June 2011 Archives

- California Democrats have closed the remainder of what had been a gaping budget deficit, relying on a combination of deep spending cuts, optimistic revenue projections and new fees that are sure to be challenged in court. AP in the Daily News,

The Legislature late Tuesday sent a nearly $86 billion spending plan for the fiscal year that begins Friday to Gov. Jerry Brown.

He is certain to sign it because he struck the compromise with his fellow Democrats days earlier, after failing to get Republican support for tax increases.

The package closes the remaining $9.6 billion deficit.

Calling revelations about bribery of Department of Building and Safety employees "horrendous violations of the public trust," the top official at the agency provided new details on the investigation of the scandal at a Tuesday City Hall hearing. Dakota Smith in the Daily News.

Appearing before a subcommittee, Robert "Bud" Ovrom said the department's code enforcement, engineering, and inspection bureaus are being examined as part of the corruption probe. The agency is also investigating developers and contractors who offered bribes to Building and Safety employees.

For idealistic environmentalists, recycling centers represent community gathering spots to trade bottles and cans and re-use materials.Dakota Smith in the Daily News.

But a recycling center proposed for a section of Ratner Street in Sun Valley won't be a green utopia, according to locals who worry the center's location will draw transients and increase blight.

"Sun Valley has its share of recycling places," said Sun Valley resident Vicki Burch, co-chair of the Community Police Advisory Board, who backs the idea of the center but not its location. "More than its share. And I don't think we need more."

Los Angeles Unified's decision to slash summer school offerings because of budget cuts has sent parents and students scrambling for alternatives to fulfill graduation requirements or eke out an academic edge. Rebeca Kheel in the Daily News.

This is the third consecutive year the district has pared back its summer offerings.

In 2009 and 2010, summer classes were cancelled for elementary and middle school students and high school offerings were limited to make-up classes.

This year, ninth-graders are excluded from summer enrollment, while seniors who failed to graduate must enroll in adult school. That limits summer school to sophomores who received an F and juniors who received a D or F in a class they need to graduate.

Los Angeles Unified has pushed through a number of far-reaching reforms over the past few years. Often leading the call for change has been school board member Yolie Flores, whose relentless drive and tenacity belie her petite size. Connie Llanos in the Daily News,

Representing schools from Silver Lake to Bell, Flores has earned a reputation as a bold reformer during her four-year term, most notably for her game-changing "Public School Choice" motion that allowed groups inside and outside the district to compete for the right to run campuses.

Flores, 48, has been both praised and blasted for her efforts, but less than a week from the end of her term, she said she has no regrets.

Tipoff UTLA prepares for new leadership, hopeful of new relations with board.

Up to $57 million in funds controlled by Los Angeles Unified schools that were expected to save the jobs of hundreds of teachers, nurses and counselors have not been spent, according to district officials. connie Llanos via Daily Breeze.

The district placed the funds under the authority of schools in an effort to promote local decision-making, but now Superintendent John Deasy faces a dilemma: He supports local control, but he wants schools to spend their money to help reduce the roughly 1,900 layoffs of teachers, nurses and counselors planned in the new fiscal year that begins Friday.

After negotiating furlough deals with district unions earlier this year to help reduce layoffs, officials had estimated that local schools would help out by choosing to use their own funds to buy back about 700 to 1,000 positions.

Members of the public have submitted 19 proposals for redrawing Los Angeles County supervisor districts, setting up potential conflicts between a range of geographic, ethnic and political interests. Christina Villacorte in the Daily News,.

The proposals vary in their goals, with some looking to grant more political power to ethnic groups like Latinos or Asians and another seeking to keep the entire San Fernando Valley intact in a single district. One proposal even seeks to expand the number of supervisors to 16.

A county committee is expected to sort through the plans and make a recommendation by next month, with the Board of Supervisors required to give final approval by Oct. 31.

dd the Los Angeles Unified School District to those protesting rate increases proposed by the Department of Water and Power. Daily News.,

In a letter to the DWP, Superintendent John Deasy expressed concern that the rate increase would harm the financially strapped district and asked that discounted rates be offered to educational institutions.

"We are already struggling to provide adequate resources for our students to learn and succeed," Deasy wrote to DWP General Manager Ron Nichols, who has been leading workshops throughout the city on the agency's long-term needs.

With an eye on next month's 53-hour shutdown of the 405 Freeway, a city official said Friday that more planning is needed to ensure medical personnel are able to get to their jobs. Daily News,

"We have to plan like we knew an earthquake was coming," said Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who held a town hall meeting in his district Thursday night on the planned closure from July 15-18.

"People are aware of what's coming and they're concerned. We had over 200 people who wanted to know what the city is planning,"

They may officially be known as the Class of 2011, but some graduating seniors at Francis Polytechnic High have dubbed themselves the Class of Prodigies. Connie Llanos in the Daiy News.

The name seems fitting for this brainy bunch, who have gained acceptance to some of the nation's most prestigious universities and won highly coveted - and competitive - scholarships.

"We really have created a college culture here," said Leonna Worman, the college counselor at the campus for the last nine years. "It keeps getting better and better every year and now it's like osmosis ... Every kid tells another kid, `Hey you can go to college, too'."

Faced with budget cuts, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will reduce or eliminate service on several bus lines next week, while expanding rush-hour service on its light-rail Gold Line. Christina villacorte in the Daily News.

The cuts prompted outrage from the Bus Riders Union, which plans a protest in downtown Los Angeles this morning.

BRU organizer Sunyoung Yang said bus service has eroded steadily over the last several years, which has "put a tremendous burden on low-income people and people of color who rely on the bus to get around."

Following an FBI bribery investigation at the Department of Building & Safety, City Councilman Dennis Zine called Wednesday for more oversight of the department. Dakota Smith in the Daily News

Zine submitted three separate motions aimed at increasing accountability in the department, as well as on the property owners it works with. Among other changes, Zine is seeking a performance audit of the department; the creation of an internal investigations unit; improved technology to track building inspectors' laptops or cellphones; and new rules to punish property owners who violate zoning laws.

Plans to explore a public-private partnership in operating the Los Angeles Zoo have been delayed at least a month because of questions about the deal's long-term effects on employees and the public. Daily News.

During a hearing Wednesday of the City Council committee that oversees the zoo, Councilman Ed Reyes submitted nearly two dozen questions regarding public access and management, which he wants answered before a request for proposals is issued.

"I am concerned about what a change in administration would do," Reyes said. "What will happen when a new entity is in charge? What happens as far as liability if we have an earthquake?"

Los Angeles motorists remained caught in legislative limbo Wednesday as the City Council deadlocked on a vote to end the red-light camera program this summer. Daily News.

The council split 7-7 on whether to allow the program to expire on July 31, and later decided to send the issue to the Budget and Finance Committee for review.

In the meantime, the Los Angeles Police Department plans to continue citing motorists photographed running red lights at the 32 intersections where they're installed.

After several incidents of people getting stuck in dilapidated elevators at the aging county Hall of Administration, officials are poised to set aside $3.2 million for upgrades.Chjristina Villacorte n the Daily News.

County Internal Services Director Tom Tindall said the hall's 11 elevators have been in operation for more than 50 years and are due for replacement, even though they meet current code requirements.

He said the county's Chief Executive Office has identified $3.2 million in "extraordinary maintenance funding" to modernize the elevators. If the Board of Supervisors signs off on the project, the upgrades could be completed in 20 months.

Facing a lawsuit alleging racism, county officials have temporarily stopped a program that was allegedly targeting Antelope Valley minorities on public housing assistance by subjecting them to extra inspections and police harassment.n Christina Villacorte in the Daily News.
The county imposed a 90-day moratorium on the program last week, so that the allegations of racism could be investigated, and the Board of Supervisors upheld that decision Tuesday.

Officials in Palmdale and Lancaster acknowledged they were getting tough on recipients of Section 8 public housing assistance, but denied it was racially motivated. Instead, they said, it was an effort to root out fraud and reduce crime.

The city's red light camera program will end as of July 31, and at least one city councilman is advising motorists to ignore tickets they get between now and then. Daily News.

The City Council declined Tuesday to overturn a Police Commission decision to end the contract for the program. But the council could not decide what to do with the cameras, or tickets issued because of them, over the next six weeks.

Councilman Dennis Zine, a former LAPD motorcycle officer, said he would ignore the tickets.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Monday approved a $23.3 billion 2011-12 budget, which could be slashed further depending on state and federal budget deliberations. Christina Villacorte in the Daily News.

The spending plan, $905 million less than last year's, would cover the fiscal year beginning July 1.

"I think this really points out the precarious position that we're in," Supervisor Don Knabe said. "There's so much outside of our control that could have a very negative impact on our budget."

County Chief Executive Officer William Fujioka vowed that the budget, as it currently stands, would not prompt drastic cuts in service.

The next month will determine whether AEG goes ahead with its $1.3 billion plan for a downtown stadium, with the final decision hinging on how quickly Los Angeles officials work out an agreement. Daily News.

City Councilwoman Jan Perry, who chairs of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Proposed Downtown Stadium and Event Center, said she believes a deal can be worked out by July 31 - a deadline set by AEG - as long as the city's interests are protected.

Her committee is next scheduled to meet June 30, a day when no other City Council committees are scheduled to meet, so the members will have time to review the status of negotiations.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa took on a new role Monday as advocate for the nation's cities and his first stop was to lobby President Obama. Daily News.

Villaraigosa was inaugurated in Baltimore as the new president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, saying it was time for cities to begin making their voices heard in a Congress that has been dominated by rural and suburban interests for decades.

"We need to lead the national conversation about what America must do to put our people back to work," Villaraigosa said in his remarks in Baltimore.

"It's fitting we are meeting just a few miles outside of the Beltway - hopefully they can hear us all the way from Baltimore - because the thinking has got to change inside the Beltway."

As Los Angeles council members prepare to move on to the next stage of talks with AEG over a proposed downtown football stadium, city officials said in a report released Sunday that key issues remain to be negotiated.Daily News.

Among those are ensuring that there is a letter of credit to cover any city costs stemming from razing part of the old complex and the building of a new Convention Center hall. Also of concern is the financing of the new stadium, the timing of the construction and coordination of different events at the new facility and the Convention Center.

The information was contained in a 13-page letter prepared by City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana and Chief Legislative Analyst Gerry Miller in response to the more than 40 questions raised by Councilman Bill Rosendahl over the proposed project.

In his first appearance on "Meet the Press" in his role as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa presented his argument Sunday for an increase of federal funding to cities. Daily News,

And, part of that, he said, is ending the wars in the Mideast to make more money available to cities.

"I think the term was used that (it) is like they are on another planet," Villaraigosa said when asked about the Republican presidential debate.

Tipoff:Being a doomsayer means every silver lining has a dark cloud around it; Janice Hahn benefits from hit ad.

City officials and advocates agree on one thing: They want the Los Angeles Zoo to thrive. Daily News.

The question being explored now, however, is what is the best way to accomplish that.

Should it remain a department under control of the city or should it be spun off into a new public-private partnership?

The upcoming summer fire season will represent the first real test for Los Angeles County's new fire chief, Daryl Osby, who took over the post in February from a chief who held the job for an unprecedented 22 years. Christina Villacorte in the Daily News.

As the county's first African-American chief - and one from a family of firefighters - the 49-year-old Osby knows a lot is expected of him.

"My position is bigger than just being an African-American fire chief," said Osby, who lives in Pomona. "But the fact that I was chosen, I think, means a lot to the people who came before me, who sacrificed to allow people like me and others to have a profession in the fire department."

Gov. Jerry Brown angered members of both parties Thursday by vetoing a budget plan approved by Democrats in the Legislature then blaming Republicans for a fiscal impasse that threatens to strip more money from education and vital public services. Daily News.

The developments made a balanced state budget appear more elusive than ever, even though Brown said he would once again try to reach a compromise with GOP lawmakers over whether to extend a series of tax increases set to expire June 30.

Veto creates uncertainty for county
Gov. Jerry Brown's veto Thursday of a budget approved by Democratic lawmakers left local officials uncertain about their future financial stability. Daily News.

The state's failure to complete a budget deal - along with potential cuts in the vetoed budget that could reappear in a final spending plan - has unnerved local officials all too familiar with Sacramento's grueling budget process

Capping an 18-month study, City Councilman Paul Krekorian on Wednesday proposed a series of reforms to update the city's management of neighborhood councils. Daily News.

"This was an unprecedented study to try to deal with the most common complaints we have heard about," Krekorian said, as he introduced four motions designed to deal with the problems:

Provide better training for neighborhood council board members.

With the DWP pushing to raise water and electric rates beginning this fall, the Los Angeles City Council took the first steps Wednesday to appoint an advocate for ratepayers. Daily News.

The council voted 10-0 to create a five-member committee that would hire an executive director for the voter-approved Office of Public Accountability, which would act as a watchdog over the Department of Water and Power.

The hiring panel would be composed of two appointees from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, two from Council President Eric Garcetti and one from Councilwoman Jan Perry, who chairs the council's Environment and Energy Committee.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is heading out for the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Baltimore, Md., where he is to be sworn in as its next president.
During the trip, Villaraigosa will be part of a delegation of mayors meeting with President Obama to discuss issues affecting cities.
Also, Villaraigosa is scheduled to take part in a round-table discussion on Meet the Press, which is broadcast at 8 a.m. Sunday on KNBC-TV (Channel 4).

Los Angeles wastewater may soon become cleaner than a mountain spring. Dana Bartholomew in the Daily News.

But officials say a plan to spend $700 million to recycle sewage into drinking water rests on the future of rates being proposed today.

"One of our key strategies to becoming less reliant on imported water is to recycle water," said James Yannotta, assistant director of water resources for the Department of Water and Power. "Through `purple pipe' for industrial or commercial purposes, or groundwater replenishment to the point where it is essentially distilled.

"It is cleaner than any other water."

Defying expectations in a tough economy, Los Angeles' homeless population shrank in 2011, although the number of military veterans living on the streets soared. Christina Villacorte in the Daily News

In a report issued Tuesday, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority said the county has 51,340 homeless people - some in emergency shelters, but most living in abandoned buildings, cars, parks and on sidewalks.

The number represents a 3 percent drop in the 52,931 homeless residents counted in 2009, the last time the study was conducted.

A year after a bruising political battle over rate hikes, the Department of Water and Power is preparing to push for another series of increases that would boost bills by more than 15 percent over three years. Daily News.

DWP General Manager Ron Nichols on Tuesday detailed a proposal that would use dramatic increases in water and power rates to fund the utility's long-term needs.

The proposal would increase water rates by 4.2 percent and power rates by 6 percent by Nov. 1. By 2014, water rates would have to jump by 15.3 percent and power rates by 16.8 percent.

Sheriff Lee Baca not only wants his deputies to arrest and jail suspects, he thinks they should supervise the offenders' parole.Christina Villacorte in the Daily News.

Baca is making an unprecedented bid to expand the powers of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, saying it would improve community safety because his force has more resources and law enforcement know-how than probation officers.

But the idea, expected to be heard today by the Board of Supervisors, doesn't sit well with the Los Angeles County Probation Department, whose employees have been monitoring offenders since 1903.

California's job prospects will be "respectable" in the third quarter, and job prospects in metro Los Angeles should hit the best level in two years, according to a survey released today. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey found that 18 percent of businesses polled plan to add staff from July through September, up from 10 percent in the second quarter and 11 percent a year ago.

"It tells us that businesses are feeling better about the direction of the economy," said Leila Torres Drewes, a sales executive with Manpower's Encino office. "It's optimism we're seeing - absolute optimism."

The survey by Manpower Staffing, an employment services firm, found that 69 percent of respondents plan to maintain their staffing levels, compared with 78 percent in the second quarter and 71 percent a year ago.

With federal mandates and parents demanding healthier food for kids, Los Angeles Unified officials are looking to beef up vegetarian offerings. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

District officials will ask the school board today to approve a $50 million, five-year contract that would provide students with a range of meat-free options including black eyed peas and veggie salad, vegetable pad Thai with spicy peanut sauce and California sushi rolls.

Since 2006, LAUSD has served at least one meat-free option for students at both breakfast and lunch, although district officials said the current fare barely classifies as vegetarian.

Councilwoman Jan Perry has served notice that her campaign for mayor in 2013 has passed the $200,000 mark in donations.
Perry sent her notification to the city Ethics Commission last Thursday, a day after former First Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner reported that he had passed the fundraising mark.
Controller Wendy Greuel was the first to serve notice of passing the mark.
They are the three major announced candidates so far.
Others who have declared their candidacy include radio talk show host Kevin James,
Jose F Di Raimondo, YJ Draiman and Malcolm Mays.

Just days after his top staff resigned en masse, Newt Gingrich on Sunday sought to reboot his troubled presidential bid with a foreign policy speech accusing the Obama administration of placing "political correctness above common sense" in its dealings on the world stage. AP in the Daily News.

The address before the Republican Jewish Coalition, scheduled for Sunday night in Beverly Hills, was to be Gingrich's first since he was rocked by the sudden exodus of 16 senior strategists and advisers. They bolted Thursday less than a month after his White House campaign was formally launched.

Pledging to soldier on, Gingrich vowed to start fresh in Los Angeles, where he said his campaign "begins anew."

A spring crackdown on unlicensed dogs in Los Angeles has created a nightmare for some pet owners, who could wind up with misdemeanor offenses on their records if they don't jump through some nasty bureaucratic hoops. Daily News,

Even with checkbooks in hand, many dog owners have been unable to pay their fines - some going to court two or three times with no success.

The city admits that in some cases, many pet owners were mistakenly sent to the wrong courts. In other cases, too many owners were sent to the same court on the same day, creating bottlenecks that caused their hearings to be delayed.

Tipoff: No major celebrations planned for city officials.

Vidal Herrera lives to give voice to the dead. Susan Abram in the Daily News,.

When a swaddled corpse arrives at his morgue, Herrera knows it's because there are suspicions surrounding a loved one's demise from grieving family members.

Did Grandma really die of old age at the nursing home? Was it heart disease that caused Dad's death?

Some people might not object to a high school science teacher getting paid more for having a master's degree in biology.Connie Llanos in the Daily News

Or raising the salary of an educator who has learned another language.

But should teachers be able to boost their salaries for going to the opera to enhance their music appreciation? Or for attending union conferences?

Los Angeles Unified spends $519 million each year - or a quarter of the teacher payroll - on salary bonuses for teachers who have taken additional coursework, according to a report released last week. Those classes range from graduate courses taken at a university to online seminars and art appreciation classes.

Big Valley Dodge, a decades-old dealership closed by Chrysler LLC during its bankruptcy, is back in business with a new name and, soon, a new look. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

It's called Van Nuys Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, part of California Superstores, and will employee about 80 people.

The Roseville-based company bought the dealership and service center from Chrysler eight months ago and plans to reopen it on Wednesday, CEO Carlos Hidalgo said. A $10 million-plus renovation will launch soon after.

A West Hills man accused of visa fraud became the posterboy of a nationwide crackdown on immigration scam artists launched Thursday by local and federal officials. C.J. Lin in the Daily News.

The arrest of Carlos Alberto Silva, 29, at his Canoga Park business this week was announced as officials unveiled a multi-agency effort to target notarios - the Spanish word for those offering legal advice, representation or other services on immigration issues even though they are not qualified to do so.

The notarios who take advantage of confusion between notario publicos - which in Latin American countries, are specialized lawyers - and notary publics, which witness document signings in the U.S., take off with thousands of dollars in upfront fees they charge immigrants without delivering services, officials said.

The Los Angeles City Planning Commission on Thursday joined a list of city agencies devoting time and resources to evaluate developer AEG's proposed Farmers Field NFL stadium. Dakota Smith in the Daily News,

While the NFL has not formally committed to returning to Los Angeles, the Planning Commission set up a subcommittee to look exclusively at the ambitious downtown project, which envisions a 70,000-seat stadium and new convention center hall.

Commissioner Sean Burton, who will oversee the internal four-member group, said the sheer size and complexity of the project requires the city to give it special attention. The commission will be tasked with looking at how the various stages and elements of the project will be approved.

The LAPD may cut special units - from those that combat vice to animal cruelty - in order to beef up patrols unless the police union agrees to a new contract, Chief Charlie Beck said Thursday. Daily News,

Beck's letter to officials, coupled with a report from City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana, said closing a $41 million gap in the Los Angeles Police Department budget can only be made by cutting compensation for officers or reducing service levels.

At risk are units such as the Animal Cruelty Task Force and a Safer Cities patrol on Skid Row.

"Please know that it is not my desire to reassign officers ...," wrote Beck. "But it is the only way the department can maintain the level of front-line resources that are essential for the protection of the public's safety."

In another hit to the battered city Department of Transportation, an audit released Thursday finds the agency is uncertain how many meters it operates and has flaws in its revenue collection process that cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars.Daily News.

City Controller Wendy Greuel's audit was her third this year criticizing the agency and comes amid other bad news that included DOT workers caught participating in a porn film production while on duty.

Greuel called on the agency to improve its collection policies and equipment to help save the city money.

Former First Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner notified the city Ethics Commission today that he has reached the $200,000 mark in donations in his campaign for mayor, matching the amount raised by Controller Wendy Greuel.
"We are finding a real hunger out there for a different kind of leader in Austin Beutner, and that's certainly been reflected in the pace of financial support," said campaign consultant Sean Clegg.
"This total doesn't count our June events, including a major Dick Riordan headliner, so stay tuned."

Many of the red light cameras in the city of Los Angeles could be shut down soon, after the Police Commission on Tuesday voted to kill the program. C.J. Lin in the Daily News,

The five-member panel unanimously rejected the Los Angeles Police Department's proposal to continue the program with a renewed three-to-five-year contract for Scottsdale, Ariz.-based American Traffic Solutions.

Commission members questioned the program's effectiveness and its cost to the city.

The cities of Lancaster and Palmdale are waging a discriminatory war against black and Latino residents on public housing assistance, using police intimidation and other tactics to force them out, a new lawsuit alleges. Dakota Smith in the Daily News,

The federal suit filed by two residents and civil rights groups alleges Latino and black residents using Section 8 vouchers for rental assistance face unannounced searches by sheriff deputies, increased surveillance by county housing agents and organized spying from their neighbors.

By contrast, white individuals who use the vouchers, a group largely consisting of the elderly and disabled, aren't subject to intimidation, according to the suit.

Hoping to eliminate so-called puppy mills, the City Council called Tuesday for a law that would ban the commercial breeding of dogs, cats, rabbits and chickens in Los Angeles. Daily News.
The ordinance would also prohibit the sale of animals bred at high-volume farms to local pet stores. Instead, the stores would be able to offer animals from city shelters for adoption by the public.

Councilman Paul Koretz said his proposal would create a more humane environment and help the city reduce the number of animals in its shelters.

"This will be a win-win for us," Koretz said. "It will reduce our pet population and save a number of animals. This will reduce the number of puppy mills operating in the city."

Saying it would jeopardize relations with the minority community and violate Los Angeles' Special Order 40, the City Council said Tuesday it wants to opt out of a controversial fingerprint-sharing program created by federal immigration officials.Daily News/

Led by Councilman Bernard Parks, the council voted to support state legislation that would allow the city to withdraw from the federal Secure Communities program. It requires police to submit the fingerprints of criminal suspects to be checked against FBI and immigration records.

Legislation for California to withdraw from the program has passed the Assembly and is awaiting a vote in the Senate.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Jackie Lacey lays out her experience and her campaign in her race to succeed District Attorney Steve Cooley in next year's election.
It is expected to be a crowded field that could include City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, Deputy District Attorneys Alan Jackson, Steve Ipsen Bobby Grace, Danette Meyers and Mario Trujillo.
Cooley announced recently he will not seek election to a fourth term.

It will require an army of workers and the precision of a military operation - a 53-hour undertaking that will practically separate the San Fernando Valley from West Los Angeles for more than two days. Daily News.

Over the weekend of July15-18, work crews will dismantle a portion of the Mulholland Bridge over the 405 Freeway. The northbound side will be closed from the 10 to the 101 freeways, while southbound lanes will be shut down from the 101 to Getty Center Drive.

An estimated 500,000 motorists drive the freeway during those hours - 500,000 people who are now being urged to stay home that weekend and avoid even the alternate routes of Sepulveda Boulevard and the canyon roads to travel between the Valley and the Westside.

Like many San Fernando Valley residents, Gerald Silver is making plans for the summer, plotting out weekends for himself and his wife, Myrna. Dakota Smth in the Daily News.

And the Silvers have a very specific itinerary for July 15-18.

"We'll be landlocked and isolated," said Silver, 78, of Encino. "We're going to Ralphs early, stocking up and not leaving the house for two days."

Tipoffs: New restrictions in place; looking ahead to 2013.

Orel Hershiser is joining forces with Steve Garvey. Jill Painter in the Daily News,.=.

Garvey has worked to assemble a team of people with the wish of purchasing the Dodgers if the team goes on sale, and Garvey added Hershiser to his team, which is now called the Garvey-Hershiser Group.

Major League Baseball already has seized the Dodgers and is running the day-to-day business operations of the club. The team could go on sale if team owner Frank McCourt is unable to make the next payroll, but he's made the past two payrolls under a cloud of uncertainty.

Teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District have overwhelmingly ratified a one-year labor contract with the district, thereby saving some 5,000 jobs and maintaining class sizes at present levels, their union announced Saturday.Daily News,

Over two days beginning Thursday, 20,429 teachers, or 83.2 percent, voted to approve the contract and 4,127, 16.8 percent, voted against, said United Teachers Los Angeles spokeswoman Marla Eby.

"This agreement will benefit teachers, health and human services professionals, parents and especially students, who will lose fewer instructional days and maintain class sizes next year," said union President A.J. Duffy

The Department of Water and Power will need to hike utility rates to replace the city's aging infrastructure and invest in green energy, but the actual rates won't be determined until after a series of community meetings, officials said Saturday. C.J.Lin in the Daily News.

More than 70 percent of the city's electric generation will need to be replaced, and the use of coal, which accounts for 40 percent of the city's energy supply, is slated to be entirely eliminated by 2030 in moves that city officials called a "massive transformation" of the DWP.

"That is a sea change to have that happen so quickly," said DWP Manager Ron Nichols at a first-of-its-kind joint meeting between the City Council's Energy and Environment Committee and the civilian DWP commission. "We can't do that with our current finance levels."

Not everyone is impressed with the Westfield Group's $500 million plan to transform Warner Center into a regional shopping destination. Gregory J Wilcox in the Daily News.

The Woodland Hills Warner Center Neighborhood Council has filed an 18-page response to the draft environmental impact statement submitted for Westfield Village at Topanga - a document it says is fraught with "misrepresentations, faulty conclusions and unsubstantiated statements."

Dennis DiBiase, an architect and council member who co-wrote the response, said the group is concerned about the amount of traffic that would be generated by the 1 millon- square-foot project.

A probation officer who worked as a case manager for the Department of Children and Family Services allegedly stole thousands of dollars from at least 11 homeless youths who entrusted him with their money Christina Villacorte in the Daily News..

Before dying of a heart attack on March 3, Deputy Probation Officer II Andre Toliver, 39, was assigned to the DCFS' Transitional Housing Program, which helps young men and women between 18 and 21 become self-sufficient after leaving foster care.

Toliver's responsibilities included helping them get jobs, and depositing part of their earnings into special trust funds, which for most were the only assets they had.

After his unexpected death, DCFS workers so rted through his case files and discovered that he had kept two sets of books on the trust funds, according to DCFS Acting Deputy Director for Service Bureau I, Diane Wagner.

os Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Thursday signed the $6.9 billion budget for the coming year that avoids layoffs and widespread employee furloughs thanks to benefits concessions made by city workers. Daily News.

The agreement approved by most municipal employees to contribute to their retirement health care and pensions was key to bringing some stability to the the city's finances, he said.

"For the last three years, there have been people who don't know enough about what we go through who said we should just shut our doors," Villaraigosa said at a budget signing ceremony at Martin Luther King Jr. park in South Los Angeles.

Gang members in the central San Fernando Valley were put on notice this week: Stop the violence, or law enforcement will come down hard on not just you, but your entire gang. C.J. Lin in the Daily News.

Police, prosecutors and community activists sat down 18 members from nine gangs in and around LAPD's Mission Division during an intervention as part of a new initiative dubbed Operation Ceasefire that launched Tuesday night.

"It's going to be like nothing you've ever seen before," Capt. Bill Scott, commanding officer of Mission Division, told the group gathered at a conference room in Providence Holy Cross Medical Center. "It's going to be relentless. You guys have a choice: put down the guns, put down the weapons, stop shooting, or you're going to have extra attention go out to your gangs."

The 40,000-member teachers union will begin voting today on a tentative pact with Los Angeles Unified that would avert thousands of layoffs planned as a money-saving measure.
Connie Llanos in the Daily News.
Results of the two-day vote are expected to be released Saturday on the deal that would immediately rescind layoff notices sent to some 3,400 teachers, nurses, librarians and counselors. An additional 1,700 jobs could be saved this summer through retirements, attrition and special program funding.

The tentative pact was reached Friday after weeks of negotiations between LAUSD officials and leaders of United Teachers Los Angeles.

Re-igniting a long-simmering dispute, City Council members on Wednesday blasted the City Attorney's Office for failing to operate within its budget while the city is trying to save every penny. Daily News.

At issue was whether the city would loan or simply give $1.7million to the city attorney to cover a shortfall tied to early retirement costs.

While council members criticized the agency for consistently exceeding its budget during tough economic times, City Attorney Carmen Trutanich has been complaining for more than a year that his office is underfunded, limiting his ability to prosecute cases and protect public safety.

A surplus inventory caused by a wave of foreclosures is driving down home prices in major U.S. cities to levels last seen in 2002, although Los Angeles is faring better than most other cities, a research firm said Tuesday.Daily News.

Prices fell from February to March in 18 of the metro areas tracked by the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city index. The damage has now gone well beyond cities hit hardest by unemployment and foreclosures, such as Phoenix and Las Vegas.

Nationally, prices fell 4.2 percent in the first quarter, following a 3.6 percent drop in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to the study. Prices also were down 5.1 percent from a year earlier.

As the City Attorney's Office faced questions about possible conflicts of interest in its negotiations of employee contracts, an official suggested Tuesday the City Council look at seizing control of half the department. Daily News.

City Councilman Bernard Parks said in an interview the council should look at dividing the City Attorney's Office, with the elected city attorney retaining jurisdiction over criminal cases and the council overseeing civil issues.

Currently, the city attorney handles both civil and criminal prosecutors, and the agency's daily operations are essentially