July 2010 Archives

He's not even a lame duck yet, but Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has seen a steady exit of key staffers in the first year of his second term - an exodus that has eroded the institutional memory of City Hall and left the mayor scrambling to fill vacancies.

More than a dozen department heads or key mayoral aides have left - or been pushed out - since Villaraigosa cruised to re-election last year.

The latest announcement came Friday, when one of Villaraigosa's longest-serving loyalists said he is leaving Aug. 13 for a job in private industry.

A top aide to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced Friday he will be leaving to pursue other opportunities.
Deputy Mayors Jimmy Blacdkman announced he will be leaving the mayor's office on AUG 13.
Blackman, the mayor's liasion with the council, worked for the mayor for 13 years, from Villaraigosa's day as Assembly speaker, through his days as a City Councilman and all three mayoral campaigns.

San Fernando Valley residents lack access to affordable mental health services and find themselves struggling to manage chronic diseases such as diabetes and asthma, according to a "snapshot" released Thursday of the region's health care needs.Susan Abram in the Daily News.

The report - released every three years by a consortium of more than 100 schools, community organizations and hospitals - delves into the health care problems and issues facing the 2.1 million people living in the Valley and neighboring areas.

While diabetes, cancer, heart disease and stroke continue to be the leading health problems, the new study focused heavily on the growing need for more mental health services for low-income children, senior citizens, Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans and undocumented immigrants.

Los Angeles Unified School District's superintendent vowed Thursday not to impose donation requests on the parents of athletes, overturning a fundraising plan reluctantly advanced by sports administrators. Melissa Pamer and Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

District officials had said earlier this week that LAUSD would for the first time ask parents to contribute $24 per student to bridge a $650,000 gap in the budget for transportation to and from games. If insufficient funds were raised, games could have been canceled, officials said.

But Superintendent Ramon Cortines said Thursday that he did not know about the plan, and he ordered the request rescinded.

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday brought back furloughs for thousands of state workers until California passes a budget that addresses a $19 billion deficit.AP in the Daily News.

Schwarzenegger released a new executive order requiring state workers to take three unpaid days off per month starting in August. State workers were furloughed a total of 46 days when Schwarzenegger issued a similar order in February 2009, which translated to a pay cut of about 14 percent.

Those furloughs just ended in June.

The financially challenged Los Angeles Unified School District will for the first time ask parents to help pay for buses to take student athletes to high school sporting events this coming academic year. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

If enough money isn't raised, games could be canceled - a possibility that poses a dramatic threat to sports-crazed secondary schools.

Campus athletic directors will request a $24 per-student contribution at the beginning of fall, winter and spring sports seasons. The goal is to cover $650,000 that was cut from the district's athletics transportation budget.

Los Angeles officials applauded Wednesday's court decision that blocked the most controversial provisions of Arizona's tough new immigration law, but said it's too early to rescind the city's boycott of that state.Daily News.

"This confirms what we were saying, that this law is an affront to a democracy," said City Councilman Ed Reyes, who helped author Los Angeles' economic boycott of Arizona to protest its passage of Senate Bill 1070.

District Attorney Steve Cooley picked up the endorsement from some friends on Wednesday, with the Los Angeles Police Protective League announcing its endorsement of him for Attorney General over Democrat Kamala Harris of San Francisco.
"Steve Cooley has dedicated his life to protecting the public's safety," Protective League President Paul Weber said in its statement.
" He has been a professional prosecutor for 36 years, a reserve LAPD officer for six years and the Los Angeles County District Attorney for the last decade. It is time that the Attorney General - the state's 'top cop' - be a prosecutor committed to doing the job and supporting law enforcement and enforcing the death penalty."

Anti-Semitic incidents across the U.S. declined slightly in 2009 but surged 22 percent in California to their highest level in a decade, according to a report released Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League. C.J. Lin in the Daily News.

The number of incidents in California increased for the second consecutive year, jumping from 226 in 2008 to 275 in 2009. California now leads New York, New Jersey and other states with large Jewish populations in incidents of vandalism, harassment and physical assaults against Jewish individuals, property and community institutions, according to the ADL.

California was among 18 states and the District of Columbia selected as finalists Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Education in the second round of its landmark $3.4 billion "Race to the Top" school reform grant contest.Commie Llanos in the Daily News.

After a disappointing finish by California last spring - when it placed 27th out of 41 and missed out on any grant money - educators celebrated the state's selection among 36 states competing in the second round.

Ultimately, 10 to 15 states could be selected in September to share a $3.4 billion federal pot, of which California would get about $700 million.

A contractor "wasted" more than $500,000 in taxpayer money by failing to evaluate which of the city's diversion programs are effective and helped contribute to an 11 percent drop in gang crime, according to an audit released Tuesday.Daily News.

The report by City Controller Wendy Greuel found that The Urban Institute had failed to analyze the success of any of the Gang Reduction and Youth Development programs that were consolidated last year within the Mayor's Office.

Despite a city boycott of Arizona businesses, the City Council on Tuesday voted to extend a contract with the Phoenix firm that operates SuperShuttle at Los Angeles International Airport. Daily News.

While SuperShuttle may have offices in Phoenix, city officials noted that it is owned by Veolia Transportation, a French conglomerate that has its U.S. headquarters outside Chicago.

The City Council began Tuesday looking into broader incentives for film companies, including tax breaks and refunds, to help stem the flow of runaway production in Los Angeles. Daily News.

The proposals were made even as film industry officials said previous incentives have been effective in retaining productions.

"We are headed in the right direction," said Paul Audley, president of FilmLA, the nonprofit group which works with the film industry.

Unfurling "Stop Racist Arizona Law" banners from freeway overpasses during morning and evening rush hour, immigration reform activists Monday kicked off a week of demonstrations against that state's tough new law that takes effect Thursday unless a federal judge intervenes. Tony Castro in the Daily News.

Pressing the message that "We Are All Arizona," the freeway protesters want to draw attention to a law they say unfairly targets all Latinos but which Arizona lawmakers say is essential to secure the state's porous border with Mexico.

A passion for reform
In middle age, many men of Robert Gittelson's means and background stray off their life course to buy a Porsche or run a marathon.Tony castro in the Daily News,

Gittelson, 50, semi-retired from a successful clothing manufacturing business, is trying to change the country.

Los Angeles schools chief Ramon Cortines sped through the halls of Widney Special Education Center in South Los Angeles one day last week, forcing his tour guides - all at least 20 years younger than him - to double their pace just to keep up.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

It was 9:45 a.m. and Cortines had already gone through e-mails, returned phone calls and attended one event. Three school visits were next on his schedule - all to be completed before noon.

Dressed in his usual crisp, white shirt, marked with the initials "RCC" on the breast pocket, and a moss-green Hermes tie, Cortines bolted from classroom to classroom. He slowed down only to shake the hands of teachers, students and janitors, or to quiz an administrator on test scores and attendance rates.

Residents of a Northridge neighborhood are getting a crash course in democracy, Los Angeles-style, as they organize on the fly to battle a telecom giant's proposed cell phone tower in their community.Tony Castro in the Daily News.

The newly formed Northridge South Neighborhood Council hasn't even elected a permanent board or gotten any funding and already finds itself in the midst of a David vs. Goliath fight against T-Mobile, the nation's fourth-largest wireless carrier.

Tipoff: Law firm pushes bankruptcy option to city.

The last thing Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants Los Angeles to believe is that he has checked out of his job, that he's just going through the motions as he heads into his final years as mayor.Daily News.

"Look, I've been here making the tough decisions," Villaraigosa said in an interview at his City Hall office. "But I am not beyond criticism.

"I am humble enough to recognize that what you are saying is that people want me to be more. I recognize that there need to be changes. That I need to get out there and get my story out."

It's the economy
To observers of Los Angeles City Hall, the debate over how well Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is performing his job rests primarily on the promises he made when he first came into office five years ago.Daily News.

Portrayed as the "Energizer Bunny" for his seemingly nonstop public appearances, his call to "come dream with me" painted a vision of Los Angeles as the Venice of the 21st century.

Instead, reality hit.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is expected to announce Monday the appointment of a veteran city planner to take over as Planning Director, sources said,.Daily News.

Michael LoGrande, of Long Beach, has served as chief zoning adminstrator and filled in as temporary planning director in the absence of S. Gail Goldberg, who announced her retirement this past week.

The Oakridge Mobile Home Estates Friday will unveil a tony new community center, symbolizing its Phoenix-like rise from the ashes of the 2008 Sayre Fire that destroyed much of the hillside residential park.Tony Castro in the Daily News,.

"This is like life after death," resident George P. Gunning said Wednesday, gazing up at the mission-style tower of the 16,000-square-foot community center that was visible from his home.

The Gunning home was among the lucky few that survived the blaze, which charred 488 of the park's 600 mobile residences.

Despite concerns over customer confusion, the Department of Water and Power board Thursday recommended switching the city's outdoor watering limit to a staggered three-day-a-week schedule aimed at relieving pressure on the aging pipe system.Daily News

Under the new rules, residents living at odd-numbered addresses will be allowed to water lawns for eight minutes a day on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Even-numbered homes can water on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Ending months of speculation, Los Angeles Unified schools Superintendent Ramon Cortines said Wednesday he plans to retire next spring from a career in public education that spans six decades.Connie Llanos in the Daily News,

Cortines, who turns 78 on Thursday, has already vacated his office, ceding the space to Deputy Superintendent John Deasy, the district's recently hired No. 2 who many believe will be the next chief of schools.

In an interview Wednesday, Cortines said it's time to step aside and let the district - plagued by high turnover rates among senior administrators - find a leader who can stay for the long haul.

Mortgage loan defaults in California have plunged to their lowest level in three years as lenders try to work to keep troubled borrowers in their homes, a research firm said Wednesday. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

Notices of default - the first step in the foreclosure process - fell from 124,562 in the second quarter of 2009 to 70,051 in the comparable period this year, a 44 percent drop, said San Diego-based MDA DataQuick. Defaults also declined 14 percent from 81,054 in the first quarter.

The totals stand in sharp contrast to the high of 135,431 notices that lenders filed against delinquent borrowers from January through March 2009 as the fallout from the mortgage meltdown pulled the country into recession.

The San Fernando Valley will be one of Southern California's best-performing markets this year as its entertainment and tourism sectors help pull Los Angeles County out of the recession, according to a forecast released today.Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

The midyear report by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. says the region is fulfilling earlier predictions for recovery, although an anemic one, from its economic woes.

"Basically, we thought it would be a slow recovery and unfortunately this forecast is coming true," economist Jack Kyser said in issuing the last forecast before he retires. "But we are in recovery, and I think that's very important to recognize."

For more than a decade, visitors to the Sepulveda Basin Dog Park have brought lawn chairs to sit on as they watched their pets frolic on the grassy field, then left behind the plastic seats for others to use. C.J. Lin in the Daily News.

So they were angered and dismayed when they arrived last week to find that a city maintenance worker had deliberately mowed over about two dozen chairs, leaving behind a trail of broken parts and plastic shards.

"The park has been in existence for 14 years and we've always done this," said Michael S. Hyams, who frequents the Encino park six days a week and arrived Friday morning to scattered debris. "They've never mowed over all the chairs, and they can't all of a sudden start now."

Top Department of Water and Power officials Tuesday said it was "business judgment" - not deception or extortion - that motivated the utility to withhold a promised $73.5 million transfer to the city last spring until the City Council approved an unpopular rate hike. Kevin Modesti in the Daily News.

In his first official response to a scathing June audit of the utility, interim DWP General Manager Austin Beutner told the City Council that the DWP would have had its credit rating downgraded - costing $200 million down the road in higher interest payments - without the rate hike.

. Plans to erect a cell tower atop a building in Northridge were put on hold Tuesday as T-Mobile officials agreed to wait for the formation of a new neighborhood council that will weigh in on the project. Tony Castro in the Dally News.

At a public hearing, city zoning administrator Maya Zaitzevsky said she would withhold her decision until next month on a request for a conditional-use permit for the project at Saticoy Street and Louise Avenue.

The Northridge South Neighborhood Council, which the city certified in May, will hold its board of directors elections July 29, and T-Mobile officials said they will ask to make a presentation before that body.

San Fernando will have a new police chief next month and is recruiting a city administrator, too, with the July 30 retirement of the official who's been fulfilling both positions.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

Robert Ordelheide has been with the San Fernando Police Department for nearly 30 years, the last three as chief. He's also worked as the city's top executive for the last 10 months, earning $188,000 in his dual role.

"It's been exciting and it's been a huge challenge" Ordelheide said. "I've always said that if you enjoy what you do, you would do it for free ... and that is how I've felt my entire career."

With his right arm in a sling from a weekend bicycling accident, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa returned to work Monday with a painful reminder of the dangers of riding on city streets.
Daily News
"Fortunately, I hit my head first and I have a hard head," Villaraigosa joked, adding that he was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.

Villaraigosa was injured Saturday after falling from his bike to avoid striking a taxicab that cut him off in a Venice Boulevard bicycle lane. The mayor's security guards let the cab driver go after taking his information.

After decades of use by northwest San Fernando Valley youths, a set of baseball and soccer fields in Granada Hills are being uprooted and relocated in the next two years to make way for a water treatment plant expansion, sparking frustration among the families that have used the site for generations.Troy Anderson in the Daily News,

Even though the city has managed to find new fields in Sylmar, on the opposite side of the Golden State (5) freeway, some families remain concerned about the longer drive - but most of all they are simply wistful about losing fields that had become a second home for their kids.

Tipoff: Etrhics Commissioner Marlene Canter asks for more information.

Checked out. AWOL. Taking a powder. Disengaged. However you want to put it, it means the same thing when it comes to the top leadership in Los Angeles. Daily News editorial

Just one year into his second term, with no big election or high-powered appointment to look forward to, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa seems to have run out of steam. He's acting like a lame-duck official - but with three years still to go. The passion and energy that propelled him into office, and turned his July 2005 inauguration into a celebration befitting a head of state, is all but gone at a time when the city is in crisis and needs it most.

LANCASTER - Never mind being mayor. If he could just be appointed king for a year, jokes Mayor R. Rex Parris, he could really turn this wind-swept, sagebrush-dotted corner of the sun-baked Mojave Desert into an oasis of comfort and modernity.AP in the Daily News.

Crime? Forget about it. There would be a military-style surveillance plane flying overhead. There would be a steady revenue stream from flashing billboards and musical roads placed all over town.

Like all newly elected lawmakers, Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes arrived in Sacramento needing two things to ensure his success: legislative achievements and campaign money. Karen de Sa in the Daily News.

If he established himself as a political force, the Arleta Democrat might breeze to re-election in two years and rise up the legislative ranks. And sure enough, there were folks who could help him along - the throng of lobbyists offering bill ideas on behalf of their corporate clients.

In his first term in office, beginning in 2007, Fuentes introduced 10 bills that had been crafted and pushed by those lobbyists - one of the highest totals of any legislator in a session where much special interest legislation was passed while many statewide problems went unaddressed. And in the years since, he has reaped tens of thousands of dollars in campaign money from bill sponsors, won re-election, and snagged plum appointments to Assembly committees.

California parents will be able to transfer their children out of 1,000 low-performing schools this fall and push for drastic improvements at other troubled campuses under two reform plans approved Thursday by the state Board of Education.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

The 11-member panel unanimously approved the guidelines and the list of qualifying schools - including 13 in the San Fernando Valley - under the open enrollment plan.

The board also approved the so-called "parent trigger" law, which allows parents to demand drastic reforms at failing schools if a majority of parents petition for the overhaul. The possible changes include turning the campus over to a charter operator, replacing its entire staff or even closing the school.

A decade after he conceived the plan, billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad joined civic and business leaders Thursday at the groundbreaking for a 12-acre Civic Park, an "urban oasis" expected to boost the rebirth of downtown.Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

The $56 million park is part of the $3billion Grand Avenue project that seeks to transform downtown into a vibrant regional center with two Frank Gehry-designed skyscrapers next to the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

"This lush, green park promises to be an urban oasis where people can picnic, walk around at lunchtime, bring their families and congregate for special events like concerts and celebrations such as New Year's Eve, Cinco de Mayo, July Fourth and more," Broad said.

ike a packed California theme park, the Los Angeles Convention Center boasted a big crowd on Thursday, with long lines, commemorative photos and other touristy trappings and even red, white and blue bunting.Tony Castro in the Daily News.

"It's like Disneyland here," computer specialist Yoosa Lee said as he surveyed the spectacle, which included a video message from the president and a rousing rendition of Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA."

And, in fact, the Convention Center may have been the happiest place on Earth for Lee and thousands of others whose lives changed Thursday as they became naturalized citizens of the United States.

Former Daily News Editor Ron Kaye, hoping to build on the success of the campaign that defeated the Measure B solar initiative, is taking his efforts up a step, with the Los Angeles Clean Sweep Campaign.
Kaye said the goal is to find candidates to run against incumbent in the next city election in March 2011.
He has planned a meeting for 1 p.m. on Saturday, with former Mayor Richard Riordan scheduled to speak, for community activists and candidates at the Mayflower Club, 11110 victory Blvd., North Hollywood.
Kaye said the gathering is designed to introduce candidates and to mobilize the community to change City Hall.Tickets are $20.

The principal of Los Angeles Unified's premier arts high school - hand-picked for the high-profile post just last year - was transferred this week to a new Porter Ranch campus that isn't set to open until 2012. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

Suzanne Blake, a 22-year LAUSD veteran, said she learned of the move Monday, after she was assured by LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines in late June that she would still have her job at Central High School #9 this fall.

"I have not been told why I am not able to stay," Blake said ... and this seems to me to be a back-room deal."

In a move some officials see as an end run around Los Angeles' hiring freeze, City Attorney Carmen Trutanich is looking to hire a squad of private investigators to help root out illegal billboards.
Daily News.
The effort has raised questions from City Council members, who were surprised at Trutanich's efforts to hire outside investigators after he was denied permission to expand his own staff because of the ongoing budget crisis. The council had authoritized Trutanich to spend $325,000 hunting for billboard violators, but thought he planned to use employees or existing contractors.

Tax credits work, at least when it comes to keeping filmmaking in Los Angeles.Bob Strauss in the Daily News.

Feature film production was up a healthy 11.5 percent this past April, May and June compared to the second quarter of 2009, according to the latest report from FilmL.A.

In the three-month period, filmmakers logged a total of 1,542 permitted production days, up from 1,383 last year.

The Los Angeles Unified school board Tuesday unanimously approved adding $6 million to the cost of a K-12 complex on the site of the former Ambassador Hotel, a $572 million project that is already the district's most expensive school. Conniei Llanos in the Daily News.

District officials said they need the additional money to fully open The Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools complex by this fall.

The majority of the money will be used to satisfy environmental regulations, they said.

"This is a critical investment that came after 20 years of challenges to build a school in the mid-Wilshire district," said school board president Monica Garcia.

Giving her a broad agenda to improve a city agency under siege, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday confirmed the appointment of Brenda Barnette as the city's sixth Animal Services general manager in 10 years.

"We are giving you a green light to make changes, but be cautious in making sure you go back to the community to involve them," Councilman Dennis Zine told Barnette.

Barnette, who most recently headed the Seattle Humane Society, was confirmed on a 15-0 vote. She is taking over one of the most troubled departments in the city, one whose past leaders have found their homes picketed and their families harassed by activists who want the city to kill fewer animals.

Even as it investigates Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's acceptance of free tickets to scores of high-profile events, the Los Angeles Ethics Commission began looking Tuesday at whether public officials should be required to disclose such activities.

Over the last five years, Villaraigosa has attended at least 85 events - including Lakers and Dodgers games, concerts and celebrity-studded awards ceremonies - without disclosing the free tickets on his financial reporting forms. He has argued that his appearance is part of his official duties as mayor so the tickets should not be considered gifts subject to public disclosure.

Following a series of controversies with the Department of Water and Power, two City Council members Tuesday called for creating a new independent position in the agency to represent ratepayers.

Council President Eric Garcetti and Councilwoman Jan Perry hope to present the plan to voters in March after a series of public hearings to fill out the details.

Three years after announcing it would build an upscale mixed-use project in Warner Center that would rival Century City, Westfield LLC has dramatically scaled back its $750 million plan for the mall connecting its Topanga and Promenade complexes. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

In a letter dated July 6 and sent to some households in Woodland Hills, Westfield executives blame the economic recession for their decision to eliminate the housing component and slash office and retail space at The Village at Westfield Topanga.

Tipoff: Brenda Burnette learns about L.A.

Imagine: At a time when California is lurching from crisis to crisis, a legislator has an idea to make life better. He writes a bill, gathers support and shepherds it into law. Karen De Sa in the Daily News.

If only Sacramento worked like that.

Instead, it often works like this:

A lobbyist has an idea to make life better - mainly for his client. The lobbyist writes the bill, shops for a lawmaker willing to introduce it and lines up the support. The legislator has to do little more than show up and vote

Already ballooning to $572 million, Los Angeles Unified's most expensive school - and possibly the nation's - looks like it will need a final $6 million infusion before fully opening this fall. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

The Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools, a K-12 complex on the former site of the Ambassador Hotel where Kennedy was assassinated in 1968, needs the money to satisfy environmental regulations.

School board members are scheduled Tuesday to vote on the additional funding request.

Thanks to $20 million in loans assembled by the Valley Economic Development Center, local small businesses can still get cash - but it takes time, patience and lots of paperwork.
Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

Recipients say the payoff is worth the effort.

Just ask longtime auto dealer Howard Sellz, who recently received the first installment of a $450,000 loan from the Van Nuys-based VEDC.

Increasing poverty worsened by the economic recession has contributed to the declining health of Latinos in Southern California, highlighted by increases in obesity, diabetes and heart disease, according to a new study.Daily News.

Officials with the Tom s Rivera Policy Institute at the University of Southern California said their findings underscore the need for a health care system that is sensitive to cultural diversity and designed to promote preventive care.

But meanwhile, health care and access to it continue to decline for Latinos and other ethnic minorities, they said.

Crime in Los Angeles continued to decline through the first half of 2010, despite a poor economy and tightened budgets that reduced the number of officers on the street, officials said Friday.Daily News.

Serious crime citywide dropped 6.6 percent through June 30, compared with the first half of 2009. And while homicides increased from 144 to 150, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck promised an overall reduction for the entire year.

"We have had eight straight years of crime going down and, by the end of this year, it will be nine years," Beck said at a City Hall news conference attended by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Council President Eric Garcetti.

VAN NUYS -- Harder days may lie ahead, but at least for one session, the San Fernando Valley Council of Governments enjoyed the benefit of being a political body too new to have ticked anybody off yet. Kevin Modesti in the Daily News.

The first meeting of the 13-member panel combining county and city officials from the San Fernando Valley area was held Thursday at Van Nuys City Hall in an atmosphere of refreshing optimism and public approval.

Even the few gadflies in the public gallery lauded the council's potential to serve the region by fusing disparate interests.

Trying to defuse tension with the City Council, the head of the Department of Water and Power said Thursday he had not intended to snub a council hearing earlier this week.Daily News.

Interim DWP General Manager Austin Beutner had missed a critical hearing the council held Tuesday to look into an audit that accused the agency of lying about its finances in order to push through a rate hike.

Council members were outraged, saying it was unprecedented for a city department head or his subordinates to not appear before the council when requested.

Californians will be smoking a lot more pot - and paying a lot less for it - if a ballot measure legalizing recreational use of marijuana passes in November. C..J. Lin in the Daily News.

But other predictions about the effects of legalizing the drug are a lot more hazy, according to a study released Wednesday by Rand Corp.'s Drug Policy Research Center.

"No government has legalized the production and distribution of marijuana for general use," said Beau Kilmer, a Rand researcher and lead author of the report titled "Altered State?"

The Los Angeles Unified school board has appointed a retired district lawyer as interim inspector general, responsible for overseeing investigations related to fraud, waste and abuse. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

Jess Womack of Sherman Oaks served as Los Angeles Unified's interim and deputy general counsel before his retirement in June 2008. He succeeds Inspector General Jerry Thornton, whose contract expired June 30.

School board members said they plan to conduct a nationwide search for a permanent replacement for Thornton.

A sea of gray and burgundy flowed through Fremont High in South Los Angeles on Tuesday morning as students arrived for their first day of school sporting new uniforms, one of many changes at the troubled campus that was overhauled last year. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

Employing a controversial reform model never used at a Los Angeles Unified school, all staff members at the 4,500-student campus - except the newly appointed principal - were fired in December and forced to reapply for their jobs.

On Tuesday, less than half of the school's former staff returned to work. Those who did agreed to take on more responsibility and be measured on a higher standard. The drastic measures were needed to address the dismal test scores and alarming dropout rates that have plagued this school for more than a decade, said George McKenna, local District 7 superintendent.

Simmering tension between the City Council and the DWP erupted Tuesday after utility officials skipped a hearing scheduled to discuss an audit that accused the agency of lying in order to push through a rate hike. Daily News,.

An angry Councilman Paul Koretz threatened to use the council's subpoena power to compel Austin Beutner, a deputy mayor and the DWP's interim general manager, to appear before the full City Council within the next two weeks.

"I've been watching the city for over 40 years and I don't remember anything like this," said Koretz, who chairs the council's Audits Committee. "We asked them to be here before and they refused.

Los Angeles residents would be allowed to add a day to their twice-weekly lawn-watering schedule - while saving even more water - under a proposal recommended Tuesday by the City Council.Daily News.

The two-day-a-week watering schedule remains in effect while Department of Water and Power officials consider the recommendation to cut sprinkler use from 15 to eight minutes a day, but expand it to three days a week. With the watering time allowed each household reduced from 30 to 24 minutes per week, more water would be conserved.

In a major boost for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and his negotiations with city unions, the right to order furloughs of city workers was upheld last week. Daily News.

In a cadre brought by the Engineers and Architects Association, a hearing officer to the Employee Relations Board said the mayor and city management acted properly in how it ordered furloughs of the EAA members after months of negotiations.

"The decision to implement a mandatory furlough plan and the effects of those decisions are within the scope of representation," Hearing Officer David Stiteler ruled after months of hearings.

Tipoff: Former mayor conducts his own round of negotiations.

The controversy over Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's acceptance of free tickets for sporting events and concerts has exposed a loophole in state and local laws that experts say should be closed to help the public keep a closer eye on elected officials. Daily News.

Villaraigosa recently detailed 85 events he has appeared at for free over the past five years - including Lakers and Dodgers games, major concerts and awards shows - but defended attending them as part of his official duties as mayor.

The gifts of (political) life
. Public officials in California are required to file public reports known as the Form 700, or Statement of Economic Interests, that list their assets, income and gifts received. Daily News.

An examination of the forms filed by Los Angeles city officials shows a wide divergence in what officials received and what they report - and the benefits of being a citywide elected official.

In the six years he has been in office, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has made public safety and the LAPD his top priority _ imposing a trash fee to hire more cops and protecting officers from teh furloughs other workers face.
Well, he;s getting a little love back as he deals with the controversy over tickets to events he has received and his appearnaces at high-profile games and concerts.
The Los Angeles Police Protedtive League _ the union representing officers _ posted a blog item defending the mayor's apperances
In part, it reads:

"The recent stories about Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's acceptance of free tickets to entertainment and sporting events, which are now the subject of several investigations, avoids a very important subject that should be discussed: the need for the City of Los Angeles to have a Mayor (no matter who it is) who is dedicated to the economic growth of our community by strengthening existing business, attracting new people to the City and being our ambassador to the world.

In our view, the Mayor would not be doing his job if he were not attending the high-profile events that spotlight our City's accomplishments. We understand and support all the reporting requirements now in place, but if the issue comes down to money, then the Council should put money in the City budget to pay for the Mayor to attend high-profile events.

In order to keep the City of Los Angeles' economic engine going, we need our Mayor promoting Los Angeles as a great place to do business and to live. We need to have a Mayor who promotes business development, supports local professional sports teams, works with the business and development community and civic organizations to further economic development and bring jobs to Los Angeles."

The free telescopes that dot the rooftop of the iconic Theme Building at LAX provided a window to faraway destinations for Winfrey Giese. Art Marroquin in the Daily News,

Ever since he was a teenager, the picturesque views have given Giese a chance to get close to jetliners filled with visitors from foreign lands arriving at Los Angeles International Airport. As he continued the hobby into adulthood, he brought his son, Eric, to the top of the flying saucer-shaped structure.

"I met a lot of other people like me who would go up there and keep information about all the airplanes that were coming into LAX and where they were going," said the Garden Grove resident, who began plane-spotting on the Theme Building's observation deck in January 1965.

A plume of toxic chemicals under the San Fernando Valley has expanded so much in recent years that city officials have had to close dozens of water wells and may have to stop drawing local water altogether unless a massive $850 million cleanup effort is undertaken.Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

The plume of contaminated water has now grown to about 2 miles wide and 7-10 miles long, and the Department of Water and Power has been forced to close a growing number of wells, said Pankaj Parekh, the DWP's director of water quality.

In 2007, the DWP only had to shut down one well because of contamination of the city's only local water supply. Today, 50 to 55 are shut down at any given time in the North Hollywood and Rinaldi-Toluca well fields.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's order to pay 200,000 state workers just the minimum wage sent a signal to California lawmakers: In the impasse over closing California's $19 billion budget deficit, Schwarzenegger is ready to play hardball. AP in the Daily News.

The Legislature's deadline to send a spending plan to the governor passed two weeks ago, and the fiscal year began Thursday with Republicans and majority Democrats no closer to finding a compromise.

A top police official said Thursday that authorities warned staff at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and event promoters about the potential for unruly crowds and drug abuse at a weekend rave that led to the death of a 15-year-old girl. AP in the Daily News,

Deputy Chief Pat Gannon said through a spokeswoman that police didn't attempt to have the 14th annual Electric Daisy Carnival canceled. However, he indicated it was common knowledge there could be trouble, given that such events are notorious for illicit drug use.

Monica Garcia was elected president of the Los Angeles Unified school board Thursday for the fourth time since she joined the board in 2006.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

Board member Marguerite LaMotte, who sharply criticized Garcia's ties to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, was the sole dissenter in the 5-1 vote. Vice President Yolie Flores was absent.

As president, Garcia will continue overseeing all regular and special board meetings.

As the city begins laying off hundreds of workers, a new audit released Thursday shows its agencies fail to collect at least $260 million a year for traffic tickets, ambulance transports and other services.

City Controller Wendy Greuel and other officials noted the city could have avoided layoffs and some service cuts this year if it did a better job collecting unpaid bills.

Greuel's audit of a sampling of city agencies found they collected only 53percent of the money owed to them, virtually unchanged from the 52 percent rate found under a similar audit conducted three years ago.

The Los Angeles City Council shot down a last-minute bid Wednesday to delay hundreds of city layoffs which are slated to start sometime after Thursday.Daily News.

Following a nearly two-hour closed-door meeting, the council did not rescind the layoff notices given to 193 workers who have already been told to leave their job during the fiscal year that starts today, or delay sending notices to another 232 workers.

"This is an earthquake that will be happening on Thursday," Councilwoman Janice Hahn said. "We need to stop these layoffs."

Dozens of teachers, charter school operators and nonprofits have signaled their interest in taking over daily operations of 17 Los Angeles Unified campuses. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

District officials are expected to announce a final count today of initial bids for the second round of LAUSD's "Public School Choice" plan, which will allow outside groups and LAUSD staff to compete to run nine new and eight existing low-performing public schools.

Among the campuses up for grabs this year are two long-awaited San Fernando Valley high schools - in Granada Hills and San Fernando - that are expected to enroll more than 3,000 students combined and could be divided into seven small schools.