The California Department of Motor Vehicles put forth proposed regulations that would, in effect, prohibit Tesla from using the Autopilot name to market its vehicles. Now, a consumer group is telling the DMV to get on with it. Tesla uses the word Autopilot to describe its driver-assist technology, which, when enabled, automatically steers, brakes and passes other vehicles. Consumer Watchdog, based in Santa Monica, contends Tesla is misleading consumers by exaggerating Autopilot's capabilities. The DMV should "enact a regulation protecting consumers from misleading advertising that leaves the dangerous -- and sometimes fatal -- impression that a car is more capable of driving itself than is actually the case," John M. Simpson, privacy policy director at Consumer Watchdog, said in a Nov. 23 letter to the agency's director, Jean Shiomoto.

The death of a Valley State Prison inmate is being investigated as a possible homicide, officials said Monday. The 44-year-old man, whose name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin, was found unresponsive on Thanksgiving morning in a dormitory at the Chowchilla facility, according to a prison statement. "Life-saving measures were initiated and an ambulance was called to the scene, but the inmate was pronounced dead at 9:45 a.m.," the statement read. Officials are awaiting an autopsy to determine the cause of death, said Lt. Ronald Ladd, a public information officer with the prison. The inmate was received by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from Los Angeles County in June 2015 and was serving a two-year, eight-month sentence for second-degree burglary and possession of a controlled substance, officials said.

Fidel Castro died as he lived: to the sound of useful idiots making allowances for his crimes. The gold medal in the Useful Idiot Olympics should probably go to Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada. In a statement, he expressed his "deep sorrow" upon learning that "Cuba's longest serving president" had died. One can only imagine what George Orwell could do with that one word, "serving." Castro did not serve, he ruled a nation of servants, often cruelly, while making obscene profits for himself and his family.