Law Enforcement

LAPD searches for missing German citizen
Los Angeles police were asking for the public's help Thursday in locating a German citizen reported missing and believed to be in Hollywood. Michael Graf, 37, has been missing since Oct. 8, when he arrived at Los Angeles International Airport, according to a LAPD report. Police investigators said they have determined he is in the Hollywood area, most likely on the Sunset Strip. His family is worried about his unexplained disappearance due to medication he needs regularly. Graf, who left Germany on Oct. 3, is described as 6-feet, thin, with brown-dyed hair and gray-blue eyes.
Los Angeles Times

300,000 LA children live in gangland
Crime rates in Los Angeles may be at historic lows, but 300,000 children still live in so-called "hot zones of gang violence," according to a new report released Thursday by The Advancement Project and Violence Prevention Coalition, a nonprofit group that focuses on civil rights and public policy in Los Angeles. The new report breaks down the city by zip code and examines which neighborhoods are safest.
Southern California Public Radio

Los Angeles charges 2 with violating skid row injunction
Two reputed gang members have been charged with violating an injunction prohibiting gang and narcotics activity on Los Angeles' skid row, the first such legal action since the broad-reaching injunction was issued, city prosecutors said Thursday. Briant Hicks, 22, and Mirando Faulks, 30, each face one criminal count of violating a court order barring them from being present within the "Central City Recovery Zone," bordered by 3rd Street on the north, 9th Street on the south, Broadway on the west and Central Avenue on the east.
Los Angeles Times

Vallejo police officer shot and killed during chase identified
The city of Vallejo is mourning the death of a police officer shot and killed during a pursuit following a bank robbery Thursday afternoon. According to investigators, two men robbed a Bank of America location on Spring Street at about 1:30 p.m. Police say an officer located the vehicle the robbers fled in and launched a pursuit that ended about four miles away on the 100 block of Janice Street. Police say 45-year-old Officer James Capoot pursued a suspect on foot into a residential neighborhood, where he was shot by the suspect. He was transported to the hospital where he died.
KRON4

Prisoner Transfer

Prisoner with violent record headed to L.A. area hospital
State officials have decided to release a prisoner with a history of violent crimes to a local hospital over the objections of Los Angeles County supervisors. The prisoner, who has not been named by county officials, is scheduled to be sent to Olive View-UCLA Medical Center on Friday under the state's controversial realignment policy, which shifts the care of some prisoners and parolees to county care from state supervision.
Los Angeles Times

Occupy L.A.

72 people arrested in downtown protests
Los Angeles police said Thursday night that 72 people had been arrested in protests downtown. Protesters were arrested on charges that included trespassing, remaining at an unlawful assembly and interfering with a peace officer, the Los Angeles Police Department said. The arrests were primarily made during a morning action on Figueroa Street and at an afternoon demonstration at the Bank of America Plaza on Hope Street. The protesters included members of the Service Employees International Union, the American Federation of Teachers, the group MoveOn.org, and Occupy L.A.
Los Angeles Times

How will Occupy L.A. end?
Occupy L.A. has occupied the grounds outside City Hall for nearly two months. City leaders, to their credit, did not pick a fight but welcomed the protesters and allowed them to camp out. But it's crunch time now. New York has dispersed its Occupy demonstrators, Oakland has battled with its activists, and it is becoming clear that Los Angeles is disinclined to allow its protesters to stay too much longer.
Los Angeles Times Editorial

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa grateful no violent clashes between police and Occupy protesters in L.A.
While violent clashes between Occupy protesters and police are an increasingly common sight across the country, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Wednesday he's grateful there has been no such incidents in Los Angeles. "We've done probably the best job in the country in making sure that things are as peaceful as they are," said Villaraigosa. As city officials wrestle with trying to shut down or contain Occupy protests, numerous confrontations are being reported.
Los Angeles Daily News

Federal Budget

House passes budget bill to avert shutdown
There could be less money to hire local cops. But more money for FBI agents. There could be less to maintain public-housing complexes. But more to feed hungry children. Less for polluted rivers. More for crowded prisons. Congress is finally beginning to spell out how it wants to shrink the government. Last summer, legislators settled the debt-ceiling fracas with an agreement to slice $7 billion from the budget for fiscal 2012. On Thursday, they started filling in the details, as the House approved a partial budget that covers five federal agencies by a vote of 298 to 121.
Washington Post

'Supercommittee' appears unlikely to reach agreement
If the congressional "supercommittee" cannot agree on a plan to tame the federal debt by next week's deadline, as now appears likely, here's what will happen: nothing. The automatic spending cuts that were supposed to force the panel to deliver more palatable options would not take effect until January 2013. That leaves lawmakers a full year to devise alternatives. The absence of an imminent crisis helps explain the lack of urgency on Capitol Hill this week, despite a Thanksgiving deadline approaching.
Washington Post