Law Enforcement

Man charged with murder in fatal Metro Red Line stabbing
A man accused of fatally stabbing a passenger on the Metro Red Line in East Hollywood last week has been charged with murder, prosecutors announced Tuesday. Angelo Correia, 24, was arrested after investigators served a search warrant at his home in North Hollywood several days after the Jan. 13 incident. The victim, 34-year-old Jose Velazco-Alvarado, was stabbed Monday about 9:18 a.m. and taken to a hospital in grave condition when the train stopped at the Vermont/Santa Monica station.
Los Angeles Times

Koreatown shooting: Police say killings may be gang-related
Los Angeles police say a brazen shooting in broad daylight in Koreatown on Monday afternoon may have been gang-related. Police said just before 2 p.m., two unidentified men walked up to two men in their 20s in a parking lot driveway at South Normandie Avenue and West 3rd Street and briefly exchanged words before opening fire. Both victims were shot multiple times and pronounced dead at the hospital. The coroner has yet to release their identities.
Los Angeles Times

Xposed strip club, Wet Spot bar can stay open in Canoga Park
A Canoga Park strip club and adjoining bar can stay open despite calls from police and residents to shutter the controversial businesses, a city zoning commissioner has ruled. The Los Angeles Police Department filed a complaint with the city's Office of Zoning Administration last year, asking the agency to close or restrict Xposed Gentleman's Club and Wet Spot bar as public nuisances, citing excessive police calls and arrests in the area for prostitution, pandering, assault, battery and theft.
Los Angeles Daily News

Former bank executive's trial against LAPD in beating case begins
A judge will allow a recording of a former Hollywood and banking executive acknowledging he used bath salts to be used only for impeachment purposes in his civil rights trial against Los Angeles police for beating him during an arrest. U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner made the decision Tuesday as the civil rights and excessive force case against the LAPD began Tuesday for Brian Mulligan, a former Universal and Deutsche Bank executive.
Los Angeles Times

Traffic & Transit

Cities closing curtains on red-light cameras
Red-light cameras - controversial traffic enforcement devices that can ding an unsuspecting motorist for $500 a pop for minor infractions like illegally turning right on red - are slowly fading to black. For the first time since they were introduced in the 1980s, statistics show a large drop in the number of cities and counties using the photo enforcement systems. Yet many smaller cities are hanging onto the programs to keep the revenues they raise.
San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Lane closures begin in Mar Vista and Sawtelle for LADWP project
Lane closures along a 1.9-mile stretch of Mar Vista and Sawtelle began Tuesday and are expected to continue for months as the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power constructs an underground high-voltage power line. Lane closures are expected on sections of Bundy Drive and Centinela Avenue south of the 10 Freeway and north of Venice Boulevard. The closures will take place between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. on weekdays, LADWP officials said in a news release said.
Los Angeles Times

Construction begins on Crenshaw/LAX light-rail line
The crunch of a bulldozer biting into a Crenshaw Boulevard school signaled the start of heavy construction Tuesday on the latest addition to Los Angeles' steadily expanding rail network, a light-rail line that will connect the Mid-City area to the South Bay by the end of the decade. The 8.5-mile Crenshaw Line will be the first new rail service in a generation to traverse transit-dependent South Los Angeles, increasing connections to a train system that now reaches to Long Beach, the Westside, the San Fernando Valley and the San Gabriel Valley. The Crenshaw Boulevard corridor last had a rail link in 1955, as part of L.A.'s sprawling street car network.
Los Angeles Times

City Government

L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti appoints fire watchdog
Continuing his shake-up of the Los Angeles Fire Department, Mayor Eric Garcetti named a top aide on Tuesday to serve as the agency's new independent assessor. Sue Stengel, an attorney who has been Garcetti's policy director on policing and crime in the city's Office of Homeland Security, was confirmed by the Board of Fire Commissioners. Stengel succeeds Steve Miller, the first person to hold the assessor position, which is similar to an inspector general.
Los Angeles Daily News

Hearing to be set on IBEW subpoenas regarding DWP trusts
The legal dispute over subpoenas issued for the records of two trusts funded by the Department of Water and Power was put off Tuesday until a court hearing sometime in February. Attorneys for the city and IBEW Local 18 also agreed to setting up a briefing schedule with Superior Court, officials said. The IBEW last week served notice that it would be going to court to challenge the subpoenas issued by City Controller Ron Galperin, who wants to see a variety of documents on how the two trusts spent its funds.
Los Angeles Daily News