Law Enforcement

Police union leaders, Garcetti trade charges over contract
With Los Angeles city and police union officials headed back to the negotiating table, the two sides spent Tuesday taking public jabs at each other over the failure so far to reach a contract agreement. Scores of rank-and-file cops and their leaders from the Police Protective League packed a morning meeting of the Los Angeles Police Commission, the civilian board that oversees the LAPD. Although the commission has no formal voice in the contract talks, union officials used the meeting to make their case.
Los Angeles Times

L.A. marijuana farmers market ordered to temporarily shut down
A farmers market for medical marijuana users has been temporarily shut down after an L.A. County Superior Court judge agreed to halt operation of the Boyle Heights cannabis marketplace. The judge's ruling Tuesday grants a temporary restraining order filed by Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer, who sought to stop the California Heritage Market operations because he said it didn't comply with the city's law for marijuana dispensaries.
Los Angeles Times

LAPD detective appointed to state Sex Offender Oversight Board
Castaic resident and Los Angeles Police Department detective has been appointed to the California Sex Offender Management Board. Lauren Rauch, 48, has been a sex offender program coordinator at the Los Angeles Police Department since 2014, where he has held several positions since 1989, including assistant coordinator for sex offender registration and enforcement units, inspector for consent decree, sex crime investigator, detective and field officer. Rauch is a member of the Institute of Criminal Investigation. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation.
KHTS Radio

Allegations against ex-teacher at Marlborough School investigated
The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating allegations that a teacher carried out an "inappropriate physical relationship" with a student at one of Los Angeles' most prestigious private schools. Allegations that former Marlborough School English teacher Joe Koetters was involved with a student more than a decade ago surfaced just last week, because another student who graduated in 2013, posted an online essay about Koetters' allegedly inappropriate and sexually suggestive behavior.
Los Angeles Daily News

Granada Hills fugitive, accused in Van Nuys-based $2 million movie-investment scam, cornered in Los Angeles
A Granada Hills man who was on the run for five months was ordered held in custody Tuesday pending trial on federal charges of helping bilk investors out of nearly $2 million by offering shares in movies that were never made. Robert Matias, 50, was arrested Monday at a relative's house in Los Angeles after going on the lam in February, federal prosecutors said.
City News Service

Public Safety

Quake-warning system receives a boost in Congress
Efforts to put in place an earthquake warning system for the West Coast gained ground Tuesday as a congressional committee recommended the first federal funds -- $5 million -- specifically for the project. Its prospects remain shaky, however. Election-year fights over other issues could keep Congress from completing work on its spending bills. Still, the warning system enjoys bipartisan support.
Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles County supervisors vote to implement Laura's Law
Los Angeles County leaders voted Tuesday to fully implement Laura's Law, a state law that allows counties to pursue court-ordered outpatient treatment for people with serious mental illness. The law was recently adopted by San Francisco and Orange counties. Los Angeles County launched a small program soon after Laura's Law took effect in 2003, but the county's current program is purely voluntary.
Los Angeles Times

Drought

California adopts $500 criminal penalty for water waste
It will now be considered a criminal act to waste water in California. On Tuesday, amid evidence that existing conservation measures are not working, the State Water Resources Control Board took the unprecedented step of declaring certain types of water waste a criminal infraction similar to a speeding violation. Water use deemed excessive - such as allowing landscape watering to spill into streets, and hosing off sidewalks and driveways - can be subject to fines of $500 per day.
Sacramento Bee

Downtown L.A. is now driest since rain records started in 1877
Rainy seasons over the last two years were the driest in downtown Los Angeles since record-keeping began in 1877, and forecasters now say the El Niño that had been predicted to bring some relief may not materialize. According to the National Weather Service, the 2012 to 2014 rainy seasons -- which are measured every July 1 to June 30 -- only brought 11.93 inches of rainfall, which is 17.93 inches below normal.
Los Angeles Times

City Government

L.A. to help shelter detained immigrant children, Mayor Garcetti says
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Tuesday that the city would help shelter immigrant children who have been detained after crossing the border and has begun talks with a federal agency about doing so. "Before you get partisan, before you tell me where you are on immigration -- these are children," Garcetti said Tuesday at a forum hosted downtown by Politico Magazine.
Los Angeles Times

Ralph Terrazas named Los Angeles Fire Department Chief
Los Angeles Fire Department Assistant Chief Ralph Terrazas was chosen Tuesday by Mayor Eric Garcetti to become the department's next chief. Terrazas, a 30-year veteran of the LAFD, was chosen after a months-long nationwide search for a person to lead a department with more than 3,200 sworn firefighters and nearly 300 civilian employees. Garcetti said Terrazas would be a "field general" who has not only tactical and administrative skills, but the talent to navigate "choppy political waters."
City News Service