Law Enforcement

Rewards total $100,000 in Boyle Heights hit-and-run death of probation officer
The Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved a $50,000 reward for information that helps authorities track down the driver who fled the scene of a Boyle Heights crash that killed a probation officer who was riding his motorcycle home from work at Eastlake Juvenile Hall. Rewards in the case now total $100,000. The Los Angeles City Council approved a $50,000 reward on Nov. 20.
City News Service

Man killed by LAPD officer after firing weapon in Granada Hills
A man in his sixties was killed in an officer-involved shooting in Granada Hills after confronting an officer with a rifle, police said Tuesday. The man was shot and killed just before midnight Monday by an LAPD officer at the rear of a single-family house on the 12700 block of Woodley Avenue in Granada Hills, said Sgt. Jose Valle of the Los Angeles Police Department's Devonshire Station. The suspect had been firing his weapon, said Sgt. Jerretta Sandoz of LAPD Media Relations. No officers were injured, she said.
City News Service

Man, 19, arrested after body found in Hollywood dumpster
A 19-year-old Hollywood man was being held on suspicion of murder Tuesday after police say he killed a man during a robbery in Koreatown and dumped the body in a trash bin. Los Angeles County prosecutors are expected to charge Merdan Haydarov on Wednesday in the slaying of 49-year-old Randall Scott Kreeger, whose body was found in a dumpster in the 1800 block of Garfield Place in Hollywood. Police said Kreeger had been missing since Sunday, when he failed to show up to a social event.
Los Angeles Times

Man sitting in his car dies in drive-by shooting in South L.A.
A 19-year-old man was killed in a drive-by shooting Monday evening as he sat in his car in South Los Angeles, police said. The man was sitting in his car near the intersection of Century Boulevard and Vermont Avenue in the Vermont Vista neighborhood when two people drove up alongside him in another vehicle about 5:45 p.m. and opened fire, said Los Angeles police officer Gregory Baek. The shooters fired "several rounds" before fleeing the scene, Baek added. The victim, who has not been identified, was taken to an area hospital where he died.
Los Angeles Times

Man's claim of being kidnapped while walking dog a hoax, LAPD says
A Los Angeles man's story of being kidnapped while walking his dog last week -- just days before he was supposed to testify in a celebrity-linked burglary case -- has been deemed a ruse, police said. Police spent three days looking for Darwin Vela, 22, after his dog returned to their Southwest L.A. home alone the night of Nov. 19. Vela's fiancee said she called 911 after spotting blood on the chocolate Labrador's leash. Vela was found Friday afternoon, after he flagged down a motorist on the Westside.
Los Angeles Times

Possible explosive substance left at LAFD Station 39, police say
A suspect was taken into custody after allegedly leaving a possible explosive substance at a fire station in Van Nuys, Los Angeles police said Tuesday night. The suspect was seen leaving Station 39 in the 14000 block of Sylvan Street about 8:30 p.m., the Los Angeles Police Department said. Officer Norma Eisenman said it was not immediately clear whether the firehouse was evacuated. A bomb squad was at the scene.
Los Angeles Times

Judge cancels hearing on serial rapist's release to L.A. County
A Santa Clara County judge has canceled a Dec. 4 public hearing that had been scheduled on the release of a serial rapist to Los Angeles County, authorities said Tuesday. The judge canceled the hearing after a landlord withdrew his support to allow Christopher Evans Hubbart to live in a home in an unincorporated part of Lake Los Angeles, the L.A. County district attorney's office said. The choice of the home had sparked complaints from local government officials and residents.
Los Angeles Times

Emergency Response

LAX creates emergency response team to improve communication with travelers in wake of TSA shooting
Responding to criticism that passengers were not kept informed after a Terminal 3 shooting rampage in November, Los Angeles International Airport will create a response team designed to assist travelers during emergency operations. The outline for the new program - called ART for Airport Response Team ­- was shared with employees recently. The airport is seeking volunteers among the massive LAX work force who could respond when the team is activated.
Torrance Daily Breeze

City Government

As homeless line up for food, Los Angeles weighs restrictions
Twenty-seven years after the Greater West Hollywood Food Coalition began feeding people in a county that has one of the worst homeless problems in the nation, the charity is under fire, a flashpoint in the national debate over the homeless and the programs that serve them. Facing an uproar from homeowners, two members of the Los Angeles City Council have called for the city to follow the lead of dozens of other communities and ban the feeding of homeless people in public spaces.
New York Times

L.A. needs at least a year to find quake-vulnerable wood buildings
Los Angeles city building officials have concluded that it would take inspectors more than a year to identify all the apartment buildings in the city that have a certain type of wood frame vulnerable to collapse in a major earthquake. City staffers developed a plan to winnow out these so-called "soft" story wood-frame buildings among the 29,000 apartment buildings across the city that were built before 1978, Ifa Kashefi, chief of the engineering bureau at the building and safety department, wrote in a report submitted to a City Council planning committee.
Los Angeles Times