Law Enforcement

LAPD community meetings on use of force to be held after recent force cases
At a police community meeting Tuesday evening, the LAPD Valley Bureau chief told Van Nuys residents that the department is scheduling 21 community meetings in the various LAPD police divisions to talk to people about how the department investigates use of force cases and the review process. "That's important because we have to make sure that we maintain the good will that we earned over the course of time," said Deputy Chief Jorge Villegas of the Valley Bureau.
KPCC

Shooting of CHP officer triggers massive law enforcement support network for family
The California Highway Patrol officer shot Tuesday in a traffic stop has died. Kenyon Youngstrom, a 37-year-old father of four from Cordelia, was pronounced dead at 6:05 p.m. Wednesday at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, where he had been on life support since the shooting, officials said. Youngstrom was shot at 8:20 a.m. Tuesday while performing a traffic stop on Interstate 680 in Alamo. Family, friends and colleagues had gathered at the hospital nearly around the clock since the shooting.
Contra Costa Times

Police: Bicyclist killed in Westwood not wearing helmet
An 18-year-old bicyclist killed Friday evening in Westwood after colliding with a cement wall was not wearing a helmet, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Jerico Culata, of Los Angeles, was riding his bike southbound on De Neve Drive when he crashed on UCLA's campus. The LAPD has since urged bicyclists to wear helmets. All cyclists under 18 are required by law to wear helmets, according to the LAPD.
Westwood-Century City Patch

Bank of America bomb robbers flee with large sums of cash
A bank manager says she was leaving her Huntington Park home for work Wednesday morning when two masked men snatched her. They strapped what they told the woman was an explosive device onto her chest and instructed her to rob her own bank. Authorities said the manager complied, bringing a bag filled with cash to the back of the bank, where the robbers grabbed it and sped away. In a city known for some bizarre bank robberies, what happened at the East L.A. Bank of America branch is quickly taking on a mythology of its own.
Los Angeles Times

Proposition 32 Ballot Initiative

Prop. 32: Bad for Calif. and democracy
Every so often in California politics, a ballot measure comes along that is so deceptive that it takes one's breath away. Prop. 32 is such a measure, one that would have a disastrous impact on our democracy and on the issues about which Californians care most. The initiative masquerades as an attempt at even-handed campaign-finance reform that would reduce the influence of powerful special interests in Sacramento. Few would argue that this is a laudable goal, but Prop. 32's special exemptions would increase the influence of business interests and wealthy individuals, while silencing teachers, nurses, firefighters and law-enforcement officers.
John Logan/San Francisco Chronicle

Prison Realignment

LA County ground zero for prison realignment
On a recent, warm summer evening, three LAPD black and white patrol cars roll up to a house in North Hollywood. It's quiet, except for the dogs barking. "This guy is currently out of prison for drugs - drugs, burglaries, thefts. He has a long history of it," Officer Shawn Smith says. "This is supposed to be his parent's house." In the past, state parole agents monitored everyone coming out of prison. Now, under California's realignment plan, local probation and police departments handle less serious criminals — those who've committed crimes that were not violent, sex related or serious, as defined by the law. Non-serious crimes include offenses you might not expect: assault and battery, and vehicular manslaughter.
Southern California Public Radio

The Courts

California's bid to end U.S. control of prison healthcare denied
A judge has again rejected the state's request for a speedy end to federal control of prison healthcare. In an order issued Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson said he would require tougher reviews than the state wanted before agreeing to dissolve the receivership that has run inmate medical care for six years. "Evidence of progress made under the direction and control of the receiver does not constitute evidence of [the state's] own will, capacity, and leadership to maintain a constitutionally adequate system of inmate medical care," Henderson wrote.
Los Angeles Times

L.A. can't randomly seize possessions of homeless, court rules
Los Angeles and other cities are barred by the U.S. Constitution from randomly seizing and destroying property the homeless temporarily leave unattended on city streets, a federal appeals court decided Wednesday. Upholding a court order against Los Angeles, a panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the personal possessions the homeless leave for a short time on city sidewalks may be taken only if the possessions pose an immediate threat to public safety or health or involve criminal evidence.
Los Angeles Times

L.A. pot ban blocked for now
A ban on storefront pot dispensaries here won't go into effect Thursday after advocates for medical marijuana successfully petitioned to block it, the latest skirmish in the battle over how local governments around the nation should regulate pot businesses. After years of failed attempts to control the number of pot shops and their operations here, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed an ordinance in late July that made storefront dispensaries illegal by modifying language in the city's municipal code.
Wall Street Journal

Legislation

Lawmaker fulfills pledge to late wife with legislative victory
Despite many setbacks, Assemblyman Gil Cedillo perseveres and finally wins passage of a bill allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. Cedillo's bill, AB 2189, could allow an estimated 450,000 young illegal immigrants to drive legally if they qualify for a federal work-permit program under a new Obama administration policy. The measure whipped out of the Senate on a 25-7 vote and then cleared the Assembly, 55-21.
Los Angeles Times

Municipal Budgets

San Jose credit under watch
San Jose city officials Wednesday said ratings agencies continue to take a hard look at San Jose's finances to reevaluate the city's credit-worthiness in light of recent municipal bankruptcies as cities around the state face growing employee costs and recession-weakened revenues. Julia Cooper, the city's acting finance director, said San Jose "has received an increasing number of inquiries from the three rating agencies" about the city's financial position and future outlook, redevelopment dissolution impacts, labor relations and implementation of voter approved pension reform measures.
San Jose Mercury News