October 2007 Archives

Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson, aiming to showcase his conservative credentials in California, touted the support of one of the state's most relentless Republican critics of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger - while acknowledging he has never sought the endorsement of the California governor. San Francisco Chronicle.

Thompson appeared Tuesday at a brief press conference - his first public event as a presidential candidate in California - at the start of a two-day fundraising trip that is scheduled to take him to Carmichael (Sacramento County), Los Gatos and San Francisco Wednesday.

The former Tennessee senator stood proudly at the Sacramento Convention Center before a lineup of GOP legislators including his newly named California campaign chairman, state Sen. Tom McClintock of Thousand Oaks (Ventura County) - a conservative icon among the activist GOP grassroots in California who has lambasted the Republican Schwarzenegger on issues ranging from taxes and spending to "post partisan" cooperation with Democrats.

Support for a state ballot initiative to modify the length of time legislators can remain in office is dropping, according to a survey released today. Mercury News

Proposition 93 is now favored by 49 percent of registered voters, the Field Poll found, down from 59 percent just two months ago. While opposition to the initiative remains about the same as in August, the number of voters who are undecided has nearly doubled to 20 percent.

The measure on the Feb. 5 ballot asks voters to shorten from 14 years to 12 years the total amount of time that a state senator or Assembly member can serve in the Legislature.

Six months after the violent May Day confrontation between LAPD officers and hundreds of immigration protesters, internal affairs investigators told a skeptical Police Commission today they have identified most of the officers who used excessive force that day and expect to start discipline proceedings by next year. Rachel Uranga in the Daily News

Deputy Chief Mike Perez, who is overseeing the internal investigation, would not reveal how many officers or supervisors have been singled out for discipline but said 48 officers have been interviewed.

"We have a good idea of which officers used force," he said. "Our problem is matching officers who used force with complaints."

Even as the Los Angeles City Council weighs a proposed DWP rate hike, surcharges for natural gas, renewable energy and imported water are expected to push ratepayer bills even higher. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

While the surcharges pass along the fluctuating costs of power and water purchases and are already in place, they are expected to increase again next year.

And the charges come on top of the Department of Water and Power's base rates, which are proposed to increase 9 percent over three years for power and 6 percent over two years for water.

After a 20-year standoff with the Coastal Commission, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a plan that - if approved by the commission - would allow the county to take over coastal development permitting responsibilities in the Santa Monica Mountains. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

Los Angeles County is the last major jurisdiction in the state that hasn't complied with the 1976 Coastal Act, which required local governments to take responsibility for issuing permits.

The county plan will now go to the commission for its approval.

Classrooms will become bedrooms for the Santa Clarita Valley's homeless under a deal approved Tuesday by the county to buy up to four modular buildings for the community's winter shelter. Patricia Farrell Aidem in the Daily News.

The county Board of Supervisors, acting as the Community Development Commission, unanimously approved the $20,000 purchase of surplus modulars from the Hart Union High School District to house the homeless.

"It's a great step in the right direction," said Tim Davis, executive director of the nonprofit Santa Clarita Community Development Corp., which has tried for more than a decade to open a permanent shelter.

The players may have changed in a revived effort to award California's precious electoral votes by congressional districts. But the dots, Democrats claim, still connect to one person: Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani. Mercury News.

Exhibit One in the Democrats' case for conspiracy is Anne Dunsmore, who is leading the ballot measure's fundraising effort, which organizers hope to get on the June 2008 ballot.

Dunsmore is a veteran GOP fundraiser who brought in more than $200,000 for President Bush in 2000 and 2004. She also happens to have been Giuliani's top fundraiser before quitting Sept. 26.

U.S. Sen. Arnold Schwarzenegger, rubbing elbows in the upper house with his uncle, Democrat Edward Kennedy? Sacramento Bee.
Mercury News.
Don't laugh. It could happen, according to a Field Poll released Monday.

The Republican governor, termed out of office in 2010, remains very popular with California voters and would give incumbent U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer a fight in what has been a solidly Democratic state, the poll found.

In a modern-day twist on a Wild West battle over land, a Los Angeles County plan for an 81-mile swath of the Santa Monica Mountains is set for a showdown with the Coastal Commission today. Beth Barrett in the Daily News.

The plan bans construction in the most-sensitive habitats - including riparian areas along streams and canopied oak areas - and limits development in other significant woodlands, savannas and watersheds.

But critics - including the commission's staff - say the plan doesn't go far enough to protect sensitive areas from overdevelopment.

After years of struggling to raise money, the Children's Museum of Los Angeles has landed a $10 million donation that provides a key boost toward building the San Fernando Valley's first major museum. Kerry Cavanaugh and Brent Hopkins in the Daily News.

The anonymous donation is the largest single contribution and means the museum board is closer to reaching a price tag that has soared to $53 million for construction and exhibits at the Hansen Dam Recreation Area facility.

"This definitely gets us on track," said Cecilia Aguilera Glassman, the museum's chief executive officer who was brought in this year to spur fundraising.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's pick to lead the Department of Water and Power pledged Monday to promote openness and transparency in the massive utility's $3.9 billion budget and proposed rate increases. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

The naming of attorney and environmentalist H. David Nahai for the job came just three days after longtime chief Ron Deaton announced his retirement.

Nahai, who served two years in a voluntary post on the Board of Water and Power Commissioners, vowed to push for reform at the nation's largest public utility.

Los Angeles city officials were urged Monday to put tight restrictions on hiring and spending as the city grapples with projected shortfalls of $75 million this year and upward of $300 million within two years. Daily News.

City Administrative Officer Karen Sisson said officials are concerned about the impact of a slowing economy - including a sharp downturn in the housing market - that will reduce revenue to the city.

California faces a potentially grim economic outlook as the effects of growing foreclosures amid a faltering housing market ripple statewide, experts warned Monday. Daily News.

"We are on the verge of recession," economist Ross DeVol of the Milken Institute said at the institute's annual State of the State Conference in Beverly Hills.

And DeVol, part of a panel examining the impact of problems in the subprime-mortgage industry, said a drop in home sales affects everything from employment and consumer confidence to retail sales and tax revenue.

Iowa Republicans and Democrats will have two days to shake off their New Years hangovers before braving the bitter January cold to cast the first votes in the 2008 race for the White House CNN Political Ticiker.

"This date maintains the important common-sense principle of beginning the delegate selection process in the same calendar year as the election for which we are selecting delegates," Scott Brennan, chairman of Iowa Democratic Party, said in a statement.

"But the overarching principle is to retain the importance of the caucuses. Holding the caucuses on the same day as the Republican Party of Iowa shows solidarity and unity in working to protect Iowa's First-in-the-Nation status, an important argument in the years to come."

Even as firefighters battled last week against the raging infernos encircling communities from the mountains to the sea, officials and experts were debating whether stronger local regulations would have averted the disaster. Kerry Cavanaugh and Lisa Friedman in the Daily News.

While analyses after previous wildfires have led to construction of more fire-resistant homes, few communities have limited or prohibited development in high fire-risk areas.

New subdivisions continue to sprout near wind-blown canyons, while dream houses spring up in the brush-covered hills above Malibu and the forests of the San Bernardino Mountains.

California's share of federal spending has sunk to its lowest level in decades, the apparent result of war dollars shifting from air defense to ground weapons. Lisa Friedman in the Daily News.

New Census Bureau statistics for 2005, the latest figures available, show that the share of federal spending in the Golden State dipped to 10.8 percent from 11 percent.

While it's a tiny dip in percentage points, economists said it represents a significant symbolic drop.

The waning numbers are being driven by a decline in the share of federal procurement funds being funneled to California, said Tim Ransdell, executive director of the California Institute for Federal Policy Research.

Tipoffs: Chief William Bratton defends record at swearing in; Councilman Bernard Parks and Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas prepare for face off.

During the ninth Congress of Neighborhoods on Saturday, the question was not how the city's 89 neighborhood councils can get power, but how to wield their increasing influence. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

Some 350 people attended workshops at the four-hour convention on themes ranging from how to get what you want from city departments to how to craft a media message - signs that neighborhood councils are getting more sophisticated and flexing their political muscles.

Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council President Doug Epperhart said some neighborhood councils are ready for graduate-level workshops on empowerment.

After months of controversy and several meetings drawing standing-room-only crowds, a grass-roots group has launched a recall drive against three Lancaster City Council members accused of trying to fire the city manager. Karen Maeshiro in the Daily News.

Mayor Henry Hearns, Vice Mayor Andy Visokey and Councilman Ron Smith were served with recall notices at Tuesday night's council meeting, when they were slated to discuss a buyout offer extended to City Manager Bob LaSala.

"They have insisted they want to fire our city manager, and every time we turn our backs they try to have a meeting to fire him, and people keep showing up to let them know it's not going to be that way," said Darleen Peterson, a recall leader.

Countrywide Financial Corp. lost $1.2billion in the third quarter as its mortgage business took a huge hit from the credit crisis and home sales slump, the company said Friday. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

It was the first quarterly loss in 25 years for Calabasas-based Countrywide - and the company claimed the last by predicting it would return to profitability in the fourth quarter and next year.

The optimistic forecast sent the company's stock price soaring 32.3percent, to $17.30, after hitting a 52-week low Thursday. The share price is 64percent under the 52-week high of $45.26.

Ending a four-decade career as one of the most powerful figures in Los Angeles city government, Ronald Deaton announced Friday that he will retire as head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

A longtime City Hall insider and an ultimate behind-the-scenes dealmaker, the 64-year-old Deaton has been on medical leave since July after suffering a severe heart arrhythmia while vacationing in Costa Rica with his family.

Since then, there has been speculation that he would soon retire. Attorney H. David Nahai has even resigned from the DWP board in a move seen as preparation to be named the new general manager by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

On Friday, Deaton made his resignation official.

Taking another step in the fight against street gangs, Los Angeles city officials vowed Friday to redefine prevention versus intervention and spend more money on programs to quell the most serious gang crimes. Rachel Uranga in the Daily News.

Councilman Tony Cardenas, head of the city's Ad Hoc Committee on Gang Violence, said he and more than 30 groups that work with gangs came up with a new plan after months of frustration about how the city spends roughly $78million a year on gang prevention, intervention and suppression.

"At the core of what this comes down to is credibility," he said.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein is seeking $1 billion in emergency fire suppressing funding.

She also told the Daily News on Friday that she intends to convene hearings on federal fire suppression policies and what she described as perennially insufficient funds for hazardous mitigation throughout the country.

"We keep borrowing from other line items to meet the fire need," Feinstien said. "We can not keep going the way we're going."

In a letter to the heads of the House and Senate appropriations committees, she called the requested funding "critical to support firefighting activities and reduce the risk of fires on our nation's public lands and in the communities that surround them."

Specifically she asked for: $225 million to repay money borrowed by the Interior Department and Forest Service for emergency firefighting activities, and $775 million for suppression, hazardous fuels reduction, restoration and reconstruction.

Feinstein said she spoke personally to President Bush about the need for funding while the two toured fire-ravaged regions.

"He did not commit," Feintsein said. But, she added, "I believe he'll think about it."

Feinstein chairs the Interior and Environment subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee. She signed the letter with her counterpart from the House Appropriations Committee, Representative Norm Dicks of Washington state.

In summer 2003, Brenda Piedra was getting supplies in the streets of Baghdad - "shopping," as she calls it. Alex Dobuzinskis in the Daily News.

But it was nothing like a trip to the mall. As an Army private on a supply mission, Piedra came under fire that August day. A soldier in the Humvee in front of her was killed, and Piedra spent a long 20 minutes dodging bullets, pulling injured soldiers out of the street and firing back.

Before leaving active duty in 2005, Piedra rose to the rank of sergeant, pulled guard-duty shifts and supervised crews of Iraqi construction workers.

The blazes in California this week sparked a political firestorm in Washington on Thursday as House Republicans tried to block a vote expanding children's health insurance. Lisa Friedman in the Daily News.

With seven GOP lawmakers in the Southland touring fire damage and helping evacuated constituents, Republicans asked Democrats to delay until next week votes on a revised but still-controversial bill expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

Democrats refused. The Californians' absence would not affect the final outcome, they contended, while also noting that the House conducted critical votes in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina even though Louisiana and Mississippi lawmakers rushed to their home states.

Just a single San Fernando Valley school is in the running to participate in two key reform efforts widely touted by the mayor and schools chief as a key to boosting performance at Los Angeles Unified. Naush Boghossian in the Daily News.

Superintendent David Brewer III said Thursday that he has cut five of the six Valley schools named in his original reform effort targeting 44 low-performing sites.

And Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has 34 confirmed meetings with LAUSD schools through November to determine which two high schools and their related elementary and middle schools he'll manage - but none of them are in the Valley.

Still feeling the anger

LAPD Chief William Bratton's BlackBerry went off over the weekend after a car-to-car drive-by shooting in Arleta left a 23-year-old man dead. Rachel Uranga in the Daily News.

Investigators were sending Bratton details of the homicide, as they do with every such incident shortly after it happens.

Since taking the helm of the department in October 2002, Bratton has received 2,455 such messages and thousands more about shootings that fail to kill.

Chief touts success
Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton earlier this week touted his achievements to the new Police Commission and laid out future goals. Crime is down in all categories since he took office in 2002, with violent crimes down 31percent and property crimes down 25percent, he said. Daily News.

"The credit goes to the men and women of this department who have been able to achieve this with virtually no increase in the size of the department," Bratton said. "We are only beginning to see the impact of new hires on the department."

Even as San Diego County touts its use of a "Reverse 911" system to send out automated evacuation phone calls to thousands of residents, Los Angeles County relied on personal evacuation notices by hundreds of sheriff's deputies and other officials. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

That's because Los Angeles County hasn't purchased the new system yet, although officials say requests for proposals have been issued and they are evaluating the bids.

But while some are questioning why Los Angeles County hasn't taken better advantage of new technologies, county officials are defending their handling of the evacuations.

Concerned that Angelenos selling their condos have been hit with a $150 fee under an old, unused affordable-housing ordinance, the City Council voted Wednesday to study whether to update or repeal the law.Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

Under the 33-year-old ordinance, the city has the right of first refusal to buy condos built after 1974. But with little extra money, the city has almost always waived its right to purchase units.

Earlier this year, the Los Angeles Housing Authority enacted a $150 fee to process the waivers.

But R

Sen. Hillary Clinton celebrates her 60th birthday on Friday but will hold an intimate affair tonight with a few hundred of her closest friends.

CNN reports on its Political Ticker that the leading Democratic candidate for president will b at a New York City party hosted by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and entertainer Billy Crystal.

Among those entertaining are Elvis Costello and The Wallflowers. New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, New
York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-New York and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, are also scheduled to join
in the festivities.

It is the presidential campaign that all the major candidates want to deny, but is becoming as popular as, well, say, Dr. Pepper

It is the candidacy of Stephen Colbert, who is running as both a Democrat and Republican in the South Carolina primary.

It was only a matter of time until corporate America caught on.

And, they have.

In an open letter to Colbert, the folks at Dr. Pepper proposed an alliance:

Read on...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger defended the state's response to this week's wildfires during an appearance today on ABC's "Good Morning America."

Scott Whitlock of the blog, News Busters, said:

"At one point, Governor Schwarzenegger cut off Shipman's pleas for negative assessments of the effort by grabbing her arm. He bluntly scolded, "Trust me when I tell you, you're looking for a mistake and you won't find it because it's all good news, as much as you maybe hate it, but it's good news."

California's attorney general said Tuesday he will postpone a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency because of the massive wildfires in Southern California. AP in the Daily News.

Attorney General Jerry Brown told The Associated Press that California would not sue the agency today as he had planned. Instead, he will likely sue next week.

"The governor would rather do this next week," Brown said. "He's totally focused on the fires."

Unable to slow, much less stop, many of the wildfires that have charred Southern California, some local officials lashed out Tuesday at what they described as state authorities who offered inadequate help and seemed unprepared for a foreseeable disaster. Associated Press in the Daily News.

Most blistering in his critique was the head of Orange County's fire authority, who said a quick deployment of aircraft could have corralled the massive blaze his crews were fighting near heavily populated Irvine.

"It is an absolute fact, had we had more air resources we would have been able to control this fire," Chief Chip Prather told reporters.

Sparking fears that the San Fernando Valley could lose another hospital, the head of Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center has asked the community to pressure the landlord to sell the complex to another hospital operator.
Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.
The operator, Tenet Healthcare Corp., put the two-campus hospital up for sale nearly four years ago and wants to find a similar company to take it over before its lease on the buildings expires in February 2009.

But a complicated legal battle between Tenet and HCP Inc., the landlord of the Tarzana campus, has stalled a potential sale. One of the key issues is whether the landlord or tenant will have to pay for the millions of dollars in seismic upgrades that must be completed before 2013.

Former Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman to run on a national ticket for vice president, will see the "Geraldine A. Ferraro" hybrid tea rose created in her honor by Ferraro by Jackson & Perkins, the nationally renowned rose hybridizer

Sale of the flower will reaise funds for multiple myeloma research.

The presentation will take place Wednesday at the Exposition Park Rose Garden outside the Natural History Museum Councilwomen Wendy Greuel, Janice Hahn and Jan Perry will be hosting the event.

The California Republican Party has revived its effort to change how California apportions its votes for presidents.

Rather than the current winner-take-all system, the GOP has revived an initiative campaign to allocate the votes based on returns in Congressional districts _ a plan that fell apart earlier this year when the financing of it fell short.

Now, the FlashReport says, a group calling itself "California Counts Committee" and is reviving the effort to qualify a measure for the June ballot.

The report said the fundraising effort is headed by Anne Dunsmore of Capital Campaigns, with Ed Rollins serving as senior advisor and spokesman for the effort. Also backing the effort is National Tax Limitation Committee President Lew Uhler is playing a key role.

The group said it will be able to keep the 110,000 signatures gathered for the earlier effort and needs about 540,000 more to qualify for the ballot.

California Democrats are already organizing the fight the new effort.

Party Chair Art Torres is calling it a Halloween trick.

"Just in time for Halloween, phantom GOP forces are attempting to bring the electoral power grab initiative back from the dead. The Republicans may mistakenly think that Californians have a short memory, but this latest crass attempt to rig the presidential election is downright insulting.

“The Republicans’ first attempt with the initiative intended to rig the Presidential election became so entangled in its web of deception and fraud that it finally collapsed under its own weight. It appears as if whoever is truly driving this latest effort is making the same costly mistake."

Taft High School will get a royal visit on Wednesday when Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan visits the Woodland Hills campus as part of a trip sponsored by the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission.

The queen is the world's youngest monarch and will meet with student leaders regarding their efforts to reduce and eradicate prejudice and promote more cross-cultural understanding.

Councilman Bernard Parks and City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo approved a $95,000 payout Monday to former Department of Transportation General Manager Gloria Jeff, who complained she was unfairly fired by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

The mayor personally recruited Jeff to head the DOT in March 2006, but fired her last month amid complaints from city and community leaders about her management style.

Under the Los Angeles City Charter, the mayor has the right to hire and fire general managers, but Jeff decided to fight her termination.

Facing a dwindling number of available phone numbers for a growing number of San Fernando Valley residents, California officials began holding a series of public hearings Monday on how to introduce a new 747 area code within the 818. Alex Dobuzinskis in the Daily News.

Officials are weighing whether the Valley should be split into two zones - one area keeping 818 and the other getting 747 - or whether to "overlay" 747 across the region by assigning the new area code only to new users.

Michael Evans, a regulations analyst for the PUC, said that if a new area code is not introduced, the Valley will run out of available phone numbers by summer or fall of 2009.

More than 300 California educators had their teaching licenses revoked or suspended because of sex-related offenses from 2001 through 2005. AP in the Daily News.

But you can't tell that from the state's enforcement records - at least not those available to the public.

While some of the most egregious sex abuse is flagged, California law allows many offenses to remain confidential in education records, even when teachers go to prison and register as sex offenders.

Tipoffs: Foreshadowing the campaign for telephone tax, how Neighborhood Councils will play a key role.

The Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. is giving one of its Eddy Awards to its own chief economist, Jack Kyser

The LAEDC announced Sunday it was honoring Kyser at its 12th annual awards show on Nov. 6 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, for his years as being the "go to" economist to explain Southern California to the world.

In their announcement, the LAEDC called Kyser the "godfather" of economists and noted:

"This is truly an honor no one could refuse him. Whenever anyone wants to know anything about the Los Angeles economy from runaway TV/Film production to fashion, housing and Wall Street issues, Jack Kyser is the man with the answers," said Bill Allen, president and CEO, LAEDC. "This is his silver anniversary as a business leader."

Kyser has been the chief interpreter and storyteller for the regional economy for the past 25 years. His annual forecast report has been ranked #1 by the Wall Street Journal and his analyses of key industry sectors and economic trends have helped both the public and private sectors better understand the diversity and dynamism of the greater Los Angeles area.

From his 12th-floor suite in an office complex in Westwood, Eli Broad looks over acres of million-dollar homes, soaring towers along Wilshire Boulevard and clogged swaths of freeways and thoroughfares.
Tony Castro in the Daily News.
It is the disjointed, cacophonous Los Angeles in which Broad lives. But it's not the coherent, organized Los Angeles he envisions for the future.

"We've got a great city and have a lot of great communities, whether it's the Valley or whether it's the Westside or whether it's Pasadena," he says. "But you need one place where people from all communities can come together, whether it's for the arts, culture, sports, whatever.

os Angeles officials have refused to talk about it, but the NFL flat out told them three months ago that a professional football team will not be coming to the Coliseum, the Daily News has learned. Daily News.

According to letters obtained by the Daily News, the city's latest hope of luring an NFL team involved pleading for Los Angeles to host a Super Bowl to try to regenerate interest in moving a team to the city.

Despite an apparent lack of interest from the National Football League last year, Coliseum Commission President and City Councilman Bernard Parks just months ago wrote again to invite the league to Los Angeles.

In his first foray out of the city on behalf of the presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will begin an effort this weekend in Nevada to draw Latino voters on her behalf. Daily News.

"A Democrat in the White House, coupled with a Democratic majority in the Congress, will mean a new era of investment and a partnership that cities like Los Angeles so desperately need," Villaraigosa said of his role in Clinton's campaign.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's closest Hollywood friends held a fundraising roast for him Wednesday at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, just three days after the state's bill-signing period ended. Sacramento Bee.

Comedian Tom Arnold led the roast, aided by celebrities Jamie Lee Curtis, Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton and David Spade, as well as former legislative leaders John Burton and Jim Brulte, according to Burton, a former Democratic Senate president pro tem.

The Republican governor signed and vetoed the last of the 964 bills on his desk Sunday. His fundraising event raised approximately $800,000.

California's nine largest health maintenance organizations are generally performing well on national standards for medical care but still are falling short of exceptional service, according to a state rating report released Thursday. Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

Not a single HMO received the highest rating in the annual report by the state's Office of the Patient Advocate, which reviewed everything from percentage of patients screened for various types of cancer to patient follow-up care.

While no HMO received an "excellent" rating, Woodland Hills-based HealthNet and Kaiser Permanente's Northern California and Southern California regions received "good" ratings.

A week after the governor announced an agreement to preserve the Santa Susana Field Lab as public parkland, some environmentalists warned Thursday that the deal could let the Boeing Co. leave much of the radiologically contaminated soil on site. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Los Angeles, on Friday that requires Boeing to clean up the 2,850-acre hilltop lab to the strictest environmental standards.

However, the governor's support came with a condition: Kuehl must introduce legislation next session that could allow a less stringent cleanup standard in exchange for Boeing dedicating the land for open space.

September home sales throughout California sank to their lowest level in two decades as mortgages became harder to get, a real estate research firm said Thursday. Associated Press in the Daily News.

A total of 24,460 new and resale houses and condos were sold statewide last month.

That was down 45.2 percent from September 2006 and 26.8 percent from August, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

In addi

A marine biology research complex may be built as part of an effort to revitalize the Harbor Area's economic and education base, according to a plan by Los Angeles port officials. Art Marroquin in the Daily News.

The proposed 28-acre oceanfront laboratory at City Dock No. 1 would serve as a new home to the Southern California Marine Institute, which would likely share the space with government researchers, marine-related businesses or environmental groups, said port Executive Director Geraldine Knatz.

Costs, construction timelines and potential tenants are being worked out as part of an ongoing "visioning process" funded by a $50,000 matching-fund grant from the Annenberg Foundation, Knatz said.

A bill to keep groundwater clean in the San Gabriel Valley passed a key House subcommittee this week.

The San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Initiative adds $50 million to the San Gabriel Basin Restoration Fund to help clean perchlorate and other toxins in Southern California drinking water.

The bill is sponsored by Rep. David Dreier, R-Glendora, and supported by Reps. Grace Napolitano, D-City of Industry; Gary Miller, R-Diamond Bar; Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena; and Hilda Solis, D-El Monte.

The measure passed the House Water and Power Subcommittee with a unanimous vote and now moves to the full committee.

Los Angeles Rep. Henry Waxman is urging the Federal Trade Commission to launch an investigation into the risks of peer-to-peer file sharing networks.

Acknowledging that sites like Limewire and Kazaa "have the potential to deliver innovative and lawful applications that will enhance business and academic endeavors, reduce transaction costs and increase available bandwidth,'' Waxman also labled the sites as potentiall dangerous. In some cases personal financial information and other sensitive documents can be inadvertently shared along with music and movie files.

Along with 18 other lawmakers he warned that disclosures on such sites could lead to identity theft and asked asked the agency to ensure that consumers are aware of the risks associated with file sharing.

A five-year salary deal with six Los Angeles unions includes incentives that could boost the cost of the contract by 10 percent, to nearly $300million, city officials conceded Wednesday.Daily News.

Details of the proposed deal, outlined on the union coalition's Web site, include flexible payments to approximately 22,000 workers if they find $25million in cost savings citywide by the final year.

City officials have hailed the cost-saving provision of the deal, but admitted Wednesday that the cash payouts to workers would offset most, if not all, of the savings.

The Los Angeles metropolitan area remained the state's most expensive rental market in the third quarter, an industry tracker said Wednesday. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

During the July through September period, rents increased an annual 5.5 percent to an average $1,630 in the Los Angeles/Long Beach/Santa Ana metropolitan area, said RealFacts.com. The occupancy rate decreased an annual 1 percent to 96.5 percent.

The region's been the most expensive market for more than three years, said RealFacts spokesman Chris Bates. He's not surprised that apartments here are in demand.

Surprising developers and housing advocates alike, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced Wednesday that he wants to resurrect a controversial proposal that would require developers to include affordable housing in new residential projects. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

Speaking to the Los Angeles Business Council's Mayoral Housing Summit, Villaraigosa said the city must consider mandatory affordable-housing programs, such as inclusionary zoning, to sustain the middle class and keep jobs in Los Angeles.

"People can't afford to live in the city of Los Angeles," Villaraigosa said. "This is an opportunity for us to figure out a problem that has reached crisis proportions, and I'm prepared to lead that effort."

Stephen Colbert has announced his candidacy for president on "The Colbert Report," tossing his satirical hat into the ring of an already crowded race. Associated Press in the Daily News.

"I shall seek the office of the president of the United States," Colbert said Tuesday on his Comedy Central show as red, white and blue balloons fell around him.

Colbert, 43, had recently satirized the coyness of would-be presidential candidates by refusing to disclose whether he would seek the country's highest office - a refusal that often came without any prompting.

Billionaire Eli Broad is being honored today for his years of philanthropic work by the Carnegie Foundation.

Broad is among four honorees who are saluted every two years with the award that is given to families and individuals who have "dedicated their private wealth to the public good and who have sustained impressive careers as philanthropists" in the spirit of Andrew Carnegie.

The others to be honored at the Pittsburgh ceremonies today include the Heinz family, the Mellon family and the Tata family.

Broad, a major player in Los Angeles, is known for his philanthropic work in the cultural, education and scientific fields. Among his donations is $200 million for the creation of the Eli and Edythe Broad Institute for Biomedical Research.

Setting up a showdown with voters, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously declared a revenue emergency Tuesday and agreed to ask voters to approve a 9 percent telephone users' tax that would expand the levy to many new technologies. Beth Barrett in the Daily News.

The 14-0 vote to place the tax on the February presidential primary ballot comes amid concern that a judge could soon invalidate the current 10 percent phone tax - which brings in $270 million of the city's $7billion budget.

San Fernando Valley council members Dennis Zine and Greig Smith, who had questioned the urgency of the measure, met privately with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa after learning, to their surprise, that the measure would tax new technologies such as Voice over Internet Protocol and private communication services used by large companies.

Minutes after the City Council voted Tuesday to put a telephone users' tax on the February ballot, Councilwoman Janice Hahn pulled her proposal for a $40 a year parcel tax to fund gang-prevention programs. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

Despite championing the anti-gang tax for months, Hahn said the telephone tax - worth about $270 million a year - is more important to pass sooner than her proposed tax for intervention programs.

She's now aiming to put the anti-gang tax on the November 2008 ballot.

Neighborhood activists and Councilman Jack Weiss rejected a proposal Tuesday that would make it easier for developers to cut the number of parking spaces included in new apartment and condo projects. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

The idea is to reduce parking requirements when developers offer tenants or buyers transit alternatives, such as van pools, bike storage, transit passes or flex cars.

But Weiss and others argued that Los Angeles is no Manhattan or San Francisco or London, cities where people can easily get around without their own vehicle.

Los Angeles, they said, is still a city of cars and reducing the parking requirement will just lead to more crowded curbs.

Looking to bottom feed in this depressed real estate market?

Try finding a foreclosure because you might snap it up for about 20 percent or more under its recent market value.

Take a foreclosed home in Winnekta on the market for $404,900. The asking price is 24 percent lower than what the former owner paid in June of 2006, according to Realtor Steve Smallson. Gregory J. Wilcox and Rick Coca in the Daily News.

It's an example of some of the deep discounts that are now popping up in this down market that is reeling from the subprime mortgage crisis.

Calling it a message to Congress and President George W. Bush, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday adopted a long-debated resolution urging the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Daily News.

The 12-2 vote makes Los Angeles the largest city in the nation to adopt such a stance. The council said it approved the resolution because it wants the federal government to end the war, which is diverting money from local governments.

"We want to let our congressional delegation know we are speaking for the people of this country who want to see an end to the war in Iraq," said Councilman Bill Rosendahl, a Vietnam-era veteran who has been pushing for the measure for months.

Los Angeles' beleaguered traffic system received a boost Tuesday, with officials announcing that the city will get $150 million in bond funds to synchronize all the city's traffic signals. Daily News.

"I want to say to the people of Los Angeles: Promises made, promises kept," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said at a news conference with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and state and local elected officials.

"When I campaigned for mayor, I said we would synchronize the traffic signals and it would be expensive. Thanks to the governor and the speaker, now we have that money."

The funds are coming from Proposition 1B, which was part of a $40 billion package of bonds approved by voters in 2006 for transportation and infrastructure improvements across the state.

Wear pajamas, that is.
That was the question on Tuesday for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa during a news conference with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Speaker Fabian Nunez.
The governor was praising Villaraigosa for his lobbying efforts on behalf of Los Angeles.
"We saw him up there (in Sacramento) with his toothbrush and cute little pajamas," Schwarzenegger joked.
Nunez quickly piled on. "I, too, saw him in his pajamas when he was up lobbying us."
To which, the mayor issued a denial.
"With all our sleepovers, the governor knows I don't wear pajamas," Villaraigosa said.
This all might fall in to the category of too much information.

The effort to recall Los Angeles City Councilman Jack Weiss was abandoned Monday after organizers said they are unable to collect the number of signatures needed from registered voters to force an election. Daily News.

In a letter to City Clerk Frank Martinez, the Committee to Recall Jack Weiss said it is several thousand signatures short of the 23,000 that are required to be submitted Thursday.

"While we expect several hundreds of additional signatures to come in over the next several days, it is our belief we will not be able to gather sufficienct signatures to qualify for the ballot," wrote Kevin Singer.

In an ambitious effort to transform one of the San Fernando Valley's most blighted areas, community and business leaders will release a plan todaycq that calls for commercial "villages" and eco-friendly industrial parks where scrap heaps and auto shops now stand. Alex Dobunzinskis in the Daily News.

The 130-page blueprint by the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley aims to end decades of pollution and eyesores in Sun Valley, the Northeast Valley's dumping ground for trash and "dead" cars.

"I'm not going to say Sun Valley is going to become Beverly Hills anytime soon," said Bob Scott, director of the Mulholland Institute and one of the authors of the report, titled "Sun Valley Renaissance."

Los Angeles officials voiced frustration Monday with the status of the city's $15 million red-light camera enforcement program amid installation delays and other problems. Daily News.

Designed to catch motorists who speed through red lights, the program was supposed to have installed cameras at 32 intersections by June.

But six intersections still do not have cameras, and the success rate in issuing tickets to motorists who are photographed is about 65 percent - far below the 80 percent that had been promised.

The Democratic supporters of the Draft Gore petition apparently are not alone in their giddiness over the former vice president's recent triumph in Oslo. That Nobel Peace Prize Al Gore will share with the scientists on the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change also gave a boost to DVD sales of "An Inconvenient Truth."
Amazon reports that, within hours after the Nobel announcement Friday, DVD sales rose 406 percent. The Oscar-winning documentary based on Gore's global-warming slideshow and lecture ranks 12th on Amazon's DVD charts as of Monday afternoon.
Now, if someone would just arrange a private screening at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue...

Comedian Drew Carey, making his debut today as host of the "Price is Right," is also being featured in the first of what is expected to be a series of online videos for the Reason Foundation on ReasonTV.

In his first feature, Carey focuses on traffic in Los Angeles, finds the commuter with the worst drive to work and proivdes a helicopter trip for him.

Carey's conclusion: It is only going to get worse and, "I wish I owned my own freeway"

In future videos, Carey is expected comment on drug laws, immigration and eminent domain.

Taking a stand against Iran's ties to terrorism, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday signed a bill requiring the state's pension funds to divest from companies that do business with that country's energy and defense sectors. Daily News.

Estimates vary on how much money state funds have invested in companies that do business with Iran, but it could run as high as $24 billion. Also, divesting that much stock could cost more than $120 million in expenses such as taxes and commissions.

The state's two major pension funds have vigorously opposed the bill, arguing that it runs counter to their constitutionally mandated financial responsibility to state employees and government agencies.

But Schwarzenegger said the state should make a strong statement against terrorism by exerting the financial influence of the nation's two largest public pension funds.

Even as a fierce battle brews in Congress over Republican opposition to a $35 billion expansion of children's health insurance, California's heavily gerrymandered election districts mean Southland GOP lawmakers face little political risk over their stance. Lisa Friedman in the Daily News.

Every Southern California Republican voted against the bill last month, which would add as many as 3.1 million more children to health-insurance rolls nationwide, including about 203,320 in the Golden State.

And furious Democrats, preparing for a Thursday vote to override President George W. Bush's rejection of the measure, are mounting a campaign against GOP lawmakers who oppose the plan.

But Southland Republicans have little to fear from the attack ads and phone campaigns, California political analysts said.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law on Sunday a measure designed to provide up to $640 million to Los Angeles schools from a voter-approved bond. Daily News.

The governor signed AB 1014, authored by Assemblywoman Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, designed to fill a loophole in Proposition 1D, the school-construction measure approved last November as part of Schwarzenegger's package of bonds aimed at improving California's infrastructure.

A provision in the measure, however, would have placed severe limits on the ability of the Los Angeles Unified - the largest school district in the state - from getting its fair share of the funds.

Bass' measure changed the formula for funding from looking at new-student growth to considering traditionally overcrowded school districts, such as the LAUSD.

TIPOFFS: Mayor, council look at establishing ground rules to avoid lawsuits from fired department heats, Rocky Degladillo, more.

Warning that a potential loss of $270 million in next year's budget could threaten Los Angeles municipal services, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa appealed Saturday to neighborhood council leaders to support the city's plan for a 9 percent telephone tax. Daily News.

But the outline of the challenges facing the city's $6.8 billion budget drew sharp criticism from the more than 150 community leaders gathered at City Hall for the annual presentation.

Many questioned the timing of the proposal, which comes as the Department of Water and Power is seeking to raise electric rates by 9 percent over three years and water rates by 6 percent over two years.

In a landmark deal cautiously hailed by community and environmental activists, the Boeing Co. agreed on Friday to donate its contaminated Santa Susana Field Laboratory site to the state of California for use as open space after cleaning it up to state standards. Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

The deal - culminating an 18-year controversy since the Daily News disclosed toxic contamination of the research site - was negotiated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration.

It calls for the company to contribute $22.5million over 30 years to an endowment fund to pay for maintaining the property in the hills above Simi Valley and Chatsworth as parkland.

A builder has unveiled plans for two Victory Boulevard developments worth nearly $400million that would revitalize the mid-San Fernando Valley area with new commercial, residential and retail space over the next several years. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

The projects - replete with Italian-inspired walkways, fountains and a trolley - are expected to cover 16 acres on the north side of the boulevard between Ethel and Atoll avenues, marking the largest development in the community to date.

"This is going to change the face of this side of the Valley and will raise the bar for future developments," said Christopher Alan, owner of Dasher Lawless Inc., based in Van Nuys.

A plan to require large home improvement stores to set aside space for day laborers moved ahead Friday as the Los Angeles City Council asked for a final ordinance. Daily News.

"This is a citywide problem and rather than try to go back and retroactively fix the issue, we should deal with the stores before they open," Councilman Bernard Parks said.

Under the measure, all home improvement stores with more than 100,000 square feet of space will be required to set aside space for day laborers that includes plumbing facilities.

The Los Angeles City Council on Friday rejected a proposed $16 million settlement in a case involving four police officers who were key figures in the Rampart Division scandal. Daily News.

After a closed-door meeting, the council voted 10-0 to reject the settlement in cases brought against the city by Officer Paul Harper, suspended Sgt. Edward Ortiz, former Sgt. Brian Liddy and former Officer Michael Buchanan.

"We were told we stand a good chance of winning at trial," said Councilman Ed Reyes, whose district is in the Rampart Division.

Facing perhaps the heaviest criticism of his political career, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez on Thursday defended using campaign funds to pay for international travel and extravagant purchases - and insisted he hasn't abandoned his working-class mentality. Edwin Garcia in the Mercury News.

"The fact that I've been successful, that I'm the speaker of the Assembly, and I've represented California around the world is something I'm very proud of," Núñez said. "But that doesn't mean that I've walked away from my humble roots and humble beginning. I'm going to fight each and every day, as I have in the Legislature, for the people I most care about: the underprivileged, the poor, those who don't have a voice in government . . . "

Núñez's comments come at a critical time for a politician whose Capitol clout is arguably second only to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's. For the past six days, the 40-year-old Democrat with an affable reputation has been pummeled by news reports of lavish spending that contradict the image he cultivated over the years as a champion for the working poor.

***Nunez office late Friday put out these links to his news conference where he discussed the issue:

The number of homeless in Los Angeles County dropped 17 percent over the past two years - and was down more than 40 percent in the San Fernando Valley alone, according to a report released Thursday. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

But while Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority officials said their biennual count found the estimated number of people homeless on any given day dropped from 88,345 to 73,000, many questioned the findings.

"Where did 15,000 homeless people in Los Angeles go? Clearly we did not build that number of affordable housing units and/or shelter beds," asked Joel John Roberts, chief executive officer of PATH Partners, an organization working to break the cycle of homelessness. "So 15,000 homeless people either left on their own, or the number is inaccurate."

Just days after unveiling an overhaul plan for dozens of Los Angeles' lowest-performing schools, Superintendent David Brewer III on Thursday targeted nearly 100 underachieving and long-neglected middle schools for reform. Naush Boghossian in the Daily News.

Brewer said he hopes to roll out "personalized learning environments" at all 92 of the district's middle schools by the 2009-10 school year to raise achievement and retention rates.

The move is significant for Los Angeles Unified School District middle schools, overlooked for years as the district focused on improving elementary schools, then high schools.

After months of political and personal turmoil, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa started to refocus his administration on practical accomplishments Thursday as he prepares to drum up support from neighborhood councils this weekend for a phone tax and utility-rate hikes. Daily News.

Under the "30-30" program launched Thursday, Villaraigosa and his new transportation chief, Rita Robinson, said the city will install 30 left-hand-turn signals at 13 intersections across Los Angeles over the next 30 workdays.

"Make no mistake about it," Villaraigosa said, shouting over the noise of traffic at an intersection near Los Angeles International Airport where the announcement was made. "This is a start of reinvigorating the Department of Transportation and us looking at bold measures to improve traffic.

Two weeks after Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa abruptly fired Department of Transportation General Manager Gloria Jeff, some city leaders are trying to negotiate a settlement to persuade Jeff to drop her appeal and avoid a high-profile, racially charged hearing over her termination.
Kerry Cavanaugh in t he Daily News.

Villaraigosa has been criticized by African-Americans for his handling of Jeff's firing - namely giving her an immediate ultimatum to resign or be fired, with no explanation, after he personally recruited her from Michigan.

Jeff hired an attorney, rallied the support of African-American groups and has appealed her firing to the City Council.

Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez privately has asked all 47 Assembly Democrats to donate about $50,000 apiece to help pass an initiative that could give all of them extra time in office. Sacramento Bee.

The measure, Proposition 93, would reduce the total number of years that an elected official could serve in the Legislature -- from 14 to 12 -- but provide at least one extra term for incumbents.

Núñez solicited his Democratic caucus at a breakfast meeting Aug. 30 at Chops restaurant near the Capitol, but the session was private and details were unknown until Wednesday.

Turkey is already reacting strongly to the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee's vote to declare the 1915-1923 massacre of Armenians a genocide, with the country's leading newspapers suggesting America examine its own house before casting judgement on other nations.

In a 23-page photo spread this morning, the secular-centrist daily Hurriyet posted graphic photos of American soldiers threatening naked prisoners with snarling dogs; standing over naked prisoners bound together on the prison floor; and dozens of other shots of bloodied bodies lying in the rubble of Iraq.

Meanwhile, the also-influential Milliyetpaper is broadcasting its own shots of an Iraqi woman cowering on the floor before a U.S. soldier and dead bodies on stretchers.

In both papers, the headlines translate loosely to: Look who is saying 'genocide.'

Goodbye, Burbank; hello, Universal City.

That was the word Wednesday from NBC, the network that introduced the world to "Beautiful Downtown Burbank" and helped make it the "Media Capital of the World." David Kronke and Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

"The Tonight Show," local news operations and "Access Hollywood," along with other programming, will be relocated to Universal City, which includes Universal Studios, its theme park and CityWalk.

"This is part of a long-term strategy on the West Coast, centralizing our businesses in one location in Los Angeles," said Tom Smith, senior vice president of West Coast Real Estate for NBC Universal.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger intends to sign five anti-gang bills today designed to boost law enforcement and educational tools to fight a surge in gang violence in California. Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

The bills include new tools for prosecutors - including the ability to evict people convicted of weapons offenses - and educational aspects such as required classes for parents of juveniles convicted of gang-related crimes.

The governor has scheduled a bill-signing event today in San Bernardino with District Attorney Michael Ramos.

A judge on Wednesday tentatively rejected a bid by a Department of Water and Power union that had sought a temporary restraining order to bar the Daily News' online publication of workers' names, salaries and positions. Beth Barrett in the Daily News.

Superior Court Judge Dzintra Janavs set a Nov. 1 hearing for preliminary injunction arguments for the Daily News to show cause why it should not be restrained from disclosing the salaries.

In the meantime, the move means the newspaper can keep the names and salaries of all 8,500 DWP workers posted on its Web site, dailynews.com.

Janavs noted in her ruling that the information already has been online since Sept. 30.

Casting aside threats of international retaliation by Turkish officials, the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted Wednesday to unconditionally declare the killing of thousands of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I a "genocide." Lisa Friedman in the Daily News.

The 27-21 vote came after more than four hours of searing debate pitting calls for America to take a moral stand against the realpolitik of offending Turkey, a major route for air cargo, fuel and other supplies for U.S. troops in Iraq.

Turks, including three members of parliament who flew to Washington for the hearing, looked on grimly as the vote tally was read.

Los Angeles officials on Wednesday released details of a proposed settlement with the ACLU that will end a contentious lawsuit over treatment of the homeless on Skid Row and throughout the city. Daiily News.

"This brings to an end one suit, but not the problems we face in dealing with the homeless throughout the city," said Councilwoman Jan Perry, whose district includes Skid Row and who had opposed previous efforts to settle the lawsuit.

"This allows the city to retain its prerogatives on dealing with the homeless and gives us a certain time to deal with the issue."

The U.S. House approved legislation today by Los Angeles Democrat Rep. Diane Watson to establish a film series to promote international diplomacy and funding to build new State Department libraries that are open to the public.

Watson, a former ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia, said providing people across the world access to information about the United States and their own nations can be ``a testament to the principle that the greatest tool we have against tyranny is the truth.''

The bill also establishes a “Johnny Grant Film Series” named after the television and radio personality known as the “Mayor of Hollywood.” Watson said the film series "would provide the United States Government with the opportunity to show the world the optimism and promise of America as portrayed in our classic films.”

The measure passed unanimously on a voice vote.

That's the introduction Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had for a group of Virgil Middle School students gathered at the neighboring Bresee Youth Foundation in the Hollywood area on Thursday during a tour with Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
The center, which offers after-school programs including computer training, math tutoring and other programs for upwards of 100 children, was cited as an example of a gang-prevention program Feinstein wants to see funded with her $1 billion anti-gang bill that is pending in the House of Representatives.
Feinstein said it has been a 10-year fight to get the measure through, which includes $400 million for supression, $400 million for intervention and $130 million for witness protection.
" Conservatives wanted more money for crime suppression and liberals wanted more money for prevention," Feinstein said. "I think we have a balance with this bill."
The students were given a few hours off from classes to attend the event where they posed for pictures with Feinstein and Villaraigosa.

Aiming to overhaul Los Angeles Unified's lowest-performing schools, Superintendent David Brewer III unveiled a plan Tuesday to essentially carve out a separate, targeted district for 44 of the neediest schools.Naush Boghossian in the Daily News.

Brewer's senior staff and local superintendents still are developing details, but the new district would be made up of middle and high schools - including several in the San Fernando Valley - and would have its own rules of governance, separate curriculum and instructional planning.

Brewer hopes to roll out the district next fall and said schools in the group would be candidates for drastic reforms such as all-boys academies and neighborhood literacy centers for parents.

The LAPD's poor planning, weak leadership and disjointed communication led to the chaos that unfolded during the May Day melee at MacArthur Park between riot gear-clad officers, immigrants-rights protesters and the media, according to a scathing internal report released Tuesday. Daily News.

The long-anticipated report presented to the Los Angeles Police Commission revealed that Metropolitan Division officers assigned to keep the peace hadn't been trained in crowd control in more than 18 months; that many of them had no idea who was in charge; and that the department was caught off guard despite a similar protest a year earlier in which hundreds of thousands more people participated.

And when things spun out of control, "not a single supervisor or member of the command staff involved attempted to intervene," according to the report.

Water wasters, watch out!

Over-irrigate your lawn or hose down your driveway and you could soon receive a visit from the Drought Busters.

With a shortage of imported water exacerbating the problems caused by another dry year, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power may revive its conservation cops - a crew of employees who cruise the city in search of people wasting water. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

With the House Committee on Foreign Affairs voting today on declaring the massacre of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey genocide, a Southland congresswoman is coming under fire for flip-flopping on the emotionally charged resolution. Lisa Friedman in the Daily News.

Although she co-sponsored it, Rep. Jane Harman last week wrote to the chairman of the committee urging him not to bring the resolution to a vote and declaring that she will vote against it if it reaches the floor.

Amid shouts of "genocide denier" and "You are a hypocrite and liar," the El Segundo Democrat defended her letter Saturday to about 70 Armenian students who confronted her at a political rally in Lakewood.

Ending a contentious lawsuit that brought the city's efforts to deal with the homeless at Skid Row into question, the Los Angeles City Council and the American Civil Liberties Union reached a tentative settlement Tuesday that will allow the homeless to remain on city streets overnight. Daily News.

Under terms of the settlement described by officials, a "10-foot rule" is to be put into place prohibiting the homeless from sitting, lying or sleeping within that distance from any business or residential entrance.

At the same time, police will be prohibited from arresting the homeless between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. if they are in any other location.

The agreement will remain in effect until the city builds 1,250 new units of affordable housing, including 50 percent of them on Skid Row.

The union representing nearly all 8,500 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power employees sought a temporary restraining order Tuesday against the Daily News over online publication of the workers' names, salaries and positions. Beth Barrett in the Daily News.

Also named in the court filing by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 18 were the city of Los Angeles and the DWP Board of Commissioners.

Notice of the filing was sent to the Daily News' corporate headquarters in Denver. The newspaper was given 30 days to respond.

Councilman Dennis Zine has been selected to be the representative of the City of Los Angeles at ceremonies in Japan this week commemorating the 100th anniversary of the operation of ports in the two cities.
Zine, whose district is in the landlocked central San Fernando Valley, was part of the entourage with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to Asia, where he was introduced as "Vice" mayor of the city.
Zine said he was asked to go on the week-long trip after other officials, including the mayor and Councilwoman Janice Hahn, whose district includes the Port of Los Angeles.

KABC has an amusing video of Speaker Fabian Nunez fleeing a television news reporter asking why he used campaign fund to pay for his extravagent lifestyle.

Nunez is facing questions from contributors and constituents after a Los Angeles Times story revealed expenses charged to his campaign account, including $8,745 at the exclusive Hotel Arts in Barcelona, Spain; $5,149 for a meeting at Cave L'Avant Garde, a wine seller in the Bordeaux region of France; a total of $2,562 for two "office expenses" at Vuitton, two years apart; and $1,795 for a "meeting" at Le Grand Colbert, a venerable Parisian restaurant.

Nunez has refused to answer questions about how those expenses relate to his job representing a Los Angeles community where more than 80 percent of families earn less than $50,000 a year. (That 1999 figure comes from his Web site.)

Amid a growing water crisis across the state, officials warned Monday that they will cut water to Southern California farmers 30 percent by early next year and are drafting plans that could force residential water rationing for the first time in more than a decade. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

The moves come as a combination of drought, rising demand, fragile ecosystems and endangered fish has dramatically reduced the region's water supply.

Officials with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California - the agency that sells water to cities in the region - said the factors could push wholesale rates up as much as 10 percent within two years.

And they predicted that the trends could mean the region will lack water to meet all of Southern California's demands about 70 percent of the time.

More than a year after rolling out a $10 million effort to keep at-risk students in school and re-enroll those who have left, Los Angeles Unified's dropout rate has seen little improvement. Naush Boghossian in the Daily News.

But the nation's second-largest school district announced Monday that it will expand its anti-dropout efforts to the Internet and radio airwaves and send even more counselors door-to-door.

The new program - "My Future, My Decision" - is a broad effort that includes spots on KPWR-FM (105.9), a text-messaging campaign and interaction through popular social networking Web sites MySpace and Facebook.

Environmentalists and industry officials alike are waiting for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to act this week on a stack of environmental bills that would do everything from requiring "green" building standards on new construction to banning potentially hazardous chemicals in children's toys. Paul Rogers in the Daily News.

Schwarzenegger has until Sunday to sign or veto all the bills the Legislature passed this year, including more than a dozen on environmental issues.

"We hope that the governor is going to want to reinforce his environmental reputation by signing some of these key bills," said Bill Magavern, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club.

H. David Nahai resigned his post as president of the Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners last week, raising speculation that he is positioning himself for the job of general manager of the nation's largest municipal utility.

DWP General Manager Ronald Deaton's contract expires in December, but he has been out on medical disability since suffering heart problems while on vacation in Costa Rica.

Nahai, an attorney appointed to the DWP board by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, is said to be the mayor's pick for the job but the nobody can make a move until Deaton says whether he wants to stay or go.

Competition for the $62.5 million annual contract to police the city's mass transit system is heating up among some law enforcement agencies, months before bidding wars begin. Sue Doyle in the Daily News.

Metro's five-year agreement with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department will expire June 30, 2008, and officials do not yet know if they will renew it. The transit agency is reviewing other security options that could dismantle the sheriff's grip on the mass transit system and save about $4.7 million.

Roger Snoble, Metro's chief executive officer, said at a recent workshop that the security-program review should not be considered a criticism of the Sheriff's Department and its staff assigned to the transit agency.

Zella Knight and her 15-year-old daughter were evicted from their Sun Valley apartment last year as the condo-conversion craze swept the San Fernando Valley. Naush Boghossian in the Daily News.

Anastassia helped her mother hunt long and hard for an affordable place to live, and they finally settled in an L.A. Family Housing shelter in North Hollywood.

The situation is far from ideal, however, and their struggles continue: Zella to find support services and Anastassia to find a quiet place to study so she can maintain her high grades.

Five months after LAPD officers drew scorn by firing rubber bullets into crowds of women and children and roughing up journalists at a peaceful May Day rally, the department is expected to release its long-awaited report this week on what went wrong. Rachel Uranga in the Daily News.

Widely seen as an overreaction to a few troublemakers, the LAPD's response at the May 1 MacArthur Park rally prompted more than a 100 lawsuits and claims, two demotions and creation of a special LAPD crowd-control unit.

The report is expected to detail the LAPD's account of what happened at the rally and why. So far, LAPD officials have refused to discuss its content, saying only that it will not name officers involved.

Tipoffs: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council will be tested with a number of issues in coming weeks.

More hikes in electric and water rates. A ballot scheme to save the phone tax. A plan to tax Los Angeles property owners to pay for gang intervention and prevention programs.

The people of Los Angeles are City Hall's targets even as city workers have gotten recent double-digit salary increases and the city budget has soared nearly 60 percent to $6.8 billion in just seven years. Kerry Cavanaugh and Beth Barrett in the Daily News.

To some, the trend is evidence that the nation's second-largest municipality is in trouble.

"The hole just keeps getting deeper all the time," said David Fleming, chair of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.

Neighborhood council members Saturday questioned a controversial Department of Water and Power rate increase that many said was confusing - and misleading. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

"Our council voted down this increase because there was just too much we didn't understand," Woodland Hills representative August Steurer said at a monthly neighborhood council congress in Hollywood.

"The average person doesn't understand the DWP; (it has its) own language."

This week, the DWP board approved its first rate increase in 15 years. The plan would increase electric rates by 9 percent over the next three years, and water rates would increase 6 percent over two years.

As hundreds of thousands of homeowners nationwide face potential foreclosure, a heated battle is brewing in Congress over how to address the subprime mortgage meltdown. Lisa Friedman in the Daily News.

The mortgage woes are hitting California particularly hard, with 57,875 of the nation's 243,947 foreclosures in August being filed in the Golden State, according to the Irvine-based RealtyTrac Inc.

Los Angeles County accounted for nearly 12,000 of the month's foreclosures.

But while legislation moved forward last week to allow judges to modify the terms of a home's first mortgage in a bankruptcy proceeding, it faced fierce objections from Republicans who said it would drive up interest rates.

Consultant Sue Simone is not poor by any measure, but recently she felt like she was. Simone was struggling to pay her mortgage, buy groceries and secure child care during a three-hour role-playing game designed to simulate poverty. Julia M. Scott n the Daily News.

"I ultimately lost my house and everything in our lives," said Simone, whose office is in Tarzana. "When the kids came home and asked me where we were going to go, I said the car."

The Los Angeles chapter of Social Venture Partners held the simulation to promote a wider awareness of poverty. Many of the group's events, like the one in L.A., draw people by word of mouth as Social Venture Partner members encourage friends, family and work colleagues to attend and learn.

Los Angeles County's total legal costs jumped 17 percent from $86 million in 2005-06 to $101 million last fiscal year, just shy of a record high reached several years ago, officials said Friday. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

The $51 million in settlements and judgments was 20 percent higher than the average paid in the past five years and 32 percent higher than the previous year.

The disclosure is expected to be presented to the Board of Supervisors this month, but some already expressed concern.

They are some of the questions pondered by great thinkers: Who am I? Why am I here? Do I exist?

Well, the San Fernando Valley community of Lake Balboa got the answer Friday to at least one of those questions.

It exists.

Nearly a year ago, city functionaries discovered that - despite the unveiling of Lake Balboa's blue neighborhood signs in 2002 - the community was never made official at City Hall. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

And when West Van Nuys residents petitioned to join Lake Balboa, the City Clerk's Office threw into doubt the existence of the 4,000-person community.

Some of the world's leading genocide scholars are urging Congress to formally declare the massacres of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey after World War I a genocide.

In a letter to the leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which will vote next week on a resolution recognizing the genoicde, members of the International Association of Genocide Scholars said this morning that passing the bill would be "affirming the truth about a genocide that has been overwhelmingly established by decades of documentation and scholarship."

The bill by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, passed the committee last year but the then-Republican leadership blocked it from coming to the House floor. But Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has pledged her committment to the resolution, and supporters said they hope to see it come to a vote this year.

A pharmacist who beat his schnauzer to death, then stuffed him in the freezer. A drunk who dragged his German shepherd behind his pickup. A teen who tried to drown his Shih Tzu for soiling the carpet.

Animal-cruelty cases that once fell through the cracks are now pursued by the Los Angeles Animal Cruelty Task Force - the first in the nation to team up prosecutors, police and animal-control officers. Dana Batholomew in the Daily News.

Two years old this month, the force has doubled its officers since April. Since its creation, it has bumped up criminal investigations from a handful a year to more than 200 this year alone, most of them felonies.

"We are putting a dent in animal cruelty in the city of Los Angeles," said Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Tony Lomedico, head of daily operations for the task force. "We are putting people in jail."

Los Angeles officials and six unions have negotiated a contract that will give the bulk of the city's civilian work force up to a 23 percent pay hike at the end of five years, the Daily News has learned. Beth Barrett in the Daily News.

The deal means thousands of city workers will see salary increases even greater than a controversial 16.8 percent salary deal recently negotiated for Department of Water and Power workers.

Details of the six-union deal have remained secret since the tentative pact was reached late Sunday.

Sources familiar with it say the package includes a 14.25 percent raise over five years for all of the unions' 22,000 workers.

Just a week after being fired by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former Department of Transportation General Manager Gloria Jeff has hired a high-profile attorney to fight for her job. Kerry Cavaanaugh in the Daily News.

Recruited by the mayor 18 months ago, Jeff was fired last Friday after refusing to resign amid mounting complaints from employees and city leaders about her management style.

Villaraigosa has said only that he wanted the department to move faster and in a new direction. But attorney Gloria Allred said Jeff was callously fired with no review and no documented performance issues.

"It does not speak well for our city that she was fired with less than one day notice, without provisions for adequate severance and in a manner which was designed to inflict maximum career damage on this hardworking, skilled and dedicated city employee," Allred said in a statement.

United Teachers Los Angeles officers will camp out in an RV at Los Angeles Unified headquarters starting today to protest payroll glitches that have led to over- and underpayments for thousands of employees since February. Naush Boghossian in the Daily News.

The camp-out is the latest effort by the union to step up pressure against the district to resolve the problems. Superintendent David Brewer III has said the district can fix all the problems by next July.

"July 2008 is way too late," UTLA President A.J. Duffy said. "We're going to continue to support our teachers and highlight the problems for the community.

"They have sent out so many contradictory messages that we're not sure what's accurate and what's not and what's true and what's not."

What they're eating over at the White House tonight to mark the breaking of the fast of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month:

THE WHITE HOUSE

OFFICE OF THE FIRST LADY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 4, 2007

MENU FOR IFTAAR DINNER

Roasted Kabocha Squash Soup

Pumpkin Oil

Crispy Lavash

Spiced Rack of Lamb

Lemon-thyme Jus

Early Autumn Vegetables

Cucumber-Tomato Salad

Minted Yogurt

Baklava with Pomegranate

Mamoul Cookies

The city of Los Angeles quietly sued its residents in April in an unusual maneuver aimed at ensuring that surplus Department of Water and Power revenue could be transferred to the city treasury and used for other purposes. Beth Barrett in the Daily News.

The April 9 filing of a "complaint for validation" in Los Angeles Superior Court gave the public just 90 days to challenge the city's attempt to transfer $30 million from the DWP to the general fund.

It was intended as a pre-emptive strike to win a nearly decade-long battle over the legality of such transfers that in recent years have ranged from $100 million annually to twice that much.

Los Angeles officials sought to get the court to declare the transfer legal and allow them to proceed without the threat of a lawsuit, although a state Supreme Court ruling last year raised questions about the practice's constitutionality.

Despite concerns about the last-minute maneuver, the Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to draft emergency ballot language that would ask voters in February to endorse a 9 percent tax on telephone and cell-phone users. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

The decision is a step toward rewriting the city's telephone users' tax regulation to keep it legal and ensure that the city continues to rake in more than $200 million a year.

The revenue is being threatened because wireless companies recently won a lawsuit challenging the 10 percent tax, meaning the city could lose $162 million a year generated by cell-phone taxes. Meanwhile, another critic is challenging the tax on long-distance phone calls.

A shortage in air-traffic controllers led to 55 runway incursions reported at Los Angeles International Airport since October 2001, eight of which occurred during the past year, according to a study released this week.n Art Maroquin in the Daily News.

An understaffed control tower at LAX means longer work hours and more duties for fatigued air-traffic controllers, leading to an increased likelihood for serious mistakes on the runway, according to a report by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

"Quite often, controllers are the last line of defense and we see pilots doing something that they are not supposed to do, so part of our job is to stop them," said Michael Foote, president of NATCA's membership at LAX.

In a decision that will bring federal oversight of the embattled Los Angeles Fire Department, investigators for a national agency said Tuesday that the LAFD has violated civil-rights laws by allowing harassment of female and African-American firefighters. Kerry Cavanaugh and Beth Barrett in the Daily News.

The decision by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission stems from at least two complaints filed by female firefighters who said they were treated unfairly on the job, then suffered retaliation after they complained.

But as the agency looked into the incidents, investigators said they found evidence of broader problems in the department.

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power officials unanimously approved water and electric rate hikes Tuesday, despite criticism that the massive utility has for years mismanaged its money. Beth Barrett in the Daily News.

Under the plan, electric rates would increase 9 percent over three years and water rates would increase 6 percent over two years.

But the plan comes amid increased scrutiny of the DWP in the wake of a Daily News review of salary data that show that the average DWP worker makes $76,949 a year - or nearly 20 percent more than the average civilian city worker.

Assailed by critics who say the number of San Fernando Valley police officers has slipped dangerously low amid rising gang violence, LAPD officials said Tuesday that response times have dropped by more than 30 percent and overall crime is down. Rachel Uranga in the Daily News.

But while Deputy Chief Michel Moore said he will do everything he can to keep response times low, data provided by the Los Angeles Police Department also showed that the number of permanently stationed officers in the Valley has dropped to its lowest level in four years.

"The results speak of a balanced score card," Moore told the Los Angeles Police Commission while presenting a 15-page report on the issue.

Boxer vs. the Governator?

The possible marquee matchup in 2010 between Sen. Barbara Boxer and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for a California Senate seat is irresistible - as a fundraising tool for Boxer. San Jose Mercury News.

In a pitch for contributions just before the third quarter reporting period ended Sunday, Boxer raised the specter of a Schwarzenegger campaign to unseat her in an e-mail to potential supporters.

"The media," Boxer wrote, "is already hyping a certain governor's possible bid for my Senate seat in 2010."

More than three years after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to remove a tiny cross from the county seal, officials at a national public-interest law firm said Tuesday they are taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

If the high court decides to hear the case, it could become one of the first to clearly establish what religious symbols will be allowed in the public square.

Robert J. Muise, a trial attorney at the Thomas More Law Center, said some of the Supreme Court justices have expressed interest in hearing the issue on the Constitution's "establishment clause."

Los Angeles officials on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a five-year contract covering some 22,000 city workers, the largest wage settlement of its kind. Daily News.

The contract includes a unique cost-savings provision in its final two years that forces employees to find savings in the way they work or face penalties.

The contract will now go before a union vote and then return to the council for final approval. Contract details were expected to remain secret until the first union meetings, tentatively set for Friday. But it is believed to be for at least a 13 percent increase over the life of the contract. The deal would cost the city an estimated $30 million a year.

A Southland lawmaker's bill that would amp up penalties for gang crime and pour millions of dollars into prevention programs got a mixed reception Tuesday as critics split over the best way to fight street violence. Lisa Friedman in the Daily News.

Two criminal-justice researchers opposed the bill by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, saying it relies too heavily on law enforcement responses that studies show have only a limited impact on crime.

"I don't hear much support for this bill," Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, told the House Judiciary Committee.

For the first time in congressional history, the House today recognized the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Van Nuys, led debate on the resolution, saying Islam has been twisted out of context since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The bill, Sherman said, shows "the deep respect we all feel for Muslims around the United States and the world."

It passed 376-0, with 42 members _ all but one Republican _ voting "present."

The House Foreign Affairs Committee will vote next week on a resolution acknowledging the massacre of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey after World War I as genocide.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, has been pushing for a floor vote on the bill, which passed the committee overwhelmingly last year but was blocked by the then-Republican leadership. The bill must go through the panel once again, but stands a much better chance than ever before of reaching a full House vote.

“The United States has a compelling historical and moral reason to recognize the Armenian Genocide, which cost a million and a half people their lives," Schiff said in a statement this morning, adding. "We also have a powerful contemporary reason as well -- how can we take effective action against the genocide in Darfur if we lack the will to condemn genocide whenever and wherever it occurs?”

Los Angeles officials and six unions representing 22,000 city workers reached a tentative five-year, double-digit salary deal just as the current contracts expired, officials said Monday. Daily News.

The deal ended days of intense negotiating in which the unions sought parity with Department of Water and Power workers, who are among the highest-paid employees in the city.

City and union representatives confirmed the five-year contract but declined to discuss details.

Sources said the contract would amount to about a 13 percent salary hike.

The historic Van Nuys Library fared well on the auction block Monday as a longtime admirer doled out $1.52 million to become the building's new owner. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

Winning bidder Tony Nasr with NTR Consultants said he's admired the 1926 Spanish Colonial Revival-style building for more than 20 years and used to frequent the building for business when the Fire Department used it as an office.

"I was in love," Nasr said after placing the winning bid during an auction at City Hall.

"I studied in Greece and I love the history of the buildings. I respect historic things. I want to keep the building as it is."

Its observance is not likely to be marked on many calendars, but tomorrow (Oct. 2) is the fifth anniversary of a speech that put Illinois Sen. Barack Obama on the national political map. As the Bush Administration was banging the war drum, Obama was speaking out against attacking Iraq as a "dumb war," a "rash war," being promoted by "weekend warriors" like Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz. He asked his colleagues on Capitol Hill not to be distracted by it from pressing issues such as health care, corporate corruption and the economy.
His words stood out at the time, so contrary were they to the vocal majority who echoed the chant "W-M-D." Now the remarks -- "a war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics" -- seem to speak for the majority in Washington and across the country.
The Obama campaign will commemorate the anniversary with rallies in 17 cities, including a noon gathering at the Los Angeles Federal Building, at Wilshire and Sepulveda boulevards in Westwood.

The story on salaries paid Department of Water and Power workers has prompted a lively debate among readers. The Reader Response section has drawn high interest. You can read the comments, or add to it, by going here:

Congress' Golden State members are among the growing chorus calling for more transparency in the federal budget process - but some insist on keeping their own requests for pet projects shrouded in secrecy. Lisa Friedman in the Daily News.

Eight of Southern California's 15 lawmakers refused a Daily News request last week to supply their list of earmark requests and explain how they hope to spend federal tax dollars in the coming year.

"It shows at least some level of contempt for their constituents," said Steve Ellis, spokesman for the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense.

One year ago, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa planted the first of a million trees meant to turn arid Los Angeles into the greenest and cleanest big city in America. Dana Bartholomew in the Daily News.

The ceremony, including such Hollywood greens as Daryl Hannah and Ed Begley Jr., celebrated Million Trees Los Angeles and hopes for cool boughs over hot concrete.

One year later, city officials tout 110,000 new trees - but can't say where they're planted or how the city will pay for their upkeep.

An effort to reduce diesel emissions at Southern California's ports by imposing stricter regulations on the trucking industry could lead to an economic crisis reminiscent of the 2002 dockworkers' lockout, a new study warns.Kristopher Hanson in the Daily News.

The strike five years ago shut down all major West Coast ports for 10 days, costing the national economy an estimated $10 billion as ships backed up in harbors and containers piled up at waterfront marine terminals.

Similar backlogs may result in the first weeks of the Clean Trucks Program that could begin Jan. 1 at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, says a study by economist John Husing.

Tipoffs: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villarioga and the scandal tha won't die, EAA seeks revenge, other politcal odds and ends.