Law Enforcement

LAPD renews call for help in Grim Sleeper case
Top Los Angeles police officials Wednesday evening renewed their call for help from the public to identify possible victims of alleged serial killer Lonnie Franklin Jr. During a sparsely attended community meeting at a Bethel A.M.E. Church in South Los Angeles, officials also provided information on six additional women whom they say were slain by Franklin. Los Angeles Police Department detectives said they have now linked Franklin, 59, to the six additional murders, bringing the total number of women he is believed to have killed to 16.
Los Angeles Times

L.A. agrees to pay fired cop $3.2 million
The City Council on Wednesday approved a $3.2 million settlement in a case brought by an 18-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department who alleged he was forced out of the department through retaliation. Officer Richard Romney had sued the department, alleging he was subject to retaliation because of his testimony in a case brought by another officer against the department regarding officers being forced to work overtime without pay.
Los Angeles Daily News

LAPD asks for the public's help to solve man's murder in Pacoima
Police on Wednesday sought public help to solve the killing of a man who was gunned down while walking home from a store in the Pacoima area. Officers sent to Remick Avenue and Louvre Street at 10:50 p.m. Tuesday found Luis Enrique Silva, 27, of Pacoima suffering from gunshot wounds and lying on a sidewalk, said Officer Norma Eisenman of the Los Angeles Police Department's Media Relations office. Silva died at a hospital.
Los Angeles Daily News

LAPD bomb squad uses robot to check for explosives in Tarzana
Los Angeles police Wednesday evening were investigating reports of a possible explosive device inside a vehicle in Tarzana. Bomb squad officers used a robot to search a vehicle in the 5500 block of Reseda Boulevard after reports of a man who had caused a disturbance, the Los Angeles Police Department said. The man was taken into custody while officers continued searching the vehicle.
Los Angeles Times

Ex-inmate loses suit over probe that ended in murder conviction
A man who spent nearly 25 years behind bars for a murder he insists he did not commit lost a civil rights lawsuit this week that accused a former detective of misconduct in his criminal case. A federal jury on Monday unanimously rejected Willie Earl Green's claim that an LAPD detective violated his civil rights during an investigation that led to Green's conviction for the 1983 slaying of a woman at a crack house in South Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Times

Pensions

Two proposed ballot measures aim to scale back public pensions
Less than a week after Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled his proposal to change the state's employee retirement system, critics of public pensions unveiled two new plans to scale back worker benefits, with hopes of putting one of them on the November 2012 ballot. The major obstacle for the group's initiative plans remains money. It would take upwards of $2 million to simply qualify a measure for the ballot, and thus far no donor has come forward to fund either of the pension proposals.
Los Angeles Times

Pension reform group's initiatives may spur Legislature
A pair of pension reform initiatives filed Wednesday could shake up the Capitol landscape and jolt reluctant Democrats and labor leaders into acting on Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to overhaul pensions. Initially lukewarm if not hostile to Brown's plan, Democrats and public employee unions got a glimpse of the alternative -- measures that would require a lot more sacrifices from government workers than Brown's week-old proposal.
San Jose Mercury News

Special Election

LAPD officer Buscaino stresses hometown ties in 15th District election
If there's a dark horse in the race for the 15th District seat on the Los Angeles City Council, it's Joe Buscaino. Buscaino, a 37-year-old Los Angeles police officer, was the first candidate to qualify for the ballot last summer, turning in his nomination papers on the first day. His first mailer - congratulating Janice Hahn on her move to Congress - hit mailboxes the week of the election that left the council seat vacant. Buscaino lawn signs multiplied quickly in front of homes in San Pedro's residential neighborhoods.
Torrance Daily Breeze

Homeland Security

Security improvements urged for LAX
Citing a $1.6-billion investment in security measures since 9/11, a study released Wednesday concludes that Los Angeles International Airport is much safer today but still needs to improve emergency management, the security of its facilities and the airport police force. The report, from a panel of experts created last year by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, leveled some of its strongest criticism at the Los Angeles World Airports Police Department.
Los Angeles Times

The Economy

Fed cuts growth forecast, boosts jobless rate estimates
A new forecast from the Federal Reserve paints a gloomier outlook for the economy in 2012 and 2013. The Fed on Wednesday cut its forecasts for economic growth and boosted its estimates of unemployment. In revisions to its June forecasts, the Fed now forecasts that growth in real gross domestic product will be in a range of 2.5% to 2.9% in 2012, down from the previous estimate of 3.3% to 3.7%. Growth in 2013 is likely to be in a range of 3.0% to 3.5%, the Fed said, down from the previous estimate of 3.5% to 4.2%.
Los Angeles Times

Capital Punishment

No California executions in 2012 as legal battle over lethal injection continues
Barring a dramatic twist, California will go through yet another year without any executions. In court papers filed Wednesday, the Brown administration and lawyers for death row inmates agreed that the soonest they will finish preliminary legal skirmishing in the long-running challenge to the state's lethal injection procedures will be September 2012 -- a development that assures a federal judge is unlikely to resolve the case before the end of next year.
San Jose Mercury News