October 2008 Archives

In a last minute boost to the Measure A campaign, Attorney General Jerry Brown is supporting the $36 a year parcel tax proposal on next Tuesday's ballot.
Brown joins Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chieff Bill Bratton in backing the measure, that was developed by Councilwoman Janice Hahn to develop a $30 million a year funding stream to pay for gang intervention and prevention programs.

With registration closing, Secretary of State Debra Bowen reportedf Friday more than 1 million new voters signed up for next Tuesday's election since Sept. 5.
That means there are 17.3 million Californians who have registered to take part in the election.
"It's great to see so many Californians taking an active role in their democracy," Bowen said.
"Voter interest in this historic election is enormous and I expect to see a record number of Californians cast ballots on Tuesday. Thanks to everyone - including community groups, elections workers, campaigns, schools, and businesses - who helped register so many new California voters."
The state now has 17,304,091 million registered voters - almost 747,000 more than it had at this time before the general election four years ago.
The previous voter registration record in California was 16.6 million in February 2005.
The breakdwon is heavily in favor of Democrats, who account for 43 percent of all voters. Republicans make up 34.7 percent. The remaining voters are decline to state, Amercan Independent, Green, Peace and Freedom and Libertarian.

California faces a long, broad recession with no rebound of lagging housing prices for nearly four years, economists said Thursday at a business forecast conference. Gregory J.Wilcox in the Daily News.

"I don't have to tell you that we are living in troubling times," VICA Chairman Greg Lippe said as he opened the 20th annual business forecast sponsored by the Valley Industry and Commerce Association at the Universal Hilton.

And in response to the question raised by the title of the conference - "When Does the Recovery Start?" - economists Christopher Thornberg and Andre B. van Niekerk said, not any time soon.

Thornberg, principal partner at Beacon Economics

Expecting another dry winter, state water officials warned Thursday that they can deliver just 15 percent of what local water agencies have requested for 2009, raising the possibility of water rationing in the Southland. Daily News.

"Hope for the best and prepare for the worst," state Department of Water Resources director Lester Snow advised agencies across the state, adding that deliveries could increase if water supplies improve.

After two years of drought, the state is facing the worst water conditions since 1993, with broad-ranging implications for the state's farmers and residents.

A high-speed bullet train connecting Northern and Southern California - $9.95billion. Tony Castro in the Daily News.

Rebates to companies and consumers to buy hybrid vehicles - $5billion.

Help for children's hospitals - $1billion.

These price tags sounded reasonable in May, when the nation's economy was more stable and the Dow stood at a lofty 13,000. Now, not so much.

Getting California voters to approve new taxes for a bunch of bonds on Tuesday's ballot appears to be a tall order, especially with Thursday's news that the gross domestic product fell at an annual rate of 0.3 percent during the third quarter. One more negative quarter and the U.S. economy will officially enter a recession.

Absentee balloting, which has played a pivotal role in California politics, is causing headaches again, even before the polls close in Tuesday's historic election. Tony Castro in the Daily News.

A crush of last-minute absentee ballot requests have swamped county elections officials, who warned voters to either return voted ballots today or deliver them to polling places on Election Day if they want their votes to count.

As clerks were trying to send out 13,000 last-minute vote-by- mail requests Thursday, the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder's Office in Norwalk was also still attempting to process 55,000 remaining voter registrations Thursday.

Julie Korenstein became the second Los Angeles Unified School District board member in two days to announce she will not run for re-election in March. Daily News.

"I am proud of the contributions I have made, and I look forward to a very exciting and rewarding retirement," Korenstein said Thursday.

Korenstein's 22-year tenure made her the longest-serving board member in the district's history. Julie Korenstein became the second Los Angeles Unified School District board member in two days to announce she will not run for re-election in March.

While the Los Angeles Unified School District has built hundreds of new schools in the past decade, it is now seeking an additional $7 billion for older schools that remain in need of repair and remodeling. George B. Sanchez in the Daily News.

Along with funds for upgrades and new technology, Measure Q would set aside $450 million for local charter schools.

Critics acknowledge a need to repair older buildings, but say the measure is expensive at a time of national economic turmoil, and when district enrollment is dropping. Charter schools also criticize the measure, saying they would rather have more freedom to build their own schools.

Griffith Park came closer to becoming a historic cultural monument Thursday after dozens of local residents jammed a public hearing to praise the nation's largest urban wilderness park and urge its protection. Brandon Lowery in the Daily News.

"Without Griffith Park, we would really be a city without a heart," City Councilman Tom LaBonge told members of the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission.

At least 58 people signed up at the hearing to pledge support for granting the park protection.

The Los Angeles labor movement said Thursday it will launch a four-day marathon on behalf of Sen. Barack Obama and their other candidates leading up to next Tuesday's election.
Officials with the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, said they will call 500,000 union members in battle ground states.
The operation will run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.each day until the close of polls on Tuesday.
Since September, the unions have targeted their members in Colorado, Nevada, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington.

The Los Angeles City council this week tried to scuttle a proposed City Charter amendment to give the Controller's Office the power to conduct performance audits of programs in the offices of elected officials.
Several council members, Richard Alarcon and Tony Cardenas, among them, argued they were concerened about allowing one elected officials poke around in programs under the jurisdiction of another elected official.
At first, the council voted to scuttle the proposal _ but later revived it have it prepared for the ballot next March. A decision will be made by Nov. 7 whether to put it on the ballot.
The reason for the reversal? Controller Laura Chick.
The charter change was first proposed when Chick threatened to file suit against City Attroney Rocky Delgadillo when he refused to let her review the worker compensation program he controlled and its hiring of private lawyers.
If the council had failed to approve the charter measure, Chick was prepared to revive her legal action _ causing further embarrassment and cost to the city.

Mixing politics and business, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is in Washington, D.C., today to meet with federal transportation officials before heading out for a weekend of campaigning on behalf of Sen. Barack Obama.
Villaraigosa is meeting with Transportation Secretary Mary Peters to discuss loans the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has recieved from AIG.
AIG has loaned the MTA $1 billion as part of a sales-leaseback of buses.
On Friday, Villaraigosa turns into a campaigner, with a trip to New Mexico. On Saturday, he is off to Colorado, returning to Los Angeles on Sunday.
Villraigosa, earlier, campaigned in Nevada for Obama _ much as he did during the primary election for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton..

Thousands of people have descended on the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder's Office over the past several days to cast their ballots early, braving the heat and long lines to avoid potential Election Day foul-ups and ensure that their vote counts in Tuesday's historic election. Rachel Uranga in the Daily News.

Hundreds of voters formed a line that snaked around the office Wednesday in a scene mirrored in Florida, Georgia and other states whose residents anticipate chaos as record numbers of voters head to the polls next week.

Excited over the heated presidential election, some Los Angeles County voters came prepared for the lines and reclined in foldout chairs Wednesday as they discussed the future and a country eager to choose a new president.

all it an election-year twist of fate: Even as Barack Obama's historic candidacy is expected to draw a record number of Latinos and African-Americans to the polls, those same voters could help pass the statewide measures that oppose gay marriage and abortions for minors. Tony Castro in the Daily News.

Supporters of those two measures are making a strong pitch to Latino voters - especially immigrants who have become voting citizens - many of them Roman Catholics who oppose abortion and gay marriage.

The campaign for Proposition 8, which would ban gay marriage, has also targeted African-American voters, who some experts say traditionally have been religiously and culturally opposed to gay marriage.

In the midst of a tough campaign for the Board of Supervisors, Councilman Benard Parks will give his annusal State of the Eighth speech on events in his 8th Council District over the pastg year.
Parks, who h as been trailing Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, D-Los Angeles, will talk at 6 p.m. Thursday at the California Science Center before an invited group of constituents.
Among the topics his office said he will address are the district getting its shaqre of the city budget, economic development, public safety, transporation, housing and constituent services.
The councilman also will recognize outstanding students from schools in the district.

Admit it. Election withdrawal is starting to set in.
But, wait. Just when you think it's all over but the voting, third and fourth party candidates Bob Barr and Ralph Nader come to the rescue.
The two, who have been unable to get any attention beyond their own efforts on the internet, will debae on Thursday in Cleveland.
. The topic is on the economy and will be the first debate between the two.
This will be the first professionally organized debate to include both Bob Barr and Ralph Nader.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's decision to call a special legislative session over the state's rocky economy won't necessarily lead lawmakers to curtail their overseas travel plans. Sacramento Bee.

Numerous legislators were planning to pack their bags for India, China or Hawaii when the governor announced plans Monday to reconvene the Legislature. Lawmakers would typically begin work again in January.

Now many of the officeholders are adopting a wait-and-see attitude, noncommittal about their travel plans until decisions are made on when the gavel will bang and whether they will be needed while legislative leaders try to strike a deal.

After a harmonizing chorus of hallelujah hymns closed Mass on a recent Sunday at St. Charles Borromeo Church, a volunteer got up and carefully made her way to the altar. Justino Aguila in the Daily News.

Standing at the microphone, she urged the 500 parishioners to vote Yes on Proposition 8, which would change the state constitution to ban gay marriage.

"Let's not waste this opportunity," she said, shortly before other church members distributed fliers at the exits supporting the proposition. "It's a commitment to God."

A panel of economists, business executives and politicians will meet Thursday to tackle a vexing question: When will the recession end and the recovery begin? Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

Not soon, is what the experts are likely to conclude as the Valley Industry and Commerce Association holds its 20th annual Business Forecast Conference.

Andre B. van Niekerk, dean of the Woodbury University School of Business in Burbank, predicts that the current economic crisis will be difficult to resolve.

Pressured by the city controller and women's groups, Los Angeles city officials pledged on Tuesday to spend $2.5 million a year to clear up a backlog of more than 7,000 rape cases by hiring more specialists to test DNA evidence and outsourcing some work to private labs. Daily News.

"All victims of rape deserve justice. All rapists deserve prison," Police Chief William Bratton said at a City Hall news conference with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Council members to announce the plan.

Villaraigosa, who has made public safety one of his top priorities, said he found extra money to hire the specialists, or criminalists, for the LAPD crime lab by working with unions to save money on health costs.

The City Council today is scheduled to consider the first part of the funding, a nearly $1million program to hire 10 specialists and six support staff members, and authorize $250,000 to pay for work by private labs.

A taxpayer advocate attorney and a half-dozen other people asked the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday not to appeal a recent appellate court decision ruling that the county's practice of paying judges perks and supplemental benefits was unconstitutional. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

The request followed a recent decision by a three-judge panel of the state's 4th District Court of Appeal that found the state constitution only allows the Legislature to set judges' pay. The Board of Supervisors' practice of paying judges an extra $46,436 annually in cash benefits, therefore, is not permissible. The case was filed by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group based in Washington, D.C.

County Counsel Ray Fortner could not be reached to comment on whether the county planned to appeal the decision.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to build the nation's first commercial plant that will convert grass cuttings, wood chips and other organic waste into ethanol. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

Located near the Lancaster landfill, the $30 million plant proposed by BlueFire Ethanol will convert bio-waste into the gasoline additive that helps reduce air pollution, greenhouse gases and dependence on fossil fuels.

"This project will be the first on a commercial scale in the U.S.," said Chip Clements, a consultant to BlueFire and president and owner of Clements Environmental Corp. in Los Angeles. "I think this is really the future of our nation as far as the drive for (sustainable energy).

California is set to break voter registration records in an election that could result in the nation's first African American president or first woman vice president. Sacramento Bee.

The deadline for reporting pre-election registration is Friday, but preliminary counts already exceed 17 million - higher than the state's previous best of 16.6 million, Nicole Winger, spokeswoman for the secretary of state, said Tuesday.

The soaring rolls are good news for Democrats, who held a lead of nearly 12 percentage points over Republicans in statewide voter registration through Sept. 5, the most recent figures available

After almost a decade of what state prosecutors called "ripping off state agencies," the Department of Water and Power on Monday agreed to pay out a $160 million settlement to the county, local schools, community colleges and the MTA. Daily News.

Coming after years of legal wrangling, the settlement is the largest ever against a utility for overcharging customers, according to attorneys for the plaintiffs.

"The Los Angeles DWP had been imposing illegal and unjustified overcharges on their governmental customers for years," said state Attorney General Jerry Brown, who argued that the utility was using the money to ultimately finance the city's operations.

He said the actions amounted to "rippi

In response to an audit slamming its crime lab, the LAPD on Monday began taking steps to address a backlog of 7,000 DNA rape kits by transferring the lab to the direct supervision of the Detective Bureau to improve accountability and make more resources available.Daily News.

After an impassioned hearing from advocates saying failure to process the kits dissuades victims from reporting crimes, the City Council's Budget and Finance Committee urged that the city allocate more than $2.5 million to hire 16 more criminalists and staffers to help process the backlog.

After getting bumped from two earlier ballots, bullet-train measure Proposition 1A finally goes before voters who will decide whether to back a nearly $10 billion bond to begin plans for an electrical, high-speed rail whisking passengers between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Sue Doyle in the Daily News.

The measure would give $9.95 billion to the California High Speed Rail Authority for planning, design and initial construction of a $40 billion, 800-mile passenger train from Union Station in Los Angeles to San Francisco. Future connections are planned for Anaheim, Sacramento and San Diego, but do not include a link with Los Angeles International Airport.

But the 220-mph bullet train needs at least $10 billion in federal money - and masses of private investment - before it starts zipping Californians up and down the state and thinning traffic on the highways.

After already facing a series of deep cuts, California State University, Northridge, will curb spending by an additional $2.2 million this year - and college officials expect more reductions by early next year. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

Those cuts will mean larger classes, fewer courses and a temporary hiring freeze.

They are part of an overall decrease to the CSU system budget of 1 percent, or $31.3 million, that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered recently in a series of midyear cuts to balance the 2008-09 budget.

The head of the Board of Water and Power Commissioners announced Monday he plans to run for the job of City Controller in the March election.
Nick Patsaouras, 64, a long-time civic activist who ran for mayor in 1993, plans to run for the job being vacated by Controller Laura Chick, who is termed out of office.
"Somebody has to do it," Patsaouras said. "I believe that having been on a number of oversight committees for the mayor, I can bring my experience and technical expertise and temperament to other city departments and create a sitution where our children have the same opportunities we had."
Patsaouras, who lives in Tarzana, said he and his wife, Airport Commissioner Sylvia Patsaouras, will step down from their appointed panels.
"It would be too difficult a situation for both of us," Patsaouras said.
In entering the race, he will be challenging another close ally of the mayor, Councilwoman Wendy Greuel.
Greuel has raised more than $700,000 for the campaign and Patsaouras -- who has proven himself a formidable fundraiser for others -- said he will immediately begin raising money.
"If people want me for the job, they'll support me," he said.
Patsaouras, a successful engineer, came to the United States from Greece in 1961, attending Los Angeles Valley College and California State University, Northridge. He became a U.S. citizen in 1964.
He first became involved with politics with former Mayor Tom Bradley, serving on the Rapid Transit District board and later the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
He worked on both mayoral campaigns of Villaraigosa.
Patsaouras said he advised the mayor of his decision late Monday.
"He was very gracious," Patsaouras said.

The Los Aneles Police Protective League is all over this November's ballot, taking on athird issue before voters.
It already has come out agaisntg Proposition 5, the mesure expanding drug diversion programs, and on behalf of state Sen Mark Ridley-Thomas, D-Los Angeles, for county supervisors.
On Monday, it was announced they are backing the Proposition 6 proposal advancd by state Sen. George Runner, R-Palmdale, with a radio commercial.
"Californians are fed up with gangs," said League President tim Sands. "Proposition 6, also known as The Safe Neighborhoods Act, is a comprehensive anti-gang and crime reduction measure that will bring more cops and increased safety to California communities and greater efficiency and accountability to public safety programs and agencies that spend taxpayer money
"The LAPPL urges voters to support the Safe Neighborhoods Act just like they supported Three Strikes and other critical law enforcement reforms. The safety of our communities is critical to all of us," added Sands.
In backing the mesure, the union is going against the Los Angeles City Council, which voted to oppose the measure.

In a tiny house on wheels, Geri Ulrey is trying to capture democracy in action. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

Inside the house in a compact living room stocked with a plush suede chair, Ulrey, a professor of cinema and television arts at California State University, Northridge, is taking video confessionals from students.

They pour out their thoughts to a camera on everything from the economy and health care to education. Ulrey is streaming the videos on the Web and after Election Day will send them to the next president of the United States.

For Michael Spitzer-Rubenstein, it's the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama that is driving him to the polls.Daily News.

"This is my first election and I couldn't be more excited," said Spitzer-Rubenstein, 18, who also made calls for the Obama campaign in Los Angeles.

But, other than a couple of other items, he said he was unsure how to vote on all the ballot propositions.

"I know about (Proposition) 8, but a lot of the other ones are pretty confusing," he said. "There's no way anyone can really know about some of the issues that are on the ballot."

Foreclosures in the San Fernando Valley ballooned to a record level in the third quarter, pounding down prices but driving a huge jump in September sales, according to a report released today.Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

Foreclosures soared 203 percent from July through September compared to a year earlier, as 2,589 local families lost their homes in the market collapse, according to the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center.

With 32 years in the solar business, Gary Gerber should be one of the biggest fans of an initiative to increase California's production of renewable energy.AP in the Daily News.

But he and hundreds of other small business owners say an alternative energy initiative on the November ballot could force them out of business at a time California is struggling to boost its production of clean power.

Proposition 7, one of two alternative energy ballot measures, would require California utilities to generate half their electricity from windmills, solar systems, geothermal resources and other renewable sources by 2025.

Tipoffs: Developer Rick Caruso to decide on running for mayor; Neighborhood Councils.

Colin never thought he'd wind up on Skid Row. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

As a middle-class father and business owner, he had achieved the American dream. But that all came crashing down recently when his coffee-bean importing business went under and the home he was renting in El Segundo went into foreclosure.

With nowhere else to turn, the Westmont College graduate sought shelter for his family at the Union Rescue Mission in downtown Los Angeles.

"It definitely gives you a whole new take on life and how quickly things can unravel," said Colin, 39, who requested his last name not be published. "My experience is far more widespread than I think people would like to admit. And we may not have seen the worst of it yet."

Like many physicians at Tarzana Medical Center, Dr. Brian Fenmore was excited when he heard Providence Health System planned to buy his struggling hospital. Susan Abram in the Daily News.

The system had a good reputation in the community and already ran two other hospitals in the San Fernando Valley.

But when the sale became final last month, Fenmore, an obstetrician-gynecologist, got word that he could no longer perform surgical procedures that prevent pregnancy, including vasectomies and tubal ligations, because of the new owner's Catholic-based policies.

And now, some OB-GYNs are considering taking their practices

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who worked Nevada for Sen. Hillary Clinton during the primary election, is returning there on Sunday to work on behalf of Sen. Barack Obama.
The mayor is scheduled to appear at a vareity of events kicking off get out the vote ralles, from unions, to small businesses to Latinos. in addition, he will be doing a number of media appearances, including a radio call-in show.l

The Engineers and Architects Association, which represents about 10,000 workers, is escalating its battle with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and has come out against Measure R, the half-cent sales tax measure for transportation programs.
The union, which staged a walkout last year in a dispute with the mayor, is paying for radio commercials and a robocall to voters urging them to oppose the measure on the Nov. 4 ballot.
Bob Aquino, head of the union, said his board decided to take the action.
"Much of the reason has to do with the fact that we don't trust this mayor," Aquino said. "We've seen him increase every fee that Angelenos pay in this city and then misuse the money.
"In all candor, our board feels that when we're talking about $40 billion, that we aren't sure the money will be used as they say."
The EAA has a long history of feuding with mayors. It was the first of the city unions to endorse Villaraigosa when he was running against former Mayor James Hahn.

It was a case of family pride for Councilwoman Jan Perry this morning when she presented a plaque to her uncle, Sgt. A. William Perry.
Perry was a member of the 92nd Fighting Infantry Buffalo Soldiers unit deployed to Italy during World War II and that became the subject of the Spike Lee film, "Miracle at St. Anna.:
Sgt. Perry, who still lives in Shaker Heights, Ohio, served as a consultant for the book of the same title and the movie.

Courtesy of Latinogossip:

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is speaking out to the Latino community in California about Prop 8 via a new Spanish language radio ad. In it, he says:
"The Prop 8 campaign has knowingly targeted the Latino community with shameful and deceitful advertising. Proposition 8 is about discrimination, not education. It's disgraceful to use children to try to take away people's civil rights. Proposition 8 attacks all California families, including our Latino families. I am confident that once our community understands the discrimination behind Prop 8 they will join me and vote No."

Home sales in the San Fernando Valley soared an unprecedented 82 percent in September, while prices continued to fall at a record pace, a trade association said Thursday.

The Van Nuys-based Southland Regional Association of Realtors reported that 658 previously owned homes sold from Toluca Lake to Calabasas, up 296 from a year earlier. That's the biggest percentage gain since June 1986, when sales jumped 52 percent. Gregory J. Willcox in the Daily News.

But the median price has plunged 37 percent over the past year, dropping from $392,500 to $231,200, the association said.

That's the biggest percentage drop since a 35 percent decline in June and the lowest median price in five years.

a historic change with political and cultural implications for the nation's largest minority group, a baby boom has helped Hispanics account for just over half of the overall population growth in the United States since 2000, according to a report released Thursday.Tony Castro in the Daily News.

Different from the past, the nation's Latino population growth in this decade has been more a product of birthrate than immigration, according to the report from the Pew Hispanic Center.

Since 2000, the nation's Latino population has increased by 10.2 million - 6 million from births in the United States and 4.2 million from immigration.

Although the nation's economy is faltering, backers of the L.A. Live project in downtown Los Angeles said Thursday they under budget and on schedule for a beginning next month of rollouts to culminate in the 2010 opening of a 54-story hotel and luxury-condo tower. Daily News.

"We have been fortunate that we developed all our financing before the current problems hit, and we think it will end up benefiting us," said Tim Leiweke, president of AEG and the driving force behind the project next to Staples Center.

The number of homeowners ensnared in the foreclosure crisis grew by more than 70 percent in the third quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2007, according to data released Thursday. AP in the Daily News.

Nationwide, nearly 766,000 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice from July through September, up 71 percent from a year earlier, said foreclosure listing service RealtyTrac Inc.

By the end of the year, RealtyTrac expects more than a million bank-owned properties to have piled up on the market, representing around a third of all properties for sale in the U.S.

The stock market crisis has battered Los Angeles County's public-employee pension plan so badly that taxpayers may have to pay an additional $500million a year by 2011 to prop up the system, according to a report by the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

The county's general fund contributed $756 million last year to the system, but that is expected to rise to $1.28 billion by 2011 because of steep drops in stock market valuations.

The new findings follow years in which, critics say, public-employee unions in California were granted lucrative pension enhancements for their members.

A new poll showing California's constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriage trailing for the first time in weeks has renewed hopes of the gay-rights movement, which had become increasingly divided over its campaign to defeat the Nov. 4 ballot measure. Tony Castro in the Daily News.

Two weeks before Election Day, Proposition 8 is losing among likely voters, 52 percent to 44 percent, according to a statewide survey released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California.

"If we defeat the measure, it will be in spite of the No on 8 campaign, and if we don't it will be because of the No on 8 campaign," said gay activist Robin Tyler of North Hills, a vocal critic of the organized drive against the measure.

Voicing the same anger and frustration residents have experienced in the battle against digital billboards, the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday complained over the time it has taken for its own agencies to investigate how many signs are in the city and the cost to inspect them. Daily News.

"Give me a break," Councilman Richard Alarc n said. "No one has explained to me why this takes more than a week to get a report in here on cost recovery and what it costs to inspect billboards."

There are an estimated 4,000 billboards in the city, and efforts to find them have been hampered by lawsuits filed by the billboard industry over imposing the fees needed to cover the cost of inspectors.

California voters on Nov. 4 will consider sweeping changes to the state's criminal-justice codes, ranging from new drug-treatment programs to anti-gang measures and expanded rights for victims. AP in the Daily News.

State Propositions 5, 6 and 9 have not received the same publicity granted to a proposal to ban gay marriage, but supporters and opponents of the three measures have raised a combined $13 million so far to advance their causes.

The proposed Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act, Proposition 5, would require treatment instead of prison for most drug offenders. It would require $610 million in new state spending through mid-2010, followed by annual increases based on population and inflation.

Lo Angeles Police Chief Bill Bratton is warning of the danger of an October suprised in the New York Daily News. He writes:
"Will Osama Bin Laden have anything to say about the U.S. presidential race? Does our economic implosion make us an even more tempting target?
"Al Qaeda has a history of trying to influence elections, most notably with the 2004 train attacks in Madrid. Just three days before Spain's prime ministerial elections, 10 bombs left 191 dead- and Al Qaeda affiliates swung the election away from the incumbent, who supported the coalition wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and toward the challenger, a vociferous critic of U.S. foreign policy. "

Los Angeles county officials reported that Democrats now represent 52 percent of all voters in the county and that 57 percent of new voters signed up with that party.
The final talley shows teh county with 2.2 million Democrats, the most ever, while Republicans accounted for 1,02 million or 24.1 per cent.
Naturally enough, it made Democrats jubilant.
"The unprecedented number of Democrats registered in Los Angeles County and across our nation reflects the recognition of failed Republican policies and governance and points to the need for change, said Eric Bauman, chair of the county Democratic Party.
. "Sen. Barack Obama's inspiration, the Los Angeles County Democratic Party's voter outreach efforts, and grassroots Democratic activists' impressive voter registration drives are the key factors that have made Los Angeles County the Democratic stronghold of California."
There are a total of 4.2 million registered voters in the county. County election officials are urging people to vote early and be patient on election day because of the potential of long lines. Also, the results from the Nov. 4 election could be late because of the expected number of voters.

California's employment picture grew bleaker Tuesday, when AIG and Yahoo announced widespread layoffs as they struggle to cope with the worsening economy.Tony Castro and Barbara Correa in the Daily News.

American International Group Inc. issued a statement saying it was terminating nearly 7 percent of the employees in its auto insurance division.

The New York-based insurance giant refused to say how many workers will be affected. But three employees at the AIG Direct office in Woodland Hills said some 200 workers in their division had been terminated.

With a state-of-the-art elephant house taking shape at the Los Angeles Zoo, officials said Tuesday that Dumbo need not fly the coop. Dana Bartholomew in the Daily News.

Zoo backers defended the $39 million exhibit for endangered Asian elephants after City Councilman Tony Cardenas filed motions to replace it with a San Fernando Valley elephant sanctuary while putting Billy, the zoo's 22-year-old bull elephant, to pasture.

"We think Billy should stay," said John Lewis, general manager for the zoo, standing within the 3.6-acre elephant exhibit set to open in summer 2010. "He's a young and virile male, and we'd like to see him as part of our breeding program. It's a first-class facility in size and complexity, for the care as well as the enrichment of the elephants."

City Councilman Greig Smith assailed the city controller Tuesday, one day after she released an audit saying there is a lack of council urgency to deal with a backlog of 7,000 rape kits at the LAPD Crime Lab. Daily News.

Smith said he spoke with City Controller Laura Chick briefly in the council chambers and told her he was angry at the blame she was placing on the council for not moving quickly enough to deal with the matter.

"I told her I was upset at her saying she was appalled at the lack of action by the City Council," said Smith, who serves on the council's Public Safety Committee, which has been looking at the issue for nearly a year.

As several large developments throughout the nation have run into trouble due to the global economic crunch, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved another ownership change in the $3 billion Grand Avenue project. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

Under the new ownership structure, the Honua Group, an investment vehicle owned by three Korean insurance companies, will invest $100 million for the first phase of the long-delayed project in downtown Los Angeles.

The investment firm is the second foreign company to invest in the project. Istithmar Building FZE, an investment fund controlled by the royal family of Dubai, committed $100 million earlier this year.

Following the recent arrest of the owner of a firm hired by the California Republican Party to register voters, Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan said Tuesday he is reviewing 9,000 registration affidavits turned in by the firm to determine if party affiliations were involuntarily changed. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

Logan said he has sent letters to 85 of the 9,000 voters to find out if their registrations were changed from Democrat to Republican.

Despite the ongoing investigation, Logan said the issue won't be a problem Nov. 4 because all voters will vote on the same ballot. But it could be a problem in the next primary.

The final proposition that will appear on California's Nov. 4 ballot seeks voter approval to continue funding a state-run home-loan program for military veterans. AP in the Daily News.

If it's passed, as 26 previous versions were, Proposition 12 would allow the state to issue $900million in bonds to fund the existing CalVet Home Loan program so it can cover veterans who have served in the military since 1977.

The program, previously available only to those who served before 1977, helps California veterans buy homes, mobile homes and farms.

Three new commercials for Measure R, the half-cent sales tax for transportation programs, were released on Tuesday and, to the surprise of many, did not feature any local politicians.
Even though Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has put his political reputation on the line with the measure, the new spots feature UCLA Professor Jonathan Steward, Don Sepulveda of the American Society of Civil Engineers and Trisha Murakawa of the American Lung Association.
The three spots are designed to emphasize the impact on the environment as well as improving road and rail safety if the measure is approved.