Law Enforcement

Crime alerts for El Sereno and eight other L.A. neighborhoods
Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in nine 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. El Sereno was the most unusual, recording eight reports compared with a weekly average of 1.8 over the last three months. Porter Ranch topped the list of three neighborhoods with property crime alerts.
Los Angeles Times

LAPD officers save 90-year-old woman from burning home
Two Los Angeles police officers driving through Westlake on their Sunday morning patrol ended up saving a 90-year-old woman from a burning home, authorities said. Shortly after 9:30 a.m. Sunday, Officers Seree Rattanpichetkul and Anthony Farias spotted heavy smoke pouring from the upper level of a home in the 1100 block of South Westlake Avenue. They arrived to find the home's residents gathered on the front porch. The officers called in the Fire Department and broke down a chain-link fence to help residents escape.
Los Angeles Times

City Council delves into LAPD impound policy
A Los Angeles City Council committee Friday began delving into the LAPD's controversial decision to stop impounding the cars of most unlicensed drivers, a shift that has stirred up both sides of the immigration issue. Police Chief Charlie Beck has announced plans starting this month to stop seizing vehicles of unlicensed drivers who are stopped at DUI checkpoints, unless their licenses have been suspended or revoked. A majority of those unlicensed drivers are believed to be illegal immigrants who do not qualify for a California driver's license.
Torrance Daily Breeze

L.A. moves toward ban of medical marijuana dispensaries
After years of struggling with the issue, the city of Los Angeles headed down the road Friday to a total ban on medical marijuana shops. The City Council's Public Safety Committee sent to the Planning Commission a series of recommendations to ban the estimated 300 dispensaries now open until the state Supreme Court decides if the city can regulate pot shops.
Los Angeles Daily News

Man fatally shot outside Sun Valley nightclub
Los Angeles police are investigating a shooting outside a nightclub in Sun Valley early Sunday that left one man dead, authorities said. The shooting occurred shortly after 2 a.m. near the intersection of San Fernando Road and Vineland Avenue, police said. One man, described as in his mid-30s, was shot several times in the upper body by two men, according to a preliminary police investigation. At least 65 homicides have been reported within 4 miles of Sunday's shooting since January 2007, according to coroner's data collected for The Times' interactive Homicide Report.
Los Angeles Times

LAPD working to identify suspect in soccer player's killing
Los Angeles Police Department officials said Saturday that they are working around the clock to identify a suspect in the slaying of a 17-year-old high school soccer player outside his San Fernando Valley home. Francisco Rodriguez Jr., a popular senior at El Camino Real High School, was shot and killed outside his Winnetka home Wednesday afternoon. Lt. Dave Storaker said a team of investigators, including homicide detectives and officers from other units at the Topanga station, as well as officers from the Valley Bureau are working on the case.
Los Angeles Times

Prisons & Parole

Gov. Jerry Brown plans $1 billion in prison cuts
Gov. Jerry Brown wants to cut state prison spending next fiscal year for the first time in nearly a decade, a departure from the goals of recent administrations, which consistently increased corrections spending and pushed for prison expansion. Brown's budget would save California $1.1 billion on housing inmates and hundreds of millions more by allowing the state to halt some prison construction - savings largely due to his administration's recent overhaul of the state's criminal justice system.
San Francisco Chronicle

Judge: Calif. fails to protect disabled parolees
California prison officials have failed to monitor and protect hundreds of disabled parolees in county jails, a federal judge ruled, citing "overwhelming and disturbing evidence" that inmates with disabilities are being denied access to housing, programs and services. U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken of Oakland on Friday ordered state officials to give each county a daily list of disabled parolees in its jail and make sure they get needed accommodations, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday.
Associated Press

Special Election 2012

Political newcomer, veteran in runoff for vacant L.A. council seat
Joe Buscaino is not a dockworker, and yet everyone at the longshoremen's union dispatch hall near the Port of Los Angeles seemed to know him. They approached from all sides - a stream of friends, former classmates, athletes he had once coached and even a few proud relatives. Some slapped Buscaino on the back. Others posed with him for pictures. Nearly each interaction ended with the same pledge: "You've got my vote."
Los Angeles Times

LA Times Editorial:
Buscaino for 15th Council District

Politics

Yaroslavsky struggles over whether to run
It is the question that dogs Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky everywhere he goes: Will he or won't he get in the 2013 race for Los Angeles mayor. A career politician, Yaroslavsky - who is termed out as a supervisor in 2014 - said he continues to personally struggle over the decision. "I care about the city, I want to be a part of it, and I think I could do a lot," Yaroslavsky said. "The flip side is that I have been at this for 37 years. And there are other things I've wanted to do with my life. If I want to do those other things, I have to do them in the next 10 years. That's the decision I am wrestling with."
Los Angeles Daily News