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From LA Times

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No motive found in slashing of UCLA student's throat

Students in a UCLA chemistry lab watched helplessly this afternoon as a classmate with seemingly no provocation slashed the neck of a fellow student, causing serious injuries.

The attack occurred just past noon on the sixth floor of Young Hall, prompting swift police mobilization and leaving students shaken by the violence as word spread across campus.

One witness inside the lab told The Times that the alleged assailant, a 20-year-old male student in the class, walked up to the 20-year-old female victim and appeared to repeatedly punch her.

The witness said he realized it was more serious when she slumped over, bleeding profusely from her neck.

Another student, Woojin Lee, was waiting with a friend near the chemistry lab when he heard screams and crying.

“I thought somebody blew themselves up with chemicals,” Lee said. “Some of the students in that room were covered with blood on their coats and latex gloves. I saw her neck, the [teacher's assistant] was trying to help her.”

“It was horrifying because she was a fellow student and a partner,” Lee added. “Something happens at a prestigious university like UCLA, it seems unbelievable.”

The suspect was arrested inside Young Hall minutes after the incident. His name and that of the victim have not been released.

The victim was rushed to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, which is on campus, in critical condition. She underwent surgery and her condition was improving, officials said.

Los Angeles Police Department detectives said they don't know the motive for the attack.

A law enforcement source said there might have been a verbal altercation before the slashing, but details were unclear. Both students were seniors, and some campus sources said they may have been lab partners.

UCLA officials sent a text alert to students, faculty and staff members soon after the attack, telling them that an incident had occurred at Young Hall and to stay away from the area.

The attack took place between class sessions in an organic chemistry lab. The undergraduate level lab enrolls about a dozen students and is usually led by teaching assistants.

It is part of a class for about 60 students that is overseen by lecturer Alfred Bacher, according to department officials.

Cyril Baida, a biochemistry graduate student who is a teaching assistant in a lab next door, said he helped escort the victim into his room and sat her down while another teaching assistant kept applying pressure through gauze on her neck to stop the bleeding.

The victim was breathing but very pale and at times appeared to be passing out, said Baida, who praised police and UCLA medics for a quick and effective response to 911 calls.

“We kept trying to talk to her and tell her she was going to be OK,” he said. “We wanted her to stay conscious.”

Baida said he did not know the victim or the suspect, but was told that they were lab partners and had worked on some of the same organic chemistry projects.

UCLA campus spokeswoman Carol Stogsdill said she had no information on past behavioral problems involving the suspect and that she had heard of no reports of any previous trouble in the class or between the two students.

Peter Felker, a chemistry department vice chairman, said the department also had not received any reports of trouble in the lab or complaints about the suspect's past behavior.

“Nothing that I'm aware of,” he said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/no-motive-in-throat-slashing-of-ucla-student-by-classmate.html#more

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UCLA student, 20, is booked in stabbing of classmate

A UCLA student was booked tonight on suspicion of attempted murder in connection with an attack this afternoon that left a female student with her throat slashed.

Authorities identified the suspect as Damon D. Thompson, 20.

A student who was inside the Young Hall chemistry lab when the attack occurred just past noon told The Times that he looked up as the assailant appeared to be repeatedly punching the victim. The assailant then calmly turned and walked away as the victim lay bleeding profusely.

Law enforcement sources said some type of verbal altercation occurred just before the attack, but the relationship, if any, between the assailant and the 20-year-old victim was unclear.  

Witnesses said they saw a woman staggering out of the sixth-floor lab with a teacher's assistant applying pressure to her bloody neck moments after the attack, which was reported at 12:21 p.m.

The victim, whose name was withheld, was taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, where she apparently was undergoing surgery.

The suspect was taken into custody by UCLA police, who sealed off Young Hall, home of the school's chemistry department. Police said they don't know of any motive for the attack.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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3 LAPD officers say they didn't lie under oath

Three current and former Los Angeles Police Department officers accused of lying in court during a drug possession case pleaded not guilty today to perjury and conspiracy charges.

The charges rely heavily on video footage that appears to sharply contradict the testimony the officers gave about their arrest of Guillermo Alarcon at his East Hollywood apartment complex. But lawyers for the officers said the video was edited and omits key portions of the arrest that would have shown that their clients told the truth in court.

“We intend to prove that it was either deleted or purposely altered,” said defense attorney Robert Rico.

The drug charge against Alarcon was dismissed last year and a judge declared him “factually innocent” after his defense attorney produced the video during trial.

Two of the officers had testified that they saw Alarcon throw an object that split open to reveal crack and powder cocaine. The quality of the tape is poor but shows a group of officers searching for more than 20 minutes before one announces that drugs have been found.

Defense attorney Ira Salzman said the video missed his client picking up narcotics immediately after the arrest.

“That's the perils of videotape testimony,” he said. “The video doesn't tell the entire story.”

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/lapd-officers-say-they-didnt-lie-under-oath.html#more

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2 men arrested in fatal hit-and-run in Montebello

Two men were arrested today in connection with a hit-and-run accident in which an 84-year-old Montebello woman was killed while using her walker to cross a street.

Nora Lambo, whose late husband was a former mayor of Montebello, was struck about 6:15 p.m. Monday as she crossed Jefferson Boulevard at Alfred Place. Her dog also was struck and killed, police said. Lambo was pronounced dead at the scene.

David Louis Lorea, 36, of Montebello was arrested on suspicion of driving the vehicle that hit Lambo, police said. McArthur Gutierrez Mutuz, 40, of San Gabriel was arrested on suspicion of being an accessory.

Investigators arrested the pair after receiving numerous tips from the public, said Sgt. Luis Lopez of the Montebello Police Department. The vehicle suspected of striking Lambo was recovered in a body shop and was being repaired, police said.

Lambo was hit by a pickup truck that dragged her walker after it got caught on the front bumper, Lopez said. Before fleeing the scene, the driver stopped the vehicle to allow his passenger to remove the walker.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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Inmates' lawyers want governor held in contempt

Lawyers for state prisoners today asked a panel of federal judges to hold Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in contempt of court and impose a fine for California's failure to comply with their order to submit a plan for reducing the inmate population by 40,000 over two years.

The state submitted a plan in U.S. District Court on Sept. 18  that would meet the order's requirements within five years, provided the Legislature changes state law. Without the legal changes, the governor's plan would not meet the judges' requirements, even within six years.

The inmates have said prison overcrowding violates their rights to adequate medical and mental health care. Their lawyers told the federal judges that the state had shown “utter contempt” for the judges' orders. They said state prison officials “are no more above the law than those in their custody,” and should not be allowed to choose which laws and court orders to follow and which to “simply ignore.”

Rachel Cameron, a spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger, said the governor's office objects to the panel's “arbitrary” population reduction plan and its two-year time line, and is continuing its appeal of the order to the U.S. Supreme Court.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/lawyers-for-state-prisoners-today-asked-a-panel-of-federal-judges-to-hold-gov-arnold-schwarzenegger-in-contempt-of-court-and.html#more

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FBI names assistant director in charge of L.A. office

A veteran FBI agent who for the last three years ran the bureau's Las Vegas field division has been promoted to an assistant director and tapped to run the Los Angeles office.

Steven M. Martinez, a 23-year FBI veteran, has worked a wide range of assignments across the country and around the globe, including the areas of narcotics trafficking, cybercrimes and counterterrorism.

“Steve's breadth of experience ... makes him very well suited for this role,” FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III said in a statement. “His leadership will be an asset to the Los Angeles Division.”

Martinez joined the bureau in 1987. Over the course of his career, he has worked at bureau headquarters in Washington, D.C., Phoenix, El Paso, Los Angeles, and, most recently, Las Vegas.

In the initial stages of the war in Iraq, he was in charge of all FBI personnel on the ground in that region and managed the bureau's counterterrorism and counterintelligence operations.

Martinez, 51, graduated magna cum laude from St. Mary's College in 1980 with a bachelor's degree in government. In 1986, he earned a master's degree in political science at UC Berkeley. He is married and has three sons. He said he is looking forward to returning to Los Angeles, where he oversaw the organized crime, drug and cybercrime units from 2001 through 2003.

“There are many, many challenges,” Martinez said of one of the bureau's largest and busiest jurisdictions. “But nowhere are there more hard-working and dedicated agents than in Los Angeles.”

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/steven-martinez-named-assistant-director-in-charge-of-the-fbis-los-angeles-division.html#more

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Bratton says budget woes may endanger police hiring

Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton signaled today that he might not prevail in his fight against a proposal to stop hiring new police officers because of the city's budget crisis.

The LAPD, which has added about 800 officers over the last three years, has been hiring only enough new officers to replace those who resign or retire. Bratton said that although he opposes efforts to scale back new hiring, the enormity of the city's financial woes may cause the LAPD to retrench.

“The reality is, the city budget crisis is probably going to result in fewer officers, either by furloughs or attrition,” Bratton said during the last of his monthly news briefings before he resigns Oct. 31 to join an international security firm.

The city's political leaders hope to eliminate a $405-million budget shortfall, in part, by securing financial concessions from the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the police officers' union. Police officials, speaking for Bratton, have recommended furloughs if not enough money is found during those negotiations.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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South L.A. activist accused of misusing public funds

Police today arrested James Harris, a South Los Angeles community activist and neighborhood council chairman, on suspicion of misappropriating $85,000 in city funds allocated to his neighborhood group.

Harris, 46, the longtime chairman of the Empowerment Congress Southwest Area Neighborhood Development Council, is the fifth neighborhood council member charged with the felony crime of misusing taxpayer money over the last two years.

Known for his anti-gang efforts and work with ex-offenders, Harris surrendered to police and bail was set at just over $1 million.

Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Max Huntsman said Harris has two prior felony convictions for robbery in Los Angeles. The city agency that works with neighborhood councils does not require members to undergo financial background checks.

Harris' attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.

Prosecutors allege that while acting as chairman and treasurer of his neighborhood council between April 2007 and January 2009, Harris made a series of cash withdrawals, money orders and credit card purchases that were not authorized. The city's 89 neighborhood councils, which are allocated $50,000 a year through city checks and a credit card issued to the treasurer, must approve every transaction by their treasurer.

Huntsman said Harris spent money on travel and hired his daughter to handle administrative work for the group. In a memo to police last year, city officials expressed concern about what they termed “excessive payments” for two accounting personnel hired through an employment agency. Those payments totaled more than $53,000 between June 2006 and this January, according to the group's accounting reports.

“The key thing here is that almost none of this stuff seems to be approved,” Huntsman said, adding that Harris allegedly submitted fraudulent receipts for work that did appear to have been done. “Any dime he spends must be with board approval,”  Huntsman said,

Harris has been working at the Community Coalition, a group founded by California Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) and focused on improving the quality of life in South Los Angeles. As the head of the group's prevention network, Harris coordinated the efforts of substance abuse programs in the area.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/la-police-arrest-neighborhood-council-chairman-accused-of-stealing-85000-in-city-funds.html#more

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Woman, son arrested on bomb-making, pot charges

By all appearances, Rebecca Kuzelka used her home to operate a child day-care business on a quiet, tree-lined street in Lake Elsinore. But a different picture of the 55-year-old mother emerged today after her home was rocked by an explosion late Wednesday night.

Riverside County sheriff's deputies arrested Kuzelka and her 21-year-old son, Grey, this morning on suspicion of using their home to make bombs and grow marijuana. Another son, Benjamin Kuzelka, 23, injured one hand in the explosion and was hospitalized. Authorities said he also would be arrested when he is released.

Benjamin Kuzelka allegedly was making an explosive device when it accidentally detonated about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, deputies said. He suffered an injury to one hand. About 20 minutes later, deputies said, he showed up at a local hospital saying that he had accidentally shot himself with a gun.

"His injuries were inconsistent with a gunshot wound and doctors called the police," said Deputy Melissa Nieburger, a Sheriff's Department spokeswoman.

Deputies went to the Kuzelka home on a cul-de-sac in the 30500 block of Audelo Street. Property records list Rebecca Kuzelka as the sole owner of the house, which was built in 1983.

Inside the home, Nieburger said, deputies found materials used to make explosives, as well as a sophisticated indoor marijuana growing room.

Authorities did not say how many marijuana plants allegedly were found in the home or disclose the type of explosive materials that were uncovered. A  law enforcement source told The Times that substances found at the home were similar to acetone peroxide, or TATP, the same type of powerful explosive used in the 2007 London subway terrorist bombings. There was no evidence that the Lake Elsinore incident was related to terrorism, the source said.

Nieburger said deputies had not determined how many children Rebecca Kuzelka cared for at her home. No children were present at the time of the explosion, authorities said.

Rebecca and Grey Kuzelka were booked on suspicion of manufacturing of explosives, cultivating marijuana and felony child endangerment, Neiburger said, adding that Benjamin Kuzelka would be booked on the same charges when he gets out of the hospital.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/lake-elsinore-mother-and-son-arrested-for-allegedly-making-explosive-devices-growing-marijuana.html#more

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Los Angeles County D.A. prepares to crack down on pot outlets

Cooley says the vast majority of medical marijuana dispensaries in the county are operating illegally.

By John Hoeffel

October 9, 2009

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said Thursday he will prosecute medical marijuana dispensaries for over-the-counter sales, targeting a practice that has become commonplace under an initiative approved by California voters more than a decade ago.

"The vast, vast, vast majority, about 100%, of dispensaries in Los Angeles County and the city are operating illegally, they are dealing marijuana illegally, according to our theory," he said. "The time is right to deal with this problem."

Cooley and Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich recently concluded that state law bars sales of medical marijuana, an opinion that could spark a renewed effort by law enforcement across the state to rein in the use of marijuana. It comes as polls show a majority of state voters back legalization of marijuana, and supporters are working to place the issue on the ballot next year.

The district attorney's office is investigating about a dozen dispensaries, following police raids, and is considering filing felony charges against one that straddles the Los Angeles-Culver City line.

"We have our strategy and we think we are on good legal ground," Cooley said.

Medical marijuana advocates say the prosecutors are misinterpreting the law.

"I'm confident that they are not right," said Joe Elford, chief counsel for Americans for Safe Access. "If they are right, it would mean that thousands of seriously ill Californians for whom the Compassionate Use Act was intended to help would not be able to get the medicine that they need."

Law enforcement officials have been frustrated by the explosion in the number of dispensaries in Southern California, arguing that most are for-profit enterprises that violate the 1996 voter initiative legalizing medical marijuana and the 2003 state law permitting collective cultivation. Cooley's announcement, coming at a news conference that followed a training session he and Trutanich conducted for narcotics officers, dramatically raises the stakes.

In the city of Los Angeles, some estimates put the number of dispensaries as high as 800. The city allowed 186 to remain open under its 2007 moratorium, but hundreds of others opened in violation of the ban while the city did nothing to shut them down.

In August, Cooley and Sheriff Lee Baca sent a letter to all mayors and police chiefs in the county, saying that they believed over-the-counter sales were illegal and encouraging cities to adopt permanent bans on dispensaries.

Mark Kleiman, a professor of public policy at UCLA and an expert on drug policy, was not surprised that local prosecutors had decided to attack the rapid proliferation of marijuana stores.

"I think it's a natural response to the rather flagrant marketing practices of a bunch of the dispensaries. The medical veneer has been wearing thinner and thinner," he said. "I've always wondered why those things were legal when they didn't look legal to me."

Cooley said he believes that under state law, collectives must raise their own marijuana and can only recoup their costs. "That's absolutely legal," he said. "We're going to respect that."

But he said none of them currently do that.

The district attorney's warning could make the situation more chaotic in Los Angeles, where the City Council has struggled for two years to devise an ordinance to control the distribution of medical marijuana.

In addition to prosecuting dispensaries, Cooley said he would consider going after doctors who write medical marijuana recommendations for healthy people. Medical marijuana critics argue that some doctors freely recommend the drug to people who are not ill.

Medical marijuana advocates celebrated a brief thaw in the enforcement climate after the Obama administration signaled earlier this year that it would not prosecute collectives that followed state law. That spurred many entrepreneurs to open dispensaries in Los Angeles. As stores popped up near schools and parks, neighborhood activists reacted with outrage and police took notice.

Councilman Dennis Zine, a key player on the issue at L.A. City Hall, welcomed Cooley's decision to prosecute dispensaries. "There are many that are operating illegally and it's not a secret," he said, adding that he believes "a few" collectives in the city are operating legally.

Anticipating that police departments will ramp up raids on dispensaries, medical marijuana advocates reacted with dismay to Cooley's announcement.

"What we'll see is a big disruption," said Don Duncan, the California director for Americans for Safe Access. He called Cooley's decision "incredible" and said, "It certainly sounds scary."

Duncan acknowledged that many dispensaries do not follow the law and urged Cooley and Trutanich to focus exclusively on them. "You don't have to cast a net over the entire community, you can target the problem people and not take this extreme adversarial position," he said. "Some good people are going to be caught in the crossfire."

About 100 medical marijuana patients, activists and dispensary owners protested on a sidewalk outside the Montebello Country Club, where about 150 prosecutors and narcotics officers met. Motorists repeatedly honked and shook their fists in support as they rolled by, triggering cheers from the crowd.

Barry Kramer, the operator of California Patients Alliance, a collective on Melrose Avenue, said many dispensaries have responsibly regulated themselves for years in the vacuum left by the City Council's inaction.

"I feel like that gets lost," he said. "It's frustrating to get painted with one brush by the city."

Kramer said he believed that dispensaries would continue to operate. "People have found ways around marijuana laws for as long as there have been marijuana laws," he said.

But he also said that stepped-up prosecutions could resuscitate the criminal market: "Things will go underground. We'll see a lot more crime."

When Californians voted for Proposition 215 in 1996, they made it legal for patients with a doctor's recommendation and their caregivers to possess and raise pot for the patient's medical use.

In 2003, the Legislature allowed patients and caregivers "collectively or cooperatively to cultivate marijuana for medical purposes" but said they could not do it for profit.

Cooley and Trutanich, after reviewing a state Supreme Court decision from last year, have concluded that the law protects collectives from prosecution only in the cultivation of marijuana, not for sales or distribution.

Medical marijuana advocates, however, note that the state currently requires dispensaries to collect sales taxes on marijuana, and that guidelines drawn up by the attorney general conclude that "a properly organized and operated collective or cooperative that dispenses medical marijuana through a storefront may be lawful."

The guidelines allow collectives to take costs into account but do not deal directly with over-the-counter sales.

Jacob Appelsmith, special assistant attorney general, said Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown talked to Cooley on Thursday. "Our staffs are continuing to meet about these issues," he said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-medical-marijuana9-2009oct09,0,6467638,print.story

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Border agents find 36 pounds of cocaine hidden in car doors

U.S. Border Patrol agents uncovered 36 pounds of cocaine hidden in the doors of a car in a San Clemente rest area, authorities said today.

Agents discovered the contraband Wednesday evening after following the driver, who was displaying suspicious behavior while traveling north on Interstate 5, said Agent Mark Endicott.

The agents followed the Ford Crown Victoria into the rest area and started a casual conversation with the driver, a 22-year-old male Mexican national. Agents learned the driver was traveling in the country illegally, and after a K-9 team searched the car, they discovered 13 bundles of cocaine hidden in the door panels.

The cocaine had an estimated street value of $360,000. The suspected smuggler was turned over to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/cocaine-seized.html#more

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Massive graffiti scrawl finally being removed from L.A. River

Officials today began removing a massive piece of graffiti from the Los Angeles River in downtown L.A.

This concrete channel east of downtown runs through two rail yards and has become the ultimate proving ground for graffiti vandals vying for visibility and reputation. 

The centerpiece is something officials say is one of the biggest tags in the United States: Three block letters that cover a three-story-high wall and run the length of several blocks between the 4th Street and 1st Street bridges. It spells out "MTA" -- Metro Transit Assassins. 

A group of alleged taggers were arrested in January in connection with the "MTA" graffiti. They are awaiting trial and are being asked to pay restitution if they are convicted.

These huge graffiti projects take paint rollers, not spray cans. Some of the most elaborate tags take days.

Cleaning graffiti from the river is far more expensive than cleaning other areas. Officials use high-pressure water spray to remove the toxic paint. But hazardous-material crews must then dam and capture all the runoff to prevent it from getting into the riverbed.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/massive-graffiti-scrawl-finally-being-removed-from-la-river.html

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82% of L.A.'s signal-controlled intersections are now synchronized, mayor will announce

About 82% of Los Angeles' signal-controlled intersections are now synchronized, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will announce today when a new set of intersections comes on line in South Los Angeles.

The new project includes synchronizing 70 intersections to improve traffic flow.

Named the Hyde Park West Project, the effort will help quicken north-south traffic flow on Crenshaw Boulevard and Western Avenue, according to the mayor's office.

The total number of signal-synchronized intersections in the city now stands at 3,597.

Traffic-signal synchronization has been a priority of Villaraigosa since taking office.

In 2007. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Villaraigosa announced that Los Angeles would receive $150 million to synchronize the city's 4,385 intersections with signals -- claiming that it would reduce drive times up to 16%, or shaving about 5 minutes from a 30-minute drive.

They also said the plan would help the environment because cars would idle less.

But officials acknowledged at the time that reduction in drive times was general and that motorists who use jammed roads would probably not see much relief. The synchronized lights aren't very effective at intersections with heavy traffic, they said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/82-of-las-streets-now-covered-by-synchronized-traffic-lights.html

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Venice agency buys 20-unit building to provide affordable housing for homeless

The Venice Community Housing Corp. has bought a $3.6-million apartment building that will be used to provide affordable housing for people who are now homeless. Housing units are expected to become available starting early next year.

The city of Los Angeles, at the recommendation of Councilman Bill Rosendahl, contributed $750,000 toward the purchase. The agency also got an acquisition loan from the Corp. for Supportive Housing, a national nonprofit that helps communities create permanent housing with services.

St. Joseph Center will provide supportive services for new residents in the building. Of the 20 units, 19 will be made available for affordable housing for homeless individuals. Venice Community Housing said in a statement that it owns 13 other buildings in and near Venice, in which it houses about 480 people, 141 of whom had been homeless.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/venice-agency-buys-20unit-building-to-house-homeless.html

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Suspect sought in fatal shooting of 66-year-old woman in Lynwood

Authorities are searching this morning for a suspect who fatally shot a 66-year-old woman during an apparent robbery at a check-cashing business she owned in Lynwood.

Esperanza Serrano of South Gate was killed shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday at Century Check Cashing on the 3000 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Serrano, a grandmother, was at work and died at the scene, said Det. Mark Lillienfeld.

"It's a tragic event," he said. "We just don't have anybody who has seen a suspect, or saw anyone running away or getting in a car."

No video was captured near the scene, Lillienfeld said. Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call the sheriff's homicide bureau at (323) 890-5500.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/woman-shot.html

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H1N1 flu nasal spray vaccine has arrived in Los Angeles

More than 2,700 hospitalizations and 206 deaths in California have been caused by the H1N1 flu  since April, said Dr. Mark Horton, director of the California Department of Public Health. In L.A. County over that same period H1N1 is reponsible for 57 deaths and 128 admissions to intensive care units.

While the number of deaths and hospitalizations due to H1N1 has decreased in recent weeks, more people are showing flu-like symptoms and the number of serious cases is expected to rise as the flu season progresses, Horton said.

Federal officials -- who have been purchasing vaccines and distributing them to states -- already have sent California 400,000 doses of H1N1 FluMist, a nasal spray, Horton said. About 90% will be distributed to private providers with the rest going to public providers such as county health clinics, Horton said. He said the department would begin posting vaccination locations on its website today.

L.A. County has received 92,000 doses -- nearly a quarter of the state's supply of nasal spray -- according to Dr. Jonathan E. Fielding, the county's director of public health. By next week, another 200,000 doses are scheduled to be available in the county with as many as 1.4 million planned by month's end.

Fielding said that of 3,000 healthcare providers who have requested the vaccine about 240 now have some in stock.

"There's not a shortage," Fielding said, urging patience as the stockpiles are built up. He advised waiting a week to call your doctor. "There is plenty of vaccine to go around."

Fielding said the H1N1 vaccine will be provided free at public health clinics sponsored by the county in coming weeks. California can expect to receive weekly shipments of the H1N1 nasal spray and vaccine through the beginning of next year, officials at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

“We urge all individuals to determine whether they are in one of the targeted groups for this vaccine and make plans if they are to get vaccinated,” Horton said.

Those targeted for the nasal spray and vaccine include parents and caregivers of babies under 6 months old; people ages 6 months to 24 years; people ages 25 to 64 with underlying medical conditions; pregnant women; and healthcare workers.

About one-third of the vaccines arriving in coming weeks will be free of preservatives, which will be made available to alleviate concerns about vaccine safety for pregnant women, officials said.

Some Los Angeles-area doctors and clinics -- including some UCLA Medical Center clinics -- have already received and begun administering the H1N1 nasal spray.

Kaiser Permanente received a FluMist shipment at its Southern California regional pharmacy, but the nasal sprays will not be distributed to local hospitals until next week, a spokesman said.

A spokeswoman for Cedars-Sinai Medical Center said it hopes to receive shipments next week.

“The message we're trying to relay to people is to be patient. There will be adequate supply in coming weeks” said Dr. Rekha Murthy, director of hospital epidemiology at Cedars-Sinai. “It's probably going to be some time before enough people are vaccinated to quell the epidemic.”

In Los Angeles County, public health officials are seeing higher flu infection rates than at this time last year, with a dozen outbreaks in the most recent week for which data are available, Sept. 20 to 26.

Seven of those outbreaks were at elementary schools, two at middle schools, one each at a college, high school and nursing home, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

There have been eight severe pediatric flu cases this year, including four deaths, none during the most recent week reported, public health records show.

Unlike last spring, the health department is not recommending that schools or other public facilities that have flu outbreaks close.

“We're taking it on a case-by-case basis,” said spokeswoman Sarah Kissel. “It might be a situation where it's more present in one classroom than another. The schools will have to make that decision themselves.”

Learn more about who is most at risk at www.flu.gov .

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/h1n1-vaccines-have-arrived.html#more

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Some state retirees rake in pensions and paychecks

Thousands who have returned to public service in California, including eight legislators, receive their retirement benefits and a salary. The practice has raised concerns.

By Patrick McGreevy

October 9, 2009

Reporting from Sacramento

As California's public retirement funds reel from losses of nearly $100 billion in recent years and lack enough cash to cover their long-term costs, thousands of state employees are collecting government pension checks along with their paychecks.

John Benoit, a Republican state senator from Palm Desert and a former California Highway Patrol captain, is one. He draws a $98,600 annual state pension while also collecting a six-figure salary as a lawmaker.

David Turner retired as a state fire chief in 2004, went back to work for the state firefighting agency two days later and is still employed there. He collected $65,229 in salary in the last fiscal year in addition to a state pension of $105,000.

Paul W. Anderson is a psychiatrist at Napa State Hospital who retired two years ago from the state Department of Mental Health. His pension is $117,840. He also received $104,200 in state wages in the last fiscal year.

State records show that more than 5,600 others are drawing double checks, a figure 57% higher than a decade ago. Meanwhile, billions of dollars -- $3.3 billion in this fiscal year alone -- are being siphoned from the state budget to cover pension system expenses.

The California Public Employees' Retirement System and California State Teachers' Retirement System combined lost about $98 billion -- nearly a quarter of their value -- after their investments were battered in the real estate and stock markets over the last two years.

CalPERS is under additional strain from enhancements approved by lawmakers a decade ago that allow most state employees to retire at 55 instead of 60 and public-safety workers at 50.

"The notion is we have retirement systems so once people stop working they are provided for," said Alicia H. Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. "It seems just not acceptable to taxpayers that people are earning a salary and a retirement check."

The practice is not illegal. Most of those getting both salary and pension are designated by the state as "retired annuitants" limited to working 960 hours a year, about half-time. Legislators are different; they work full-time.

Hiring pensioners can be a bargain, proponents say, largely because their healthcare is already covered by their retirement plan.

"It's really good for the state, because they don't have to pay benefits," said Anderson, 79.

Turner, who was 53 when he retired from the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, was brought back to help bridge a gap in administrative staff, according to Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the agency.

"We have a lot of people retiring and we brought him back for his institutional knowledge while we continue to fill some vacancies," Berlant said.

Benoit, who retired at age 50 seven years ago, is a member of the state Senate Public Employment and Retirement Committee. He said he had no comment.

Some states bar workers from returning to service for six months or even a year after they retire, according to the National Assn. of State Retirement Administrators.

Michigan employees forfeit their retirement checks when they go back on the state payroll. And in Massachusetts, a blue-ribbon panel chaired by Munnell has proposed restricting how soon teachers can return to the public payroll after retirement and limiting the number of hours they can work if they do.

In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed moving the age when CHP officers, firefighters and police officers can retire with maximum payments back to 55 and the retirement age for other state workers back to 60.

"People are living longer and healthier," said David Crane, the governor's chief economic advisor. "People are working longer in the rest of the population."

Some lawmakers agree that it may be time for the state to rethink retirement ages for its workforce, reasoning that there would be fewer retirees on the payroll if workers had to wait until they were truly ready to leave state employment before they started collecting a pension.

"You have this incentive for retiring early. It's a little disturbing," said Sen. Denise Ducheny (D-San Diego). "If you can take retirement at 50 and still work, why wait?"

But the governor's ideas have gained little traction in the Legislature, which is under pressure from public employee unions -- some of California's biggest political donors -- to preserve generous retirement benefits. And government retirement records show that at least eight lawmakers are benefiting from the status quo, receiving public pensions in addition to their legislative salaries and about $35,000 a year in per diem expenses.

Assemblyman Joe Coto (D-San Jose) is a former school superintendent whose government pension is $178,000. Combined with his $116,000 legislative pay, Coto takes in $294,000 per year.

Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano augments his $116,000 state income with a $75,708 annual pension from the San Francisco retirement system. He was a member of the Board of Supervisors there, as well as a school board member and a teacher.

Assemblyman Danny Gilmore (R-Hanford), a former CHP assistant chief who collects a $106,142 pension from that job and $110,000 in legislative salary, said the state needs to look at curbing benefits for workers hired in the future. But he is adamant that law enforcement workers continue to be allowed to retire at 50.

"Being in public safety is a tough job," Gilmore said.

But former Assemblyman Keith Richman, a member of the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility, said those getting a state paycheck while also collecting retirement payments are "ripping off the taxpayers."

Richman's group is preparing a possible initiative for the November 2010 ballot that would, among other things, suspend payment of pension benefits during the period a retiree goes back on the state payroll.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-double-dip9-2009oct09,0,4477382,print.story

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Leak probe in Mel Gibson case criticized

Media experts voice outrage at sheriff's deputies for obtaining the phone records of gossip journalist Harvey Levin after the actor's drunk-driving arrest.

By Jack Leonard and Richard Winton

9:34 PM PDT, October 8, 2009

Media law experts and journalism groups expressed outrage Thursday that Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies obtained phone records from a notable Hollywood gossip journalist during a leak investigation, calling the action a serious violation of the reporter's rights.

Several said they believed that sheriff's investigators violated state and federal law when they obtained a search warrant for the records of TMZ founder Harvey Levin as they tried to identify who gave him details about Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic tirade during a 2006 drunk-driving arrest.

"That's illegal," said Lucy Dalglish, an attorney and executive director of the Virginia-based Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. "Most law enforcement agencies know it's illegal . . . or have a hard time getting a judge signing off on it."

Dalglish and others said such actions threatened the independence of the press and its role as the watchdog of government.

"You can't have a government agency that is supposed to be monitored by the press investigating the press to find out where it got its stories," said attorney Terry Francke, an expert on media law.

Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said his department consulted a prosecutor before seeking the search warrant. He noted that a judge approved the warrant.

"What we did we believe was legal," he said.

Whitmore said he did not know which judge signed the warrant or which prosecutor was consulted.

The controversy has cast Levin as a 1st Amendment martyr, an unlikely role for a journalist whose website on Thursday included photos of Michael Jackson's children in karate outfits and a feature about whether actress Megan Fox is a good kisser.

Sheriff's officials initially played down the July 28, 2006, arrest of Gibson, but later that day TMZ posted a story about the actor's behavior.

The report detailed profane outbursts by Gibson, an attempt to escape custody and repeated threats against the arresting deputy.

The website also accused sheriff's officials of trying to conceal the actor's conduct from the public.

The news sparked outrage at the actor as well as fierce criticism of the Sheriff's Department, which was accused of giving him special treatment.

The department launched a probe into who leaked the arrest report.

In reviewing the phone records, internal affairs investigators discovered that two brief calls were made to Levin on the day of the arrest from the home of the arresting deputy.

But prosecutors recently declined to file charges against the deputy, concluding that they could not identify who made the calls or who leaked portions of the arrest report.

During the investigation, Levin told deputies he did not pay for the information and would not reveal his source, according to a district attorney's office memo on the case.

After sheriff's investigators got Levin's phone records, they obtained additional warrants to try to identify the callers he spoke with on the day of Gibson's arrest, according to the D.A.'s office memo.

Levin declined to comment to The Times about the search warrants.

Legal experts said the California Constitution protects journalists from being forced to reveal their sources.

State law, they said, also bars judges from issuing search warrants for unpublished information that is gathered by reporters.

District attorney's office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said a sheriff's official overseeing the investigation told her office that the prosecutor assigned to the leak case was the same lawyer investigators consulted before obtaining the warrant.

But Gibbons said no prosecutor was assigned to the case until at least eight months after the search warrant was executed.

She noted that Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley has a written policy on search warrants, which says they "cannot be used to obtain the source of any news information."

"He feels strongly about not infringing upon a reporter's rights," Gibbons said.

Linda Bowen, a professor of journalism at Cal State Northridge, described the move to search Levin's phone records as "disturbing," saying it could deter people from talking to reporters about government misconduct.

"It really creates a chilling effect on sources who might otherwise be willing to come forward," said Bowen, president of the Greater Los Angeles chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

"It's really scary when that kind of thing happens," she said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gibson9-2009oct09,0,1750103,print.story

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ICE plan to increase deputies' immigration role is criticized

Merrick Bobb, supervisors' counsel, says the proposal would make the Sheriff's Department the 'primary enforcer of federal immigration law.'

By Anna Gorman

October 9, 2009

Los Angeles County sheriff's personnel would assume a greater role in the processing and deportation of illegal immigrants identified in the jails under a newly proposed agreement with the federal government, placing an "inordinate strain" on the department, according to a report released Thursday.

The Sheriff's Department signed an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2005 authorizing its custody assistants to check the immigration status of foreign-born inmates and turn them over to the federal government if appropriate.

The new agreement proposed by ICE would require those same assistants to complete all of the required paperwork to process illegal immigrants for possible deportation, according to the report prepared by Merrick Bobb, a special counsel to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

The degree to which the proposed agreement turns the Sheriff's Department into the "primary enforcer of federal immigration law is indeed breathtaking," Bobb wrote in the nearly 50-page report. In addition, the county would not be reimbursed for the extra work, Bobb wrote.

The added responsibilities would require that the custody assistants begin the screening process before inmates are convicted, rather than after conviction, contrary to the supervisors' original direction to the Sheriff's Department, Bobb said.

Between 2005 and last month, more than 37,000 foreign-born inmates have been interviewed. Roughly 44% have been turned over to immigration authorities.

Sheriff's Capt. Gerald Cooper said that the department is still negotiating with the federal government but that there are concerns over whether the new responsibilities would be in line with what the supervisors wanted. The department plans to take the agreement to the board soon, he said.

"It would change what our duties are," he said. "We have problems with it and we are trying to resolve those."

Cooper said, however, that he hopes the screening will continue. "We think it's an important and valuable program," he said.

Supervisor Mike Antonovich wants to make sure the custody assistants will not be required to do significantly more work, said his deputy, Anna Pembedjian. But Antonovich believes that the county and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be able to come to an agreement, she said.

The jail screening is important, Pembedjian said, both to protect public safety and save taxpayers' money.

"To the extent we have individuals committing crimes and being released back out into the community, we have an obligation to assist ICE in the proper processing of those individuals," she said.

But immigrant rights advocates raised concerns about whether the Sheriff's Department should be doing immigration screening at all.

"Immigration law enforcement should remain the purview of the federal government," said Chris Newman of the Los Angeles-based National Day Laborer Organizing Network. "The report is a warning sign that the Sheriff's Department's goals of protecting all county residents regardless of immigration status will be undermined by continued participation in the program."

Bobb's study reported that more than a quarter of the inmates transferred from the jail into immigration custody from July 2008 to June 2009 had been charged with minor crimes, such as displaying false identification or disorderly conduct. Some of those inmates may have more serious prior criminal records.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-immig-jail9-2009oct09,0,3171258,print.story

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House OKs measure to make anti-gay violence a hate crime

The legislation, attached to a defense bill despite GOP protests, is supported by President Obama. It also covers attacks on members of the military.

By Richard Simon

October 9, 2009

Reporting from Washington

A long-debated bill to broaden the federal hate-crime law to cover violence against gays was approved Thursday by the Democratic-controlled House in what would be the first major expansion of the law in more than 40 years.

The measure, which is expected to go before the Senate within days, had faced a veto threat from President George W. Bush, but it has President Obama's support.

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said that Obama looked forward to signing the bill.

"As the president said back in April, the hate-crimes bill takes on an important civil rights issue to protect all of our citizens from violent acts of intolerance, while also protecting our freedom of speech and association," he said.

A version passed the Senate in July by a filibuster-proof 63-28 vote, so its passage this time seems assured.

"It's a very exciting day for us here in the Capitol," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), noting that she has pushed for expanding the law since her arrival in Congress 22 years ago.

"What makes these crimes so bad is they are not just crimes against individuals; they are crimes against entire communities," Rep. Jared Polis, a Colorado Democrat who is gay, said during the debate.

Opponents of the measure have argued that existing laws cover hate crimes.

"Violent attacks on people are already illegal regardless of the motive behind them," said Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), warning that the legislation would "put us on a slippery slope of deeming particular groups as more important than others under our system of justice."

Republican lawmakers also objected to the placement of the hate-crimes measure: attached to a $680-billion defense policy bill, which included a 3.4% pay increase for the military and authorization for the development of a new engine for the next-generation jet fighter, among other items.

The measure passed by a vote of 281 to 146, with Republicans complaining that they had been put in the politically awkward position of voting against a defense bill.

"We should not be doing social engineering on this bill," Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) said.

"Shame on you," he told Democrats.

Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) said that Democrats had needlessly introduced a "partisan matter in an otherwise bipartisan defense bill for our troops."

"No member should be forced to vote for a partisan social agenda in order to provide for our troops," he said.

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) accused Democrats of hijacking the bill to "push their partisan agenda."

"It sends a terrible message to our military that this provision has been shoved into this bill when it does nothing for our military families or our national defense," he said. "Democrats should stop using our troops and their families as a vehicle for their political games."

The hate-crime legislation would expand the law to cover acts of violence motivated by a victim's sexual orientation, gender, disability or gender identity.

Existing federal law defines hate crimes as those motivated by bias based on religion, race, national origin or color.

The measure also would give federal authorities more leeway to help state and local law enforcement in investigating and prosecuting hate crimes.

It also makes grants available to states and communities to combat hate crimes committed by juveniles and to train law enforcement officers in investigating, prosecuting and preventing hate crimes.

The bill also makes it a federal crime to attack members of the military because of their service.

House approval of the measure, long championed by the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), comes as Obama prepares to address the Human Rights Campaign on Saturday.

The gay rights group will present an award to Judy and Dennis Shepard, whose gay son, Matthew, was brutally beaten, tied to a fence, and left to die 11 years ago in Wyoming.

The legislation is named after him and James Byrd Jr., a black man who was dragged to death behind a truck in the east Texas town of Jasper, also in 1998.

The president's address will be followed Sunday with a major march on Washington by gay rights supporters.

A number of Republicans assailed the measure as "thought crimes" legislation, contending that it could lead to the prosecution of a pastor delivering sermons against homosexuality if one of his church members committed a hate crime.

They have hinted at a constitutional challenge.

"Congress should protect all Americans equally and not provide special protections to a few politically favored groups," Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said in a statement .

He also said: "It violates the principle of equal justice under the law and also threatens to infringe on the free speech rights of the American people."

The bill's supporters, however, say that they added language to the measure to protect freedom of religious expression.

"There are ample safeguards in the bill for constitutionally protected speech," said Brian Moulton, chief legislative counsel of the Human Rights Campaign.

The group's president, Joe Solmonese, added: "The day is within sight when lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people will benefit from updating our nation's hate-crimes laws and giving local law enforcement the tools they need to combat hate violence."

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said that "it is remarkable that, at this late date, hate-crimes legislation should remain a controversial idea. The idea that someone could be singled out for a crime of violence due to his or her actual or perceived race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability is simply repugnant."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-hate-gays9-2009oct09,0,432592,print.story

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South Koreans outraged over sentencing in child rape cases

Many are calling for tougher punishment for sex crimes, including castration of repeat offenders. Such crimes, especially against children, are on the rise.

By John M. Glionna

October 9, 2009

Reporting from Seoul

A series of highly publicized child rape cases in which the defendants were widely seen as receiving lenient sentences has outraged South Koreans, who have called for tougher penalties for sex crimes, including the castration of repeat offenders.

The most prominent case involves a 57-year-old habitual offender sentenced to 12 years for raping a first-grader and flushing detergent into her body to destroy evidence of the crime.

Prosecutors had sought life imprisonment in the attack, which left the girl with severe intestinal damage.

Responding to newspaper editorials and Internet campaigns decrying the brutality of the crime, President Lee Myung-bak called on the government to make public all possible information on repeat child rapists.

Lee told a recent Cabinet meeting that he felt "wretched as president that such a crime should have occurred."

"I feel it appropriate that such grave felons should be separated from society for the rest of their lives."

Officials want to expand the sentencing limit for sex crimes, which is 15 years or less for most offenses. Lawmakers are exploring the legality of chemical castration and are reviewing ways to expand the offender database.

Sex crimes -- especially those against children -- are on the rise in South Korea, according to police statistics, leading many activists to question the government's commitment to punishing repeat offenders.

The number of sexual abuse victims younger than 6 has exceeded 150 a year for three years, according to data from the National Police Agency.

For the first seven months of this year, only 40% of the approximately 6,000 suspects investigated for child sexual abuse were prosecuted. Of those convicted, less than 1% received life sentences. Nearly half got off with fines and 30% got suspended terms, government statistics show.

The case of the 57-year-old child rapist particularly angered the public after details emerged that the man had rinsed the girl's ruptured organs with detergent after the rape in a church bathroom. Tens of thousands of people have signed Internet petitions calling for the suspect to be retried and for officials to overrule the sentence, which was upheld by the Supreme Court.

The man, who spent three years in jail for a 1983 rape, is required to wear an electronic bracelet for seven years.

The chief justice of South Korea's Supreme Court recently told a newspaper that the court was beyond reproach.

"The judicature should not be swayed by public opinion, or it will lose its credibility," Chief Justice Lee Yong-hoon said.

But he acknowledged the unpopularity of the sentencing guidelines. In the most recent case, he said, "we have come to realize the possible gap between the criminal punishment as stated by the law and the legal common sense of the general public."

Local news media recently reported details of a case involving a father who raped his 12-year-old daughter and was sentenced to two years.

At the man's August sentencing in Ulsan, about 200 miles southeast of Seoul, the victim submitted a two-page letter to the judge in which she expressed anger at her father and referred to herself as a vulnerable flower.

"He rooted out the flower from a garden and threw it away," the girl wrote. "I don't know why the court sentenced him to a two-year prison term. He has trampled my dreams. He deserves a death sentence."

Activists say the government needs to get tough on offenders.

"It's sad that people take this issue seriously only when media coverage comes out," said Choi Da-eun, manager of Child Watch Korea in Seoul. "These crimes happen every day. The number of child sex crime cases is on the rise. Not only cases involving girls are rising, but those involving boys are increasing over the years."

Jang Se-yeon, a nurse at the Seoul Sunflower Children Center, which treats abused children, said many victims distrust a justice system in which few child abuse cases end with charges being filed.

"People aren't sure whether the offender will be punished or not," she said. "That just increases their anguish."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-korea-rapes9-2009oct09,0,5427134,print.story

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Opinion

DWP's climate of patronage must change

The agency needs a utility pro, not another politician, to see it through a time of transition.

By Richard Nemec

October 9, 2009

When I first read the news last spring that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had named S. David Freeman as his deputy mayor for environmental and energy programs, I was sure that H. David Nahai's tenure as general manager at the city utility, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, would be short. Fast-forward to now: Nahai has resigned, and the mayor has proposed -- and the commission that oversees the DWP has approved -- Freeman, 83, to be the interim chief for six months.

Thus the political musical chairs in the DWP's executive suite continue. Dating back to the mid-1990s when Mayor Richard Riordan brought in a political pro, William McCarley, as the first non-engineer to head the city-run utility, there have been four chiefs, including Freeman.

Despite the obvious water infrastructure problems that have surfaced in recent weeks, to Nahai's credit, the agency he left abruptly last week is no worse off fiscally or operationally after his tenure than it was after Freeman's four publicity-seeking years as the utility's chief executive (1997-2001).

However, dating back to McCarley, the DWP has been eroded by over- politicization at the top. Although the giant utility will always be an economic development and environmental toy for the mayor and City Council members to play with, it should not be the political football it has increasingly become.

Nahai, for all of his professional credentials as a Century City lawyer and environmentalist, was first appointed to the DWP oversight board by the mayor in 2005 -- and as general manager two years later -- because he has been a successful fundraiser and active member of the Democratic Party generally and for the mayor in particular.

This political patronage needs to stop. And Freeman, himself a lifetime political appointee at all levels of government, needs to get a professional utility executive to head the cash-cow utility. That's the best service he could provide his politician boss.

The DWP has not been a model of transparency in the current management shuffle. Its oversight board called a special meeting Tuesday to deal with the changes, but held it in a Boyle Heights youth center away from the customary downtown boardroom. Although such meetings are public, they are usually also accessible through a teleconferencing hookup, but there was no such link this time. I would like to have heard the discussion about Nahai's exit and Freeman's return.

The longer-range concern may be what Freeman is going to do with the city utility as it faces a crucial time for both power and water operations. But more immediately, there should be transparency and openness about Nahai's consulting contract with the DWP, at $6,282 a week, and Freeman's salary of $6,250 a week, both approved on Tuesday.

Neither Nahai nor Freeman could ever be accused of working cheap, and Freeman has had his share of perks at public expense. He's also dipped his toe in the private sector from time to time, and has held and may still hold a financial interest in a clean-fuel transportation company that has contracts to supply zero-emission vehicles to the L.A. and Long Beach harbors.

Freeman has been good at delivering wake-up calls to presidents, mayors and state officials during his 60 years of public life. But that is not what is needed at the DWP these days. What's needed is a leader with professional credentials whom the vast majority of dedicated city utility workers will follow, and someone who can go toe to toe with big-name state energy officials and private-sector utility CEOs.

There are former senior managers from the DWP running smaller municipal utilities in Southern California who would be viable candidates. There are former chief executives from private-sector utilities that might be lured out of retirement to take the DWP through its latest transition.

That transition is simple: Move out of the recession, address global climate change, shrink reliance on coal-fired generation and become a champion for aggressive energy efficiency and renewable-based generation, and do it without a lot of rate increases. All this should be bipartisan work that gets across-the-board support at City Hall.

Although both the unions and mayor have a different idea, Freeman needs to find a real leader for the nation's largest city-run utility. Anything less will be politics as usual.

Richard Nemec is a Los Angeles writer who covers energy for several national trade publications. E-mail: rnemec@ca.rr.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-nemec9-2009oct09,0,4749842,print.story

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From the Daily News

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County's poor, uninsured to receive H1N1 vaccine

Swine flu vaccines for low-income and uninsured Los Angeles County residents, who are at a higher risk of contracting the novel H1N1 virus, will be available next week during specially organized clinics, county health officials said Thursday.

The clinics, to be announced next week, will come just as waves of flu vaccine will continue to roll in. The county expects 200,000 doses in inoculation form next week and another 400,000 after that.

More than 90,000 doses of FluMist nasal spray, meanwhile, were being unpacked and readied for distribution Thursday to private providers who requested them earlier, such as pediatricians, Kaiser Permanente, and some pharmacists, said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, health director for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

"It's not late. There is no shortage," Fielding emphasized during a news conference.

Still, the vaccine couldn't come at a better time, as research released by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that swine flu has sickened more Americans than seasonal flu.

One quarter of Americans sick enough to be hospitalized with swine flu last spring wound up needing intensive care and 7 percent of them died, the first such study of the early months of the global epidemic suggests.

That's a little higher than with ordinary seasonal flu, several experts said.

What is striking and unusual is that children and teens accounted for nearly half of the hospitalized cases, including many who were previously healthy. The study did not give a breakdown of deaths by age.

"Contrary to the perception among many people that this influenza, novel H1N1, is mild, these data vividly demonstrate that influenza can make you very, very ill," said Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University flu expert and spokesman for the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

"Clearly, the best way to protect yourself and your family is to get vaccine as soon as it becomes available," said Schaffner, who had no role in the study but has consulted for swine flu vaccine makers.

The H1N1 strain, dubbed the swine flu, has steadily increased in Los Angeles County since it first arrived in April.

So far, there have been 57 deaths and 128 admissions to intensive care units, Fielding said.

"We continue to see high rates of infections and cases of the flu," Fielding said. "We are seeing continuing increases in the number of cases in Los Angeles County. This vaccine is coming in time."

Health experts said the H1N1 strain causes more vomiting and diarrhea than the seasonal flu, but Fielding encouraged those with mild symptoms to stay home from work, keep a child out of school, and resist from going out into public places.

He also suggested the use of home remedies, such as plenty of clear liquids and ibuprofen if possible, to avoid going to already packed emergency departments.

Statewide, 206 people have died of swine flu, and another 2,748 have been hospitalized.

"We face an unusual challenge that requires all of us to be prepared in the months ahead," said Dr. Mark Horton, director of the California Department of Public Health. He too urged Californians to get vaccinated against the H1N1 flu virus in the weeks ahead and said plenty of vaccine will be available.

Health experts said children from ages 2 to 18 are the targeted group for the initial doses of the nasal spray vaccine. Healthy people under 50 who are parents and caregivers of children younger than 6 months are also part of the initial target group.

Pregnant women and health care workers should be at the head of the line for the first doses of injectable vaccine when it arrives in the state later this month, according to state officials.

Some clinics are prepared for what they say is high interest in the H1N1 vaccines.

"We have received intense interest in the vaccine this year," said Kim Wyard, CEO of Northeast Valley Health Corp., which operates nearly a dozen clinics in the San Fernando Valley.

She said Northeast Valley has received nearly $307,000 in grant funding to hire the staff to meet the demand.

"We are expanding our flu clinics and hoping to immunize between 10,000 and 20,000 clients and community members," she said.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13520072

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Bratton: 'It's time for an insider'

As he makes his final rounds across the city, Police Chief Bill Bratton cautioned Thursday against reductions in the Los Angeles Police Department and said he hopes his successor will come from within the agency.

In his final monthly media briefing before he steps down, Bratton also talked about the department's latest efforts to fight terrorism and defended the programs he established.

"There is a time for an outsider, time for an insider," said Bratton, who steps down Oct. 31 to take a private-sector job. "When I was hired, it was time for an outsider. Now, I believe it's time for an insider.

"I have encouraged all of my top chiefs and commanders to apply for this job."

Bratton said he has met with several of the top police chiefs from around the nation and he does not believe any of them have applied for the job. He also said he will not be involved in the selection process and would not make a recommendation to the Police Commission or Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Among the accomplishments that he would like to see maintained are the growth of the LAPD to nearly 10,000 officers — despite the city's budget problems — and keeping some units, such as the nearly 300 officers assigned to anti-terrorism efforts.

The department is launching several new anti-terrorism efforts this year.

One is a new unit in cooperation with federal officials that will involve the sharing of top-secret information about terrorist groups. It will complete plans to bring the anti-terrorist unit in direct communication with the LAPD brass, all of whom have received top-level clearance by the federal government in the years since 9-11.

Bratton said the department would be one of the few sites in the nation designated as SCIF — Sensitive Compartmented Intelligence Facility — designed as a clearinghouse for information on terrorist activity.

"We got this because Los Angeles remains a top terrorist target," Bratton said. "It is a testatment to the work of this department on anti-terrorism."

As he leaves, Bratton also said he is promoting another anti-terrorist program, iWATCH, in which the public is encouraged to watch out for and report suspicious behavior that could be linked to terrorism.

The program, explained in detail at www.iwatchla.org, is the equivalent of a neighborhood watch program, educating the public about what types of behavior to look out for and report.

Bratton's main concern, however, is with the size of the LAPD. The Los Angeles City Council is to consider a proposal on Tuesday to freeze hiring of new officers.

"With what the council is proposing, we project that would reduce the size of the department by 300 to 400 officers," Bratton said. "I am very concerned about that. If we continue having to reduce the size of the department, they could do it again next year."

Several City Council members have questioned if the city can afford to maintain a force of 10,000 officers — particularly with crime at historic low levels — while financing other city programs.

Even the Los Angeles Police Protective League has questioned the city's continued hiring of new officers at a time when it is considering other furloughs and layoffs.

Bratton argued it is difficult for the city to maintain a consistent hiring program if it has a stop-and-start effort.

Councilwoman Jan Perry, however, said Bratton is misinterpreting the council proposal.

"We are not cutting the department," Perry said. "We just are deciding whether to grow it. This has to do with what we can afford as a city and living within our means."

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13520041

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Woman awaits the kindness of strangers

But the 64-year-old matriarch was hospitalized for acute leukemia last month — a week before Kimberly Vanessa was born. Now awaiting a potential bone marrow donor, she hasn't yet seen little Kimberly Vanessa.

"Our biggest thing right now, our only hope, is to find a bone marrow donor," said her daughter, Teresa Perez, 26, of Canyon Country. "She talks all the time about seeing Kimberly."

Ramos, who suffers from acute myeloid leukemia, has only one possible chance of survival: a bone marrow transplant.

Because she has no relatives with matching tissue, she must depend on the kindness of strangers.

Her most likely match would be another Latino, experts say. But Latinos make up 10 percent of the bone marrow registry and her chances of getting a donor are slim.

Only three out of 10 patients are lucky enough to get a transplant.

For this reason, DKMS America will launch a bone marrow drive on Oct. 24 at Grace Baptist Church in Santa Clarita to help the many patients like Ramos.

"This is her last chance," said Alexandra Rothenberg, a spokeswoman for DKMS Americas, whose parent company DKMS is the largest bone marrow registry in the world. "Our challenge is to reach out to the Hispanic community and to up the chance for Teresa."

Ramos, of Canyon Country, has nine children, 13 grandchildren and Kimberly Vanessa.

Renowned for her Sunday breakfasts, she also guides her daughters in preparing the family feast each Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Diagnosed with blood cancer in January, she went into remission, then was laid up at City of Hope Hospital in September.

"Please help us," said her daughter, who has appealed to the community for donors. "My mother is such a caring and giving woman and it breaks my heart to see her confined to a hospital bed."

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13519732

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Their deeds deserve recognition

These people walk among us. Thank goodness.

The 30th annual Mid-Valley Community Police Council's Citizens' Recognition Luncheon was held Thursday to thank some good Samaritans who got involved helping Van Nuys Division police officers do their job.

They didn't have to. They just did. And for that, they deserve all our thanks.

Christie Ann Williams, Michael Smith and Pedro Pineda were involved last year in a heroic effort to save a father and his 15-year-old daughter trapped in their car, which was fully engulfed in flames after a four-car pileup on the San Diego Freeway.

When police arrived, the trio was already trying to douse the flames with portable fire extinguishers and get the two trapped victims out.

The flames were so hot, the good Samaritans had to shield officers Eric Hammerschmitt, Edgar Cruz and Isedro Villafana with retardant from their fire extinguishers as the officers attempted to rescue the father and daughter, who were trapped in their seat belts in a state of shock.

Unfortunately, the girl died at the scene, and her father died a day later in the hospital from severe burns.

Andrew Firestone, Michael O'Connor, and Lance Demaree received Citizen Recognition of Valor awards for foiling an armed robbery.

Elizabeth Vasquez was waiting for a bus when a suspect put a knife to her chest and demanded her purse. Vasquez screamed for help as the suspect grabbed the purse from her and ran. Firestone began chasing him while calling 911 on his cell phone.

O'Connor and Demaree joined in the chase, caught the robber, and wrestled the knife from him. They sat on him until police arrived, while Firestone went back to the bus stop to give Vasquez her purse back.

Marlon Aguilar and Alejandro Chaj were standing in front of a local convenience store in April talking when a man rode up on a bicycle, pointed two rifles at them and demanded their money.

The men emptied their pockets on the sidewalk, but the robber demanded more.

That's when the men decided to fight back. A man holding two rifles could not effectively fight both of them, Aguilar told police later.

He grabbed the suspect from the side and held him in a bear hug on the ground while Chaj wrestled the rifles from his hands and called police.

The suspect was charged with three counts of attempted robbery, leaving one less criminal on the streets thanks to Aguilar and Chaj.

To all the good Samaritans, thank you.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13519730

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Committee to look at contract between Nahai, DWP

The City Council committee charged with overseeing the Department of Water and Power will review the controversial consultant contract given to recently resigned DWP chief David Nahai within two weeks, a panel member said Thursday.

Councilwoman Jan Perry said the Energy and Environment Committee should examine the $70,000 contract "sooner rather than later."

"I think we need to get on the public record why there is a need to pay him at his current salary when we have a person coming in who ran the department for a number of years," said Perry, who returned on Thursday from a trip to Nagoya, Japan, as part of the Sister Cities program.

The Board of Water and Power Commissioners this week did not object to plans to hire Nahai through Dec. 31 on an as-needed basis to provide advice to the interim general manager, David Freeman.

Freeman served as head of the DWP between 1997 and 2001 and has a long history in public power and water issues. Freeman will draw the same salary as that paid Nahai, $325,000 a year.

"It just doesn't make sense to me that we would pay someone if we have a general manager who ran the department before and is back again," Perry said. "I want to be clear on what kind of information we will be requesting and how this contract came about."

Nahai announced his resignation on Oct. 2, saying he was joining the Clinton Climate Initiative as a senior adviser.

He had been under increasing pressure in recent months from the commission as well as neighborhood council activists over his running of the utility.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13518806

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Where's the love?

GLENDALE — For 25 years, thousands of charity-minded motorcyclists have roared down L.A. freeways behind celebrities like Jay Leno and Peter Fonda in the Love Ride — an annual trek to raise millions of dollars for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and other causes.

But this year, the Valley's biggest charity drive will come to a screeching halt.

The road block, organizers said Thursday, is a sluggish economy that has made thousands of bikers think twice about parting with $60 for the entry ticket.

"It just seems like there's not a whole lot of charity in people's heart at this point. Most people are struggling to keep their heads above water," said Oliver Shokouh, Love Ride founder and owner of Harley-Davidson/Buell of Glendale.

This year's event was to be held Oct. 25, beginning as always at Shokouh's shop in Glendale and ending at the Pomona Fairplex. But weak ticket sales led the Love Ride board of directors to cancel the legendary event, which has raised more than $22 million for charities in a quarter century.

In better times, the star-studded event drew 20,000 participants and generated nearly $1 million a year for charities, including Autism Now and the Special Olympics of Southern California.

But with less than than a third of the $60 tickets sold just three weeks before the event, Shokouh realized the money could not cover the $500,000 cost of the event, including roadway permits and entertainment.

Calling the decision "gut wrenching," Shokouh hopes to have the Love Ride back on the road in a year or two when the economy improves.

Even last year, when the economy began its free fall, the event drew mega crowds and Shokouh said it seemed like the momentum could keep growing.

News of the cancellation stunned the local motorcycling community that has long rallied behind the spirited fundraiser and helped sell tickets.

"Are you serious?" said Micah McCloskey of Micah McCloskey's Custom Cycles in Canoga Park when he heard the news Thursday. He has hit the road in more than 10 Love Ride fundraisers.

"It was always a good-vibe day. It will be missed this year. It will put a big hole in the motorcycling community. That's a cornerstone event for motorcyclists in Southern California."

Gene Barger, owner of Barger Harley Davidson in Canoga Park, has sold tickets to the Love Ride from his dealership in the past. He learned of the cancelled event from a fax and was shocked.

"When I saw it, I went 'Whaaaaaaaaat?' I don't want to hear any more bad news," Barger said.

"It's not the Love Ride itself. The economy keeps slowing down and slowing down. This year has been just horrible. Hopefully it doesn't continue."

When the Love Ride first took off in the early 1980s, hundreds of motorcyclists zoomed down the freeway to Calamigos Ranch in Malibu Hills. As the interest grew and the event needed more room, the event was held in Lake Piru.

For 14 years, bikers descended on the Golden State (5) Freeway and rode from Glendale to Castaic Lake where music talent such as Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow and Crosby, Stills and Nash entertained on stage.

Needing even more room for parking and motorcycle events, the fundraiser headed east for the last two years to the 543-acre Pomona Fairplex.

With comedian Leno serving as grand marshall, the gleeful riders headed out on Brand Boulevard, like a Macy's parade of bikes, and then hit the Ventura (134) Freeway to the Foothill (210) Freeway to reach the fairgrounds, Shokouh said.

Now with commemorative items already prepared for what would have been the 26th annual event, the hats, T-shirts, pins and other memorabilia will sell on the Glendale Harley Davidson's Web site and at its store.

"I've put 25 years into this," Shokouh said. "It's something charitable and good for the community. And now we're not able to. I'm sorry."

For 15 years, the Muscular Dystrophy Association had been the main beneficiary of the event, and in recent years more charities have been added to the list.

MDA spokeswoman Roxan Olivas said the nonprofit's budget relies on revenue from annual events such as the Love Ride. When a fundraiser drops out like this, nonprofits are forced to reorganize and make budget cuts in other areas.

"We are very saddened by the cancellation of the event. We have been a part of the Love Ride since it started," Olivas said. "These are challenging times. Everybody is tightening their belts."

In place of the adrenaline-pumped event, Harley-Davidson/Buell of Glendale is sponsoring an autograph session with motorcycle-enthusiast and actor Peter Fonda, a long-time friend of Shokouh who has served as honorary grand marshall for Love Ride.

The dealership is also offering a free screening of "Easy Rider," commemorating the 40th anniversary of the classic film starring Fonda. It all takes place from 4-7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23 at the dealership, 3717 San Fernando Road, Glendale.

Fonda on Thursday defended Shokouh's decision to cancel the fundraiser and said this year it was running well "into the red."

"He's hanging on and scrambling to make his stuff work like everybody else," Fonda said in a telephone interview.

Bruce Ackerman, president of the Valley Economic Alliance, said the annual fundraiser is a source of pride for the San Fernando Valley and was supported by local businesses and riders.

But if ticket sales suffer, it makes no sense to hold the event, and that decision certainly reflects the gloomy economy, Ackerman said.

"The riders may be enthusiastic. But if they're out of work, you know where their attention is," Ackerman said. "They may still have the bike, but they have to pay attention to food and shelter instead of rides like that."

Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine, who was planning his third ride this year, said the costs add up for riders, from tickets, to hotel rooms to food. Those expenses are out of reach for many these days.

"It's a sad commentary on the economy," Zine said.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13518766

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Southland nonprofits awarded $3 million in grants

Thirty Southland nonprofit organizations were awarded grants totaling nearly $3 million dollars Thursday by the California Community Foundation to support arts, education, health care, human services and affordable-housing programs.

"It's critical that we support the great work of our grantees during these challenging times," said Antonia Hernandez, president and CEO of the foundation. "These grants can help them respond better to growing demand for their services and ultimately become more sustainable."

The grants range from $47,500 to $175,000.

Among the groups receiving grants were the Angels Gate Cultural Center, Opera Noir, Families in Schools, Inner City Education Foundation Public Schools, Arroyo Vista Family Health Center, QueensCare Family Clinics, Partners in Care Foundation, Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness and the Skid Row Housing Trust.

The California Community Foundation has about $1 billion in assets and manages more than 1,600 funds.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13514783

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Women more likely to be expelled under 'don't ask'

LISA LEFF , Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Pentagon officials won't speculate why women in uniform are more likely to be discharged from the armed services under "don't ask, don't tell," but critics of the policy say that new figures reflect deep-seated sexism in the armed forces.

Government statistics show that more than 619 men and women were discharged last year because of their sexual orientation. Of those, one-third were women — even though they account for 15 percent of all active-duty and reserve members.

"It's very clear the military comes down harder on women than on men, but the question of whether they come down harder on lesbians than on gay men is harder to answer," said Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center, a University of California, Santa Barbara, center specializing in gays and the military. "We don't know whether the statistics reflect lesbian-baiting or just a higher rate of lesbians in the military."

The Palm Center obtained the statistics from the Pentagon and released them Thursday.

Pentagon spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said officials will not look into the matter because even inquiring about it might violate the 1993 policy, which says gay men and lesbians in the military cannot be investigated or punished as long as they keep their sexual orientation to themselves.

"If we did investigate it, we would have to ask questions, and we aren't supposed to ask any questions," Smith said.

On Saturday, President Barack Obama is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at a fundraising dinner for the nation's largest gay rights group.

Activists have begun to step up pressure on Obama to sign an executive order repealing the gay ban in the military. A White House spokesman said the president "is intent on making progress" on the issue.

In the Army, women accounted for 14 percent of personnel and 36 percent of the "don't ask, don't tell" discharges in 2008; in the Navy, it was 14 percent of the personnel and 23 percent of the discharges, and in the Marines, 6 percent and 18 percent.

The disparity was particularly striking in the Air Force, where women represented 20 percent of all personnel but 61 percent of those expelled. That is a significant jump from the previous year and marks the first time women in any branch of the military constituted a majority of those dismissed under "don't ask, don't tell," researchers said.

In 2007, 49 percent of Air Force personnel discharged for being gay were women.

Some women who served in the military said the gap could be a result of "lesbian-baiting" rumors and investigations that arise when women rebuff sexual overtures from male colleagues or do not meet traditional notions of feminine beauty.

"Often times the lesbians under my command were under scrutiny by the same men who were also sexually harassing straight women, so it was this kind of sexist undercurrent of 'You don't belong here,'" said Anuradha Bhagwati, a former Marine who founded the Service Women's Action Network, an advocacy group.

Julianne Sohn, the lone female Marine officer discharged under the policy last year, was a lieutenant who had served a seven-month tour in Iraq as a reservist when she received a telephone call at home from a lieutenant colonel informing her she was under investigation for being a lesbian.

The call was not a surprise. Some of her fellow Marines, who knew about her sexual orientation, had given her a heads-up a few months before.

Sohn had been speaking publicly about her experience as a gay officer as part of an organized effort to spotlight the costs of "don't ask, don't tell." She said she could not respond honestly when colleagues wanted to know why she did not have a boyfriend, and said she asked her brothers to contact her girlfriend if she were killed in Iraq because she did not want to list a woman as her next of kin.

Sohn, 33, who now works as a police officer in Los Angeles, said hearing the investigating officer read her the military's equivalent of a criminal suspect's Miranda warning over the phone was a fresh insult.

"The way I look at is, all I've done is tell my story," said Sohn, who did not fight the inquiry and was honorably discharged. "I wanted to serve, and I did serve."

http://hosted2.ap.org/CAVAN/a2d5807e3aca4657a8fae2a88f644ead/Article_2009-10-09-US-Military-Gays/id-p887d9adfce7740be922c646f72826d8e

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Through the nose - Is anything free of taxes? Stay tuned.

THE problem with taxes isn't just that we have to pay them, but taxes in general create thousands of pages of laws, amendments and decrees that determine how much we have to pay.

We also like to tax our sins, so to speak. The state of California has decreed that the sin of smoking should cost the sinner 87 cents a

pack. That's on top of a federal tax of $1.01. Legislators would like, mightily, to raise that a buck-fifty a pack more in hopes of saving sinners from themselves and raising additional money that they could spend on perks for themselves and their staffs. They also cite savings in health care, not to mention longer lives.

Government likes to tax just about every sin under the sun. For the sin of reading this newspaper, you will be assessed a sales tax. In Los Angeles County, that amounts to 9.75 percent of the price of the Daily News. If you drink sugary soft drinks, you pay sales tax, and now some folks at Princeton and Harvard are proposing a 1-cent-per-ounce tax on that sin. That's in addition to the CRV, or cash redemption value, you're paying so that night marauders can steal the empty containers from your recycling bin.

The soda tax advocates claim that a 10 percent increase in the cost of sugary drinks would result in a 10 percent decline in usage and a health care savings in the billions.

But does availability of junk food result in healthier people? A Rand Corp. study recently found no evidence that restricting fast-food outlets made a difference in obesity rates. The study was used to try to persuade the L.A. City Council to end a ban on new fast-food outlets in South L.A., where obesity rates are as much as 50 percent higher than the general population. The council, unmoved by facts, voted to extend the ban for another six months.

Then there are the discrepancies in what is taxed. Ice and soda are subject to California sales tax, but chips are not.

The most amusing case, however, is this one, from the Board of Equalization (equality for whom, by the way?):

If you hop down to your favorite convenience store and buy a cold cheese dog, and take it with you, it's considered a grocery item, and you pay no sales tax. However, if you buy the same item from the rotisserie, it's considered takeout, and you pay sales tax. So what happens if you buy a cold burrito and heat it in the store's microwave? Depends on where the microwave is located. In some cases, the state gets a bite of the burrito; in others, it does not.

This is just one more reason why you have to love the idea of a full-time Legislature, which has never met a tax it did not like, even when the laws that govern taxes don't make a lick of sense.

http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_13517342

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From OurLA

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Did Feds Cause the Station-fire Disaster

Ugly allegations that fire officials reduced air support, tankers and backup crews

By Jill Stewart

Published on October 07, 2009 at 12:14pm

It's been six weeks since the Station Fire roared out of control on a sweltering August weekend, but troubling stories grip the communities that edge the Angeles National Forest , where talk is of a mysterious but widely acknowledged pullback by fire crews, the odd lack of crucial water tankers and helicopters, and information screwups that left fire brass seemingly unaware that Big Tujunga Canyon had burned to the ground.

Community meetings, instead of dying out, are being held every few days, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich wants a congressional investigation, and jarring news reports by Paul Pringle at the Los Angeles Times increasingly suggest that major errors by fire officials helped to create the biggest fire in Los Angeles County history.

“I was at another meeting just last night, of the Vogel Flats survivors, where the ranger station and 30 of the 90 cabins burned,” says Mary Benson , a prominent activist in the foothills. “We haven't gotten to the bottom of why it all burned, but it's like friendly fire in a war, where everyone is covering their butts and not explaining their real roles in what occurred.”

Key questions have emerged, questions fire officials from Los Angeles city and county, CalFire, and the U.S. Forest Service all seem unprepared to answer about the arson-sparked blaze, which burned 240,000 acres and killed two firefighters:

. Are warring neighbors to blame for preventing a government-financed brush-clearing effort that months ago was supposed to remove acres of tinder-dry fuel from some areas that burned?

. Did U.S. Forest Service bureaucrats from the Obama administration , during the crucial early hours, cut the use of reinforcement firefighters from nearby cities and CalFire in order to save money?

. Why did fire officials at a media center at Hansen Dam continue to report to journalists that La Crescenta was the battleground, several hours after the fire had leapt into an entirely different watershed and burned poorly defended Big Tujunga Canyon to the ground?

. Was a ground crew–versus–air crew pissing match partly to blame for the failure of officials to put down the fire early with sufficient tanker and helicopter drops?

Residents from Altadena , to the east, to the highly activist community of Sunland , to the west, are sharing one particularly ugly, and unproven, rumor that a radio transmission was overheard in which a fire official stated, “Just pull back and let it burn.”

But there are no hard answers yet, and Tony Bell , spokesman for Antonovich, who represents the areas that burned, says that even forming the right questions is difficult. “There's paranoia, but a lot of legitimate beefs,” Bell says. “Folks in Quartz Hill and Juniper Hills did not get the reverse-911 call from the sheriff to evacuate. Why not? Were the fire break crews sufficient? We don't think so. Where was the aircraft? And communications? We had no idea where the fire was going, jumping from San Gabriel Valley to Big Tujunga to Antelope Valley and Santa Clarita Valley .”

In fact, there's been so much bad press that normally readily available fire officials are hard to reach. At meetings intended to debrief the public, any mistaken statement by a county or federal fire official is now seen as possible subterfuge instead of an honest error.

“Some of the key people involved are refusing to talk because they'd lose their jobs” for making critical comments, particularly about the extreme shortage of Super Scooper water tankers, says Tony Morris , an advocate for dramatically increasing the air fleet in California to match firefighting capabilities in Italy and France.

Says Morris: “During the worst of the Station fire, an [aircraft firm] I know was called to come in to drop on the fire. Then the work shift changed and the new fire official in charge that hour said, “No, I want you at 4 p.m. instead. ...' But by 4 p.m., it was too smoky — and too late.”

Antonovich's office is asking the local California congressional delegation to look into the actions taken and roles played by the Los Angeles County Fire Department and Forest Service in the initial stages, when experts say the Station fire could have been easily extinguished by tankers and helicopters dropping water and retardant. Antonovich also wants legislation that would designate the Los Angeles County Fire Department, not the Forest Service, the lead agency in local forest fires that threaten dwellings and heavily settled hillside towns.

For now, says activist Benson, “I could make a lot of nasty and smart-ass remarks about what happened here, but it would only be conjecture on my part. We simply cannot explain very simple questions, like, Why wasn't there air support? It would behoove the Forest Service to come clean if they did in fact decide not to ask for backup.”

http://www.laweekly.com/2009-10-08/news/did-feds-cause-the-station-fire-disaster/

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Los Angeles Fire Departments Budget Cuts And How It Affects Your Safety

Written by David Sroaf, TheNeighborhoodNewsOnline.net

Thursday, 08 October 2009

In these recessionary times, budgetary belt-tightening has forced some tough decisions on Mayor Villaraigosa and the City Council.   Among these has been a $56 million reduction in funding for the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) for Fiscal Year 2009-2010. Faced with these budget cuts, Fire Chief Douglas Barry developed what the Department calls a “Modified Coverage Plan” for its emergency responders. Implemented on August 5th, the plan shuts down 15 fire trucks and six ambulances per day throughout the city.  These “rotating brownouts” affect some, but not all, of the 106 neighborhood fire stations in Los Angeles, shaving $39 million from the Department's annual operating costs without forcing a single station closure. With smoke billowing from the hillsides ringing our city and summer fire season's “red flag” days still breathing down our necks, it's worth a moment to investigate how these resource closures may affect our public safety.... The LAFD employs 3856 uniformed firefighters and 353 support personnel. Of these, about 1100 uniformed firefighters (242 of whom are also paramedics) are always on duty to respond to emergency calls.  The Department's jurisdiction is vast, covering some 471 square miles.  Working in three alternating shifts, the city's firefighters made 750,000 responses last year alone.   With so many calls coming in, the Chief's Modified Coverage Plan has excited some concern that taking the specified personnel and vehicles out of service, even if only temporarily, will expose city residents to potentially lethal increases in emergency response time. The draft version of Chief Barry's brownout plan included no input from the service union, United Firefighters of Los Angeles City (UFLAC). Because of the time-critical nature of firefighting and paramedics, UFLAC demonstrated against the cuts when the topic of truck company closures came before the City Council in May and again in August.  Over 500 rank-and-file firefighters marched on City Hall, with the local's President Pat McOsker acknowledging the “need for shared sacrifice” but protesting against any staffing reductions “that will mean more people will suffer and die due to delayed responses.”  Since then orange signs have appeared near many city fire stations with messages including “YOU AND YOUR FAMILY ARE IN DANGER” and “THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL ARE GAMBLING WITH YOUR LIVES.” Mayor Villaraigosa derides UFLAC's claims as scare tactics trotted out by the “irresponsible” leadership of the firefighters' union. With tax revenues evaporating and firefighter pension costs skyrocketing, the City, which by law must operate with a balanced budget, had no choice but to implement short-lived resource closures and funding cuts. The service reductions eliminate 87 of 1100 daily duty firefighters, vacant positions filled in recent years by off-duty employees working overtime.  The Mayor and Council members who voted in support of the cuts note that all FY 2008-2009 staffing positions had, in fact, been re-authorized in the new budget.  They wonder whether the union's trumped up alarms about the “threat to public safety” aren't really cynical attempts to gain public relations leverage in advance of upcoming labor negotiations.  UFLAC President McOsker disagrees, arguing that what's irresponsible is idling fire companies, paramedic resources, and ambulances.  McOsker believes plain and simple that the plan will cost lives, civilian and firefighter alike, a proposition the union finds intolerable.  Longer response times are only part of the story.  Increased workload imposes additional hazards on the rank-and-file members of the department, while not staffing all available battalions precludes pre-deployments of truck companies to areas of increased fire danger because of the need to keep all available firefighters in their community stations. Neighborhood Fire Station 68, located at 5023 Washington Blvd. (just west of La Brea), and Neighborhood Fire Station 26 at 2009 S. Western Ave., just north of the I-10  serve the Mid-City and West Adams communities, respectively, with the west-east dividing line at Crenshaw Blvd. Every Los Angeles City Fire Station has three duty platoons, A, B, and C, working in alternating 24-hour shifts.   Twenty-seven firefighters are assigned to Station 68; each nine-person shift includes one station Captain, an EMS Captain, one Engineer, four Firefighters, and two Firefighter/Paramedics. Because Station 68 is a single engine station (meaning it has no hook-and-ladder) its one and only fire truck cannot be removed from service, so it has been unaffected by the “rolling brownouts.”   Fire Station 26, in contrast, has both a hook-and-ladder and a pump truck as well as two rescue ambulances.  Fully staffing the station requires 14 personnel, including the six firefighters who compose the hook-and-ladder light force.   The rolling brownouts hit Station 26 nine times in August, which meant on those days the hook-and-ladder force was idled and unavailable to respond to emergencies; an additional nine brownouts kept the hook-and-ladder in the garage the first twelve days in September. Despite the massive brush fires that erupted on the city's margins in recent weeks, good fortune has smiled on the Mid-City and West Adams regions.  Thus far, at least, the absence of the light force has not resulted in delayed response times with tragic results.  It remains to be seen whether we will remain so lucky in the months to come. (This item was first published at The Neighborhood News Online.) http://ourla.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=687&Itemid=3236 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stopping Fraud by Neighborhood Councils Written by Paul Hatfield, Village to Village Thursday, 08 October 2009 Most of DONE's problems stem from not having a basic accounting system for tracking the NC's spending against their budgets.  Why the department was set up without such a system demonstrates the ineptitude by those in charge of financial matters at the city. Lack of adequate internal controls at DONE probably has contributed to the mess as well.  For example, there was a lack of prioritization when it came to selecting transactions for audit.  I would be questioned as to what the benefits were of spending $25 for food for monthly public Board meetings.  This was at a time when one of the alleged embezzlers was withdrawing hundreds in cash from casino ATMs. The former head of tracking NC finances has apparently moved on to a different assignment in the city.  There is better due diligence today, but without an adequate system in place to track financial activities, the effort is hampered. The competence of treasurers across the NC system varies widely.  By far they are all honest people and most have the skills to fulfill their responsibilities, but some lack the training to do the job properly.  To the best of my knowledge, the lack of training of otherwise scrupulous individuals has not directly contributed to fraud, but it does make it more difficult for DONE to perform its oversight. Even NCs with competent treasurers are at risk: what if one leaves on short notice and cannot train a replacement? It is time to consider having NCs use local CPA firms to process transactions and prepare reports.  I estimate that NCs collectively generate around ten thousand individual transactions per year of all types -demand warrants, petty cash and purchasing cards.  One good accountant or bookkeeper can handle that volume with a proven accounting system.  However, as a practical matter, it would be better to have a handful of CPAs throughout the city handle the work on a regional basis.  Let's say one firm could service all the NCs in the South Valley. It is time for the city to make a decision:  either perform the financial oversight in house with an appropriate accounting system and adequate internal support, or outsource it to local CPA firms on a regional basis. DONE also needs to tap into the knowledge of the many professionally trained treasurers in the NC system for assistance in selecting and implementing whatever strategy is employed.  (Paul Hatfield writes the Village to Village blog and sent this item as an email to LA TImes reporter Maeve Reston who wrote an article in today's edition about f raud among NCs .) http://ourla.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=689&Itemid=3235

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