April 2008 Archives

Councilman Ed Reyes and Police Chief Bill Bratton are participating in a "Tamales for Peace" event with organizers of tomorrow's May Day parade as all parties involved pledge there will not be a repeat of last year's clash with police.
The LAPD has been working furiously to make sure officers know the limits of what they need to do in terms of crowd control and it will be closely monitored by Bratton, the Police Commission, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, City Council members and, well, the world, as television is expected to cover most of it in the afternoon.
Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez announced he will be joining the demonstrators at MacArthur Park tomorrow and march with them to City Hall.

John McCain is boldly promising to mount the most serious Republican presidential campaign for California in years as part of a strategy that targets the entire Democratic-leaning West Coast. Arizona Republic.

California, the state with 55 prized electoral votes, once upon a time was the home base of President Reagan, one of McCain's GOP heroes. But Republicans haven't carried the state in a presidential race or won a Senate seat since 1988.

And, with an increasingly influential Latino population, California is central to any Democratic plan to capture 270 electoral votes and retake the White House.

An Aside:
Californians have heard this before, most notably from President Bush in his first campaign, but it turned out to be little more than a feint to try to get Democrats to spend their money to preserve California.

In a startling revelation, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said this week that the state's budget deficit could grow to as much as $20 billion as he prepared to unveil a revised spending plan for the coming year that is likely to include deep cuts in education, health services and prisons.San Francisco Chronicle.

The new deficit figure - 30 percent higher than the latest estimates by lawmakers - reflects a deepening fiscal crisis that has polarized the budget debate in the Legislature as Republicans vow to fight tax increases and Democrats say they won't settle for cuts alone.

Schwarzenegger, insisting that he won't support raising taxes, says he wants to make fundamental changes in California's budget process. Experts said Tuesday that the governor's deficit estimate this week could help his campaign for those changes.

Facing a civilian oversight commission skeptical about LAPD's investigation of racial profiling complaints, Chief William Bratton said Tuesday he will launch a wide-ranging review of police practices. Rachel Uranga in the Daily News.

Members of the Los Angeles Police Commission said during their meeting Tuesday that they were baffled by internal LAPD findings that no officers engaged in racial profiling, despite hundreds of complaints in 2007.

Commissioner John Mack, a longtime civil-rights activist and former head of the Urban League, ticked off the complaints, scoffing at investigators who cleared hundreds of officers of wrongdoing.

St. Bernardine of Siena Parish in Woodland Hills has donated nearly $1.5 million of its savings to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles to help fund last year's multimillion-dollar settlement of clergy sex abuse cases.

The donation is unprecedented in the archdiocese, which has called on 101 churches with identified savings of at least $1 million each to help offset the more than $660 million payout to victims of clergy sexual abuse, according to archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg.Tony Castro in the Daily News.

"While it may not sit well with everyone in the parish, it is an extraordinary gesture of community and family on the part of St. Bernardine Parish," said Tamberg, who called the gift "emotionally moving."

Cardinal Roger Mahony was out of town Tuesday and not available for comment on the donation.

The donati

While Los Angeles grapples with the largest budget deficit in city history, all but one group of city employee unions have refused to reopen their contracts and consider concessions.Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

Unions representing police officers, firefighters, airport peace officers, engineers and architects, and managing city attorneys all declined when City Administrative Officer Karen Sisson requested that they come to the negotiating table to talk about contract changes to save the city money.

One group - the Coalition of L.A. City Unions - has agreed to negotiate with Sisson's office - because its contract included a reopener clause that requires discussions if city revenue drops 1 percent.

A bill to study adding greater portions of the San Fernando Valley to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area passed through Congress on Wednesday and is headed to the White House, where President Bush is expected to sign it. Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

The study would look at a proposal to create a Rim of the Valley Corridor - adding some 500,000 acres of mountain land above the San Fernando, La Crescenta, Santa Clarita, Simi and Conejo valleys to the existing protected parkland.

The bill was co-authored by U.S. Reps. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, and Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena.

Identifying herself as the former, former, former, Jackie Goldberg made a rare appearance at City Hall on Tuesday, urging the City Council to hire more gang workers and provide more youth jobs.
Goldberg, a former school board member, former council member and former assemblywoman, is now working at UCLA and in Compton, she said.
"These are the mean streets and I do mean mean streets," Goldberg told the council as part of an appeal made by a group calling itself the Community Justice Coalition.
Goldberg warned that the city could be in for a long, hot summer involving gangs unless action is taken to hire more gang workers and try to create jobs for young people.
"If you would just hire the people who are on the gang list (of the LAPD), this would be a far different city," Goldberg said.

Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director of Los Angeles International Airport, will meet behind closed doors this morning with City Councilwoman Janice Hahn to explain allegations of cronyism tied to at least one airport contract. Art Marroquin in the Daily Breeze.

Lindsey asked to meet with Hahn after a story in Saturday's Daily Breeze outlined how Los Angeles-based developer DMJM was selected as project manager to oversee more than $5 billion worth of upgrades over the next decade at LAX.

"She asked for a meeting with me because I had expressed some concerns with these very serious allegations," said Hahn, who chairs the council's Trade, Commerce and Tourism Committee, which oversees LAX.

A growing number of immigrants and their children is pushing Latino voting strength in California to record levels and could alter local legislative and congressional races in coming elections, according to an analysis of potential new voters released today.Tony Castro in the Daily News.

By 2012, immigrants and their voting-age children could potentially represent 29 percent of California voters, according to findings by Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees based in Sebastopol, Calif.

But those estimates could be misleading, according to Jaime Regalado, executive director of the Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Institute at California State University, Los Angeles, and a leading political expert.

With the highest concentration of senior citizens in the nation, Los Angeles County is bracing for a surge in needed services as the elderly population is expected to double to nearly 3 million over the next two decades. Dana Bartholomew in the Daily News.

And in a bid to get ahead of the expected increase in demand, officials on Monday announced a countywide initiative with nearly every department aimed at improving services to seniors and making it easier for them to find and qualify for benefits.

"The strength of this new administrative structure is the ability to get multiple departments to improve services to specific target populations and to work together," Chief Executive Officer Bill Fujioka said.

Nearly two years after Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa vowed to find $1.8 million in city funds to bring more tourists to the San Fernando Valley, the region has yet to see a single penny for the effort. Daily News.

Widely hailed as a way to bolster an ailing economy, the money would have been the first to be used to specifically highlight Valley sites and accommodations. The mayor's pledge came after years of efforts by Valley advocates to get dedicated funding for tourism.

"Promoting the Valley as a tourist destination makes good economic sense," Villaraigosa said in making the announcement in November 2006. "Tourism boosts our economy and creates jobs. I will work ... to find the resources needed."

A skeptical Los Angeles City Council panel began its review Monday of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's proposed $7.01 billion budget, even as a coalition of city worker unions vowed to fight plans for layoffs and mandatory furloughs. Daily News.

Led by Councilman Bernard Parks, the council's budget and finance committee questioned exactly how the mayor is closing a $406 million shortfall and whether city revenues will achieve expectations amid what some say is a three-year economic downturn.

Parks and panel colleagues said they are concerned the mayor has proposed balancing the budget with about $200 million in one-time revenues - rather than confronting the fact that L.A. spends more money than it brings in.

While Los Angeles might be the nation's second-largest city and sit just a few hundred miles from one of the world's leading high-tech hubs, city efforts to tap into the booming Wi-Fi trend are being snubbed. Sue Doyle in the Daily News.

Tennessee bus riders can access free wireless Internet while zipping past old battlefield sites in Chattanooga. A pay-to-use Wi-Fi system is being installed for riders on a 35-mile rail line roaring past tumbleweeds and cactus from Fort Worth to Dallas.

And in San Francisco, a private company is rolling out a wireless technology to let commuters on Market Street soar through cyberspace on any wireless carrier.

Diabetes among pregnant women and teenagers more than doubled in six years, a concern among physicians who say the disease increases the chance of miscarriages and birth defects, according to a study released today. Susan Abram in the Daily News.

Of the more than 175,000 patients who gave birth in about a dozen Kaiser Permanente hospitals from 1999 to 2005, twice as many births were to women with TypeI and TypeII diabetes, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published in the May issue of Diabetes Care. The American Diabetes Association funded the study.

The conditions are unlike gestational diabetes, which develops during pregnancy but can disappear after a baby is born.

Tiooffs: Villaraigosa will be in town this year for immiigration rights rally.

For nearly two decades, the Los Angeles Unified School District has relied on its staff to flush hundreds of campus drinking fountains every day to help lower any lead levels in the water, but tracking began only six months ago on whether the procedures are being properly carried out.

News that the nation's second-largest school district has not vigorously protected its children's water comes just days after school officials acknowledged that high lead levels were found in a drinking fountain at Woodlake Elementary School in Woodland Hills.Susan Abram in the Daily News.

While acknowledging that staff members in charge of flushing water fountains and keeping logs on it were negligent on some campuses, Superintendent David Brewer III and other LAUSD officials are trying to reassure parents that their children have not been at risk.

But some parents remain skeptical about whether it is safe for their children to drink water from school fountains.

Amid a contentious battle over a proposed Home Depot, city officials tried to cool tempers Saturday by hosting a community dialogue aimed at finding a middle ground between warring factions. Rick Coca in the Daily News.

About 200 community residents attended, although organizers had been expecting up to 1,000.

Although a few supporters, including Home Depot employees, noted the project would likely bring more jobs to the community, most in the crowd were against it.

Alicia De La Cruz hears the words city and county prosecutors use to describe her and her neighbors and is left puzzled.

Can they be talking about us?

"Virtual prisoners in their homes."

"They cannot go to the local market without being assaulted and robbed by San Fer gang members."

The alarming portrayal came in a 14-page request earlier this month for a gang injunction to severely limit the movement of the San Fers, one of the San Fernando Valley's most menacing gangs - with ties to the drug trade and the Mexican Mafia.
Rachel Uranga in the Daily News.

The Daily News is in the process of switching to new servers, so postings will be sporadic at best for the next several days.

Political activist Linda Sutton, who has been closely following the race for the 40th Assembly District seat being vacated by Lloyd Levine because of term limits, has an article in Calitics looking at the fight over various endorsements.

Her take:

"Most Californians are sure that their election is over. All the media coverage is blaring babble from the most recent presidential debate in distant states as well as other inane minutia that denigrates the process.

"Yet, if you look closely, really closely, you may find evidence that there is yet another election coming up here in June. Yes, June 3rd to be exact.

"This season, in spite of the state being billions of dollars in debt, and the cries of horror about budget cuts, our state legislators gave us the special treat of spending double on TWO elections!!!. "

Days of free and open roads are dimming in Los Angeles after the federal government offered $213.6 million to launch a one-year toll road pilot program by the end of 2010 in an effort to boost speeds on three sluggish freeways.

With a promise to keep traffic flowing no slower than 50 mph in car-pool lanes converted to express lanes, toll lanes will straddle freeways through Pasadena and between downtown Los Angeles and east Los Angeles County. Sue Doyle in the Daily News.

Motorists cruising the Harbor Freeway could also see toll lanes, depending on how far the federal money stretches with the one-year program shared by Caltrans and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

"This is a great day for us," said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. "This is one important tool to relieve traffic and gridlock in this area."

The toll lanes are designed to enforce congestion pricing, a strategy that aims to make driving freeways more expensive during peak traffic times so noncommuters will stay off the roads during rush hours.

In a major shift for the San Fernando Valley - long known as "the 818" - a state panel on Thursday authorized a 747 area code for all new numbers in the region starting next year.Harrtison Sheppard in the Daily News.

But for residents proud of their singular area code and the identity it has lent the area, it signifies a fundamental change. For some, it seems even to strike at their personal identities.

"I have a friend in art school in New York who was so homesick she had `818' tattooed on her arm," said Johnny Fernandez, 30, of Sherman Oaks.

"It's definitely a Valley culture thing."

About 85 percent of students in Los Angeles Unified School District's Class of 2008 have passed the state's exit exam - required to receive a high school diploma - but English learners continue to lag, with just 53 percent passing the mandatory test. Naush Boghossian in the Daily News.

The overall results are up 1 percentage point from the same time last year, when 84 percent of the Class of 2007 had passed the English and math tests of the California High School Exit Exam.

The results are up 6 percentage points over the Class of 2006 at the same time.

The top two contenders for a coveted Los County Board of Supervisors seat tore into one another Thursday, each saying he could better represent the sprawling 2nd District from mid-Los Angeles to Carson and each claiming to be the stronger supporter of Sen. Barack Obama. Brandon Lowrey in the Daily News

In one of the opening blows, Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard Parks said he was a true public servant while his opponent, state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, D-Los Angeles, was merely a politician.

"I've seen public service rather than political process," Parks told a crowd of about 250 people at the Westside Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger predicted Thursday that California would face a budget deficit of more than $10 billion in the fiscal year that starts July 1. AP in Daily News.

"This is why we have to make all kinds of cuts across the board," he told a group of prosecutors and criminal investigators at a conference near the Capitol.

"I hate making those kinds of cuts, but we have no more money," he added later in comments to reporters. "We have to live within our means. We are out of whack every one of the next few years by $10 (billion) to $12 billion. You cannot tax your way out of that."

To help the city of Los Angeles out of its current budget crisis, would you be willing to pay up to $4 an hour for metered street parking? Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

How about a $125 surcharge on traffic violations?

Or a luxury tax on electricity used by homes larger than 5,000 square feet?

The options were among the fees and tax hikes considered by the City Council on Wednesday in its first-ever "revenue day," designed to help close a $406 million shortfall that is the largest in Los Angeles history.

He's a disabled Vietnam veteran. She's a retired teacher who spends most of her pension on health insurance. Dana Bartholomew in the Daily News.

Arnie and Marilyn Bernstein are among an estimated 1million Angelenos with a rent-controlled apartment.

But if voters kill rent control in a June ballot measure, the Bernsteins say, their monthly payment would jump from $876 to $1,300 - a 48 percent increase.

"We couldn't afford another apartment," said Marilyn Bernstein, 62, of Canoga Park, who has lived in the one-bedroom unit for 21 years. "We'd be living under a bridge - like `Tent City, here we come.' The possibility of lifting rent control would be devastating."

Concerned about granting up to $65.5 million in tax breaks for Grand Avenue redevelopment even as the city grapples with its largest budget shortfall in history, Los Angeles officials on Wednesday insisted the project's benefits will outweigh the costs. Daily News.

"We are making sure that this is all there is," Chief Legislative Analyst Gerry Miller said. "What we believe is this money is needed to help build the hotel and we will get a lot more in other revenue that we otherwise wouldn't receive."

Defense of the tax breaks came just days after Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa proposed a $7 billion city budget that seeks to hire more police and firefighters but slashes city spending and proposes dozens of new fee hikes for Angelenos.

For more than a decade, the Lancaster City Council has unknowingly been following the wrong procedures when appointing Planning Commission members, officials recently discovered. Karen Maeshiro in the Daily News.

Traditionally, commission members have been appointed by individual council members and then ratified by the council as a whole.

But newly elected Mayor R. Rex Parris discovered that state law actually requires the mayor to make the appointments and submit them to the council for ratification.

Today is Denim Day in Los Angeles and all the city officials made sure they wore denim to commemorate a serious topic of domestic abuse.
"We want everyone to know that Los Angeles is not a sanctuary for domestic abuse," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said. "Coming from a family where there was domestic abuse, I can tell you what it does to a family. Men should respect women,."
And, while the topic was serious, it was also curious to note the different styles.
Some, like Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, looked comfortable in a faded pair of jeans.
Others, like Villaraigosa, had neatly pressed jeans and wore boots with it.
And, then there was Councilman Dennis Zine. He wore a matching denim jacket and jeans, prompting some to be thankful there isn't a leisure suit day at City Hall.

First the good news: Home sales in the San Fernando Valley increased for the third consecutive month in March, according to reports released Tuesday. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

But now the bad: Sales and prices remain in a free fall and foreclosure woes show no signs of easing anytime soon.

From Glendale to Calabasas during March, 642 properties changed owners, up 17 percent from February but down 52 percent from a year ago, according to the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center at California State University, Northridge.

Los Angeles' money crunch rippled across City Hall on Tuesday as officials began to flip through hundreds of pages of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's budget and found major cuts spread across city agencies. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

To fill a $406 million shortfall while still hiring police and firefighters, Villaraigosa has proposed cutting analysts and clerical and maintenance workers. Warning of tough choices, he has slashed travel budgets, cut park rangers and plans to stop payment to cable access Channel 36.

And on Tuesday, some city leaders began to fight back.

Despite criticism over how it spent $2.2 billion in previous bond funds, the Los Angeles Community College District board is expected to vote today on placing another bond measure of up to $5 billion on the November ballot. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

If it passes, Los Angeles city residents could expect to pay $17 to $25 more in taxes per $100,000 of assessed property value to cover the bonds.

The decision comes even as district officials say they have more than $1 billion remaining from two previous bonds and about 200 unfinished projects.

But with 27 construction projects under way - including some at Harbor College in Wilmington - and several new vocational demands on the horizon, that money won't last long.

"We are spending about $15 (million) to $20million a day on construction," said Larry Eisenberg, director of facilities,

Los Angeles city officials marked Earth Day on Tuesday by enacting what they called one of the most progressive laws in the nation, requiring developers to comply with green building standards on major projects. Daily News.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who had recommended the policy, signed it into law just hours after the City Council voted 14-0 to adopt the standards.

Under the measure, developers of projects larger than 50,000 square feet are required to meet green building codes for water and energy efficiency, as well as for improved indoor air quality and drought-tolerant landscaping.

In Indiana, campaigning for its May 6 election, Obama offered his congratulations to Clinton.
"She ran a terrific race," Obama said."And, I want to thank the hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians who stood with me today. There were a lot of folks who thought we wouldn't make a race of it and would be blown out. We closed the gap.
"We registered a record number of voters. And it is those new voters who will lead our party to victory in November."
Obama then returned to his campaign theme of running a campaign to bring change to the country.

In Philadelphia, with Gov. Ed. Rendell and Mayor Michael Nutter cheering on supporters, Clinton thanked them for her victory.
"Oh, thank you," Clinton said as her husband Bill and daughter Chelsea joined in the celebration. "It's a ;long road to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.and it runs right through the heart of Pennsylvania. For six weeks, Sen. Obama and I have been criss-crossing the state making our case.... You listened and today you chose.
"You know the challenges are great. But you also know the possiblities...with a president ready to lead on day one."
Clinton's supporters adopted Obama's theme, chanting "Yes, we can" to he

Clinton supportet Terry McAuliffe said the Clinton campaign remains viable and that the party should now look at the popular vote to determine the party's nominee.
Meanwhile, Obama supporter Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri says her candidate did better in Pennsylvania than anyone expected, closing the double digit lead that had been held by Clinton.
Both candidates are preparing for the next elections. Obama was holding a rally in Indiana and Clinton released travel plans that include Indiana and North Carolina. Both states are to have May 6 elections.

The networks are calling Pennsylvania for Clinton, but no real percentages available yet.
And, to no one;s surprise, Sen. John McCain won the GOP election, against Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee.

And, you thought California was slow in counting votes.
With polls closed for a half-hour, not one vote return has been released and television commentators are almost -- almost -- running out of things to say.
On MSNBC, Chris Matthews asked if the close vote -- 0 to 0 -- is concerning the Clinton campaign.
No, he was told. They just want to see some votes.
****
And this is why MSNBC is "the place for politics," a Chris Matthews rant.
Matthews, the host of "Hardball," just spent the better part of three minutes with a series of rhetorical questions to Howard Fineman over the $4 million Clinton owes strategist Mark Penn.
":Where are the guys who believed in candidates?" he asked. "Why do you have to pay for brains?"

A state that hasn't received this much attention since the drafting of the Constitution -- or the the first "Rocky" movies -- took center stage today and it was unclear if Pennsylvania voters would give more life to the campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Trailing in delegates, popular vote and money, Clinton was looking for a big win in Pennsylvania to make the case that she should continue her campaign against Sen. Barack Obama.

Early exit polls paint startingly different pictures of the Pennsylvania voters.
CNN has Clinton winning a clear majority of while males and seniors. Over at MSNBC, they say the biggest factor for voters is bringing about change, a factor that generally has favored Obama.

After a six-week break in presidential primary elections, voters in Pennsylvania go to the polls today in what all analysts agree is a make-or-break election for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton against Sen. Barack Obama.
At one point, Clinton held a 20-point lead in the state, but Obama has narrowed that substantially in recent weeks.
The betting now is on the margin of victory, although most agree if Clinton wins by one vote, she will call it a mandate to continue on to North Carolina and Indiana in their upcoming primaries.
The real test, however, could come later this week, when Clinton calls the money people to try to raise the money needed to continue the race.
At stake today are 158 delegates to the Democratic National Convention. Like all Democratic primaries, they will be decided on the proportion of vote.

L.A. City

Facing the largest deficit in Los Angeles history, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa proposed a $7 billion budget Monday that seeks to add more police and firefighters, but cuts deep into city spending and raises dozens of fees on everything from parking to golf. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

In an economic downturn with the city losing sales and real estate taxes that have long funded essential services, Villaraigosa said he chose to make the significant cuts and fee hikes in order to continue boosting spending on key city services, including public safety, street maintenance and gang prevention.

"In challenging budget times, we need to concentrate on our core mission as a city. This budget focuses on our basic mission of fighting traffic, gang membership and violent crime," Villaraigosa said Monday morning in a news conference

L.A. County
After years of being flush with cash, Los Angeles County officials on Monday unveiled a tightened $21.9 billion budget for next year that lops $588 million off spending but stops short of seeking major cuts in services and staffing. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

While struggling with slowing revenue from property and sales taxes, the budget still boosts funding for public safety and social services and includes $1.5 billion for new jails, fire stations, health facilities, animal shelters, libraries and infrastructure improvements.

With the Los Angeles Police Department exceeding hiring goals and only a small number of recruits saying a bonus program has motivated them to join, a city panel took steps Monday to limit the payout to lure candidates. Daily News.

The City Council's Public Safety Committee urged the LAPD to end the $5,000 signing bonus after the class beginning next week graduates.

Even without a Democratic presidential nominee, the Democratic National Committee on Monday began its own ground operation for the November election _ and took some swipes at the presumptive GOP nominee, Sen. John McCain.
“It makes it more difficult for us without a nominee, but we are not going to allow Sen. McCain to reinvent himself for the American public,” DNC Chair Howard Dean told reporters in a conference call.
The DNC has begun a new television commercial called “Better Off,” seeking to offer a counter the McCain campaign.
“I have said he is a flawed candidate,” Dean said. “He is wrong on immigration, wrong on the economy and wrong on health care and switches positions. He says the economy is better under George Bush. We think that's not true and that 70 percent of the people in the country agree with us.”
In addition to the commercial, the DNC is beginning its effort to reach out to Democratic voters as part of Dean's 50-state strategy.
“Even in states where we don't expect to carry it for president, it could have an impact in a Senate or House seat,” Dean said.
California Democratic officials say they have 1,511 neighborhood leaders signed up already and expect to have 2,000 by May 15.

Faced with a declining economy afflicting most revenue sources for the city, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday proposed increases in a number of fees to balance a $7.01 billion budget for this coming year, an increase of 2.3 percent in spending.
Villaraigosa said a large part of the city's problem in meeting a projected $406 million shortfall is due to the ongoing structural deficit _ where the city spends more than it takes in _ as he has begun a multi-year effort to balance that spending.
To balance this year's budget, the mayor is proposing increases in a variety of fees, from the trash fee, increases in parking and traffic tickets, hikes in the police impound fee, development and construction fees, golf fees, recreation and parks, fire department and animal services. All told, the increases amount to $90.6 million dollars.
The mayor said he is also proposing cuts that will total $140 million, through expense, equipment and contract services, salary reductions and short-term layoffs, which might include mandatory furloughs or shortened work weeks.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa outlined his proposed $7 billion budget on Monday, using a North Hollywood street maintenance yard as the backdrop, to warn of hard times ahead for the city as he seeks to deal with a $406 million shortfall.
Details of the budget are to be available at the Mayor's website including links to his formal announcement, a budget summary and the budget itself.
The mayor is saying that street maintenance and repair would not be cut under his budget nor would there be a slowing in the police hiring plan he has adopted.
But, there will be several fee increases to pay for the city's operation, from libraries to trash to golf.
The budget plan now goes to the City Council's Budget and Finance Committee which will review the plan and make its own recommendations on spending.

The L.A. trash fee hikes enacted over the past two years were never enough to cover the cost of hiring 1,000 police officers, and even Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's proposed increase this year won't cover the full expense of expanding the force, city records show.Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

The findings come after Villaraigosa told Angelenos in 2006 that he would raise the monthly garbage collection fee from $11 to $28 over four years to pay for 1,000 more Los Angeles police officers, boosting the ranks to 10,000 and making the department the largest in city history.

While previous mayors' efforts to raise the trash fee were shot down, residents and neighborhood councils endorsed Villaraigosa's plan to boost public safety by accepting a 150percent rate hike to pay for more cops.

Faced with the most severe economic conditions in nearly two decades, Los Angeles city and county officials today will unveil budgets that are expected to call for wide-ranging service reductions while also asking residents to pay more to finance government. Daily News.

The budget squeeze comes as property and sales taxes - two of the main revenue sources for local governments - have plummeted to a combined loss that is expected to have a devastating impact.

The last time there was a drop in year-over-year sales tax revenues was in the early 1990s amid the last national recession.

After all these years, Larry Flynt says he's bored with pornography. Rachel 'Uranga in the Daily News.

So what's his new turn-on? Attacking hypocrisy - "the biggest danger" to American democracy - by exposing politicians such as former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and his $4,000-an-hour prostitute, and Idaho Sen. Larry Craig and his men's room peccadilloes.

While he's at it, Flynt would like to run Cardinal Roger Mahony out of town after first tarring and feathering him over his role in the Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal.

Tipoffs: Police Chief Bratton defends LAPD's Special Order 40.

A Granada Hills community garden. An NHL star's tiny red Prius. A Sylmar solar effort. A Pacoima area cleanup. Grass-roots activists across L.A. and the San Fernando Valley are doing what they can to help reduce our footprint on this Earth and ease everything from pollution and global warming to bulging landfills. Their stories illustrate a simple truth: It all starts with a single step by each of us to build a healthy, prosperous, sustainable environment for a new generation and hope for the planet.Daily News.

The bad news is that the Midfield Satellite Concourse at Los Angeles International Airport will not be built by January 2012, breaking a promise made just eight months ago by airport executives. Art Marroquin in the Daily News.

The good news is that the airport will still be able to accommodate the Airbus A380 and other superjumbo jetliners by building more contact gates on the back side of the Tom Bradley International Terminal.

"I think the Midfield Concourse will be done in late 2012 or early 2013 now, but we'll have those new gates built at the Bradley Terminal by January 2012," said Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who heads the council's Trade, Commerce and Tourism Committee.

In a move to stamp out one of the San Fernando Valley's most notorious and violent gangs, the city on Thursday sought one of its most sprawling injunctions against the San Fers to curtail its influence in the Northeast Valley. Daily News.

District Attorney Steve Cooley and City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo are seeking an injunction that would place severe limits on the gang's estimated 900 members to meet in public, intimidate witnesses and sell or possess drugs, weapons or graffiti tools.

Citing cases of intimidation of young people, the random shooting of a man baby-sitting his 1-year-old nephew and the beating of people walking on the street, officials said the San Fers have acted as if they are above the law.

"For too long, the San Fer gang has used intimidation, violence and fear to hold this community in the San Fernando Valley hostage to its insidious activities," Delgadillo said.

In a sign of the increases Angelenos will face as the city grapples with a massive budget crunch, the Los Angeles Public Library is proposing a $1 fee to have a book transferred between branches. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

The fee is one of several new charges and increases that could take effect July 1 to help the public library system cope with budget cuts brought on by the city's $406 million deficit.

Already, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has said he will seek to raise residents' trash fees this summer to pay for more police officers.

The years-long battle over a proposed Home Depot in Sunland- Tujunga has been one of the nastiest, dirtiest land-use fights in recent Los Angeles history. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

There have been charges of racism, plots of corporate skulduggery, shouting matches and millions of dollars spent to sway public opinion on both sides of the debate.

But now, dozens of volunteer mediators from the City Attorney's Office are planning a massive outreach next weekend to bring 1,000 community members together to find out whether everyone can just get along and whether a compromise is possible.

State officials ordered California's largest health insurers to reinstate 26 improperly canceled health policies Thursday and said they plan to review thousands more in coming months. Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

The order was the first action out of a two-year investigation into whether insurers regularly violate state law when canceling policies.

The state Department of Managed Health Care is planning to review the case of every Californian who has had a health insurance policy canceled in the past four years - a number expected to exceed 10,000.

"We couldn't find any evidence that these (26) people should have been rescinded," said DMHC spokeswoman Lynne Randolph.

The dream of bringing the NFL back to Los Angeles is being revived by developer Ed Roski today, with his plans for a 75,000 seat stadium in the City of Commerce. Industry.While he is planning a news conference to announce details, nearly all the plans are on his website.
What stands out are a few things that are lacking:
Among them:
--He has no source of outside financing, with the state legislature pulling a bill that would have allowed a diversion of funds.
-- He has no football team. The NFL says it will not expand and there is no indication any team really wants to move.
-- Is it really an effort to build a stadium for the NFL or to develop a shopping center-office complex?

Councilman Dennis Zine and his proposals to try to limit paparazzi's made the Daily Show on Wednesday night in an interview with reporter Rob Riggle.

Launching a pitched battle against Los Angeles Unified over plans to dole out more space for the growing charter-school movement, the teachers union said Wednesday that it will aggressively campaign against traditional schools sharing sites with the popular independent schools. Naugh Boghossian in the Daily News.

Demonstrations by parents and teachers and community meetings have already begun, just days after the district offered space to more than three dozen charter schools - the most so far - as part of a settlement of a lawsuit challenging the LAUSD's lagging efforts to share its facilities under Proposition 39.

But some schools and teachers said the plans are too disruptive because they include mixing some elementary and secondary students and allocating classrooms that already are in use.

With fire season rapidly approaching, firefighters and homeowners across Southern California are bracing for a scorching summer amid concerns that potentially hotter-than-normal temperatures and fierce Santa Ana winds could ignite blazes even worse than last year's devastating wildfires.Jerry Berrios in the Daiiy News

Last year, fueled by the driest year on record in Los Angeles that left the region tinder-dry, massive wildfires throughout Southern California destroyed hundreds of homes and scorched more than 500,000 acres.

"It's the worst fire season ever, this one coming up," said Los Angeles Fire Department Assistant Chief Greg West.

Tonight's debate between Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama, leading up to next Tuesday's election in Pennsylvania, is being broadcast on the West Coast three hours after it occurs.
Meaning, that all the analysis on CNN, Fox and MSNBC will be going on before California viewers get a chance to see it.
Online political junkies can go to the various newspaper web sites to see if they are live blogging the event for updates.

Southern California real estate took another beating in March when prices plunged by record amounts and foreclosures accounted for nearly 40 percent of sales, an industry tracker said Tuesday. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

Price declines ranged from 18.5 percent in Los Angeles County to 28.2 percent in San Bernardino County, said La Jolla-based DataQuick Information Systems, and indicate that the housing slump is deepening.

For the entire six-county region, the median price tumbled 23.8 percent, also a record, to $385,000. That's $120,000 in equity lost over the past 12 months and the lowest price since April 2004.

Look out 818, here comes the 747.

The telephone area code that has defined the San Fernando Valley for two decades is running out, and a new one may be approved as early as next week. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

A recent judicial decision recommended that the 747 area code be assigned only to new telephone lines in the Valley, rather than forcing half the area's residents to switch their existing numbers.

But that option also means that Valley residents would always be required to dial the full number, 10 digits with the area code, even when calling a neighbor in the same 818 zone.

Despite already raising Los Angeles residents' trash fees, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is expected to propose hiking the monthly refuse-collection bills even higher next week, to $36 - triple the cost of just two years ago. Daily News.

The increase would hit as Angelenos have begun feeling the pinch of an economic downturn and seeing their household expenses rise, with higher prices for everything from gasoline and food to water and power.

But Villaraigosa said L.A. must try to raise a variety of fees - including those for trash collection - to close a $406 million budget shortfall and meet his promise to expand the police force by 1,000 officers.

A coalition of Los Angeles homeowner groups has filed the second lawsuit in the past two weeks challenging a recently adopted city rule that allows developers to build taller, bulkier buildings if they include affordable units. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

The case filed by the Environment And Housing Coalition Los Angeles - a group made up of 17 homeowners associations from the Westside, Valley and Mid-City areas - also relies on a legal strategy proposed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's top planning appointee to fight the adopted density-bonus ordinance.

Last month, city Planning Commission President Jane Ellison Usher sent an e-mail to community groups, laying out a legal strategy to fight the ordinance and urging them to move swiftly in filing suit.

Even as Los Angeles city officials launched a new approach to fighting street gangs Tuesday, another victim of the violence issued a heartfelt plea for quick action to stem the problem. Daily News.

"I love him dearly. I raised him the best I could and encouraged him to make a difference in life," said Donna Brown, the mother of Clifton Hibbert Jr.

Hibbert, a 22-year-old California State University, Northridge, student who planned to become a lawyer, was gunned down in March while driving through downtown Los Angeles with his friend Kenneth Patterson.

As the Los Angeles Police Commission continues to review changes in how its SWAT teams operate and are composed, the report on its has drawn some strong criticism from Robert Parry, who posts over at Friendly Fire.
For his complete analysis, read on

Despite a financial crisis that threatens to cripple Los Angeles with everything from service cuts to layoffs, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa pledged Monday to continue boosting the ranks of the Police Department and pouring money into ridding city streets of gang violence.

For the second consecutive year, Villaraigosa centered his State of the City address on preventing and reducing gang crime - including adding four gang-reduction zones to eight created last year and spending $18 million in hands-on gang programs in those 12 hard-hit communities. Daily News.

"Public safety is the first obligation of government," Villaraigosa said during his address at LAPD headquarters.

"When you don't have safe streets, everything falls apart. People become isolated. Kids turn into prisoners. Jobs evaporate. Families struggle just to survive."

Even as Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa delivered his last citywide speech Monday before beginning a re-election campaign, political observers said he faces a challenging year ahead narrowing his focus and delivering on his promises for improvements to the city. Daily News.

In his third State of the City address, Villaraigosa outlined plans to attack Los Angeles' gang and financial crises, but political and city analysts said the mayor now needs to demonstrate to Los Angeles - and the state - that he can effect real change in governing the nation's second-largest city.

"Last year was a difficult year for him and, even though he seems on the uptick now, he has to have measurable deliverables," said Jaime Regalado, director of the Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Institute at California State University, Los Angeles.

Several immigrant rights groups Monday decried proposed changes in Special Order 40 to target illegal immigrants in criminal gangs, saying any move to change the rule in such a way would single out minorities and weaken civil liberties. Daily News.
Members of the Mexican American Political Association, Labor Community Strategy Center and Hermandad Mexicana said the long-standing rule has been effective in encouraging immigrants to report crimes, and existing laws are sufficient to deal with criminals.

"Our concern is that the gang database now includes anyone who police think is a gang member, without verification," said Manuel Criollo, a spokesman for the Labor Community Strategy Center.

Paramedics and emergency medical technicians in portions of Los Angeles County will take a step closer to the picket line today when union leaders file a strike notice with American Medical Response, a private ambulance company serving about a dozen cities in the county. Jerry Barrios inj the Daily News.

The roughly 300 employees who work in three zones - the San Gabriel Valley, the Antelope Valley and Santa Clarita - want better wages and benefits. AMR sent a proposal Monday, but the union rejected it.

"The offer does not meet our demands," said Matthew Levy, national director of the International Association of EMTs & Paramedics. "... We just can't agree to their terms."

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa makes his third State of the City Address tonight, with an expected emphasis on fighting gangs and balancing the city's budget during perilous economic times.
The speech is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m., from Parker Center before an invited group of city officials and supporters.
The speech will be broadcast live on Cityview, the city's cable station on Channel 35. It also will be webcast at:
http://mayor.lacity.org/multimedia_vid.htm

The number of psychiatric beds in public hospitals has fallen dramatically across California and the nation - with the Golden State now dedicating Susan Abram in the Daily News.

While the ratio in California mirrors the national average, it represents a sharp drop over the past five decades - from 340 beds per 100,000 people nationwide in 1955, according to the report by the national nonprofit Treatment Advocacy Center.

"The results of this report are dire and the failure to provide care for the most seriously mentally ill individuals is disgraceful," said Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, president of the Arlington, Va.-based center that advocates for treatment of the mentally ill.

It is well past noon on a recent weekday and Jaime Armando has finally concluded that, for the fourth day in a row, he likely won't find any work. Tony Castro in the Daily News.

"A year ago, I was working four and five days a week, but this year it's been more like one day in five," says Armando, a 19-year-old Guatemalan immigrant who daily hangs out along Vanowen Street and Canoga Avenue with other day laborers looking for work.

"But that means that tomorrow ... tomorrow, I should get work."

Welcome to the life of day laborers in the San Fernando Valley, caught in the grip of an economic downturn that arguably takes the worst toll on those on the bottom rung of the socioeconomic ladder.

With the death of her 18-year-old son still a vivid memory, Martha Torres released a balloon with his name on it Sunday to bring attention to those who have died at the hands of another. Robert S. Hong in the Daily News.

"This is a new experience for me," said the Burbank woman, whose son, Oscar, was killed in 2005 in Glendale by a driver who was later convicted of second-degree murder. "At least we know that somebody will remember them."

Torres joined dozens of other families at Rose Hills Memorial Park and Mortuary on Sunday to pay tribute to their slain loved ones and advocate for the rights of victims' families in the judicial process.

This 23rd annual event, put on by nonprofit Justice For Homicide Victims, began about noon atop one of the park's grassy slopes where nearly 200 gathered, some wearing pins with photos of lost loved ones.

For thousands of Los Angeles Unified School District employees, tax time this year has been even more stressful than usual. Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

The district's payroll system fiasco resulted in about 3,400 incorrect W-2 forms being mailed to employees earlier this year, leaving many of them worried about facing penalties if they file late or incorrect tax returns as Tuesday's filing deadline approaches.

As of Friday, however, district officials said they've managed to resolve most of the outstanding tax filing issues.

District chief operating officer David Holmquist said there are about 50 employees who still have issues to resolve with their W-2s and another 200 who may have had problems with incorrect contributions to an employee retirement plan.

Tipoffs: City officials look to clarify -- and possibly change -- Special Order 40. Mayor caught between his job and national politics.

The city of Los Angeles must build nearly 113,000 new housing units by 2014 to meet the needs of a growing population without worsening the shortage of affordable homes, according to a new city study. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

Some 25 percent of the homes need to be affordable for poor and lower-wage workers, yet new development in Los Angeles is primarily for wealthier buyers and renters, according to the study.

The housing development target - plus strategies to meet the goal - is laid out in the city's draft Housing Element, which is now being considered in public workshops around the city.

The goal of the report, said Principal City Planner Jane Blumenfeld, is to lay out city policies that will help L.A. build 113,000 new homes.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says he feels the pain of employers pinched by the federal government's intensified efforts to control illegal immigration. But until Congress enacts broad immigration reforms, businesses shouldn't expect any changes in enforcement. AP in the Daily News.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Chertoff said this past week that the rising complaints from businesses offer some evidence the Bush administration's approach is working.

"This is harsh but accurate proof positive that for the first time in decades, we've succeeded in changing the dynamic and (are) actually beginning to reduce illegal immigration," Chertoff said. "Unfortunately, unless you counterbalance that with a robust system to allow people to come in temporarily and legally, you're going to wind up with an economic problem."

Today's homebuyers are turning someone else's economic nightmare into their American dream. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

And while there are not many buyers in most markets, they share a common trait: tenacity.

They are striking deals in a market with a distinct yin - record low sales - and yang - soaring foreclosures that are pushing supply up and prices down.

Some are buying their first homes after meeting the tightest credit standards in years. Some properties are attracting multiple offers again, and selling for more than the asking price.

Does this mean that the long, steep slide is over? Probably not.

Thousands of Los Angeles Unified parents and students packed the Los Angeles Convention Center Saturday for a parent summit, to get advice on everything from identifying attention-deficit disorder to improving their children's test scores. Rick Coca in the Daily News.

Parents and students were offered the chance to air some gripes, interact with school board members and hear directly from Superintendent David Brewer III during some of the more than 50 seminars and activities at the 12th annual Parent Summit.

During a workshop with school board members, Jenny Mangandi, a 13-year-old student at Thomas Starr King Middle School in Los Angeles, complained that substitute teachers are used too often in one of her classes and that her school is overcrowded.

Thousands of Democratic activists, including dozens from the San Fernando Valley, will gather across California today vying to be chosen for the elite cadre of pledged presidential delegates who will head to the Democratic National Convention.Tony Castro in the Daily News.
A total of 21 slots as delegates and four as alternates are up for grabs in the four congressional districts that cover the San Fernando Valley. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's supporters will elect 12 delegates and four alternates in those four districts. Sen. Barack Obama's backers will elect nine delegates.

But Clinton's threat to fight for Obama's pledged presidential delegates all the way to the convention has roiled Obama supporters heading into today's caucuses.

Faced with a city budget crisis, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Friday said he is proposing eliminating 767 city jobs while also raising a variety of fees and fines to help close a $406 million deficit. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

While Villaraigosa was short on details, he said he would reveal more information when he releases the 2008-09 budget later this month.

And he made it clear that layoffs and dramatic service cuts are planned.

"We're looking at the biggest budget deficit in L.A. history, and we're going to have to make the tough choices," Villaraigosa said.

Calling it a response to public outrage over gang crime in Los Angeles, Councilman Dennis Zine said Friday he wants to alter the LAPD's long-standing Special Order 40 by allowing officers to question gang members about their immigration status. Daily News.

Opposed by immigration-rights activists, the amendment would bolster already existing relationships with immigration officials and require police to report gang members who are in the country illegally.

But it would not alter the crux of the 1979 rule that prohibits officers from asking crime victims about their immigration status.

"These are people who are terrorizing their own communities," Zine said. "They are extorting business for protection money. They are victimizing their own communities. We need to give gang officers another tool to deal with the problem."

Residents and city officials are concerned over a plan to open a new jail at the Mira Loma Detention Center, believing it could lead to increased crime and other problems for local neighborhoods. Karen Maeshiro in the Daily News.

"We don't want it here. The immediate response of myself, citizens, people who I have talked to is, `We have got one, thank you very much,"' Lancaster Councilwoman-elect Sherry Marquez said, referring to the state prison already in Lancaster.

"Go look for another piece of property to put the jail. We've got our share."

Grappling with a growing caseload, Los Angeles County's massive court system is increasingly threatened by antiquated, cramped facilities and dozens of buildings that are at risk in an earthquake, officials acknowledged this week. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

Of the county's 50 court facilities, fully two-thirds fail to meet seismic safety standards, according to county data.

And officials at Los Angeles County Superior Court, and the District Attorney's Office and the Public Defender's Office said courthouses have become so crowded that in some cases inmates are escorted in handcuffs and leg irons through public hallways to their courtrooms.

The state Supreme Court delivered a setback to a group of hotels near LAX, upholding Los Angeles city officials' efforts that began nearly two years ago to require the hotels to pay about 2,000 workers a "living wage," officials said Thursday. Daily News.

The court ruled late Wednesday that it would not hear an appeal of the case, finding that the city acted properly when it changed an initial ordinance on the issue last year to avoid a referendum on the move.

The Supreme Court ruling overturned a lower-court decision that had sided with the hotels.

Whether its members are ripping down illegal signs or battling over street-sweeping days, the Woodland Hills Neighborhood Council is out in full force with efforts to continually improve the area. Sue Doyle in the Daily News.

When they're not cleaning tree wells or pulling weeds from sidewalks, they're fighting for gates and other improvements outside Woodland Hills Elementary School.

"We are doing good, but our worst enemy is the city bureaucracy," said Heath Kline, a five-year neighborhood council member and director of the community services committee.

No big surprise there.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa went on CNN today to talk about the letter he sent to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, asking the feds to cool it with the immigration raids on L.A. employers.

In his letter, Villaraigosa argued the crackdown on industries and employers that rely on undocumented workers is bad for business and puts the region at a competitive disadvantage. Instead, he said, Immigration and Customs Enforcement should focus on businesses that exploit undocumented workers, and crackdowns on criminal gang members here illegally.

"We have to enforce our laws but we have to enforce them in a humane way ....and in a way that prioritizes our resources," Villaraigosa said on CNN.

But Dobbs wasn't having it.

"It's just another example of that city's utter contempt for our laws and the city's outright support of ethnocentric special interest groups," Dobb said, after taking aim at the Catholic Church and LAPD Chief William Bratton.

Perhaps because he's a historian, retired professor Daniel Walker Howe can look on one of the most eventful days of his long career and reduce a lifetime achievement to a simple postscript. Tony Castro in the Daily News.

That's how he informed his wife, Sandra, in a note asking her to rendezvous with him near UCLA on Monday.

"Meet me at 6 in the St. Alban's parking lot," the note read.

"P.S. I won the Pulitzer."

Faced with growing public pressure to quell gang violence in Los Angeles, the City Council signed off Wednesday on a plan to turn over all of the city's gang-intervention and -prevention programs to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for at least 18 months. Daily News.

The 12-0 vote marked a victory for the mayor and City Controller Laura Chick, who had been pushing for mayoral control of the programs - which spend an estimated $19million a year - with as few restrictions as possible.

The vote also ends nearly two months of acrimony between Chick and Councilman Tony Cardenas, who chairs the council's Ad Hoc Committee on Gangs and had resisted giving Villaraigosa control of the programs.

Despite last-minute questions over surcharges that will boost customer bills even more, the Los Angeles City Council gave final approval Wednesday to raise residents' water and power rates beginning this summer. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

Money from the controversial rate hikes will help pay for upgrades to the city's aging water and electrical systems.

Under the approved plan, water rates will increase 3.1percent July 1 and another 3.1percent July 1, 2009.

Power bills will increase 2.9percent in June, another 2.9percent July 1 and an additional 2.7percent July 1, 2009.

When fully implemented in July 2009, the rates will increase average customer bills by $87 per year.

Even as the Los Angeles Unified School District grapples with wide-ranging problems, including lagging student test scores, more than a dozen San Fernando Valley schools were honored Wednesday by the state for exemplary academic performance.Naush Boghossian in the Daily News.

The recognition is a coup for the Valley, where 16 of the newly honored schools, or two-thirds of all California Distinguished Elementary Schools named in the LAUSD this year, are located - and also where the bulk of such schools in the area are perennially found, district officials believe.

"We've been working really hard in the Valley for a very long time to bring scores up and improve schools. It didn't just happen yesterday," said school board member Julie Korenstein, who has represented the Valley for 21 years.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has directed officials to investigate phone-company charges after hearing from a woman who said her monthly phone bill hit more than $1,000 because of calls from her jailed son.Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

"For the first nine months of my son's incarceration, my monthly phone bill has been over $1,000," Evelyn Arong told the board on Tuesday.

"I can't see what possibly would justify this outrageous markup for phone service. I would never have thought my phone bill would be such a major expense."

Councilman Richard Alarcon said the protests of the City Council over the DWP are meaningless unless they vote to reject the increase.
"There is the old saying of sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me," Alarcon said. "Well, our sticks and stones is our vote."
However, the council rejected his pleas and voted 13-1 to approve the power rates, with Alarcon dissenting, and 11-3, with Hahn, Zine and Alarcon dissenting to approve the water rate increases.

Councilwoman Janice Hahn said part of the problem facing the DWP is the lack of public trust.
Complaining that officials did not include the cost of surcharges to buy natural gas in their figures, Hahn said she was tired of the "I'm shocked this is going on" attitude of the department managers.
"I will probably end up voting for this, but we need to make sure we have more transparency with the public," Hahn said.
Councilman Dennis Zine said it was a big reason for creating a separate oversight committee of council appointees. Also, there is a proposal to have a separate study of the annual transfer from the DWP to the city's general fund.

Councilman Richard Alarcon, who indicated he wanted more detail on the work to be done in his district with the new rates, said he remains opposed to the increases because of the lack of detail.
"I cannot support this rate increase without knowing what it means for my district," Alarcon said. "I don't know how we can vote for this until we knows what it means for the city."

Councilman Richard Alarcon, who indicated he wanted more detail on the work to be done in his district with the new rates, said he remains opposed to the increases because of the lack of detail.
"I cannot support this rate increase without knowing what it means for my district," Alarcon said. "I don't know how we can vote for this until we knows what it means for the city."

Councilman Richard Alarcon, who indicated he wanted more detail on the work to be done in his district with the new rates, said he remains opposed to the increases because of the lack of detail.
"I cannot support this rate increase without knowing what it means for my district," Alarcon said. "I don't know how we can vote for this until we knows what it means for the city."

The Los Angeles City Council is scheduled to take final action today on a plan to raise both the water and power rates charged by the Department of Water and Power.
The hikes, 9 percent over three years for power rates and 6 percent over two years for water, have been opposed by the Neighborhood Councils. But council members have been convinced the money is needed to finance a $1 billion infrastructure improvement program.
The proposal includes creation of a 15-member oversight committee appointed by City Council members.
The DWP last raised power rates in 1992 and water rates in 2006. When fully implemented in 2009, the power rate increases will add about $8 a month to the average resident's home. The water rates will cost about $1 a month.

Taking the advice of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's top planning appointee, a Valley Village woman has sued the city over a new rule that allows developers to build taller, bulkier buildings if they include affordable units. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

Last month, city Planning Commission President Jane Ellison Usher sent an e-mail to community groups, criticizing the recently adopted density bonus ordinance and laying out a legal strategy to challenge it.

On Thursday, homeowner Sandy Hubbard filed the first lawsuit using Usher's suggestions. A group of home and business owners is also considering a lawsuit.

It could be a compromise or it could be a showdown today when City Council leaders propose their version of how to reorganize gang intervention programs. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

City officials agree that Los Angeles spends millions of dollars each year on gang-prevention and -intervention programs, without tracking how the money is spent or whether the programs deter gang crime.

But for the past two months, Controller Laura Chick and Councilman Tony Cardenas have battled over the best way to reform the system.

Cardenas has challenged that proposal, saying it would consolidate power with the mayor and diminish council and public oversight. He wants to create a new department to oversee gang-intervention and -prevention programs.

Now, with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa planning to unveil his reorganization of gang-intervention programs Monday duri

Los Angeles police are drawing their guns less often than last year. But when they do, they're killing more criminal suspects than before, according to an LAPD report released Tuesday. Rachel Uranga in the Daily News.

In the first quarter of the year, police killed 12 suspects - twice the number of suspects killed over the same period last year.

Still, the number of officer-involved shootings in the period fell to 15 from 18.

"We are still trying to put some context to this and figure out why," Capt. Kris Pitcher, head of the LAPD's Force Investigation Division, told the civilian Police Commission. "There are so many factors involved, you can't attribute it to one particular issue."

As part of a larger plan to build libraries throughout Los Angeles County, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved $16.5 million for construction of a new Topanga Library.Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

The 11,293-square-foot library at 122 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd. will replace the Las Virgenes bookmobile that serves the area now.

Area residents must currently travel to Agoura Hills or Malibu to access full libraries.

The grieving parents of a Los Angeles teenager who recently lost his life to gang violence pleaded with city officials Tuesday to take aggressive steps to boost city safety. Daily News.

Fighting back their anguish, Jamiel Shaw Sr. and his wife, Anita, were surrounded by family members and supporters at City Hall as they told how the death of their son has taken an emotional toll.

"Every day we are reminded of what happened," Jamiel Shaw Sr. told City Council members, as he broke down..

Rapid development jeopardizes the future of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, threatening up to 1,000 species of plant life and hundreds of animals, according to a report to be released today. Susan Abram in the Daily News.

Nearly 1,300 acres of private land within the recreation area is lost each year to development, which could add up to 70,000 lost acres by 2062 - a little less than half of the entire park, according to the National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group.

To protect the area, the government would have to buy some $62 million worth of private land, but the National Park Service hasn't had any funding for acquisition of land since 2000, according to the NPCA.

With complaints about graffiti rising, a Los Angeles city panel called Monday for expansion of a pilot program to install more video cameras across the city to capture taggers on tape and aid in their arrest. Daily News.

The City Council's Public Safety Committee asked for a report on how to fund the program and work with neighborhood councils to identify the worst locations in the city.

Since 2000, the city has had 60 cameras operating at various sites under a program run by the Office of Community Beautification under the Board of Public Works.

Steve MacDonald, the head of Film L.A., is leaving the organization that issues film permits and serves as a liaison with local government, announced Monday he is leaving to go to work for an investment firm.
"The last four years have been both challenging and rewarding, and it has been an honor working with so many excellent people in the industry, government, community and civic arenas," MacDonald said.
He is going to work as managing director of Strategic Development Solutions, a firm rhat provides private equity for economic development in under-served areas of the country.
No word on his successor.

Even as Los Angeles Unified finally boosted efforts last week to give charter schools more space on district campuses, the move has caused dissent that could lay the groundwork for conflict between the district and the popular education movement. Naush Boghossian in the Daily News.

Two months after LAUSD settled lawsuits challenging lagging efforts to share its facilities with the independent schools, the district has offered space on traditional campuses to 39 charter schools - the majority of the 54 that applied.

The placement offers are the most the district has ever made and triple the 13 space assignments it offered last year.

TIPOFFS: Mayor sounds a simliar theme, ex-schools chief returns to LAUSD.

After four decades in urban development, Robert D. Voit has left his imprint on more than $1 billion in construction projects across Southern California, Arizona and Nevada. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

But it's the $500 million Warner Center skyline - at the heart of Woodland Hills and long regarded as San Fernando Valley's downtown - that the veteran developer considers his most significant legacy.

Voit's vision in the 1970s for an urban hub amid the tree-lined hills and suburban single-family neighborhoods would later be hailed as a jewel of development.

More than 15,000 people have signed up for a federal security card permitting access to sensitive areas of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach since enrollment opened nearly four months ago, according to the Transportation Security Administration. Art Marroquin at the Daily News.

While federal officials say local enrollment figures are "on pace," critics of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program argue that registration is moving along at a snail's pace.

Steep enrollment fees, a lack of accessible registration centers and poor planning on the part of federal authorities were cited as the leading reasons for the poor turnout so far, according to port executives and union leaders.

Even as Los Angeles County's sprawling court system seeks to mete out justice, security is becoming a growing concern as the number of threats against its 600 judges, commissioners and referees has more than doubled in the past two years. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

Threats against court personnel surged from 99 in 2006 to 267 last year, according to court records. And as violence and threats have risen, security costs have soared from $132 million three years ago to $169 million.

In recent years, a court commissioner and his wife were gunned down at their home, a judge's child was threatened at school, an attorney was shot repeatedly outside the Van Nuys Courthouse, and a judge's wife was kidnapped and killed.

"It's rare when a week goes by and I don't get some kind of call from the sheriff about a threat or something else involving our courts," Los Angeles Superior Court Presiding Judge J. Stephen Czuleger said.

"We've had many cases in which a witness has been threatened or the local public defender says they have a gang member who is very upset and is going to take action against a witness, a lawyer or the judge."

With Los Angeles International Airport in the midst of a multibillion-dollar renovation, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday will welcome officials from around the world to discuss how to make airports more environmentally friendly. Daily News.

The three-day C40 Airports and Climate Group meeting at the Biltmore Hotel is expected to include delegates from London, Chicago, Seattle, Montreal, Warsaw, Mexico City, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Jakarta, New York, Philadelphia, Seoul, Stockholm and Zurich.

Delegates from around California also are expected to attend.

Villaraigosa has made the greening of Los Angeles one of his top priorities, with a number of initiatives at LAX including replacing gas-powered vehicles with alternative-fuel vehicles, using electric power for aircraft on the ground and using only renewable power at the remodeled Tom Bradley International Terminal.

As election season comes to a close in this city of 171,500, five candidates are vying for two available city council seats. Voters go to the polls on Tuesday. Jerry Barrios in the Daily News.

Amid a budget crisis that has city officials preparing for layoffs and scrambling for savings, the Los Angeles City Council is sitting on some $12 million in spending money. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

Cash allocated annually from the city budget, along with money from the sale of city property and from advertising revenue, is set aside for individual council members to fund pet projects ranging from community events to street improvements.

But with a budget deficit this year and a shortfall estimated at $450 million next year, some city leaders are eyeing the funds to help close the gap.

The California legislator who tried to banslapping children - only to get spanked by public opinion - is back for more.Mike Zapler in the Daily News.

Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View, has again introduced her bill designed to crack down on hitting a child under 3 in the face or head. A similar effort last year became the butt of jokes in the national media - but also hundreds of headlines and hours of air time for Lieber - before stalling in the Assembly.

"We want to build on the groundwork that was laid last year," Lieber said. "Last year we started out with 95 to 100 percent of reaction being negative. Once people found out what we were trying to do with the bill, that was reduced to 85 percent negative.

Freshman Assemblyman Felips Fuentes, D-Sylmar, will be giving the Democratic response on Saturday to President Bush's weekly radio address.
In it, he will go after the federal government on the impact of federal policies -- particularly the census undercount and unfunded mandates -- as part of the reasson for the state's financial problems.
The link for the remarks is at:http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/Newsline/Audio/20080405RadioAddressEnglishCensusFuentes.mp3
Among his remarks: "For too long the Bush administration has taken California’s hard earned tax dollars and rewarded us with costly and ineffective unfunded mandates.
"Indeed, while Republicans in Sacramento propose cutting our state budget to the bone, laying off teachers and closing state parks, California’s federal tax dollars are being shuffled to states that refuse to pay for the services they need, states mostly controlled by Republicans."

Los Angeles Councilman Bernard Parks picked up the endorsement of the board of directors of the new BizFed organization in his race for the 2nd Supervisorial District against state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, D-Los Angeles in June.
BizFed Chairman David Fleming cited Parks record in supporting business and offering incentives to companies to remain in Los Angeles.
"We are confident that his background as the chief of police and as a council member make him the ideal candidate to resolve some of the most pressing issues facing the county," Fleming said.
Ridley-Thomas has picked up the support of most labor groups in the county.
The race is to fill the seat being vacated with the retirement of Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke.

Los Angeles Councilman Bernard Parks picked up the endorsement of the board of directors of the new BizFed organization in his race for the 2nd Supervisorial District against state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, D-Los Angeles in June.
BizFed Chairman David Fleming cited Parks record in supporting business and offering incentives to companies to remain in Los Angeles.
"We are confident that his background as the chief of police and as a council member make him the ideal candidate to resolve some of the most pressing issues facing the county," Fleming said.
Ridley-Thomas has picked up the support of most labor groups in the county.
The race is to fill the seat being vacated with the retirement of Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke.

Although still near the bottom in writing skills compared with other large urban districts, Los Angeles Unified eighth-graders have made significant gains in the past five years and outpaced both state and national improvements, according to a national report released Thursday. Naush Boghossian in the Daily News.

The LAUSD - along with districts in Atlanta and Chicago - improved overall writing scores "significantly," according to the Nation's Report Card from the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

The assessment is designed to measure whether students can communicate effectively in essays, letters and stories.

"For our middle schools, this was really a significant growth and an improvement," said Esther Wong, assistant superintendent of planning, assessment and research at the LAUSD.

Despite several recent high-profile killings that boosted Los Angeles' homicide rates, overall violent crime in the city fell slightly in the first three months of the year - and dropped 6 percent in the San Fernando Valley. Rachel Uranga in the Daily News.

The drop comes after months of grim and heartbreaking tales of Angelenos grappling with violence on the city's streets.

Although homicides citywide jumped 20 percent - with 101 people killed in Los Angeles in the period - they fell 10 percent in the Valley.

Still coping with the fallout of last year's disastrous May Day immigration-rights rally, the LAPD's top brass said Thursday that they will use lessons they learned to better-police this year's march. Aron Miller in the Daily News.

During a City Hall briefing with local journalists, Cmdr. Sandy Jo MacArthur reviewed the problems Los Angeles police encountered - and created - during last year's May 1 rally at MacArthur Park, including poor coordination, planning and communication and too many decisions left up to individual officers.

Many of those issues were addressed in a scathing October LAPD report in which the department - and specifically Chief William Bratton - took responsibility for the breakdown.

As his one-year term as Glendale mayor comes to an end, Ara Najarian said Thursday that the city is experiencing a metamorphosis from a sleepy bedroom community to one of California's top cities. Rick Coca in the Daily News.

Addressing about 360 people at the Chamber of Commerce's annual mayoral State of the City and awards luncheon at the Glendale Hilton Hotel, Najarian said that with the soon-to-open $400million Americana at Brand serving as the city's "centerpiece," the future has arrived in Glendale.

"We are on a threshold of entering a new era in this city," Najarian said.

Costs of a new downtown Los Angeles police headquarters have soared $150 million over projections - to more than $453 million - because the city's Bureau of Engineering has failed to provide adequate oversight and management, City Controller Laura Chick said Thursday. Daily News.

The 10-story building at First and Spring streets is scheduled to open next year as a replacement for the aging Parker Center.

But after releasing an audit performed by KPMG for $187,000, Chick said city engineers lost control of the project and the LAPD had to step in to deal with the design firm.

With Sen. Hillary Clinton coming to California today for some fundraisers, the state Republican Party could resist the opportunity to continue its campaign against her and Democrats in general.

"As Senator Clinton brings her flagging campaign to California, the people of this state are listening carefully to the tax-laden, heavy-handed, big government ‘solutions' she is offering for America's economic challenges. They know that higher taxes and more government spending aren't going to help them fill up their cars, pay their mortgages, or save for retirement," Nehring said.

Socking Angelenos with higher water and power bills beginning this summer, the Los Angeles City Council gave initial approval Wednesday for the Department of Water and Power to raise rates to fund improvements to the city's aging utility infrastructure.Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

The decision came after more than three hours of debate and staunch opposition by dozens of neighborhood council members who warned that the higher utility bills will strain already struggling households.

But several council members said they were convinced the city must invest in its infrastructure quickly, particularly after Firefighter Brent Lovrien was killed last week in a Westchester explosion triggered by a faulty 60-year-old power cable.

Fran Pavley and Lloyd Levine were colleagues at one time, fellow liberal Democrats from the San Fernando Valley who served together in the state Assembly and often voted the same way on big issues.Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

But, as often happens between former colleagues in the era of term limits, today the two are running against each other for the same state Senate seat - to represent West Los Angeles, the West Valley and Oxnard and to succeed Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Los Angeles, who will be termed out at the end of this year.

The knives have come out as Levine, still in the Assembly, and Pavley, who was termed out, both have well-funded campaigns, deep ties in the Valley and similar ideologies - and each is slashing at the other's effectiveness.

Renewing its opposition to federal raids at medical marijuana facilities, the Los Angeles City Council went on record again Wednesday in urging the federal Drug Enforcement Administration to allow the city to regulate the clinics.Daily News.

"We have put a moratorium in place on all new clinics until we develop regulations," Councilman Dennis Zine said. "Our goal is to bring the sale of medical marijuana under control so it is accessible to people who truly need it.

"This is about the compassionate use of a medicine that helps sick people."

The council voted 9-1 to support a state resolution on the issue after a number of people who use medical marijuana testified on behalf of the resolution, saying it is a key to helping them enjoy a decent quality of life.

Setting the stage for a divided City Council to wrestle over who should oversee anti-gang programs, a key committee Wednesday asked department heads to come up with a plan to place it under mayoral control. Rachel Uranga in the Daily News.

Though the plan could take weeks to pass through several other committees, it further pits two opposing ideas - and their disputing backers - against each other.

"I think this will be a healthy debate," said Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, who authored Wednesday's motion and sits on the three-member Audits and Governmental Efficiency Committee that unanimously passed it. "It's been a political battle rather than about the battle for our kids."

A reluctant and divided Los Angeles City Council gave preliminary approval on Wednesday to increases in both the water and power rates.
In an separate votes, the council backed the increases, 9 percent over three years for power rates and 6 percent over two years for water, that is charged by the Department of Water and Power.
The proposal includes creation of a 15-member oversight committee appointed by City Council members.
A final vote is scheduled for next week.
The DWP last raised power rates in 1992 and water rates in 2006. When fully implemented in 2009, the power rate increases will add about $8 a month to the average resident's home. The water rates will cost about $1 a month.

DWP General Manager David Nahai told the City Council the rate increases are needed even if the utitlity stops its annual transfer of money to the city's general fund.
"What these rate increases do is allow us to go out and borrow money at low interest rates," Nahai said. "The transfer is a de minimus issue for us."
The transfer of funds, approachng $200 million a year, long has been a source of criticism among those who question the DWP rates.

Councilwoman Jan Perry, in a compromise designed to head off some of the debate, called for increasing rates for one year -- 2.9 percent for power and 3.1 percent for water -- to see how well the DWP performs in improving its infrastructures.
Included in the proposal are a number of detailed reporting requirements by the agency on its work plan as well as a new oversight committee to make sure it is performed as promised.

Councilman Bill Ropsendahl, linking the death of Firefighter Brent Lovrien last week to a freak explosion, held up a foot-long piece of cable that he said was similar to what was involved in the accident.
"This is what caused the death of Firefighter Brent Lovrien," Rosendahl said. "This shows the deterioriating infrastructure we have in Los Angeles and is a wake-up call for us to make improvements."
Rosendahl said there is between 12,000 and 15,000 miles of the cable -- some as much as 60 years old -- throughout the city.

The public testimony has started, drawing objections from several speakers.
The biggest problem, says Jack Humphreville of the Neighborhood Councils, is the lack of trust with the DWP and that it will use any rate increase solely for infrastructure work.
The agency is seeking a 6 percent increase in water rates over two years and a 9 percent hike over three years for power rates.

The Los Angeles City Council is expected to pick up its debate on proposals by the Department of Water and Power to increase rates for both its services.
We will be blogging through the debate to provide updates.

There is more than the city';s financial woes on Mayor Antonio Villoaraigosa's mind when he goes to Sacramento today.

The Sacramento Bee reports he is also holding a 41,000 per person fundraiser tonight for his 2009 re-election campaign.

The paper reports:

"His evening fundraiser is at Ella Dining Room & Bar in downtown Sacramento, with an influential list of hosts, including Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, lobbyists like Soyla Fernandez and Darius Anderson, members of the Tsakopoulos clan and Bob White, the former chief of staff to Gov. Pete Wilson.

"Others hosting Sacramento fundraisers today include Sen. Alan Lowenthal, GOP Assembly candidate Brian Nestande (if the name sounds familiar to grizzled Capitol veterans, he's the son of former Assemblyman Bruce Nestande) and Assemblyman Curren Price."

As he waited his turn for free food at an anti-poverty center in Pacoima, Jose Contreras bit his lower lip and shook his head. Tony Castro in the Daily News.

"I've never had to beg for food," said the recently unemployed 32-year-old San Fernando warehouse worker. "But with no money and not having eaten in several days, I was hungry."

It is a story heard increasingly these days at San Fernando Valley food-distribution centers, not only from the long-term poor, including many senior citizens, but also from growing numbers of people like Contreras - victims of a worsening economy.

Sources at Los Angeles television stations KCBS-TV (Channel 2) and KCAL-TV (Channel 9) confirmed that their stations have fallen victim to the same series of newsroom cuts that have affected other CBS owned-and-operated affiliates throughout the country.David Kronke in the Daily News.

Among those departing are Harold Greene and Ann Martin, who co-anchor the KCAL newscast at 4 p.m. and the KCBS newscast at 6 p.m. Both have decided to retire when their contracts expire on June 1. In all, fewer than 20 have lost their jobs at the two local stations.

Reporters Jennifer Sabih and Jennifer Davis also were let go, the Hollywood trade magazine Variety reported.

Plans to open two new Los Angeles police stations - including the $37 million Topanga Police Station in the San Fernando Valley - could be delayed as long as six months amid the city's continuing financial problems.
Daily News.

While the Los Angeles Police Department has increased by more than 300 officers over the past two years, the LAPD said plans to open the new Valley and Mid-City stations can't be finalized until the city approves its budget for the coming year.

That means the stations - set to open late this year - now won't open until early next year as the department waits to learn whether funding is available for staffing and whether the LAPD has enough of certain types of officers to man the stations.

"We have enough patrol officers, but there are concerns if we have enough detectives and administrative personnel," City Councilman Greig Smith said. "We won't know until we take up next year's budget if we will have the staff necessary to open as planned in October or if we will have to wait."

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will release his budget proposal later this month. It will then be reviewed by the council.

Free parking for Angelenos who tool around in hybrid vehicles could soon be coming to an end.

That's because just days after extending the benefit to 2011, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday reversed itself and said it now wants to study the cost of the program as the city faces dramatic budget problems. Daily News.

"This was a great incentive when we first did it," Councilman Bill Rosendahl said. "But hybrids don't need assistance from us. They already are getting a benefit from the savings they get by not having to buy $4-a-gallon gas

In a rare public review of how city officials decided to settle the hazing case of former Los Angeles Firefighter Tennie Pierce, the City Council was told Tuesday that the city at the time faced much greater losses amid ongoing controversies at the Los Angeles Fire Department. Daily News.

Attorney Brian Sun of the firm of Jones Day, which received $1.4 million to review the case, said the city was facing a difficult time in defending itself in the Pierce case.

Pierce sued the department, alleging harassment and discrimination, after colleagues fed him spaghetti that had dog food in it.

Art Torres has been a fixture at the helm of the California Democratic Party since 1996, when he stepped in as party chairman after Bill Press went off to paid punditry at CNN. Now Torres, who was elected to four-year terms in 1997, 2001 and 2005 is playing out his final year after presiding over the Democrats recent convention in San Jose. Sacramento Bee.

"Art has made it clear for the last three or four years that this is his last term," said party consultant and veteran activist Bob Mulholland.

Torre's replacement will be elected in 2009 at the April 24-26 state convention in Sacramento. And the political jockeying is already under way to replace him.

Coping with a projected $500 city shortfall next year, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa heads to Sacramento on Wednesday to meet with state leaders to keep funding coming to the city.
Villaraigosa has a full agenda in meeting with state leaders, including Senate President Pro-Tem Don Perata, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, Assembly Speaker-Elect Karen Bass and ., Senate Pro-Tem Elect Darryl Steinberg, among others. Members of the city's Assembly and Senate delegations also will be seen.

Campaining hard in Pennsylvania, Sen. Hillary Clinton returns to California this week for a fundraiser to try to remain competitive witih Sen. Barack Obama.
Clinton is scheduled to attend the "Hillary LIve" fundraiser a the Wilshire Theater in Beverly Hills for an event to tap into her California base of support.
News reports have had Obama outspending her four to one in the April 22 primary election and she is struggling to remain even.

As Los Angeles County supervisors consider a nearly $700 million plan to overhaul the jail system, a report set to be released today highlights a critical need to stop using the nation's jails as "asylums" to warehouse the homeless, mentally ill, addicted and those charged with immigration offenses. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

The report by the Washington, D.C.-based Justice Policy Institute finds communities are bearing the cost of a massive increase in the nation's jail population, which has nearly doubled in less than two decades.

"As other metropolitan areas have demonstrated, there are effective, strategic ways to reduce a jail population without compromising public safety," said Mark Rosenbaum, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.

V Australia Airlines will make its American debut in December, when it launches 10 weekly round-trip flights between Sydney and Los Angeles International Airport, officials announced Monday. Art Marroquin in the
Daily News.

The news comes as restrictions are being lifted on airline carriers traveling between the United States and "the land down under," thanks to an "open skies" agreement also signed Monday.

City officials and executives from V Australia - the international offshoot of Virgin Blue Airlines - announced the service during a news conference at LAX.