Law Enforcement

Crime alerts for Sylmar, Atwater Village, 8 other neighborhoods
Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in 10 L.A. neighborhoods, according to an analysis of LAPD data by the Los Angeles Times' Crime L.A. database. Six neighborhoods reported a significant increase in violent crime. Sylmar was the most unusual, recording 10 reports compared with a weekly average of 4.6 over the last three months. Atwater Village topped the list of four neighborhoods with property crime alerts
Los Angeles Times

Body of woman found stabbed in Van Nuys alley
The body of a woman who had been stabbed was found Tuesday in a Van Nuys alley. The body was discovered in the 14000 block of Victory Boulevard about 3:30 a.m., said Los Angeles Police Department Detective Robert Bub of the Van Nuys Station. Bub said investigators were working to identify the woman, who was about 30. A transient found the victim and called 911. "There is no indication that she was put here after death," the detective told ABC7. "Every indication we have is that this is where it occurred. As for her identity, she has no ID on her. We don't know who she is right now. She doesn't appear to be a transient
Los Angeles Daily News

Rash of burglaries in Palms area prompts LAPD warning
The Los Angeles Police Department's Pacific Division urged residents in the Palms area to be vigilant in light of a rash of burglaries in the westside area. About 20 daytime burglaries have occurred over the last couple of week in the area bordered by Venice Boulevard on the south, Lincoln Boulevard on the west, National Boulevard on the north and Hughes Avenue on the east, said Steve Ramos of the LAPD's Pacific Division.
Los Angeles Daily News

Commercial burglaries in San Fernando Valley net $10,000 in loot
Police on Tuesday were investigating a string of commercial burglaries in the San Fernando Valley that officials they said netted more than $10,000 in stolen property. Six burglaries occurred in the same area, near the 22000 block of Clarendon Street, at about 6 p.m. Saturday, according to officials at the LAPD's Topanga station. In each case, the burglars pried open a door and ransacked the business, police said. The total value of property taken was estimated at about $10,400.
Los Angeles Times

Truancy crackdown should focus on class, not court
The point of truancy laws is to get kids to go to school. The people who planned Los Angeles' age-old enforcement policy must have missed class the day that simple principle was taught. Critics say the current policy, in which students caught off campus get $250 citations from the cops, too often lands truants in courtrooms instead of homerooms and causes all sorts of related problems.
Los Angeles Daily News Editorial

Dodger Stadium Beating

McCourt and Dodgers knew of potential for opening-day violence at stadium, say Bryan Stow's attorneys
Attorneys for Dodger Stadium beating victim Bryan Stow contend in court papers obtained Tuesday that team officials and owner Frank McCourt knew of the potential for violence at the stadium, and Stow's family should be able to seek punitive damages in their lawsuit against the team. "There are more instances of criminal activity in Dodger Stadium than in any other ballpark in Major League Baseball," Stow's lawyers wrote in court papers filed Monday.
Los Angeles Daily News

Prisons & Parole

Calif. police catch parolee suspected in rampage
Police captured a parolee who is the prime suspect in a violent crime spree that included the kidnapping and killing of a woman and the shooting of a man at a gas station, authorities said. After a three-day manhunt, Paul Ray Castillo, 33, was caught about 7:30 p.m. Sunday in West Sacramento by officers from the San Jose Police Department who had tracked him there, department spokesman Jose Garcia said. Castillo was previously wanted for violating the terms of his parole.
Associated Press

After realignment, fewer women expected in prison
Half of the women in the state's prisons are serving terms for non-serious, non-violent and non-sexual crimes, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Most women who commit crime fall squarely, in other words, into the population that will be affected by AB 109. After AB 109 - the historic prison realignment legislation aimed at reducing the prison population - takes effect in a few weeks, responsibility for low-level offenders shifts from the state to the counties.
HealthyCal.org

Politics

Talking jobs in D.C., Mayor Villaraigosa gets cold shoulder from John Boehner
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, in town as president of the bipartisan U.S. Conference of Mayors, said that try as he might, he could not get face time with House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) to talk job creation. "Unfortunately, after a few weeks of trying, we were unable to get a meeting with Speaker Boehner," Villaraigosa said Tuesday. "They couldn't find time to meet with America's mayors." Boehner's office did not immediately comment.
Los Angeles Times