooden Challenge at The John Wooden Center (221 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095). The John Wooden Challenge honors all competing teams’ academic and athletic achievements.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — MCT Trading, Inc. (MCT), a leader in hedging and risk management services, announced that it has been named a 2011 Medallion winner for the annual Workplace Excellence Awards held by the San Diego Society for Human Resource Management (SD SHRM). Each year, the SD SHRM honors local companies having exceptional HR practices that become instrumental to their success and profitability.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — This week Mayor Edwin M. Lee and Police Chief Greg Suhr released the year end crime statistics showing continued historic low crime trends for the City of San Francisco. Mayor Lee and Chief Suhr announced that 2011 violent crime rates in San Francisco are down 6 percent from last year.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck today announced the City’s 2011 year-end crime statistics that showed violent crime and property crime were reduced across Los Angeles for the 9th consecutive year.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Delivering on his promise to reduce pollution at the Port of Los Angeles and protect public health, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today marked a major milestone in the Clean Truck Program. The program required all trucks at the Port of Los Angeles to meet the toughest environmental standards in the nation by January 1, 2012.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Destination Earth has announced the launch of their unique Voluntourism Travel concept with a tour to Cambodia and Vietnam. This adventure highlights their business model, which offers fun, safe adventure tours to those who would like to travel responsibly and give back while enjoying their vacation.

PLACENTIA, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Today the Association of Professional Ball Players of America (APBPA) announces the selection of LTC Financial Partners LLC (LTCFP) to offer long-term care education and long-term care insurance coverage to their 11,000 Members. For members that choose to purchase the insurance, applications for individual policies will be completed by LTCFP and underwritten by Transamerica Life Insurance Company.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Mayor Villaraigosa released the following statement on Monday on the string of arson fires in Los Angeles: Over the past few days we have been faced with an ongoing series of arson fires committed by an individual with wanton disregard for the lives and property of Angelenos. Thankfully, there have been no lives lost to these criminal acts and only minor injuries to date.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — On behalf of all Californians, Governor Brown and First Lady Anne Gust Brown honor Sgt. Noah M. Korte, who bravely gave his life in service to our state and nation. The Governor and First Lady extend their deepest condolences to his family and friends at this difficult time.