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Los Angeles
Police Protective League
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the union that represents the
rank and file LAPD officers
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Daily Local & Regional NewsWatch
Daily News Digest
from LA Police Protective League
May 1, 2017 |
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Law Enforcement News
Will LA Be Less Safe Starting July 1? Leaders Spar Over Police Budget
Leaders of the Los Angeles Police Protective League are expressing confusion and anger over how overtime spending is allocated in the proposed 2017-18 city budget, arguing it will impact public safety. The proposed budget calls for $80 million in overtime hours for Los Angeles Police Department officers, $10 million less than the current fiscal year, but also includes $41 million in overtime hours for the department's new contract to patrol Metro trains and buses within the city's borders starting July 1. Union Vice President Jerretta Sandoz said the reduction in overtime for regular patrols will put neighborhood safety at risk, and break the promise that the MTA security contract for the city that was awarded will not raid patrol officers in Los Angeles neighborhoods.
MyNewsLA.com
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2 Juveniles Shot At Gang Member's Wake In Hyde Park
Two juveniles were shot Saturday at a wake for a deceased gang member in the Hyde Park area of Los Angeles, authorities said. It was reported at 9:35 p.m. at 52nd Street and Third Avenue, said Sgt. Thomas Bojorquez of the Los Angeles Police Department's 77th Street Station. The juveniles both received leg wounds and were taken to hospitals for treatment in good condition, Bojorquez said. No one at the scene would talk to investigators so there is no suspect information, he said. The shooting is believed to be gang-related. Bojorquez said he did not know if the deceased gang member for whom the wake was held died from a homicide or natural causes.
Los Angeles Daily News
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LAPD Struggles For Suspects In Saturday Morning Murder
The neighbors were there. That's what LAPD detectives believe about a Saturday morning murder that sent echoes of criminal gang activity across the neighborhood. This particular shooting happened July 22, 2006. When the shotgun smoke cleared, 24-year-old Duane Anthony Burks was dead. "It's been 10 years that my brother's been resting in peace and nobody knows nothing," said sister Sherry Henderson. "I'm tired of crying. I don't want other people crying like this." Henderson said she and her brother were very close. They were the only two children whose mother passed away on Christmas Day while they were very young, and whose guardian and grandmother passed away years later. She said she and her brother only had each other in this life, so when she got word that her brother was shot, she rushed to the scene. "And when we hit Florence and 11th Ave, I could just see detectives," she sobbed. "I see police, I see everything!"
NBC 4
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Man Wounded In South LA Shooting Believed To Be Gang-Related
A man was shot and wounded in one of his legs early Saturday in South Los Angeles. The shooting occurred at 12:30 a.m. in the area of Avalon Boulevard and 116th Street, said a desk officer at the Los Angeles Police Department's Southeast Station. According to the officer, a carload of guys argued with the victim who was walking down the street and someone inside the car shot at him. He was struck once in the right leg. The man was taken to a hospital but his injuries were not life-threatening, police said. The shooting is believed to be gang-related.
Los Angeles Daily News
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Trail Of Drugs, Cash Found After Beverly Glen Home Invasion
Several men stormed into a home in Beverly Glen, shooting a resident before fleeing the scene. Detectives believe this was not a random home invasion. Neighbors in the upscale neighborhood were startled to wake up to the sound of gunshots and screeching tires at about 3:15 a.m. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the incident happened in the 10300 block of Summer Holly Circle, just south Mulholland Drive. Officers responded to the house, where a man had been shot in the abdomen with a shotgun, an LAPD spokesperson said. He was transported to a hospital in critical condition. Police say the suspects broke through the home's back sliding glass door and confronted the victim.
A female was also at home at the time of the break-in, investigators said. She was not injured.
ABC 7
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Pedestrian Killed Following Hit-And-Run In Van Nuys
A pedestrian was killed after he was struck by a hit-and-run driver and then by a bus in Van Nuys early Sunday, Los Angeles police said. The deceased man was identified as 28-year-old John Andrew Yonko, said Rudy Molano, investigator with the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner. His city of residence was not immediately known. The pedestrian was running eastbound on Vanowen Street shortly after midnight when he was fatally struck by a dark colored four-door sedan traveling northbound on Sepulveda Boulevard that fled the scene, LAPD Officer Norma Eisenman said.
Los Angeles Daily News
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LA Jail Adapts Amid Meth-Fueled Rise In Mentally Ill Inmates
Perhaps the largest group of mentally ill inmates in the U.S. resides in Los Angeles in one of the world's largest jail complexes. Over the past seven years, the jail's population has spiked almost 50 percent with nearly every inmate having both mental illness and substance abuse problems and officials suspect the rise is due to methamphetamine. The Twin Towers Correctional Facility is home to about 4,000 mentally ill inmates. The increase in the number of mentally ill prisoners about 30 percent of the county's total jail population has led the sheriff's department to adapt its policies as deputies and clinicians work to treat people dealing with both psychiatric disorders and substance abuse. Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell has blamed the surge on meth use, but doctors say it's often difficult to distinguish whether the patients had underlying conditions and then started using drugs, or if their chronic drug use led to psychiatric disorders.
KPCC
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Judge: California Must Allow Transgender Inmates' Earrings
California prison officials must provide for free undergarments that flatten the chest of transgender inmates at women's prisons and give transgender inmates at men's prisons access to bracelets, earrings, hair brushes and hair clips, a federal judge said Friday. U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar issued the order in a federal lawsuit that earlier led California to become the first state to provide taxpayer-funded sex reassignment surgery to an inmate. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation also agreed as part of the suit by Shiloh Quine to give transgender inmates access to certain products. Quine, 57, had sex reassignment surgery in January and was transferred from a men's facility to a women's prison in Chowchilla. She is serving a life sentence for murder, kidnapping and robbery. Prison officials said they are reviewing the ruling. Tigar's ruling came in a dispute over the products transgender inmates should have access to.
FOX 11
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Md. Police Search For Escaped Attempted Cop Killer
Police are searching for a prisoner who escaped custody in Jessup Friday while awaiting psychiatric evaluation in connection with shooting into law enforcement officers' homes. Howard County police said David M. Watson II, 28, escaped custody and ran into the woods while he was in the area of Dorsey Run Road and Patuxent Range Road. Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis said Watson was being transported to the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center by two correctional officers from the Wicomico County Detention Center, which does not fall under the purview of the sheriff's office. Watson had been charged with shooting into the homes of three law enforcement officers in Wicomico County, but was found incompetent to stand trial and ordered to be committed to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in 2015, The Daily Times wrote.
The Capital
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NYPD Begins Pilot Body Camera Program
More than 50 NYPD officers in Washington Heights hit the streets Thursday wearing miniaturized body-cameras, the vanguard of a long-anticipated pilot program that officials expect will lead to all 22,000 city patrol cops wearing the devices by the 2020. As news reporters and photographers watched shortly after 3 p.m., 10 uniformed officers from the 34th Precinct filed out of their station house roll call, climbed into five police vehicles, and drove off on patrol. Other cops, also sporting the small cameras attached to the front of their uniforms, drove out from a precinct parking area. A total of 58 cops from the precinct have been selected to wear the cameras, which are black and smaller than a pack of cigarettes. This is a historic day for New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference after the roll out in the station house. This is the first day of the era of body-worn cameras and that means we are going on a pathway of transparency and accountability that will benefit everyone.
Newsday |
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Public Safety News
LAFD Battalion Chief, 55, Dies After Suffering Medical Emergency In Downtown L.A.
A procession took place in Downtown L.A. on Friday afternoon for a Los Angeles Fire Department battalion chief who died following a medical emergency. Jerome Boyd, 55, was driving near downtown shortly before 11 a.m. when he suffered the medical emergency, according to an LAFD news release. He was transported by an LAFD ambulance to California Hospital where he died. Video from Sky5 showed a traffic collision involving a Crown Victoria vehicle marked with a Los Angeles Fire Department emblem on the side and a pickup truck near 17th and Los Angeles streets. A cause of death was not immediately known; the L.A. County coroner's office will perform an autopsy to determine one, according to LAFD. Boyd was a 30-year veteran of the department and was assigned to the Fire Prevention Bureau's public safety section, according to the news release.
KTLA 5 |
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Local Government News
Candidates Debate To Represent Los Angeles Council District 7
They faced off Saturday as the two top candidates vying to represent a forgotten region of the San Fernando Valley left in the lurch by its former Los Angeles councilman. Both Monica Rodriguez and Karo Torossian vowed that, if elected, the northeast Valley would once again get its fair share of city services. I will be a warrior for this community, declared Rodriguez, dressed in a black pantsuit, through a muddled microphone. I will fight for this community more than anyone who has (come) before. We are going to drive change, declared Torossian, dressed in a gray suit. We are going to drive it from the ground up
For too long, our community leaders have taken advantage of us. The Los Angeles City Council District 7 Candidate Forum drew nearly 100 residents to the Vaughn G3 Academy in Pacoima for a morning debate between Rodriguez and Torossian, the top two candidates for the open seat left vacant by Councilman Felipe Fuentes.
Los Angeles Daily News |
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The LA County Association of Deputy District Attorneys
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the association for the deputy district attorneys (DDAs) of LA County
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Local & Regional News
Weekly News Digest
from LA County Assoc of Deputy DAs |
Prosecution
Walgreens pays $10 million to settle California claim
Federal prosecutors say Walgreens has paid nearly $10 million to settle claims that it sought reimbursement from California's Medi-Cal program without proper documentation. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento said Thursday that the state program pays for specific drugs used to treat certain illnesses for millions of Californians with low incomes and disabilities.
AP |
Flawed DNA test nearly pinned Spokane man for attempted rape in Beverly Hills
In October 2014, two Beverly Hills, California, detectives boarded a flight to Spokane to visit Mark "Woody" Merrifield at the Geiger Corrections Center. Local prosecutors were preparing to try him for drug possession, theft and possession of a stolen vehicle. The detectives hoped to add a few more charges to Merrifield's rap sheet.
The Spokesman-Review |
Veterans score major victory in Los Angeles
Justice was again served last week against the Veterans Administration - specifically, its LA office, which once again got slapped down in its efforts to squelch a critic. Exactly why federal prosecutors tried to work the VA's will is a question Attorney General Jeff Sessions should be asking. For most of a decade, Vietnam-era vet Robert Rosebrock, now 75, has protested outside the VA compound in Los Angeles, charging that the agency doesn't do remotely enough for homeless vets.
New York Post |
'If anything ever happens to me, Bobby did it' - the latest testimony from the Robert Durst murder case
Susan Berman was pacing nervously and biting her lip when her friend Miriam Barnes entered her apartment. "I'm going to tell you something, but I need you not to ask me any questions," Barnes quoted Berman as saying. "I did something today." Berman didn't explain what she had done, only that it was a favor for a close friend of hers: New York real estate scion Robert Durst .
Los Angeles Times |
Judge gives prosecutors access to Durst's papers for murder trial
A judge ruled Thursday that the Los Angeles district attorney's office may pore through 60 boxes of Robert Durst's papers for evidence to use in prosecuting the New York real estate scion for the murder of his close friend Susan Berman. Although Durst's defense team said materials in the boxes could be protected by the attorney-client privilege, Superior Court Judge Mark Windham held that Durst had waived the privilege by sharing the boxes with the creators of a 2015 documentary about him.
Courthouse News Service |
Sessions: We'll go after white-collar criminals too
In his first weeks as attorney general, Jeff Sessions has kept a relentless focus on his plans to crack down on illegal immigration and violent crime. On Monday, he said that doesn't mean corrupt businesses will get a pass. "As we re-double our efforts to combat violent crime, we will still enforce the laws that protect American consumers and ensure that honest businesses aren't placed at a disadvantage to dishonest businesses," he said.
Los Angeles Times |
Local prosecutor wins prosecutor of the state after winning death penalty case
Felicia Nagle is the first woman in Kern County to win the prosecutor of the year award for the state of California. Nagle is being honored by the California District Attorneys Associations. She beat out prosecutors in all other large California counties, like Los Angeles and San Diego. Nagle has been with the DA's office since 1996 and has worked in nearly every unit, and has prosecuted numerous homicides and sexual assaults.
Kern Golden Empire |
Lee Baca's attorneys say ex-sheriff's dementia diagnosis is 'sentence of its own'
Federal prosecutors say former Sheriff Lee Baca should be sentenced to more than four years in federal prison, but because of his age and mental condition, a two-year sentence is recommended, they wrote in court documents filed Monday. Baca was found guilty in March of obstruction and other charges in connection with an FBI probe into corruption and excessive use of force inside the Men's Central Jail in downtown L.A.
Los Angeles Daily News |
Man sentenced to 15 years for starting massive Da Vinci blaze in downtown L.A.
A man charged with setting a roaring blaze at the partially built Da Vinci apartment complex in Los Angeles that caused millions of dollars in damage, melted freeway signs and shrouded downtown in smoke was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison, prosecutors said.
Los Angeles Times |
Vietnam vet memorial wall graffiti attack in Venice: No contest plea to 'horrible insult'
A second man pleaded no contest Wednesday to defacing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Venice just before Memorial Day last year in what one official termed a "horrible insult." Luis Daniel Medina, 20, was immediately sentenced to 90 days of community service - 60 days of graffiti removal and 30 days with the Veterans Administration - along with 17 days already served behind bars and three years formal probation, according to Ricardo Santiago of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
City News Service |
Weighing the stakes between public safety and punishing the poor with state bail reform
As reported by Bay Area News Group, AB 42 would enable people to be released at no cost while waiting for trial. The bill will be heard Tuesday before California's State Assembly Committee on Public Safety. Under the proposed legislation, judges would be able to decide whether individuals would need to be held until their court date.
KPCC |
Anticipating a shift to the right in the courts, the NRA begins its attack on gun controls in California
The state affiliate of the National Rifle Assn. on Monday filed the first in a series of planned court challenges opposing sweeping new gun control laws approved in California in the wake of the San Bernardino terror attacks. The flurry of legal action comes as Neil Gorsuch, President Trump's choice for the Supreme Court, takes his seat, returning a conservative majority to the nation's highest court.
Los Angeles Times |
The hidden costs of gas-tax legislation
For the last three weeks this column has focused on both the policies and politics of the $5.2 billion annual transportation tax increase. In the unlikely event that some have forgotten - or were on another planet - the taxes include a substantial hike in the car tax as well as a 12 cent increase in the gas tax. However, as one might hear in a low-budget, late-night television ad, "But wait, there's more!"
Orange County Register |
Federal-state marijuana policy: An uneasy peace
Cannabis industry entrepreneurs are used to navigating the obvious tension between state and federal law regarding the legalization of marijuana, particularly now that states like Colorado, Washington and California, among many others, have legalized recreational marijuana. However, recent comments by Press Secretary Sean Spicer and Attorney General Jeff Sessions indicating intent to increase enforcement of federal prohibitions on marijuana have ratcheted up that tension.
California Lawyer |
Proposed CA bill could take some convicted sex offenders off registry
A controversial bill making its way through the California Capitol is aimed at removing some sex offenders from the online registry. California Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, introduced Senate Bill 412, which would limit the amount of time sex offenders are included in the online registry based on the seriousness of their sex crime and the risk they pose to others. KCRA |
$155 billion a year in higher taxes and fees proposed in first four months of legislative session
In the first four months of the 2017-18 legislative session, California lawmakers introduced $155 billion in higher taxes and fees - a staggering amount that will give pause to every business owner when considering expansion, and cause families to reflect on California's affordability.
Fox and Hounds Daily |
Orange County District Attorney's top investigator accused of sexting on the job
A new scandal has hit the Orange County District Attorney's Office after one of its top investigators was accused of sexting while on duty. The department's chief investigator, Craig Hunter, a former deputy chief at the Anaheim Police Department, was off the job after accusations of sexting while at work.
ABC7 |
Two inmates found dead in separate cells at Salinas Valley State Prison
Two inmates were found dead inside separate cells at a state prison in Monterey County early Saturday, officials said. Authorities at Salinas Valley State Prison are investigating the death of Cedric J. Saunders as a homicide, saying the 22-year-old inmate serving a five-year sentence for robbery was found unresponsive inside his cell Saturday morning.
Los Angeles Times |
How 'schools not prisons' became a favorite rallying cry for criminal justice reformers
A bill winding its way through the Legislature proposes a creative way to fund early childhood education: imposing a tax on companies that do business with California's prison systems. A tax on the "privilege" of such contracts, as Assemblyman Tony Thurmond (D-Richmond) puts it, is an unorthodox policy prescription.
Los Angeles Times |
Deaths, 'self-inflicted violence' up in LA County jails
It's shaping up to be a bad year for deaths inside Los Angeles County jails: 10 people died from natural causes through March 24, county Inspector General Max Huntsman said Thursday. "There were a lot of deaths at the beginning of the year," Huntsman told the new Sheriff's Civilian Oversight Commission, which had requested the numbers. "If they continue at this rate, we will about double the rate of deaths from last year."
KPCC |
After United clash, airport police brass warn officers to avoid such feuds
Police agencies that patrol U.S. airports have a message for their rank and file after Chicago officers dragged a United Airlines passenger off a plane: Don't get involved in carriers' civil disputes. It is one that police brass have relayed to officers in cities such as New York City and Atlanta in the wake of the April 9 incident at O'Hare International Airport when Chicago Department of Aviation officers pulled David Dao, 69 years old, from a seat after United had bumped him and three other passengers to make room for crew members due to fly the next morning.
Wall Street Journal |
Police report says passenger fought with officers before he was pulled from United flight
The Chicago aviation officers who forcibly removed a passenger from a United Airlines flight filed reports saying the traveler was "aggressive" when responding to requests to give up his seat and flailed his arms while fighting with officers.
Los Angeles Times |
Police chiefs: Speed safety cameras in San Jose, San Francisco can save lives
Last year 50 people in San José and 30 people in San Francisco tragically died due to traffic collisions. Each left behind a heart-breaking hole in their families and communities. The cities of San José and San Francisco both have adopted a commitment, known as Vision Zero, to end traffic fatalities in our cities.
Mercury News |
LA Sheriffs: Cop videos not the whole story
In recent years' videos of law enforcement in action have become commonplace. Departments have adopted video cameras to record their deputies and officers in action, bystanders have posted cellphone videos of police action, and surveillance cameras have captured images which have been replayed on local and national media.
CityWatch |
BART takeover robbery: 40 to 60 teens swarm train, hold up riders
BART police are beefing up patrols at Oakland stations after dozens of juveniles terrorized riders Saturday night when they invaded the Coliseum Station and commandeered at least one train car, forcing passengers to hand over bags and cell phones and leaving at least two with head injuries.
San Francisco Chronicle |
Aero Bureau Noir: The strange case of the LASD's missing helicopter engines
Part I: The Mystery of the Engines - Mike Stille stared grimly at the group of huge cans-metal barrels, really-that his transport guys had recently unloaded inside his Number 2 warehouse located in Peachtree City, GA. The cans themselves looked normal enough, but Stille did not have an upbeat feeling about what he was going to find inside the things.
Witness LA Part II Part III |
Seven years later, shooting death of prominent SoCal attorney remains a mystery
Family members and investigators issued a call for help Tuesday in an effort to solve the 2009 killing of a prominent attorney who was gunned down outside his Rolling Hills Estates residence. Jeffrey Tidus, 53, was fatally shot on Dec. 7, 2009, after he returned home from a fundraiser in Redondo Beach, according to the sheriff's department.
NBC4 |
Cyber extortion demands surge as victims keep paying: Symantec
Hackers are demanding increasingly hefty ransoms to free computers paralyzed with viruses, as cyber criminals seek to maximize profits from large numbers of victims willing to pay up, according to cyber security firm Symantec Corp. The average demand embedded in such malicious software, which is known as ransomware, more than tripled last year to $1,077 from $294, and the pricing has continued to rise in 2017, according to Symantec.
Reuters |
Technology use by sex traffickers fuels debate between privacy and security
Sex traffickers are growing more adept at using sophisticated technology to exploit people, especially tools to hide their identity and encrypt data, fanning an ongoing battle between online privacy and security, a conference heard on Tuesday. Websites, chat rooms and virtual currency all are used by traffickers to hunt for child victims and sell them, said Kevin Gutfleish, a specialist in violent crimes against children at the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Reuters |
With gang crime up in the west San Fernando Valley, LA leader seeks more funding
While the west San Fernando Valley is not known for high rates of gang activity, a recent rise in gang-related crime in the area has prompted a Los Angeles city councilman to call for more funding to prevent the problem from getting worse. The Los Angeles Police Department's West Valley Division has a fully staffed gang unit, but it does not receive any direct financial help from the mayor's Gang Reduction and Youth Development program, a $25 million program distributed across 23 zones around the city to operate gang prevention and intervention services.
Los Angeles Daily News |
LA rapper who bragged about 'flocking' wanted in string of knock-knock burglaries
A Los Angeles street gang member who starred in a rap music video about "flocking" - a slang term for breaking into a home in order to steal - has been on the run for months after being charged by Ventura County prosecutors with four counts of residential burglary, authorities said. After 27-year-old Darren King was arrested for the Simi Valley burglaries, he posted bail of $50,000 last August but failed to appear in court later that month, according to police.
Los Angeles Daily News |
Study raises alarm about drugged drivers
Driving under the influence of legal and illegal drugs is causing the same concern for motorists today that drunken driving caused 40 years ago and should generate the same response. That's the conclusion of an updated study released Wednesday by the Governors Highway Safety Association, which called for greater enforcement of laws against impaired driving, improved training for police officers and increased educational programs to persuade drugged drivers not to get behind the wheel.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
Crack down on prostitution aims at impounding cars of LA pimps and johns
Pimps and johns in Los Angeles could soon see their vehicles impounded after a state Assembly committee approved a bill Wednesday that aims to create a pilot program allowing the action by law enforcement in an effort to crack down on prostitution. AB 1206 was approved with a 6-1 vote by the Assembly Public Safety Committee and would create a 24-month pilot program in Los Angeles.
City News Service |
Plan to station deputies in Commerce gets initial look
When a 9-1-1 call goes out in Commerce, deputies assigned to the East Los Angeles Sheriff's station respond with lights flashing and sirens blaring as they cut through traffic to reach crime victims and arrest the bad guys. Commerce pays the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department $7.5 million a year to protect its residents and businesses, but worries precious response time is being lost because deputies are stationed outside the city.
EGP News |
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California further delays lethal injection regulations
California corrections officials are delaying their new lethal injection regulations by four months, officials announced Monday, pushing back this week's deadline until late August. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation needs more time to update the proposed rules after an initial version was rejected by state regulators in December, spokeswoman Terry Thornton said.
AP |
California could finally resume executions next year
California has long been what one expert calls a "symbolic death penalty state," one of 12 that has capital punishment on the books but has not executed anyone in more than a decade. Prodded by voters and lawsuits, the nation's most populous state may now be easing back toward allowing executions, though observers are split on how quickly they will resume, if at all.
Los Angeles Times |
With executions in balance, Supreme Court grapples over role of experts
The Supreme Court struggled to decide on Monday whether criminal defendants who may be mentally ill are entitled to independent expert witnesses to help defend them, or whether court-appointed experts who report to both the prosecution and the defense are sufficient. The case concerns a death row inmate from Alabama, James E. McWilliams, but the issue in his case also figures in two of the eight executions Arkansas had hoped to carry out this month.
New York Times |
Meet the man leading the push for more executions in the U.S.
It's been a decade since California's last execution; the state now has 749 people on death row. Many of them have had that designation for decades; their execution seems increasingly unlikely. In November, Californians voted in favor of Proposition 66, which was billed as a "fix it, don't end it" reform of the death penalty.
Pacific Standard |
California Today: A big swing on sanctuary cities
Not long ago, California Democrats were broadly opposed to so-called sanctuary policies that limit cooperation between local police and federal immigration agents. But times have changed. A poll conducted by U.C. Berkeley researchers in 2015 found that attitudes on sanctuary policies transcended political affiliation: 82 percent of Republicans and 73 percent of Democrats were opposed to them.
New York Times |
Once celebrated, special driver's licenses stir anxiety among immigrants in California
Leticia Aceves remembers the fear of her first drive alone. She was pregnant and in the country illegally with no driver's license, and little grasp of English or California's traffic laws. She had a doctor's appointment, so she drove on side streets and avoided Highway 49 -- the town's main road -- hoping to lessen her chance of being pulled over by police.
AP |
Sanctuary cities ruling: When a judge quotes Sean Spicer, it's not a good sign for the White House
When a long list of comments from President Trump, his surrogates and his spokesmen shows up in a federal court ruling, it's fair to say it can only mean one thing: a constitutionally questionable executive order is about to get a judicial smackdown. That was true in March, when federal judges in Hawaii and Maryland suspended Trump's travel ban, saying the administration had showed a clear animus toward Muslims, despite government lawyers' claims to the contrary.
Washington Post |
A new federal office will seek to assist victims of crimes committed by immigrants
In the latest Trump administration effort to spotlight crimes committed by immigrants in the country illegally, the head of Homeland Security on Tuesday launched a new office to help what he said are forgotten victims. The office, part of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was given a toll-free hotline to report crimes and to offer support to victims, including local contacts with immigration officers and access to social services.
Los Angeles Times |
LA City Hall braces for retirement wave
It's a statistic they've known for a while now, but it's inching ever closer: More than 40 percent of the city of L.A.'s 45,000 employees will become eligible for retirement by 2018. The wave of retirement is mostly due to an aging workforce, something that's happening all across the country, said Dr. Fernando Guerra, who runs the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University (and is a member of KPCC's Board of Trustees).
KPCC |
Montebello council to consider placing sales-tax measure on November ballot
After relying for years on one-time infusions of cash to plug holes in the city's budget, Montebello's council could soon declare a fiscal emergency that would allow officials to put a sales tax increase on the Nov. 7 ballot. The city faces a $5.6 million deficit in City Manager Francesca Tucker-Schuyler's $58 million budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year.
Whittier Daily News |
Berkeley cell phone warning law upheld by federal appeals court
Berkeley can require retailers to warn their cell phone customers about the possible radiation effects of carrying switched-on phones close to their bodies, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. The cell phone industry sued to block enforcement of the ordinance, calling it an "inflammatory" message that violated retailers' freedom of speech.
SF Gate |
U.S. top court won't review Houston police shooting 'waistband' defense
The U.S. Supreme Court, turning down a chance to test the limits of police use of force, declined on Monday to revive an unarmed suspect's lawsuit accusing a Houston officer of unconstitutional excessive force for shooting him in the back after he reached for his own waistband.
Reuters |
California Supreme Court: An epidemic of misconduct?
Secrecy is power. Power tends to corrupt. Corruption destroys. The courts are the most secretive branch of government. The secrecy which the California courts enjoy has resulted in serious constitutional violations. While anyone may bring a video camera to record other public meetings, the law forbids the recording any judicial proceeding without the express, prior permission of the court.
CityWatch |
Sotomayor sees 'disturbing trend' of unequal treatment regarding police, alleged victims
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote Monday that the court is developing a "disturbing trend" of siding with police officers accused of excessive force at the expense of their alleged victims, a notion disputed by two of her colleagues. Sotomayor was arguing that the court should have accepted the case of Richardo Salazar-Limon, who was shot in the back by Houston police officer Chris Thompson in 2010.
Washington Post |
Split roll property tax proposal is really a pension tax
When state Sens. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, and Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, introduce a split roll property tax to increase taxes on business property, you'll hear arguments from advocates that the tax money is for the schools and local services such as libraries and police. In actuality, the measure is a tax to fund public employee pensions and health care costs.
Sacramento Bee |
Some common sense in California?
The California Public Employees Retirement System, the largest public pension fund in the nation, rejected a proposal that it divest itself of stocks in fossil fuel companies because-yes, I can hardly believe it-it would harm the investment returns of the fund. Given than California's unfunded liability for future public pensions is perhaps $800 billion or more, California's investment managers need to get every cent they can from their portfolio.
Powerline |
Think public pensions can't be cut? Think again. As John M. Richardson, a pioneer in the study of system dynamics, once put it, "When it comes to the future, there are three types of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened." That's as good a way as any to describe what has befallen so many of our state and local government pensions systems, now facing a collective funding shortfall of $5 trillion.
Governing |
From Los Angeles to Ferguson: 25 years after Rodney King riots, 'there's a South Central in every city and every state'
The side streets between Normandie and Vermont Avenues are meticulously pleasant, nearly suburban. Children ride bikes down clean sidewalks, past tidy gardens of desert succulents. A toddler kicks a soccer ball into a fence. Old folks watch from the porches of small, well-kept homes.
Newsweek |
5 ways South L.A. has changed since the riots
When the riots struck in 1992, South Los Angeles was mostly composed of poor and working-class neighborhoods. The community south of the 10 freeway was trying to recover from the 1980s crack epidemic and from disappearing manufacturing jobs that had supported families and sustained homeownership for decades.
LA Weekly |
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About the LAPPL Formed in 1923, the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) represents the more than 9,900 dedicated and professional sworn members of the Los Angeles Police Department. The LAPPL serves to advance the interests of LAPD officers through legislative and legal advocacy, political action and education. The LAPPL can be found on the Web at:
www.LAPD.com |
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