Law Enforcement

Two shootings in South L.A. leave one dead, one wounded
Investigators were searching Tuesday for suspects in two shootings -- one of them fatal -- that occurred within the same hour on Normandie Avenue in South Los Angeles. The first shooting occurred at around 8 p.m. at the corner of Florence Avenue and Normandie, where a man was shot three times in the back while entering a liquor store, said Sgt. Eric Martin of the LAPD's 77th Division Station.
Los Angeles Times

Macy's in Sherman Oaks mall burglarized
The Macy's department store at a Sherman Oaks mall was burglarized Tuesday. Officers were dispatched to the Westfield Fashion Square mall at Riverside Drive and Hazeltine Avenue around 1 a.m. after an emergency exit alarm sounded and discovered that someone had been in the store, said Sgt. Kristine Klotz of the Los Angeles Police Department's Van Nuys Station.
City News Service

Coroner: Burbank FBI agent's death ruled suicide
The Los Angeles County coroner has determined the death of an FBI agent who went missing from his Burbank home was a suicide. Chief Coroner Investigator Craig Harvey said Monday that 35-year-old Stephen Ivens shot himself in the head with a handgun, and died of the wound. Ivens was last seen by his family on May 10. His body was discovered July 30 behind a church near his home, with his gun nearby.
Associated Press

Waterways will be under heavy patrol during the Republican National Convention
About 30 law enforcement agencies are preparing for the largest maritime security event in Tampa's history, and they're armed with infrared technology, police divers and machine guns. Because the Tampa Bay Times Forum, site of the Republican National Convention, backs onto water, federal and local marine units plan to saturate the waterways with boat patrols Aug. 25 - 31.
Tampa Bay Times

The Courts

Court says ruling in Burbank police case could 'chill' whistle-blowers
In a ruling it said could discourage police officers from blowing the whistle on misconduct, a federal appeals court on Tuesday reluctantly upheld a lower court's dismissal of a First Amendment lawsuit filed by a former Burbank police detective. The decision turned on a 2009 ruling by another panel of the same court, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The earlier case held that disclosure of police misconduct, even done against the orders of superiors, is a professional duty of police officers and thus not protected by the First Amendment.
Los Angeles Daily News

New Law

Unsafe skateboarding will draw fines of $250 under new L.A. law
Los Angeles skateboarders can still make those high-stakes downhill runs known as "bombing" -- they'll just have to do it upright instead of prone, while also obeying speed limits and yielding to oncoming traffic, thanks to a new city ordinance passed Tuesday. The City Council voted to impose various regulations and penalties on "unsafe" skateboarding. Boarders must ride upright, maintain speeds that will not cause harm to themselves or to others and obey all traffic signs.
Los Angeles Times

City Government

L.A.'s plan to close pools Monday meets with protests
As temperatures are rising, so is anger over a city plan to shut 47 public pools next week. Most of the city's public pools will close Monday under a move to save money timed to the start of the Los Angeles Unified School District calendar on Aug. 14. But amid backlash from community groups, and hand-wringing from politicians, city parks officials Tuesday agreed to search for a way to keep the pools open until Labor Day.
Los Angeles Daily News

Ballot Measure

Unions air statewide radio ads against Prop. 32
Labor unions are taking to the airwaves to fight Proposition 32, the November ballot measure that promises to eliminate special-interest money in politics. Unions representing teachers, firefighters and state workers are airing statewide radio ads this week that cast the initiative as "a deceptive proposition stuffed with special exemptions for the oil companies, Wall Street and those secret campaign super PACs who want to rig the system while the middle class pays the price."
Los Angeles Times

Teachers union drops $7.5 million against Prop. 32
California's unions are very worried about Proposition 32, which — if passed — would kneecap their political power. So that explains why the 325,000-member California Teachers Association/Issues PAC dropped $7.5 million Friday in opposition to the measure, according to this filing in the Secretary of State's office, upping the total amount the anti-32 side has raised to over $18 million. The California Labor Federation dropped another $250,000 Friday, as well.
San Francisco Chronicle

Transit

Supervisors approve transportation tax extension for fall ballot
Los Angeles County supervisors voted on Tuesday to put a 30-year extension of a half-cent sales tax for transportation projects on the November ballot. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority board has already endorsed the ballot measure, but county supervisors still needed to approve putting it before voters. Several supervisors had criticized the ballot measure as an unnecessary and premature extension of Measure R, a 30-year tax plan than voters passed in 2008.
Los Angeles Times