Law Enforcement

Crime alerts for Beverly Grove, Sunland and nine other L.A. neighborhoods
Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in 11 L.A. neighborhoods, according to an analysis of LAPD data by the Los Angeles Times' Crime L.A. database. Three neighborhoods reported a significant increase in violent crime. Beverly Grove was the most unusual, recording four reports compared with a weekly average of 0.9 over the last three months. Sunland topped the list of eight neighborhoods with property crime alerts.
Los Angeles Times

Disregarding state law proves deadly - again
In April we warned of the danger of disregarding the State Vehicle Code requirement to impound the vehicles of unlicensed drivers. We still believe now, as we did then, that police department policies that flout the code threaten drivers' safety and pose significant liability risks to cash-strapped cities. Our fears about this practice were recently realized in Santa Rosa, California, but it could just as easily happen in Los Angeles.
LAPPL Blog

LAPD finds man killed in Westmont, deputies investigate
A Sheriff's Department investigation was under way Tuesday in unincorporated Westmont, where a man was shot to death. Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department's 77th Street Station responding to a call found the man's body in the 8700 block of Vermont Avenue around 10 p.m. Monday, said LAPD Sgt. Mike Flanagan. When the body was determined to be on county land, the Sheriff's Department was called to take over the investigation, he said. Deputies remained at the shooting scene this morning, said sheriff's Deputy Tony Moore.
Los Angeles Daily News

LAPD officer exchanges gunfire with man in Boyle Heights
Los Angeles police exchanged gunfire with a suspect Tuesday night in Boyle Heights, but no injuries were reported, authorities said. The incident occurred about 8:40 p.m. near East 1st and North State streets when a Los Angeles Police Department undercover officer reported seeing a man with a gun, authorities said. The man allegedly shot at police, prompting at least one officer to fire back, according to authorities. Two males were taken into custody and are being questioned. Police were searching for a third person.
Los Angeles Times

Neighborhood council spruces up LAPD substation
The Los Angeles Police Department's Service Center on North Cherokee Avenue revealed its new look at a ceremony Monday. The community beautification effort, known as "Project Hollywood," was spearheaded by the Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council. Members of the council painted, scrubbed, and cleaned-putting "hundreds of hours of sweat equity" into the substation building's facade-which took them more than a month to complete, said Dietrich Nelson, one of the volunteers.
Hollywood Patch

Healthcare

Health-benefit costs rise most in six years, surpassing $15,000 per family
The cost for businesses to buy health coverage for workers rose the most this year since 2005 and may reach $32,175 for a family in 2021, according to a survey of private and public employers. The average cost of a family policy climbed 9 percent in 2011 to $15,073, according to a poll of 2,088 private companies and state and local government agencies by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation in Menlo Park, California, and the Chicago- based American Hospital Association's Health Research and Educational Trust.
Bloomberg

Pensions

California among few states bargaining pensions
In pension-troubled Rhode Island the state auditor general is recommending the end of something that makes California unusual among states: allowing labor unions to bargain for pension and retiree health benefits. Bargaining is blamed by critics for a "bidding war" that drove local government pensions in California to unaffordable levels. New benchmarks were set when CalPERS sponsored legislation, SB 400 in 1999, giving state workers a major pension increase.
Calpensions

Keeping pension fury in perspective
The focus of recent news stories about Sonoma County's pension fund has been on the small number of retirees with outsize pensions of $100,000 or more. But a deeper look shows both that the size of most Sonoma County pensions is modest and the funding status of the system is solid. It was concerning to see the revelation that the county's top pension was more than 11 times the average annual county pension. But while they make for big news, the recipients of big pensions constitute small numbers - just 2.1 percent of the county's total.
Santa Rosa News Press

City & State Budgets

Legal opinion could spell trouble for plan to roll back L.A. pension costs
The city's Fire and Police Pensions board has been advised that retiree healthcare benefits are guaranteed, prompting one employee group to ask that a cap on benefits be blocked from going into effect. City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana, the city's top budget official, said the decision to freeze the monthly medical payment for retirees was the single most significant step toward balancing this year's budget. If that decision is reversed, the city will face a $100-million hole in its budget, Santana said.
Los Angeles Times

California's budget faces new legal challenges
California's precariously balanced state budget, already teetering in the continuing economic upheaval, came under further siege Tuesday as two groups announced lawsuits challenging the spending plan. Education officials allege that Gov. Brown and lawmakers illegally shortchanged them by $2 billion. And disability rights groups plan to sue to block $100 million in service cuts. The suits add to the headaches facing the Capitol.
Los Angeles Times