Law Enforcement

Massive search follows police-involved gun battle in South L.A.
What started as a routine pedestrian stop turned into an unprovoked attack and gun battle Thursday that left one police officer seriously injured and dozens of blocks of South Los Angeles locked down for hours as authorities launched a massive dragnet for two men. The officer, assigned to the Los Angeles Police Department's 77th Division, was being treated at California Hospital Medical Center for non-life-threatening injuries, including bullet wounds to his wrist and elbow. Two other gunshots struck the officer's chest but were absorbed by his bullet-proof vest.
Los Angeles Times

19 of 50 slain police killed in ambushes
Nearly 40% of police officers fatally shot this year have been slain in ambush-style attacks or when they were surprised by suspects with firearms, according to a USA Today review of officer deaths. Police Chief William Lansdowne at the casket of Officer Jeremy Henwood, who was shot in an unprovoked attack during a routine police patrol in San Diego. The killings, many stunning for their brutality, have some law enforcement and Justice Department officials scrambling to provide additional protection or training for their forces.
USA Today

'Lock people up? We haven't got the heart for that'
It's a sad thing to watch a great nation - in its day, the greatest of all nations - descend into moral chaos. It's sadder still to watch as that nation's elites acquiesce to the descent. Witness the state of affairs in England, where four people were killed during the recent riots, which swept across London and through other cities like some kind of modern-day plague. Alas, the mother country isn't what it used to be. If you keep your head held high and your upper lip stiff over there these days, some yob is likely to come along and smash you in the face with a brick. And then someone will write in the Guardian that it was your fault.
Jack Dunphy/Pajamas Media

LAPD SWAT team searches for alleged assault suspect in Hawthorne, none found
A Los Angeles police SWAT team entered a building in Hawthorne today where a suspect wanted for assault with a deadly weapon was believed to be hiding, but the suspect was not there, a Los Angeles police spokeswoman said. Officers from the LAPD's Pacific Division had gone to a location in the 13000 block of Kornblum Avenue in Hawthorne about 5:40 a.m. to serve an arrest warrant for the suspect, LAPD spokeswoman Officer Rosario Herrera of the Media Relations section said. The LAPD SWAT team was called in about 6:15 a.m., Herrera said.
Los Angeles Daily News

Public's help sought in search for 'Tourist Bandit'
Authorities are seeking the public's help in tracking down a bank robber, dubbed the "Tourist Bandit," who is suspected of holding up two Bank of America branches in Los Angeles. The first robbery occurred Monday at a Bank of America located in the 8000 block of Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, according to information released by the FBI. The suspect, described as a white male in his 40s wearing a hooded sweatshirt with yellow UCLA lettering, threatened the teller with a bomb and a gun, authorities said. Neither of the weapons was seen, officials said.
Los Angeles Times

Pensions

Guest View: Public pensions are not to blame
In response to the recent editorial, "Dems stall state on pension reform", the condition of public pensions in California is not a crisis despite the best efforts of pension foes and editorialists to portray it as such. Elements of the issue are a concern: curbing pension spiking, ensuring public workers contribute a fair share of pension costs and pounding down the pensions of the small number of public workers who have outsized retirement benefits. What the editorialists don't say is that all of these concerns are being addressed here in California quickly and responsibly at the bargaining table, in the Legislature and by the public pension funds themselves.
Paul M. Weber/Pasadena Star-News

Legislation

Calif. death penalty bill stalls until next year
A legislative committee on Thursday shelved a bill that would have asked voters to close California's death row and replace capital punishment with life prison terms. State Sen. Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, said she agreed to turn her SB490 into a two-year bill when she realized she didn't have the nine votes she needed to get her bill out of the 17-member Assembly Appropriations Committee to a vote by the full Assembly. "This is going to be a process. This is a tough vote for a lot of people," Hancock said in a telephone interview. "The issue is not going away. There have been people across the state who are rallying to support it."
Associated Press

Assembly rejects bill to allow parole for some young murderers
Hotly contested legislation that would have given some hope of eventual release to juvenile offenders sentenced to life without possibility of parole was rejected Thursday by the Assembly. Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, plans to bring Senate Bill 9 before the Assembly again, perhaps with amendments, before the legislative year ends next month, said Adam Keigwin, his chief of staff. The Assembly roll was called four times on SB 9 as supporters, including Speaker John A. Pérez, scrambled to line up the 41 votes required for passage. The final tally was 36-36, with Republicans opposed.
Sacramento Bee

California Dream Act one step closer to reality
A key state Senate committee approved Thursday a hotly debated bill to give college students who are illegal immigrants access to public financial aid in what supporters see as their best hope for success since the battle began five years ago. AB 131, part of a two-bill package known as the California Dream Act, would allow undocumented students who qualify for reduced in-state tuition to apply for an estimated $38 million in Cal Grants, community college fee waivers and other public financial aid.
Los Angeles Times

Heath Care

Health Care reform may help homeless get comprehensive care
California's unprecedented Medicaid expansion in advance of national health care reform is a crucial opportunity to improve care for the homeless, advocates say. The $10 billion program, called California's Bridge to Reform, includes increases in health care subsidies for the indigent, including the state's estimated 134,000 homeless. In July, when enrollment began, Los Angeles-based St. John's Well Child and Family Center signed up more than 500 people for Healthy Way LA, the county program charged with overseeing medical coverage as part of the Bridge to Reform, said Jim Mangia, St. John's president and chief executive officer.
HealthyCal.org