Law Enforcement

Suspected drunk driver who hit taco truck is charged with murder
A suspected drunk driver accused of killing two women after he led CHP officers on a pursuit, ran a red light and slammed into a crowd gathered around a Boyle Heights taco truck was charged Tuesday with multiple felonies, including murder. Elba Jimenez, 37, who is being held in lieu of $2-million bail and is due to be arraigned in a downtown courtroom, faces two counts of murder, one felony count each of evading an officer, driving under the influence causing injury, and driving with .08 percent or higher blood alcohol level causing injury.
Los Angeles Times

Superior Court judge found safe in Carson, police say
A 71-year-old L.A. County Superior Court judge was found safe several hours after she was reported missing from her Pacific Palisades home, officials said Tuesday. Los Angeles police say Linda Kay Lefkowitz, a judge at the Santa Monica courthouse, was located around 11:30 p.m. Monday in Carson in good health. Lefkowitz called police and told them she was lost, according to KTLA News. Prior to the call, Lefkowitz was last seen around 8:30 a.m. Monday at her home.
Los Angeles Times

Police bust two alleged gang members, one with fake credit cards
Northeast Division officers arrested two females at about 3:30 p.m. Sunday in the 1600 block of Mohawk Avenue, according to Sergeant Victor Arellano of the gang unit. One was arrested and booked for an outstanding warrant. The other was booked for possessing narcotics and possibly fraudulent credit cards. Both females have alleged ties to the Silver Lake-Echo Park gang, the Crazies. Four males, also alleged gang members, fled the scene, where the group was observed.
Echo Park - Silverlake Patch

LAUSD students from Reseda's Miller school sowing native-plant garden for LAPD Topanga Station
Despite the best efforts of a cadre of supporters, the landscaping around the LAPD's Topanga Station has gotten a little scraggly, a problem caused by the wrong mix of sun, soil and shrubbery. Over the next several months, however, the six-acre site will be transformed into a sustainable garden of native plants, thanks to an innovative partnership announced Tuesday by the Topanga Boosters, the nonprofit Theodore Payne Foundation and LAUSD's Miller Career and Transition Center.
Los Angeles Daily News

FBI gets a broader role in coordinating domestic intelligence activities
The FBI has been given an expanded role in coordinating the domestic intelligence-gathering activities of the CIA and other agencies under a plan enacted this year by Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr., officials said. The bureau's highest-ranking field agents now also serve as the DNI's representatives across the country. The change is intended to improve collaboration, but some officials say it has created new friction between the FBI and CIA.
Washington Post

Legislation

Bill to protect privacy of police officers stalls in Senate
A measure that would allow the home addresses of current and former law enforcement officers and judges to be redacted from public property records has stalled in the state Senate amid concerns that it would be abused. Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) introduced the bill after someone anonymously posted the home addresses of more than a dozen LAPD command officers on the Internet last year.
Los Angeles Times

Police, lobbyists defeat attempt to regulate license-plate scanners
Under pressure from law enforcement lobbyists and private industry, a California lawmaker has abandoned his effort to restrict how personal information on the whereabouts of drivers generated from high-tech license-plate scanners can be collected and stored in a database. State Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, proposed the bill in March after California Watch reported that a private company had stockpiled more than a half-billion records on drivers from the license-plate readers.
California Watch

Pensions

SEIU goes after Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa over pension proposals
One of the largest city employee unions went on the attack against Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Tuesday, comparing him to Wisconsin's Republican Gov. Scott Walker and calling on members to voice their protest to new pension proposals. A flyer with pictures of Villaraigosa and Walker, with a headline of "Separated at birth," is being circulated to the union's 10,000 members and posted on its website.
Los Angeles Daily News

Challenge to pension reform moves forward
Labor unions have scored two separate legal victories in the past week in their push to invalidate San Diego's pension reform initiative, which voters overwhelmingly approved earlier this month. The two wins essentially lead to the same result: The state's Public Employment Relations Board can now move forward with its investigation into a labor complaint that city leaders violated state law by helping craft Proposition B as a citizens' initiative.
UT San Diego

City Government

Data expert says LAFD's approach needs radical change
A nationally recognized expert brought in to fix the Los Angeles Fire Department's response-time reporting problems said Tuesday that the agency failed to provide him with the resources to do his job, and he called for a radical change in the way top fire officials approach data analysis. Jeffrey Godown, who was brought in by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa amid a growing controversy over the accuracy of LAFD performance reports, told the Fire Commission that the agency has not focused enough effort on correcting the problem.
Los Angeles Times