Law Enforcement

Crime alerts for Cypress Park, 10 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. Six neighborhoods reported a significant increase in violent crime. Cypress Park was the most unusual, recording six reports compared with a weekly average of 1.2 over the last three months. Lake Balboa topped the list of five neighborhoods with property crime alerts.
Los Angeles Times

Drugs, vice, gangs are hot topics at LAPD forum
The LAPD's Devonshire Division discussed narcotics, vice and gang operations Thursday evening at the third LAPD community district meeting of the year at Shepherd of the Hills Church in Porter Ranch. Captain Kris Pitcher, the new LAPD Devonshire Division commander, said effective, long-term law enforcement requires an aware and engaged community. "(This is) not to alarm you but to inform you," he said. "You need to know what is going on."
Chatsworth Patch

Man surrenders after allegedly killing woman in West Adams
A man turned himself in to police early Thursday morning after allegedly killing a woman in a domestic violence-related shooting. The shooting took place around 3:30 a.m. in an apartment building in the 3200 block of West Adams Boulevard, said Sgt. Boris Washington of the LAPD's Southwest station. The suspect and victim had a romantic relationship, he said, but he was unsure whether they lived together. The suspect turned himself in sometime before 6:30 a.m., Washington said.
Los Angeles Times

LAPD warns Granada Hills seniors about telephone scam
The Los Angeles Police Department is warning seniors who live in the Granada Hills area about a telephone scam. They say some residents are being asked to wire money to callers who claim to be their grandchildren. Callers usually ask for bail money or financial help to return home from a foreign country. They are usually emotional and ask for their parents not to be contacted.
CBS2

MacArthur Park center of fake documents raid
FBI and local law enforcement officials carried out a major raid to break up a massive fake documents ring centered in a MacArthur Park neighborhood. Nearly two dozen people were arrested in various locations throughout the Los Angeles area in connection with the raid. The FBI says the suspects sold tens of thousands of false documents including green cards, social security cards and driver's licenses.
ABC7

Convicted LA serial killer found guilty of 3 more 'Southside Slayer' murders in 1980s, 1990s
A man convicted of four "Southside Slayer" serial killings was found guilty Thursday of strangling three more victims in a series of attacks stretching over a decade. Michael Hughes, 55, was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances for strangling two prostitutes and a 15-year-old girl during the wave of killings that terrorized the city in the 1980s and 1990s. Prosecutors will seek the death penalty when the sentencing phase of his trial begins Monday.
Associated Press

Govt drops proposal to allow some denials that responsive records exist, when in fact they do
The Justice Department said Thursday it is dropping its proposal to let federal law enforcement agencies in rare cases tell Freedom of Information Act requesters that the government has no records on a subject, when it actually does. In a letter to Sen. Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the department said its proposed regulation "falls short" of balancing the need for openness and the need to protect vital law enforcement and national security concerns.
Associated Press

Pensions

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

Immigration

Border agents rescue 5 illegal immigrants from tunnel
Border Patrol agents rescued five illegal immigrants who became stuck in a tunnel as they were trying to enter the United States from Mexico near Otay Mesa, federal authorities said Thursday. An agent on patrol early Wednesday noticed a man stuck in an opening in the ground, Customs and Border Protection said. The man told the agent there were four other people in the tunnel behind him.
Los Angeles Times

The Economy

Private sector adds jobs, but unemployment stubborn
U.S. companies kept adding workers to their payrolls in October, and data for the previous two months were revised higher, but the gains made only a small dent in the high unemployment rate. The government's broadest snapshot of the labor market showed the U.S. economy created 80,000 jobs in October. The Labor Department said the private sector added 104,000 positions, which was partially offset by continued cuts at all levels of government.
Wall Street Journal