Law Enforcement

Los Angeles airport recorded the most laser-beam events in the country last year
Los Angeles International Airport last year recorded the highest number of incidents in the country involving laser beams that were pointed at aircraft, a potentially dangerous act that can distract or temporarily blind pilots. The Federal Aviation Administration announced Wednesday that the nation's third-busiest airport had 102 reported events; elsewhere in the greater Los Angeles area the tally was 201, including 32 at Los Angeles/Ontario International Airport, 31 at John Wayne Airport in Orange County and 31 at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank.
Los Angeles Times

Traffic

Report: L.A. traffic congestion remains the nation's worst
Here's something to ponder while you're idling on the freeway this morning or tapping your brakes on the way home tonight: Los Angeles-area commuters spent more than a half-billion hours stuck in traffic during 2009, the worst congestion in the nation. The Southern California region also ranked first in travel time, excess gasoline used and, not surprisingly, commuter stress, according to a report to be released today.
Los Angeles Daily News

Immigration

Crackdown on illegal workers grows
The Obama administration plans to intensify a crackdown on employers of illegal immigrants with the establishment of an audit office designed to bolster verification of company hiring records. In an interview, John Morton, chief of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a unit of the Department of Homeland Security, said the Employment Compliance Inspection Center would "address a need to conduct audits even of the largest employers with a very large number of employees." The office will be announced today, he said.
Wall Street Journal

Prisons & Parole

Budget cuts could send young offenders to adult prisons
Gov. Jerry Brown's bid to abolish the state youth prison system could save hundreds of millions of dollars and quicken the pace of reform at county facilities. But the changes could remove important barriers that keep some juvenile offenders out of adult prisons. Brown's plan to close the Division of Juvenile Justice was part of drastic budget cuts he presented last week. If the budget is enacted, the division would stop accepting new wards and close by June 30, 2014, with any remaining offenders transferred to local jurisdictions.
California Watch

Tug-of-war over parole for convicted killers arises from twist in California law
Some 250 convicted killers went to court in California last year claiming former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger put politics ahead of the law when he blocked their parole - and based on other recent cases, scores of them are expected to prevail. The action, which costs taxpayers millions of dollars in legal fees and other expenses, stems from an unusual twist in state law: California has a professional parole board charged with deciding on inmates' release dates, but also gives the governor the power to overrule the board's decisions. Only four other states allow a similar tension.
Los Angeles Times

Pensions

The State Worker: New proposal to cut pensions wouldn't spare current employees
Here comes a new plan to cut public pension benefits, and this time current employees aren't spared. The California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility, a Citrus Heights-based group famous for its database of state and local workers with six-figure pensions, wants to reduce existing retirement formulas.
Sacramento Bee