Law Enforcement

Crime alerts for Silver Lake and 13 other L.A. neighborhoods
Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in 14 L.A. neighborhoods, according to an analysis of LAPD data by the Los Angeles Times' Crime L.A. database. Twelve neighborhoods reported a significant increase in violent crime. Silver Lake was the most unusual, recording six reports compared with a weekly average of 0.8 over the last three months. Pacific Palisades topped the list of two neighborhoods with property crime alerts.
Los Angeles Times

The Kings, the fans and the LAPD: A great week in L.A.
When the L.A. Kings took a 3-0 lead in the first period of the sixth game of the Stanley Cup playoffs against the New Jersey Devils, the LAPD issued a citywide tactical alert from an abundance of caution. You knew then the Kings were on their way to win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. Weeks of planning and preparation were about to be tested as thousands of fans decked in black and purple converged on L.A. Live to celebrate.
LAPPL Blog

Taco truck deaths latest of many casualties in high-speed police pursuits
A mother whose daughter was killed by a drunk driver after a high-speed chase asks why the California Highway Patrol is still engaging in dangerous pursuits. A driver led police on a high-speed chase over freeways and surface streets Friday, before colliding with three vehicles in Hollywood, where he was taken into custody. A woman and a toddler were injured, but were conscious and talking on the scene.
NBC4

Missing man's body found near Harvard-Westlake School
Authorities have identified a body found tied to a tree near Harvard-Westlake School in Studio City as belonging to a 57-year-old man who went missing from his nearby home more than two weeks ago. James Ernest Oberg committed suicide, dying from asphyxiation, said Los Angeles County coroner's investigator Mario Sainz. He said he did not know if the victim had hanged himself. Oberg's body was discovered in the 3700 block of Coldwater Canyon Avenue near the private high school campus about 8:20 a.m. Friday.
Los Angeles Times

Owners of antique, confederate money sought by LAPD
Police are looking for the owners of vintage currency that was found on a pair of suspected serial burglars who smashed in windows in the Melrose Village and Fairfax districts. Rickie Porter, 22, of Lancaster, and William Black, 52, of Los Angeles were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of commercial burglary in connection with a series of burglaries in which plate glass windows of closed businesses would be smashed in and the burglars would enter and steal cash or merchandise.
CBS2

Rodney King seen as catalyst for policing change
Rodney King, who died Sunday after a troubled life, never meant to change the Los Angeles Police Department - but that's what he ended up doing. The mention of King's name will always recall painful video images of his 1991 beating and the following year's Los Angeles riots, which were sparked by the acquittals of the officers and resulted in vast destruction and dozens of deaths. But the King affair also transformed basic practices of policing, not just in Los Angeles but across the country, author Lou Cannon said.
Associated Press

Pensions

LA mayor eyes possible referendum on pension reform
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said on Thursday he was prepared to take public pension reform directly to voters next year after recent referendums approved cutting pensions in two of California's biggest cities. "We're proposing it to the City Council. If they don't pass it, we're going to put it on the ballot," Villaraigosa told Reuters in Orlando where he was presiding as president of the annual U.S. Conference of Mayors. Villaraigosa, a Democrat, said he also wanted to raise the city's retirement age to 67 from 55.
Reuters

L.A. City Council weighs 'gentle' ban on medical marijuana clinics
A "gentle ban" on medical marijuana clinics to be considered by the Los Angeles City Council this week could result in the closure of hundreds of dispensaries that the city has been struggling to control for years. The City Council is expected to debate the latest proposal from Councilmen Jose Huizar and Mitch Englander on Friday at the same time it takes up a counter-proposal to allow up to 100 dispensaries to remain in operation.
Los Angeles Daily News

State Budget

Correctional officers, firefighters, psych techs, Jerry Brown tentatively agree to furloughs
State firefighters, correctional officers and psychiatric technicians will take a 5 percent pay hit starting next month under agreements their unions reached Friday with Gov. Jerry Brown. The news came at the end of a week that saw several unions engaged in intense negotiations with the administration over the wage reduction. The largest group, the 93,000-member SEIU Local 1000, had submitted a proposal to Brown but as of this afternoon had yet to finalize the deal.
Sacramento Bee

The Courts

L.A. County court officials expect more drastic cuts
Officials at the Los Angeles County Superior Court, where more than 150 employees were laid off Friday, expect to make more drastic cuts in the next fiscal year. Court officials, already reeling from $30 million in cuts, predicted that shrinking state funding would force them to slash tens of millions of dollars more. "It is an undermining of the justice system," Los Angeles County Presiding Judge Lee Smalley Edmon said during a news conference Friday.
Los Angeles Times

Education

L.A. teachers approve deal that reduces pay, shortens school year
Members of United Teachers Los Angeles have approved a one-year labor contract that would shorten the school year and reduce pay in exchange for the preservation of more than 4,000 jobs, the union announced Saturday. The vote tally was 58% in favor of the contract and 42% opposed. Roughly two-thirds of all union members cast ballots. UTLA represents nurses, librarians, counselors, psychologists and psychiatric social workers in addition to classroom instructors.
Los Angeles Times