Law Enforcement

Man in critical condition after being shot in head on Los Angeles sidewalk
A man was hospitalized in critical condition Wednesday morning after he was shot in the head as he sat on a sidewalk near downtown Los Angeles, police said. The shooting occurred around 1:45 a.m. on Towne Avenue between 4th and 5th streets, said Sgt. Ed Kinney of the Los Angeles Police Department's Central Station. "A guy was sitting on a curb," Kinney said.
City News Service

Portion of 10 Freeway named for Joseph Gatto, whose killing remains unsolved a year later
On a day when a freeway was dedicated in his name exactly a year after his death, the slain father of a state assemblyman was set to be the subject of a renewed plea from Los Angeles police for information leading to an arrest and prosecution in his killing.
KTLA

South L.A. frustrated by LAPD's lack of transparency in 2 fatal events
Three months after police fatally shot a mentally ill man in South Los Angeles, key questions remain about what led to the controversial shooting and exactly how the 25-year-old was killed. Los Angeles Police Department officials have yet to allow the county coroner's office to publicly release the results of an autopsy on Ezell Ford Jr. following his Aug. 11 death, and have not explained why gang officers approached Ford before the shooting.
Los Angeles Times

LAPD seeks victims in sex assaults of Korean models
Los Angeles police Wednesday released the name and picture of a man suspected of preying on young Korean born women who want to model, assaulting them and threatening them with deportation if they do not comply. According to police Jung Park placed adverts for models and then when he met one women, he allegedly coerced her to perform sexual acts, threatening to call immigration if she refused.
Eagle Rock Patch

Thieves steal artificial grass from children's T-Ball field in Tujunga
Hundreds of children have been affected after thieves stole artificial grass from a Tujunga T-Ball field. The Los Angeles Police Department's Foothill Division is going out to investigate the incident, which occurred last Saturday, on Tuesday morning. "We're not a very rich community, so this is definitely one of the key things for the kids around here to be doing," Tujunga Little League Treasurer Chante Gray said."
NBC4

Mental Health

In push to keep mentally ill out of jail, county to expand crisis centers
At the urging of Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey and others lobbying to keep mentally ill people from being locked up in county jails, Los Angeles County supervisors voted Wednesday to fund several programs for people undergoing psychiatric crises. The supervisors voted to use $40.9 million in state funding for opening three new 24-hour psychiatric urgent care centers, where police can bring people undergoing mental health crises instead of taking them to overcrowded emergency rooms or jail.
Los Angeles Times

DMV

California immigrant license preparations continue with extended DMV hours
On the verge of granting hundreds of thousands of drivers licenses to immigrants in the country unlawfully, the California Department of Motor Vehicles will extend its hours and offer more appointments next year. In January California will join the ranks of states that offer driving permits to undocumented immigrants.
Sacramento Bee

Guns

Concealed gun ruling stands: Opponents of looser permit standards denied bid to join the case
A ruling that greatly loosened California's rules for carrying concealed firearms came closer to taking effect Wednesday after a federal appeals court denied bids by California's attorney general, a gun-control group and two police groups to join the case.
Bay Area Newsgroup

City Government

Deal approved to audit DWP nonprofits' records
After more than a year of bitter legal battles, Los Angeles city leaders have approved a deal with the powerful Department of Water and Power union that promises the first detailed, public look at how two controversial nonprofits affiliated with the utility spent tens of millions of ratepayer dollars.
Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti expands push for street repaving
Making use of an influx of money that was owed to the city, along with the availability of better technology and more modern equipment, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced plans Wednesday to increase the miles of streets set to be repaved within the next year.
Los Angeles Daily News

Mayor to put Up For-Sale sign during Asia trip
When Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti travels to Asia later this month, he'll meet with government officials and business leaders to market the City of Angels, aiming to increase tourism and encourage companies to locate and invest here. But rather than go with promises and platitudes, Garcetti will be armed with a brochure that includes a list of multimillion-dollar real estate investment opportunities being offered by clients of Ernst & Young.
Los Angeles Business Journal

Los Angeles moves to ban auction parking apps MonkeyParking, Haystack
Criticizing the proliferation of cell-phone apps that auction off parking spaces, a city panel on Wednesday urged adoption of an ordinance banning the practice. Seeking to quell the activities of firms such as MonkeyParking, Councilman Mike Bonin said of the effort, "This would do what the cities of Santa Monica and San Francisco have done and, hopefully, get us out in front of a potential problem.
Los Angeles Daily News