Law Enforcement

Reputed gang member sought in robbery, carjacking
Police were looking for a reputed gang member who allegedly left a carjacking victim in South Los Angeles on Thursday evening after committing a robbery the day before in Culver City. Edgar Gomez, 22, fled after dumping the vehicle and female victim around 6 p.m near Exposition Park, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The woman was uninjured. Gomez was wanted by Culver City police in connection with an early-morning robbery on Wednesday.
Los Angeles Times

LAPD precautions at Game 4 leave LA Kings fans disappointed
Hockey fans at LA Live Wednesday night were more disappointed that they couldn't watch the game than the LA Kings actually losing. The New Jersey Devils won Game Four of the Stanley Cup Finals on Kings home turf in Los Angeles, 3 to 1. The next game will be played Saturday in New Jersey. LAPD asked LA Live not to show the game on the big screen in the plaza to avoid having large crowds gather. "Are you kidding me? It makes perfect sense, but it's not good," said hockey fan Kyle Aayz.
Southern California Public Radio

Slain youth pastor was doing 'everything right,' friends say
The 23-year-old youth pastor shot and killed this week in Venice was doing "everything right" and appears to have been the victim of random violence, friends and authorities said. At a news conference to announce a $50,000 reward from the city, people who knew Oscar Duncan, a former football captain and homecoming king, said he was an upstanding young man. "Anything else said about Oscar on a negative side is absolutely incorrect, wrong, 110%," Pastor Michael Fisher said.
Los Angeles Times

Did accused Canadian cannibal Luka Magnotta strike in Hollywood?
Los Angeles police are in contact with Canadian authorities to determine if Luka Magnotta, suspected in the murder and cannibalism of his gay lover, was also involved in a gruesome decapitation in Hollywood earlier this year. "Our detectives are contacting their counterparts in Canada and to see if suspect was in Hollywood at the time," LAPD spokesman Lyle Knight told ABC News.
ABC News

LinkedIn works with FBI on password theft
LinkedIn Corp is working with the FBI as the social network for job seekers and professionals investigates the theft of 6.4 million member passwords, the company said on Thursday. The company does not know of any accounts that were taken over as a result of the security violations, according to LinkedIn spokesman Hani Durzy. A spokeswoman with the FBI declined to comment. LinkedIn is still in the early stages of the investigation. Durzy said it was not yet determined whether the email addresses that corresponded to the hacked passwords were also stolen.
Reuters

City Government

City committee to debate future of medical marijuana dispensaries in L.A.
The years-long debate over medical marijuana clinics returns to a city panel on Friday, with competing proposals to either ban all of them or grandfather in about 100 existing facilities. Patients in wheelchairs and using walkers, crutches and canes joined dispensary workers and union leaders in a demonstration outside Los Angeles City Hall on Thursday. They urged the City Council to leave some dispensaries open so the ill can get medical marijuana.
Los Angeles Daily News

State Budget

13,000 California state workers win back pay in furlough lawsuit
An Alameda County judge has ruled that state engineers and scientists are owed back wages because they were excessively furloughed last year. The decision, which also includes a ruling to restore all the furlough wages withheld from a few hundred employees' paychecks, means some 13,000 workers could receive roughly $10.5 million in back pay. The payments would not affect the state's general fund, because the employees due the money are paid from special funds.
Sacramento Bee

Prisons

New law reduces oversight of parolees
The number of state prison parolees freed from law enforcement supervision jumped more than sixfold in April as a little-known law that speeds up the release process took effect. About 8,500 parolees were taken off supervision, a number that surprised many law enforcement officials who said they were racing to figure out how to deal with it. By contrast, about 1,300 parolees were discharged in March.
Los Angeles Times

California's broken parole and probation system
The irony seemed unintentional, which made it all the more amusing. The story appeared in the May 29 edition of the Los Angeles Times. "Realignment plan for California prisons causing new friction," ran the headline, below which appeared a photograph of a teary-eyed Pamela Morris, for whom the reader was apparently supposed to feel sympathy. For those who merely skim the newspaper, glancing only at pictures and headlines, the editorial message was clear: Here was a disadvantaged woman, unlucky in life and put upon by an indifferent justice system.
Jack Dunphy/Pajamas Media

The Courts

California courts' administrative office lays off 29 employees
Twenty-nine layoffs were announced Thursday by California's Administrative Office of the Courts, which sets policy and distributes funding for all levels of the state's court system. Interim director Jody Patel said the layoffs were forced by pending budget cuts and ranged from entry level to senior positions. "Sadly, this is not the end of our staff reductions," Patel said in a prepared statement. The layoffs affected AOC offices in San Francisco, Sacramento and Burbank.
Sacramento Bee