Law Enforcement

Crime alerts for Beverly Grove, 11 other L.A. neighborhoods
Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in 12 L.A. neighborhoods, according to an analysis of LAPD data by the Los Angeles Times' Crime L.A. database. Eight neighborhoods reported a significant increase in violent crime. Beverly Grove was the most unusual, recording seven reports compared with a weekly average of 1.6 over the last three months. Winnetka topped the list of four neighborhoods with property crime alerts.
Los Angeles Times

1-year-old girl dies after mother drowned her, police say
A 1-year-old girl has died after her mother tried to drown her and her 5-year-old sister in a bathtub in their South L.A. home Wednesday morning, police said. Police said she died at California Hospital Medical center, where she and her sister were taken after their father came home to find their mother trying to drown their daughters in a makeshift tub inside a standup shower. The other girl remained in critical condition.
Los Angeles Times

Man held in death of L.A. firefighter
A man was in custody Wednesday in connection with the death of L.A. firefighter Glenn Allen, who died last year when the ceiling of a house under construction in the Hollywood Hills collapsed on him. Authorities have been investigating whether the home where Allen died was shoddily constructed and who was responsible for the death. LAPD arrest records show that a man who lives at the home on North Viewsite Drive was arrested on suspicion of voluntary manslaughter.
Los Angeles Times

LAPD bomb squad responds to report of pipe bomb at fire scene
A Los Angeles police bomb squad is responding to reports of a possible pipe bomb that was found at the site of a structure fire in the San Fernando Valley, authorities said. The suspicious device was found on the second floor of the four-story apartment building in the 6100 block of North Canoga Boulevard, the Los Angeles Police Department said. "It's a suspicious device ... that may be a pipe bomb," Officer Karen Rayner said.
Los Angeles Times

Homeland Security

Dept. of Homeland Security 'concerned' over threats from Iran
As federal and local law enforcement plan to boost their communications with Jewish groups in the United States, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Wednesday told a House panel she is "concerned" over potential threats to the U.S. homeland from Iran or its surrogates and it's "a situation that bears watching." Napolitano said her department is "conducting a lot of outreach" to Jewish communities across the country to address any concerns after car bombs in two countries overseas targeted Israeli officials and Iranian nationals set off explosions in Thailand.
Fox News

City Government

L.A. City Council redistricting panel reworks its changes
Responding to an avalanche of criticism from various neighborhoods, Los Angeles' Redistricting Commission began reworking plans Wednesday evening for new City Council districts - two weeks before the proposal heads to city lawmakers. Seeking to quell anger in the city's coastal neighborhoods, the 21-member panel put the vast majority of Westchester back into the LAX-area district represented by Councilman Bill Rosendahl.
Los Angeles Times

The Economy

California economic reports forecast modest growth
Things are looking up for California's beleaguered economy as the recovery from the recession hits a period of slow, modest growth this year and next, according to two economic reports. Over the next two years, the state is poised to add nearly half a million jobs and drive the current 11.1% unemployment rate down to nearly 10%, the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. said in an annual forecast released Wednesday.
Los Angeles Times

Ballot Initiatives

Stop the Corporate Power Grab Act
Jon Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association - who makes his healthy living (last reported to be $300,000 annually) fundraising, concealing, and dispensing special interest money through what the Sacramento Bee calls "a sophisticated series of nonprofit corporations and political action committees" - this week issued a righteous call to "STOP SPECIAL INTEREST MONEY." How about that? Of course, anyone who has followed California politics over the last few decades knows that the group founded by the late Jarvis, now led by Coupal, is one of the biggest, most powerful, most-entrenched special interests under the dome.
Brian Brokaw/Alliance for a Better California 2012

Pensions

CalPERS report undermines Gov. Jerry Brown's pension overhaul plan
CalPERS has a new report that says California Gov. Jerry Brown's idea to alter pensions with 401(k)-style plans won't help new workers and won't save California money, either. The California Public Employees Retirement System is the nation's largest public pension fund, and its new report undermines Brown's efforts to change California's pension system.
Los Angeles Times

Prisons

Accused probation chief is face of juvenile justice reform effort
Allegations that Alameda County's top probation official sexually assaulted a female deputy within his department have shocked the Bay Area's criminal justice community and may come as a blow to Gov. Jerry Brown's plans to shut down California's long-troubled youth prison system, observers said.
The Bay Citizen