Law Enforcement

2 LAPD officers shot near Wilshire Police Station
Police declared a city-wide tactical alert on Tuesday morning after two LAPD officers were shot in the Mid-City area. A white sedan appeared to have several windows shot out. It happened between 4 and 4:30 a.m. outside the Wilshire Community Police Station, located at 4861 Venice Blvd. Two officers, possibly detectives, were shot at, according to officials at LAPD Headquarters. The officers transported to Cedars-Sinai. Their wounds were not considered life-threatening, police said. The area around the Wilshire station was cordoned off for the investigation. Several police helicopters were flying overhead.
KTLA

Watts housing development experiences first homicide in almost two years
On Sunday morning at about 4:30, a man was standing outside the Imperial Courts housing development in Watts, when someone walked up and shot him, Los Angeles police said. The man, whose name has not been released pending family notification, is the 19th person murdered in Southeast Los Angeles this year, according to the most recently available numbers.
Southern California Public Radio

Man shot, killed on sidewalk in South Los Angeles
Police are searching a South Los Angeles neighborhood Monday after a man was shot and killed as he stood on a sidewalk. The victim was shot several times near 39th Street and Budlong Avenue Sunday shortly before 10 p.m. He died at the scene. Police believe he was between 20 and 30 years old. Authorities say so far, there are no witnesses. Anyone with information is asked to call the LAPD Southwest Station at (213) 485-2582.
ABC7

Bay Area leads California - in violent crime
Five Bay Area cities -- Oakland, Richmond, Antioch, Vallejo and San Francisco -- are among the top 10 most violent cities in California, according to the FBI. The agency's preliminary Uniform Crime Report for 2012 shows that of the 10 most-violent cities in the state, eight are in Northern California. According to the FBI, law enforcement agencies throughout the nation reported an increase of 1.2 percent in the number of violent crimes in 2012 over 2011.
San Francisco Business Journal

Prisons

Brown gives Legislature his prison-fix plan
Gov. Jerry Brown has begun circulating draft legislation to meet a federal court order to reduce prison crowding, prompting legislative leaders, as promised, to urge the governor instead to fight the court order. "Given what we have accomplished ... there is only one constructive solution to prison overcrowding: keep people from coming back to prison after they are released," state Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said in a letter to the governor Monday.
Los Angeles Times

Boxed in by the prison issue
The Ninth Circuit three judge panel's order to release nearly 10,000 prisoners from California jails by the end of the year seemingly has put a resisting Governor Jerry Brown in a box. On one side, Brown is threatened by the courts to free prisoners. On the other side, political opponents are mounting a campaign against Brown arguing that freed prisoners threaten public safety.
Fox and Hounds

The Courts

Court refuses to allow L.A. to cart off homeless' belongings
A long-running dispute over a controversial cleanup campaign on downtown's skid row ended Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court refused the city of Los Angeles' request to lift a ban on destroying property left unattended by homeless people. The court, without comment, left standing a lower-court order that prevents city workers and police from disposing of the contents of shopping carts that homeless people leave behind temporarily while using a restroom, filling water jugs or lining up for meals.
Los Angeles Times

Judge: California must move inmates in two prisons because of fungus
A federal judge on Monday ordered the state to move several thousand inmates out of two California prisons because they are at a high risk of contracting a potentially deadly airborne fungus. U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson instructed corrections officials to transfer most black, Filipino and medically at-risk inmates because they are more vulnerable to health problems from valley fever. The fungal infection originates in the soil of the San Joaquin Valley, where Avenal and Pleasant Valley state prisons are located.
Associated Press

Legislation

Halle Berry to testify on paparazzi limits
The Capitol will get a touch of star power on Tuesday morning when actress Halle Berry testifies in favor of legislation that would limit paparazzi's ability to photograph the children of celebrities. The bill, SB 606, would modify the definition of harassment - meaning activity that "seriously alarms, annoys, torments, or terrorizes" a person - to include photographing or recording a child without the permission of a legal guardian. The legislation specifically mentions photography that involves "following the child's activities or lying in wait" and targeting a child because of a parent's line of work.
Los Angeles Times

City Government

Los Angeles moves to shut down car-for-hire operations
Three popular car-for-hire companies - Sidecar, Uber and Lyft - were slapped with cease-and-desist letters Monday from the city of Los Angeles, accusing them of operating illegally. All three of the San Francisco-based services use mobile phone applications to connect consumers with chauffeur-driven cars. In the case of Uber, many of the drivers dispatched by the service are actually licensed professionals, though the service does use some casual drivers.
Los Angeles Daily News