Law Enforcement

Murder suspect who shot at officers in custody after 7-hour manhunt
A murder suspect who shot at officers near a supermarket in Encino is in custody and is reportedly suffering from a gunshot wound. LAPD detectives spotted a murder suspect at a Ralph's supermarket on the corner of Ventura Boulevard and Libbit Avenue around 9:30 p.m. Sunday, according to scanner reports. The suspect, wearing a wig, fired a few rounds at the officers and fled the scene on foot. Officers did not fire back.
KTLA

LAPD officers are shot at while conducting routine stop
Officers with the L.A. Police Department were shot at in South Los Angeles on Friday night while conducting a pedestrian stop, an official said. The officers were making the stop around Main Street and Century Boulevard when the shooting occurred. At least one police officer returned fire. No officers were hurt, said LAPD Sgt. Robyn Petillo. It's unclear if either of two suspects were hit.
Los Angeles Times

Thieves get $2M in diamond heist during brazen LA street attack of jewelry merchant
Masked men in dark clothing stopped a jewelry merchant's car, beat him and stole $2 million worth of diamonds during a brazen Los Angeles street heist, police said Friday. The merchant appears to have been targeted by professional thieves, police Lt. Alan Hamilton said. No arrests have been made. The victim told investigators he was driving down a well-lighted North Hollywood street about 10:10 p.m. Thursday when his car was blocked by two vehicles and five to six men jumped out.
Associated Press

Suspect sought in fatal stabbing on Hollywood subway
Authorities are searching for a skateboarder who fatally stabbed a chain-wielding man Friday on a Red Line train in Hollywood. The stabbing, believed to have been captured on video, occurred between the Hollywood/Western station and the Hollywood/Vine station about 7:30 p.m. Friday, police said. Los Angeles Times music reporter Todd Martens said he witnessed the incident. Martens told The Times he saw a chain wielding man stabbed by a man with a knife.
City News Service

$75,000 reward in Chatsworth double murder; Brent Zubek, 43, sought
Authorities announced a $75,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in connection with the slayings of a man and woman found dead in a trash bin at a Chatsworth home last week. Authorities are searching for Brent D. Zubek, 43, of the San Fernando Valley, who has been identified as a suspect in the killings.
Los Angeles Daily News

State Budget Crunch

California courts face cash crunch
In Los Angeles County Superior Court, where officials laid off 329 people last year from a staff that numbered roughly 5,400, it now takes eight months to fight a traffic ticket, up from three months a few years ago, court administrators said. Things are likely to get worse. In July, California's latest budget included $350 million of cuts to the judicial branch's $3.5 billion budget. Since 2009, funding from the state's general fund for the court system has fallen by more than 30%, according to the judicial branch.
Wall Street Journal

The Economy

California unemployment rises in July to 12%
California's stubbornly high unemployment rate rose even higher in July, climbing two-tenths of a percentage point to 12%, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Friday. It was the second straight monthly increase in joblessness as measured by a federal survey of households. California's unemployment rate was the second-highest in the nation, exceeded only by Nevada at 12.9%.
Los Angeles Times

Prisons & Parole

In California, victims' families fight for the dead
With a United States Supreme Court mandate in May to reduce the populations of California's overcrowded prisons, Gov. Jerry Brown has thus far upheld 207 of the parole board's 253 decisions to release convicted killers. Already this year, more release dates granted to killers have been allowed to stand than in any year since governors got the power to reverse them. As a result, these hearings have taken on a new urgency for victims' family members - many of whom have seen themselves as the last line of defense between a killer and freedom - because inmates are now more likely than ever to be paroled.
New York Times

Law could lighten the sentences of California juvenile offenders serving life without parole
California's practice of locking teenage offenders in prison for life without the possibility of parole would be upended under legislation just a few votes shy of reaching the governor's desk -- a change that would move the state closer to justice in conservative Texas and every other country in the world. The bill by state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, would create a legal pathway but no certainty of release for juvenile offenders who currently have no option but to die behind bars.
San Jose Mercury-News