L.A. County hate crimes drop to 21-year low

The decline in 2010 stemmed in part from a reduction in gang-related hate crimes, particularly those by Latino gangs targeting African Americans. Statewide, overall figures were largely unchanged.

Hate crimes reported in Los Angeles County fell to the lowest level in 21 years, fueled by major drops in vandalism and in gang-related crimes, particularly those by Latino gangs targeting African Americans, which had made up a large number of the most violent hate crimes.

The Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations' annual report for 2010 documents a third consecutive year in which hate crimes declined across the county. The total fell from 593 hate crimes in 2009 to 427, the lowest number since 1989. The drop contrasted with hate crimes statewide, whose numbers remained largely unchanged in 2010 from the year before, the report noted.

Reports of hate vandalism in L.A. County, primarily graffiti, dropped by 41% from 220 in 2009 to 130 last year. A 42% decrease in anti-black hate crimes — from 211 reported crimes in 2009 to 123 in 2010 — was "a major factor" in the decline, said Robin Toma, the commission's director.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-hate-crimes-20111119,0,4998122,print.story

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Nov 19, 2011

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Survey finds ethnic divide among voters on DREAM Act

Among Latinos, 79% support government financial aid for illegal immigrants who attend state universities, compared with 30% of whites. And 49% of all respondents say UC and Cal State campuses are not very affordable or are unaffordable.

Many Californians worry that they are being priced out of the state's public university systems, and they object to allowing illegal immigrants the same financial aid that U.S. citizens can receive at the campuses, a new poll has found.

Fifty-five percent of the voters questioned said they oppose a new state law known as the California DREAM Act. It will permit undocumented students who graduated from California high schools and meet other requirements to receive taxpayer aid to attend the University of California, Cal State and community colleges starting in 2013. Forty percent support it.

But there is a huge ethnic divide on the issue, according to the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times survey: 79% of Latinos approve of the law, while only 30% of whites do.
"There are not a lot of other issues on which there are such huge differences," said Manuel Pastor, a USC professor of American studies and ethnicity.

Partly, he said, it's easier for many Latinos, because they may know more undocumented people, to "understand the potential of someone who lacks papers but can really contribute to America."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-poll-higher-ed-20111119,0,7671324,print.story

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Gadhafi's son captured, militia leader says

Seif Islam, the last of Moammar Gadhafi's sons to remain unaccounted for, is nabbed in the southern Libya town of Obari.

Moammar Gadhafi's son Seif Islam was captured in a southern Libyan city along with two of his aides who were trying to smuggle him out of the country, a militia commander said Saturday. Bashir Tlayeb of the Zintan brigades said that Seif Islam was caught in the desert town of Obari, near the southern city of Sabha about 400 miles south of Tripoli.

He didn't elaborate on how Seif Islam was captured, but said that he was brought to the city of Zintan, the home of one of the largest revolutionary brigades in Libya.
Tlayeb said that it would be up to Libya's ruling National Transitional Council to decide on where the former Libyan leader would be tried.

He also said that there was still no information about wanted former intelligence director Abdullah Senoussi or where he is located. Seif Islam is the last of Moammar Gadhafi's sons to remain unaccounted for.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fgw-gadhafi-son-20111120,0,4360062,print.story

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Judicial misconduct alleged in North Carolina

An extraordinary legal shouting match has broken out in Durham, N.C., between the county's beleaguered local district attorney and its senior Superior Court judge, who has chastised the D.A. in open court.

In a harshly worded court filing, Durham Dist. Atty. Tracey Cline accused Judge Orlando F. Hudson Jr. of "moral turpitude, dishonesty and corruption" and complained that the judge "harbors animosity" toward her and has engaged in "retaliatory conduct" and "gross misconduct."

Court filings are typically written in dry, obtuse legal argot. But Cline's filing contains unusually accusatory and vituperative language replete with fractured syntax and spelling errors. She wrote that Hudson's actions "striped away" her rights, and that credibility of the criminal justice system is a "causality" of Hudson's conduct. She described Hudson's behavior as "without responsibility or conscious."

Saying crime victims have been "emotionally and relentlessly repeatedly raped" by the judge's rulings, Cline said she will attempt to have Hudson removed from overseeing criminal cases. She also wrote that she has filed a misconduct complaint against Hudson with the state commission that oversees judges.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/

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Older, Suburban and Struggling, ‘Near Poor' Startle the Census

WASHINGTON — They drive cars, but seldom new ones. They earn paychecks, but not big ones. Many own homes. Most pay taxes. Half are married, and nearly half live in the suburbs. None are poor, but many describe themselves as barely scraping by. Down but not quite out, these Americans form a diverse group sometimes called “near poor” and sometimes simply overlooked — and a new count suggests they are far more numerous than previously understood.

When the Census Bureau this month released a new measure of poverty, meant to better count disposable income, it began altering the portrait of national need. Perhaps the most startling differences between the old measure and the new involves data the government has not yet published, showing 51 million people with incomes less than 50 percent above the poverty line. That number of Americans is 76 percent higher than the official account, published in September. All told, that places 100 million people — one in three Americans — either in poverty or in the fretful zone just above it.

After a lost decade of flat wages and the worst downturn since the Great Depression, the findings can be thought of as putting numbers to the bleak national mood — quantifying the expressions of unease erupting in protests and political swings. They convey levels of economic stress sharply felt but until now hard to measure.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/19/us/census-measures-those-not-quite-in-poverty-but-struggling.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

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Virginia

Home safety and security tips from Prince George County Police Community Policing Unit

from Prince George County Police Community Policing Unit:

HOME SAFETY AND SECURITY TIPS - HOLIDAY TIPS

For the interior of your home

http://www.wtvr.com/news/wtvr-home-safety-and-security-tips-20111118,0,2313541,print.story

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Nov 18, 2011

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Man charged with attempted assassination in White House shooting

An Idaho man has been charged with attempting to assassinate President Obama in connection with a shooting incident at the White House on Friday night.

A criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania states that Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, 21, "knowingly did attempt to kill the President of the United States." The charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Ortega-Hernandez was arrested in Indiana, Pa., on Wednesday, five days after a shooting incident near the National Mall.

The U.S. Secret Service, ATF, FBI, U.S. Park Police and the Washington Metropolitan Police Department had been working together to locate Ortega-Hernandez after law enforcement Friday responded to the sound of gunfire on Constitution Avenue, approximately 700 yards south of the White House.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-assassination-charge-20111117,0,5798340.story

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Sheriff's Department reopens Natalie Wood case

The coroner originally ruled the actress' 1981 death an accident, but investigators want to talk to the captain of the yacht Wood and her husband were on the weekend she died off Santa Catalina.

Thirty years after Natalie Wood died off Santa Catalina Island, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department announced Thursday that it was reopening the investigation into one of Hollywood's most enduring mysteries.

Wood, 43, was boating off the island on Thanksgiving weekend 1981 with her husband, Robert Wagner, fellow actor Christopher Walken and others when she somehow went overboard and died. Officials at the time ruled her death an accident, but there has been much speculation since over whether there was more to the story.

Sheriff Lee Baca said detectives want to talk to the captain of the boat after learning of comments he recently made about what happened on board. Baca did not provide further details, adding only that the captain "made comments worthy of exploring."

A law enforcement source added that the department recently received a letter from an unidentified "third party" who said the captain had "new recollections" about the case. The source spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case was ongoing.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-natalie-wood-20111118,0,5141657.story

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Guns and states' rights

Rep. Dan Lungren of California gets it — he voted against a bill that threatens state gun regulations.

States' rights is one of those high principles that Republicans are willing to fight for — except when they aren't. So we have to give credit to Rep. Dan Lungren, California's former attorney general and now a congressman from Gold River, because he was the sole GOP member of the House Judiciary Committee to live up to his party's constitutional ideals by voting against a recent bill that steps on state gun regulations.

The bill, known as the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act, was approved in the House on Wednesday by a 272-154 vote, with 43 Democrats siding with 229 Republicans in the "yes" column. If it ever became law — which isn't likely because the Senate isn't expected to take it up — it would render moot California's efforts to protect citizens from those carrying concealed firearms. This state sets a high hurdle for people seeking permits to carry hidden guns in public, requiring them to show good cause for why they need a permit, undergo background checks and complete an intensive safety course. Yet under the House bill, those with permits from any state (including Utah, where anyone who passes a quick gun-familiarity course and a criminal check can get a permit and even out-of-state residents are eligible), can carry guns in any other state. The sole exception is Illinois, the only state that doesn't issue concealed-weapons permits and thus doesn't have to accept permits issued elsewhere.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-guns-20111118,0,5990393,print.story

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Connecticut

Esserman brings back community policing

18 years after he left his post as NHPD assistant chief, Esserman is returning to a department “enthusiastically waiting for direction,” NHPD spokesman David Hartman said.

The Elm City's homicide rate is at a 17-year high — the 30th murder of 2011 occurred last Sunday night — and a major part of the city's solution to its crime problem, Mayor John DeStefano Jr. and outgoing NHPD Chief Frank Limon announced in an Oct. 6 press conference, will lie in a return to a strategy known as community policing.

12 days later, DeStefano announced the appointment of a new chief: Esserman, who city spokesman Adam Joseph called one of the “founding fathers” of community policing in New Haven.

In 1991, as assistant chief, Esserman helped shape a foundation for what community policing meant in the Elm City. While it found success in reducing crime, the strategy has since fallen out of practice in the department, in part due to a decline in the number of officers. Now, Esserman said, the department needs to return its focus to the community.

http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2011/nov/18/esserman-returns-with-community-policing/?print

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Dayton police receive national award

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - The Dayton Police Department has being honored with the 2011 Community Policing Award, presented by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and Cisco.

The award recognizes Dayton's “Urban High School Disorder Reduction Project,” a community policing initiative at Belmont High School that is credited with reducing reported incidents of crime and disorderly behavior by nearly 80 percent. The project was implemented in cooperation with Dayton Public Schools and the Montgomery County Juvenile Court and has also been recognized by Ohio Crime Prevention Association.

“We are very honored to receive this prestigious award,” Police Chief Richard Biehl said. “Like any true community policing effort, our project involved a partnership between Police Officers and other local organizations and individuals. We're especially grateful to the Dayton Public Schools and to the Montgomery County Juvenile Courts for their role in this effort. This award reflects the creativity and persistence of everyone involved to create the positive results we have seen at Belmont High School.”

http://www.wdtn.com/dpp/news/dayton-police-receive-national-award

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Terrorists, Spies, and Hackers
The New National Security Landscape

Cyber thieves in Eastern Europe drain bank accounts in America. Spies steal industry secrets and sell them overseas. And alone in their bedrooms, disaffected youths become radicalized by Internet propaganda and vow to wage jihad.

It is difficult to remember a time when Americans did not have to worry about terrorists plotting violence on U.S. soil and criminals reaching through the Internet to target individuals, businesses, and government, but that is how drastically the world has changed since the 9/11 attacks.

“The horrific events of that day were the prelude to a decade of political, economic, and cultural transformation,” said FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, “and globalization and technology have accelerated these changes.”

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/november/director_111711/director_111711

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Nov 17, 2011

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Marijuana confiscated in raid on Tijuana-to-San Diego tunnel

Authorities discover a tunnel linking warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana. Seizures from the tunnel and elsewhere yield about 17 tons of marijuana.

The discovery of a major drug tunnel linking San Diego and Tijuana warehouses led to the seizure of about 17 tons of marijuana as well as a large pot-growing operation east of San Diego, U.S. and Mexican authorities announced Wednesday.

The tunnel, uncovered Tuesday night, ran the length of four football fields and was equipped with lights and a ventilation system. It was in the light-industrial area of Otay Mesa where several other large tunnels have been found in recent years, and demonstrates the continuing efforts of Mexican organized crime groups to circumvent border defenses with underground passageways capable of handling enormous drug shipments.

The opening in Tijuana was found in an unfinished industrial building near the airport, where Mexican soldiers on Wednesday morning stood guard in front of some eight tons of neatly stacked marijuana bundles. Many were labeled with pictures of Captain America, the symbol used by a major operator of the Sinaloa drug cartel in Tijuana, Mexican General Gilberto Landeros Briseno said in an interview with the Mexican media.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-1117-drug-tunnel-20111117,0,7083551.story

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Man arrested in White House shooting has 'interest' in Obama

A man arrested in connection with a shooting incident near the White House -- which could be the source of a bullet that hit a White House window -- might have been targeting President Obama. The president was never in any danger. He and the first lady were actually in California on Friday when the incident occurred.

But the shooting unleashed a multi-agency manhunt involving the Secret Service, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, FBI, U.S. Park Police, the Washington Metropolitan Police Department and others to track down Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, 21, shown above. Officials suspect the shooting may be the source of two bullets discovered Tuesday outside the White House, one of which hit a window.

Ortega-Hernandez was arrested Wednesday by Pennsylvania state troopers at an Indiana, Pa., hotel shortly after noon, local time, according to a statement released to the media. Sources with the Secret Service told CNN that interviews with those who know Ortega-Hernandez concluded that he has a " direction of interest toward the president and the White House " - - a description that stops short of a direct threat.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/

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Legendary astronauts awarded Congressional Gold Medals

With congressional leaders accustomed to seeing VIPs including world leaders and Hollywood celebrities at the Capitol, Wednesday's visitors drew a special declaration from House Speaker John Boehner: "This is pretty cool."

Such was the case when space legends John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins were awarded Congressional Gold Medals, the nation's highest civilian honor.

" 'Hero' is an overused word, but I think that all who are assembled here today would not hesitate to describe our honorees as genuine national heroes," said Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, top Democrat on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. She said the astronauts have "continued to inspire young and old, even though their path-breaking missions occurred more than four decades ago."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/

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Manson follower Charles 'Tex' Watson denied parole

The self-described right-hand man of cult leader Charles Manson was denied parole Wednesday for the 14th time after decades behind bars. He will be considered for another parole review in five years. Charles "Tex" Watson, 65, appeared before a parole panel at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, southeast of Sacramento, seeking to be released some 42 years after the Manson Family killings.

Relatives of Watson's victims requested that the panel again deny his parole for killing actress Sharon Tate, who was eight months' pregnant, and four others at her Beverly Hills home on Aug. 9, 1969. The next night, Watson helped kill grocery owners Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. Watson was given the death penalty for his role in the murders, but that sentence was later overturned.

While in prison, he married and divorced and fathered four children. He also started a prison ministry and became an author and ordained minister. On Watson's ministry website, he says he believed Manson "offered utopia, but in reality, he had a destructive world view, which Charles ended up believing in and acting upon. His participation in the 1969 Manson murders is a part of history that [Watson] deeply regrets."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/11/charles-manson-follower-charles-tex-watson-denied-parole.html

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Virginia

Manassas bulks up police force

The City of Manassas has 17 new police officers on the streets — a lot of fresh blood for a small department looking to emphasize relationships and community policing in city neighborhoods.

Although the new faces aren't all in new positions — they've replaced retiring, resigned or promoted officers — the influx is significant for a department of about 70 officers who handle 55,000 calls per year, according to a city police report.

There are also more newcomers on the way. Manassas police have 10 officers scheduled to finish the academy next month, and they will then have several months of “in-house” training, during which they are required to ride along with more experienced officers.

The city has added seven officers in fiscal 2011 and 2012, according to planning documents and the city. Six positions have been added to the city's patrol unit, and one will start a boat patrol on Lake Manassas. The lake officer cost about $88,000, and four officers added this year came at a cost of about $480,000. The two officers added in the fiscal 2011 budget cost about $140,000, according to the city.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/manassas-bulks-up-police-force/2011/11/15/gIQAVHAfRN_story.html

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New Jersey

COPS program worth keeping

THE MATH is simple: More cops on the street means less crime on the street. That much, as Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said earlier this week outside City Hall in Clifton, "should be a no-brainer."

Yet support for the idea has not come easily, especially in Washington. But it should.

That's why Menendez and Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D- Paterson, surrounded by local police and public officials, spoke Monday in Clifton on the need to keep a vital federally supported community policing program intact. The legislators know what people like Clifton Police Chief Gary Giardina know: Community Oriented Policing Services, known as COPS, has been a godsend to municipalities looking to keep law enforcement staffing up in the face of dwindling local revenues.

COPS, which had seen its funding zeroed out in an earlier version of a Justice Department appropriations bill, may be making a comeback. The Senate has passed a multi-department funding bill that keeps $232 million for COPS. Time is running out on the House to follow suit, though, and we urge members to do so before the Thanksgiving recess. Pascrell, for one, has been passionate about keeping the program going. As a former mayor of Paterson, he understands the need cities have to be able to put force to action at a moment's notice.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/134020338_COPS_program_is_well_worth_keeping_.html

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Nov 16, 2011

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Mexico nun is crusader for rights amid drug violence

Sister Consuelo Morales is one of Mexico's most effective defenders of human rights. As the nation's drug war enters its sixth year, the fearless nun has her work cut out for her.

Even in a career full of threats and harassment, the day someone deposited four cats at her office door, all with their throats slit, stands out for Consuelo Morales.

"They were telling us to be quiet or we'd be next," she says.

That was 14 years ago, and she is still anything but quiet.

The 63-year-old Roman Catholic nun is one of Mexico's most indefatigable and effective defenders of human rights. As the country staggers into a sixth year of drug war violence, Sister Consuelo (as her colleagues call her) has more work than ever.

Mothers whose sons were last seen being hauled away by police seek her counsel. She leads marches and confronts state governors, prosecutors, detectives. She escorts victims past soldiers posted at government buildings and helps them file the kinds of complaints the authorities would rather not see: about the disappeared, the slain, the tortured, allegedly at the hands of police and soldiers.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-nun-20111116,0,874023,print.story

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First 5 LA's embarrassment of riches

First 5 LA has an $800-million surplus that could be going toward the care of infants, toddlers and preschoolers.

At a time when government agencies are hard-pressed to find the money to serve all the genuine needs, First 5 LA has had its own peculiar problem: a nest egg of more than $800 million that it has hoarded instead of reaching out to more babies, toddlers and preschoolers.

Funded by state cigarette taxes, First 5 LA is an independent county agency that provides various programs for children from birth to age 5, including preschool and health, safety and family literacy services. But a recent audit found that First 5 LA had been building a huge surplus over the years — close to five times its annual budget — and had been serving a smaller percentage of the county's younger residents than its counterparts statewide. It also, according to the audit, signed too many contracts without competitive bidding and failed to provide its own governing commission with basic information about the budget and its contracts. There was no evidence of malfeasance, but the audit said the record-keeping was so bad, there is no way to tell for sure.

The local agency's failure to spend more of its money could cause it trouble given the attempts by the state to take $1 billion in statewide First 5 money to help pay for children's Medi-Cal services. It's all the harder for First 5 leaders throughout the state to argue, as they have been, that they would be forced to cut needed services when the Los Angeles County agency alone has been hanging on to a surplus of more than 80% of the amount the state seeks. It's prudent for government agencies to retain a healthy reserve, but the size of First 5 LA's bank balance went beyond good stewardship; young children who need help aren't getting it while the agency holds on to an extraordinary excess.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-first5-20111116,0,509428.story

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Suspect hunted after bullet hits ballistic glass window at White House, Secret Service says

21-year-old is sought after shots are fired near president's residence

The Secret Service has discovered that bullets hit the exterior of the White House but one was deflected by protective ballistic glass, NBC Washington reported on Wednesday.

U.S. Park Police were looking for a man believed to be linked to reports of shots fired near the White House on Friday, but the Secret Service had not conclusively connected the incident with the bullets found on White House grounds, NBC said.

One bullet hit a window but it was stopped by ballistic glass behind the exterior glass. Authorities found another round on the outside of the White House. The bullets were discovered Tuesday.

Police said they were searching for Oscar Ramiro Ortega, 21. He is believed to be in the D.C. area and has ties to Idaho. He will be charged with "carrying a dangerous weapon," police said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45319372/ns/politics-white_house/#

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Gun-Check System Misses Millions Of Drug Abusers, People With Mental Illness, New Report Finds

WASHINGTON -- Millions of reports on people barred by federal law from purchasing guns because of serious mental illness and drug abuse are never added to the federal background check system, according to a study set to be released Tuesday.

The report, by Mayors Against Illegal Guns and entitled "Fatal Gaps: How Missing Records In The Federal Background Check System Put Guns In The Hands Of Killers," was sparked by last January's assassination attempt on Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.) that left six people dead and 14 injured.

The study, to be presented in a Senate hearing, finds two huge gaps in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which is supposed to keep guns out of the hands of serious drug abusers and those with mental illness.

The first, harder to fix problem, is that many states and state agencies do not cooperate with the system. The second is that federal agencies don't comply either. Congress tried to remedy both after the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007 that left 32 people dead and 15 injured, but with only partial success.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/14/gun-check-system-misses-millions_n_1093899.html?view=print&comm_ref=false

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Nov 15, 2011

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Immigration from Mexico in fast retreat, data show

Census figures show that fewer people are leaving and many are returning as a lack of jobs in the U.S. and tighter border enforcement dissuade many who might have entered illegally.

North of the U.S.-Mexico border, Republican presidential candidates are talking tough on illegal immigration, with one proposing — perhaps in jest — an electrified fence to deter migrants.

But data from both sides of the border suggest that illegal immigration from Mexico is already in fast retreat, as U.S. job shortages, tighter border enforcement and the frightening presence of criminal gangs on the Mexican side dissuade many from making the trip.

Mexican census figures show that fewer Mexicans are setting out and many are returning — leaving net migration at close to zero, Mexican officials say. Arrests by the U.S. Border Patrol along the southwestern frontier, a common gauge of how many people try to cross without papers, tumbled to 304,755 during the 11 months ended in August, extending a nearly steady drop since a peak of 1.6 million in 2000.

The scale of the fall has prompted some to suggest that a decades-long migration boom may be ending, even as others argue that the decline is only momentary.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-migration-20111115,0,5636230,print.story

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Living with murder:

The agony of Detroit's neighborhoods -- and their cry for help

She lives with murder.

Detroit homicide investigator LaTonya Brooks sees the faces of the grieving. She recalls the crime scenes and reluctant witnesses, all standing around, fearful of talking -- nobody's snitching here.

And she feels the pressure shared by her colleagues: the weight of too many cases, the frustration of not catching all the killers, the long hours and strain on families, and the outrage over innocent victims lost to vengeance.

"Everybody wants to use violence," Brooks said.

Or, as Detroit homicide Sgt. Kenneth Gardner put it: "There's a sense of helplessness and hopelessness out there. And that's a dangerous combination."

One that burdens the city.

http://www.freep.com/article/20111113/NEWS01/111130533

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(Part 2)

Living with murder: Killers steal lives of unintended victims, shatter the survivors

In the Detroit neighborhood where DeMonté Thomas lived and died, friends walked from door to door carrying buckets to raise more than $6,000 to bury him.

In this community, one filled with good people fighting to push out the bad, Thomas was every young person's brother and every older person's son.

Yet he still became a victim, doing something as innocent as going to get his weekly haircut.

Investigators have no idea why Thomas was gunned down, though they believe the barber, not Thomas, was the intended target.

Thomas was the 131st person killed in 2010, one of 3,313 killed in Detroit since January 2003.

http://www.freep.com/article/20111114/NEWS01/311140003

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(Part 3)

Living with murder: Detroit neighborhoods push back against criminals

As Detroit police investigators do their part to catch murderers and other violent criminals roaming the streets, residents in the Grandmont and Rosedale Park neighborhoods are determined to work to keep homicides from creeping into their west-side communities, and so far, they've been largely successful.

Among the tactics: Volunteers keep watch daily with citizen patrols and work closely with police.

Between them, the neighborhoods recorded some of the lowest homicide clusters from 2003 through June 2011, the period analyzed by the Free Press.

Police are calling on these communities to serve as models for others when it comes to neighborhood patrols.

"I believe in community policing," said Clarenda Webb, 68, a North Rosedale Park resident who organizes neighborhood safety meetings for Rosedale Park, Grandmont, North Rosedale Park and Minock Park. "We work as a team with the surrounding communities, and we believe it is important to work very closely with the police department. But I think one of our biggest strengths is neighbors -- neighbors watching out for neighbors."

http://www.freep.com/article/20111115/NEWS01/111150394/Detroit-neighborhoods-push-back-against-criminals?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

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Hate Crimes Remain Steady

2010 FBI Report Released

Intimidation…vandalism…assault…rape…murder. These are crimes by anyone's definition. But add an element of bias against the victims—because of their race or religion, for example—and these traditional crimes become hate crimes.

And based on data from the FBI's Hate Crime Statistics report for 2010, the 6,628 hate crime incidents reported to us by our law enforcement partners stayed consistent with the 6,604 incidents reported in 2009.

Today, we're releasing on our website the full 2010 report, which contains information about the types of biases that motivate hate crimes, the nature of the offenses, and some information about the victims and offenders . It also breaks down hate crimes by jurisdiction and includes data by state and by agency.

The hate crimes report is fairly reflective of the country—agencies that participated in the Uniform Crime Reporting Hate Crime Statistics Program effort in 2010 represented more than 285 million people, or 92.3 percent of the nation's population, and their jurisdictions covered 49 states and the District of Columbia. Of the 14,977 agencies that submitted data, 1,949 reported that hate crime incidents had occurred in their jurisdictions.

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/november/hatecrimes_111411/hatecrimes_111411

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Nov 14, 2011

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Red tape hampers care for patients who are poor and disabled

Such patients qualify for Medicare and Medicaid, but bouncing back and forth between state and federal agencies can increase medical costs and reduce their quality of care.

M.C. Kim had four heart attacks in as many years. Each time, he left the hospital not knowing why his heart had failed. When he tried to enter a cardiac rehabilitation program to learn how to reduce the odds of having more heart trouble, the Medicare office told him to call Medicaid. The Medicaid office told him to call Medicare. In the end, he said, both denied coverage.

"I was like a pingpong ball," said Kim , 51, who lives in Los Angeles. "Nobody wanted to take responsibility." So Kim kept returning to the emergency room, racking up expensive medical bills for taxpayers.

Kim and other patients like him are among the nation's sickest and poorest residents, and their high-cost medical care places an untenable financial burden on states and the federal government. Because he is poor and disabled, he qualifies for both the federal Medicare program and the state-federal Medicaid program, called Medi-Cal in California.

These patients — 1.1 million in California alone — are some of the country's priciest government healthcare consumers. Called dual eligibles, they accounted for close to 40% of Medicaid spending in California in 2009, nearly $10 billion, but constitute only about 15% of enrollees. Nationwide, the nearly nine million dual eligibles have similarly disproportionate outlays and cost roughly $250 billion annually in Medicare and Medicaid funds.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-healthcare-duals-20111114,0,4986631,print.story

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California

Formerly homeless, they know whereof they speak

Residents of apartments operated by the Skid Row Housing Trust studied storytelling, learned public speaking — all with the aim of sharing what it's really like to be living on the street.

Don't just walk by quickly, looking straight ahead. If you notice a person living on the street, don't pretend you don't. That's what Victor Rodriguez chose to say to a group gathered downtown one evening last week to hear from people who once were homeless and who know how it feels not to be seen.

Rodriguez, 52, now lives in the Dewey Hotel Apartments, operated by the Skid Row Housing Trust, which develops and manages affordable housing in an effort to provide homes for the homeless. He is one of a group of the trust's residents who signed up this year to be trained as Trust Ambassadors.

They studied storytelling, learned public speaking — all with the aim of sharing their hard-earned wisdom far and wide. To those who have never been homeless, they can speak about how quickly it can happen. To those who are homeless, they can talk about ways to climb out and regain security.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-homeless-ambassadors-20111114,0,7258623,print.story

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Judge: Norway terror suspect is not insane

Anders Behring Breivik is accused of killing 77 people in a shooting rampage

(CNN) -- There is no reason to believe that Norway mass murder suspect Anders Behring Breivik is insane, District Court Judge Torkjel Nesheim said Monday.

There is also no evidence he had accomplices in the bomb and gun rampage in which he is accused of killing 77 people this summer, the judge said.

The judge ordered him held in custody for a further 12 weeks, with visits and correspondence controlled by the authorities for the first eight, and a ban on media for the first four.

More than 500 people packed into a court in Oslo, Norway, to see the suspect's first public appearance, said Irene Ramm, head of press for the Oslo court. A woman whose daughter was killed in the massacre said she could not understand "how a human being could do something like that."

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/14/world/europe/norway-terror-suspect/

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