Law Enforcement

Man found shot dead in his car in Van Nuys
A man was found shot dead in his vehicle in Van Nuys Saturday morning, police said. The victim was found around 1:20 a.m. in the 14500 block of Valerio Street near Van Nuys Boulevard, said Sgt. Steven Gottschalk of the Los Angeles Police Department's Van Nuys Station. Detectives were at the scene investigating, he said.
City News Service

One man stabbed in eye, another stabbed in chest near Pacific Avenue
One man was stabbed in the eye and another in the chest Sunday morning in Venice, police said. Officers on patrol found the victims around 1:50 a.m. near Pacific Avenue and Venice Way, said a desk officer at the Los Angeles Police Department's Pacific Station. Both men were taken to a hospital where they were in critical but stable condition, he said, adding that police were seeking two men who fled in a vehicle.
City News Service

Woman arrested in fatal stabbing of boyfriend in Harbor Gateway
A 37-year-old woman is accused of stabbing her boyfriend to death during an argument at their Harbor Gateway apartment, police said Friday. Starr Lakesha Lavan drove her wounded boyfriend, Markeith Johnbaptiste, 26, to Memorial Hospital of Gardena, where he died, Los Angeles police Detective Rick Gordon said. The stabbing occurred about 8:30 a.m. Thursday at the couple's apartment in the 16000 block of South Vermont Avenue.
Torrance Daily Breeze

Girl, 3, hospitalized after hit-run in LA
A 3-year-old girl was hospitalized Saturday night after being struck by a hit-and-run driver in the Jefferson Park area of Los Angeles. The family of the girl, Tiana Griffith, said she was getting ready to go to a birthday party. Griffith was following her cousin across the street in front of her home on St. Andrews Place near 37th Drive when she was struck by the car. A neighbor who heard the crash and ran outside said the girl was thrown several feet by the impact.
ABC7

LA's 'Most Wanted' segment features 'worst of worst' of prison realignment
Thanks to mostly to Hollywood and TV news, Los Angeles cops are world famous. It's not uncommon for an LAPD officer walking down the street to be stopped by tourists for a quick photo. But L.A. County's Probation Department, one of the county's most important criminal justice agencies, has stayed under the radar - until now. A year and a half ago, prison "realignment" - the result of 2011's AB 109 - shifted some lower-level, non-violent offenders from the state prison system to county custody. When those offenders finish their time, they're supervised by county probation officers - not state parole agents.
KPCC

Prisons

Jerry Brown vows to produce plan for reducing inmate population
Gov. Jerry Brown said Sunday that his administration will come up with a plan for reducing the state prison population by an additional 10,000 inmates, even as it asks the U.S. Supreme Court to block a judicial order demanding such a recommendation. Brown appeared unphased by the task, accepting the recent ruling with the combativeness of someone spoiling for a good political fight. But he said his administration was ready to act quickly.
Los Angeles Times

California's dormant death penalty system faces another legal test
Now more than seven years since the last execution in California, the state this week will try again to revive its dormant death penalty system in an appeals court considering the latest legal tangle over San Quentin's lethal injection procedures. In a hearing Tuesday, the 1st District Court of Appeal will review a Marin County judge's 2011 order stopping executions because prison officials failed to comply with administrative rules in revising California's three-drug execution method.
San Jose Mercury News

Public Health

As meningitis fears rise, foundation to offer free vaccine
Responding to fears of a deadly meningitis outbreak among gay men, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation announced Sunday that it will begin offering free vaccines to help counter a spread of the potentially deadly disease. Worry over a meningitis outbreak started last week after 33-year-old Brett Shaad, a West Hollywood lawyer, died of the disease on Friday. Shaad became critically ill shortly after he attended an annual Easter weekend gathering of gay men in Palm Springs, according to the foundation.
Los Angeles Times

Nevada buses hundreds of mentally ill patients to cities around country
Over the past five years, Nevada's primary state psychiatric hospital has put hundreds of mentally ill patients on Greyhound buses and sent them to cities and towns across America. Since July 2008, Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas has transported more than 1,500 patients to other cities via Greyhound bus. About a third of those patients were dispatched to California, including more than 200 to Los Angeles County, about 70 to San Diego County and 19 to the city of Sacramento.
Sacramento Bee

The Courts

Judge orders dozens of L.A.'s electronic billboards turned off
A judge on Friday gave two outdoor advertising companies three days to pull the plug on 77 digital billboards across Los Angeles, attorneys for the city said. Superior Court Judge Terry Green demanded that dozens of signs operated by Clear Channel Outdoor and CBS Outdoor go dark by 5 p.m. on Monday, representatives of both sides said. The signs had been allowed under a much-criticized deal between the two companies and the City Council.
Los Angeles Times

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