Pensions

Riordan accepts police union's pension debate challenge
Multimillionaire businessman and former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan has accepted a police union's challenge to put his mouth where his money is. Riordan agreed Wednesday to a series of three debates on the merits of a pension revamp initiative that he is trying to get on next year's city election ballot. The measure would create a 401(k)-style retirement plan for newly hired workers instead of the current guaranteed pensions.
Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles mayoral candidates unite against proposed sales tax hike
One day after the City Council tentatively agreed to place a half-cent sales tax hike on the spring ballot, the four leading mayoral candidates criticized the plan Wednesday at a forum in Koreatown. During the candidate event and in interviews afterward, Councilwoman Jan Perry, Councilman Eric Garcetti, City Controller Wendy Greuel, and Kevin James, a former federal prosecutor and radio talk show host, all spoke out against the tax proposal, which would face voters next March.
Los Angeles Daily News

The Great Recession: Pressures on public pensions, employment relations and reforms
A new research brief examines the workforce impacts of existing defined benefit (DB) pension plans to assess the likely effects of a switch to defined contribution (DC) individual accounts or cash balance plans. "The Great Recession: Pressures on Public Pensions, Employment Relations and Reforms" finds that: Public employers would attract a different labor force if they switched retirement benefits away from pensions.
National Institute on Retirement Security

Law Enforcement

LAPD continues search for girl seen being dragged
Police climbed up and down undeveloped hills east of downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday in a massive search for a teenage girl or woman after witnesses reported seeing a man drag her away by the hair. Searchers on foot and horseback combed 455 acres of the El Sereno hills while others flew overhead in a helicopter and dog handlers deployed bloodhounds.
Associated Press

Judge tosses anti-paparazzi counts in Justin Bieber case
A law aimed at combating reckless driving by paparazzi is overly broad and should not be used against the first photographer charged under its provisions, a judge ruled Wednesday. Superior Court Judge Thomas Rubinson dismissed counts filed under the law against Paul Raef, who was charged in July with being involved in a high-speed pursuit of Justin Bieber.
Associated Press

Homeland Security

Homeland Security office OKs efforts to monitor threats via social media
A little-known privacy office in the Department of Homeland Security has given its stamp of approval to an ongoing initiative aimed at monitoring social media sites for emerging threats. Congress created the department's privacy office in 2003 to review major initiatives and databases and make certain those initiatives respected the rights of Americans, while also enabling homeland security officials to better collect and share information about possible terrorism and criminal suspects.
Center for Investigative Reporting

Public Safety

Medical response time lags in many pricey L.A. neighborhoods
Waits for 911 medical aid vary dramatically across Los Angeles and many of the city's most exclusive neighborhoods have the longest response times, according to a Times investigation. Under national standards adopted by the Los Angeles Fire Department, rescuers are supposed to arrive within six minutes to almost all medical emergencies.
Los Angeles Times

The Economy

California's poverty rate highest in U.S. by new federal measure
Nearly nine million Californians - almost a quarter of the state's residents - live in poverty under a newly devised federal standard, making the state's rate by far the highest in the nation. The stunning number will fuel California's perpetual political debate over the state's "safety net" of health and welfare services, which have been reduced sharply due to budget deficits. With voter approval of new taxes, advocates for the poor are demanding that some of the benefit cuts be rescinded.
Sacramento Bee

The Courts

10 L.A. County courthouses slashed amid budget cuts
Officials on Wednesday announced sweeping cuts in the L.A. County court system, including the closure of courtrooms across the region. Faced with steep budget cuts, officials said all courtrooms would be closed at 10 courthouses including those in Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Malibu, Huntington Park, Whittier, Pomona and San Pedro. The courthouses will continue to handle some administrative matters like ticket payments but will no longer hear cases.
Los Angeles Times

State Government

Democrats win supermajority in California Assembly
Democrats have gained a supermajority in both houses of the California Legislature for the first time since the 19th century, after the Assembly reached the critical two-thirds threshold Wednesday. That gives California's majority party complete dominance of state politics and the ability to raise taxes unilaterally if they choose. The party already had secured a two-thirds majority in the state Senate after last week's election.
Associated Press

City Government

L.A. council approves new trash collection plan
A hotly contested plan to transform the way much of the garbage in Los Angeles is collected won backing Wednesday from the City Council, but the city's trash wars are far from over as opponents immediately threatened both a lawsuit and a ballot initiative. After a raucous hearing, the council voted 11 to 3 in favor of a plan backed by environmentalists and organized labor that would carve the city into 11 new and exclusive hauling franchise areas for waste pickup from commercial properties and large apartment buildings.
Los Angeles Times