August 2011 Archives

Confronted with a conflict of interest allegation, Supervisor Michael Antonovich withdrew Tuesday his motion challenging custom legislation for developer Anschutz Entertainment
Group's downtown football stadium at a Tuesday board meeting.Dakota Smith in the Daily News,

The supervisor's retreat came after developer Anschutz Entertainment Group informed counsel for the Los Angeles County that Antonovich's wife has been in a fight with AEG over money, and that the supervisor's motion may be inappropriate because he has a financial conflict of interest.

Blocked from pursuing new rate increases, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power warned Tuesday that it may have to start making cuts in service while planning for even sharper fee hikes in the future. Daily News,

The DWP had hoped to get rate increases in July of 2.5 percent for water and 3.8 percent for power, but the City Council stopped the effort until a new ratepayer advocate could be hired for the agency, which is expected to take several months.

DWP General Manager Ron Nichols said if the utility has to wait until November, it would seek hikes of 4.2 percent for water and 5.9 percent for power.

The latest round of Los Angeles Unified's new Public School Choice plan would give an edge to internal, district-based teams that compete to run new schools, under a plan approved by the school board Tuesday.Connie Llanos in the Daily News

School Choice was designed to improve education through competition, by allowing outside groups and internal teams to bid on the management of new and under-performing schools.

But the motion approved unanimously Tuesday changes the rules of the program for its upcoming third round by allowing district-based plans to be submitted first, as long as they meet a series of conditions. Charter school operators complained it may lead to shutting many of them out of the reform program.

The $450 million expansion of Westfield Topanga mall could be the first major test of Los Angeles' newly streamlined permitting system - a program that officials hope will stimulate economic development and job growth.Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

During a press conference Tuesday at Farmers Insurance in Woodland Hills, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa unveiled details of the Strategic Development Plan, which includes staffing a single office with representatives of five separate permitting agencies.

"Their job is to make it easier for business to operate in our city," Villaraigosa said. "The red tape was really difficult to navigate."

The Los Angeles Police Protective League's Eagle and Badge Foundation will host its annual dinner on Tuesday, honoring the LAPD's Medal of Valor Winners, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and a number of other local officials as well as the Buss Family.
Founded in 2001, the foundation was created to support the department, the offiders and their families.
Villaraigosa is being honored along with Police Chief Charlie Beck. City Council President Eric Garcetti, Councilman Dennis P. Zine, City Attorney Carmen Trutanich,
LAPPL President Paul M. Weber, Sheriff Leroy D. Baca, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher and
CBS Sports Director Jim Hill.
The Buss family is being honored for their years as owners of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Others being honored include the Daren and Evan Metropoulos, of C. Dean Metropoulos & Company, of the iconic Pabst Brewing Company; and one of Hollywood's best-known couples, Warren Beatty and Annette Bening.
The event is being held at th4e JW Marriott at LA LIve.

- At a town hall meeting Sunday, U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, criticized the outcome of the redistricting process, which is expected to pit him against a fellow veteran congressman in the newly formed 30th District. Christina Villacorte in the Daily News.

During the meeting, where hundreds packed the Reseda High School auditorium, Sherman refused to answer a question about why voters should choose him over U.S. Rep. Howard Berman, D-Van Nuys, saying he would not use the event to campaign.

He did, however, speak out against the redistricting process, questioning why it drew boundary lines in the middle of established communities.

On the first day of school two years ago, students at Cal State Northridge scrambled in vain to enroll in full-to-overflowing classes.Dana Bartholoomew in the Daily News,

On Monday, the first day of the current fall semester, there likely will be enough desks for everybody.

With state budget cuts that forced steep hikes in tuition, the San Fernando Valley campus has streamlined courses to handle a projected 37,000 students -- a record.

"When I was a freshman, nobody could get their classes," said Gabriela Ruiz, 20, of Los Angeles, a junior working the door at the Matador Bookstore late last week. "Now, everybody gets their classes.

Residential building permit activity in Los Angeles County took a big tumble last month, falling nearly 70 percent from last year's levels. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

The Los Angeles/Ventura Chapter of the Building Industry Association of Southern California said 275 permits for single- and multi-family housing were filed in July, compared with 901 a year earlier.

In addition to the sour economy, the group blamed some of the drop on expensive fire sprinkler and green building requirements that took effect Jan. 1.

About 14 percent of Los Angeles Unified seniors - some 4,900 students - failed to pass the California High School Exit Exam this year, according to results released Wednesday. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

The district's performance on the CAHSEE continues to lag the state as a whole, where only about 5 percent could not pass the exam by 12th grade.

Deasy issues cautions

Giving his first official back-to-school speech as superintendent of Los Angeles Unified, John Deasy praised local educators Wednesday for recent academic gains but challenged them to continue improving - and quickly. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

Deasy lauded adminstrators and principals for raising test scores, improving graduation rates and decreasing the number of student dropouts. But he stressed that more needs to be done before the nation's second-largest school district can claim a true transformation.

If you have a hearing or jury duty for a felony case scheduled at the Santa Clarita Courthouse, be prepared to head to the San Fernando Valley instead. C.J. Lin in the Daily News.

As a result of state budget woes, Superior Court cases are being consolidated and reassigned among courthouses in Santa Clarita, Chatsworth and San Fernando, officials said Wednesday.

Beginning Sept. 12, Santa Clarita Courthouse will handle only misdemeanor cases and traffic citations, with felony cases being reassigned to the San Fernando Courthouse, about 15 miles south.

Matt Klink, one of the busiest lobbyists at City Hall, announced Monday he is leaving to his job as president of Cerrell Associates, to take a job with Phillip Morris in corporate relations in Lausanne,
Klink began working for Cerrell in 1991 and became one of its four managing partners.
"Leaving Cerrell Associates was a difficuklt decisionm,": Klink said. "However, the prospect of living and working in Lausanne, Switzerland, was an opportunity neither my family noer I simply could not afford to turn down,:

Pitted against each other because of redistricting, two powerful San Fernando Valley congressmen are gearing up for an expensive, tough campaign next year that will test the loyalties of local Democrats.Dakota Smith in the Daily News.

Reps. Brad Sherman and Howard Berman, who collectively have 42 years in Congress, are launching early campaigns for a new district that encompasses parts of both their previous seats.

Neither man has officially declared yet, but in separate interviews this week, both said they will run.

Given that both men are very well-liked, have similar political leanings, and appeal to the same type of voters, securing allegiances from Valley residents will be a battle.

What do you do when you're a city in desperate need of cash, with big bills to pay and no relief in sight? Daily News,

How about a garage sale? Perhaps a lottery? Or simply taking over some nearby tax-rich communities?

Those were just a few of the suggestions sent in by Daily News readers on how the city can come up with millions of dollars to help preserve essential services while the economic recovery sputters.

The ideas poured in from city residents and those in neighboring communities. Proposals ranged from the administrative -- cutting the city credit cards and trimming staff -- to the creative, such as starting a city lottery and selling off surplus stuff.

Tipoff: City Attorney Carmen Trutanich campaigning hard for D.A.

Following on the heels of a lawsuit that alleges racism by sheriff's deputies against public housing residents in the Antelope Valley, federal officials are investigating whether there was a systematic effort to drive minorities from the community. C.J. Lin in the Daily News,

The U.S Department of Justice announced Friday it is investigating complaints that the Los Angeles County Housing Authority and Sheriff's Department harassed African-American and Latino residents living in Palmdale and Lancaster, particularly those living in subsidized housing.

The investigation includes the Sheriff's Department because deputies who accompany the housing authority on parole and probation checks and other warrantless searches have drawn complaints about overly aggressive tactics.

Worries about the economy continued to weigh down the San Fernando Valley housing market in July, with sales hitting a record low for the third consecutive month, a trade group said Friday. Gregory J, Wilcox in the Daily News,

A total of 522 houses closed escrow, 67 fewer than in July 2010 and the lowest total for a July since 1984, when the Southland Regional Association of Realtors began keeping records. With 562 transactions recorded in June, sales remained on pace to set a yearly record low.

The median price in the report's coverage area - between Calabasas and Toluca Lake - tumbled to $360,500 from $399,000 a year earlier and $369,000 in June.

Transit riders will no longer have to worry about vanishing bus benches as the City Council approved a 10-year contract Friday with a new firm that plans to replace all 5,000 of the fixtures.Daily News,

Following a lengthy debate, the council voted 11-1 in favor of a contract with Martin Outdoor Media, which promised to pay the city at least $2.7 million of its advertising revenue over the next decade.

"What is most important is to make sure these benches fit in with the community plans and we make sure there are benches in the most transit-dependent corridors of our city," Councilman Bill Rosendahl said. "We know there needs to be significant amounts of advertising, but it needs to fit in with the community."

At odds over proposed changes to their health care coverage, thousands of Southern California grocery workers will take a strike authorization vote today and Saturday while the major supermarket chains finalize contingency plans in case of a walkout. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News,

Local 770 of the United Food and Commercial Workers will be voting on the health care package proposed by negotiators for Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons. A rejection automatically authorizes union officials to call a strike after 72 hours.

It would be the second strike vote taken by union workers since talks began more than five months ago.

"We were hoping we would be having a (contract) ratification vote ... but we're going to ask the membership once again to call a strike," Rick Icaza, president of Local 770, said Thursday.

Facing a tight deadline for its downtown football stadium, AEG President Tim Leiweke said the developer will push for expedited reviews of expected legal challenges. Dakota Smith in the Daily News.

Speaking Wednesday night to the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association, Leiweke said Anschutz Entertainment Group is looking to the Legislature to impose rules that would require challenges to its proposed 72,000-seat stadium to be resolved through arbitration rather than the courts.

"I think we have found a solution with the state that any legal challenge will go to binding arbitration," Leiweke said.

Leiweke's public comments concerning legal challenges were some of the executive's most detailed yet on what he is asking from Sacramento lawmakers.

Los Angeles officials on Thursday showcased the first of what could be more than 1,100 foreclosed homes that will be rehabbed and sold to the public.Daily News,

The city Housing Department has already purchased 196 homes -- including properties in Pacoima, Arleta, Sylmar, Canoga Park and Panorama City -- through a federal program aimed at stabilizing neighborhoods devastated during the foreclosure crisis.

The city will renovate the properties, then put them on the market. Proceeds from the sale of the home will be used to buy other blighted properties.

Anschutz Entertainment Group is seeking a requirement that any legal challenge to its proposed downtown football stadium be heard before an arbitrator, AEG president Tim Lieweke said during a speech before the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association on Wednesday night.Dakota Smith in the Daily News,

"I think we have found a solution with the state," said Lieweke, "that any legal challenge will go to binding arbitration."

Lieweke's public comments are some of the executive's most detailed yet on the specific legal approach AEG is seeking to protect its $1 billion dollar proposed football stadium from what it anticipates as "frivolous lawsuits."

Robin Olin has waited five years for Los Angeles to soundproof the cracked windows of her home, rattled by jets from Van Nuys Airport.Dana Barrtholomew in the Daily News,

Now her Lake Balboa condominium will be among the last homes to be insulated against aircraft and helicopter rumble, airport officials announced.

"Oh, my gosh, I had no idea," said Olin, 58, who for 21 years has lived just west of one of the busiest general aviation airports in the world. "It's loud.

"I'm looking forward to ... peace and quiet."

Mayoral hopeful Jan Perry will keep a $1,000 campaign contribution by controversial sign company magnate Michael McNeilly.

Head of SkyTag, a Beverly Hills-based supergraphic company, McNeilly is most well known for draping giant graphics depicting the Statue of Liberty on numerous buildings, part of a 2008-2009 campaign of erecting unpermitted supergraphics across the city that infuriated public officials. He has also repeatedly challenged the city's sign laws.

Given McNeilly's reputation, City Council Eric Garcetti returned a $500 check in 2008 from the sign company owner. Then-City Controller Wendy Greuel received $1,000 from McNeilly as well in 2008. It's not immediately clear whether or not she returned the funds, but the City Ethics Commission's web site indicates the money was kept by Greuel.

Eric Hacopian, campaign consultant for Perry, said SkyTag's most recent lawsuit against the city over sign issues has been resolved, so there's no longer a conflict of interest issue. "The suit is settled, so she's not going to return it," said Hacopian of the check.

Two weeks ago, Councilwoman Jan Perry reported collecting more than $450,000 from contributors in her bid for mayor, many of whom are in the development field.

McNeilly didn't contribute to any other mayoral candidates in this filing period.

The California Redistricting Committee certified maps Monday for congressional and legislative districts, but drew an immediate challenge from the state GOP. Dakota Smith in the Daily News.

The group Fairness and Accountability in Redistricting plans to launch a ballot referendum to overturn approval of the state Senate maps, according to Dave Gilliard, a Sacramento-based consultant hired by the committee. The group intends to submit a challenge with the state Attorney General's Office.

FAIR is being led by Julie Vandermost, former president of the California Women's Leadership Association.

Although they continue to improve, fewer than half the students in Los Angeles Unified are considered proficient in English or math, according to test results released Monday. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

According to the Standardized Testing and Reporting Program data, 44 percent of LAUSD students scored proficient in English and 43 percent in math during the 2010-11 school year. That's up slightly from the previous year, when when 41 percent tested proficient in English and 39 percent showed the same competency in math.

Statewide, 54 percent of students scored proficient in reading and 50 percent scored that well in math - both up 2 percentage points from the previous year.

Standard & Poor's will no longer grade the city's investment portfolio after the agency that downgraded the nation's credit score warned Los Angeles that its rating would also fall, officials announced Monday. Daily News.

Interim Treasurer Steve Ongele said he made the decision to cancel the city's $16,000-a-year contract with the firm after he was told the credit rating on the city's nearly $8 billion investment portfolio was being lowered.

"We were told the city's general pool would be downgraded from AAA-F to AA-F for our funds," Ongele told the City Council's Budget and Finance Committee. "I made the decision to withdraw from Standard & Poor's, which rates our investment pool.

They already had their turn at bat, but two veteran Los Angeles city councilmen are stepping up to the plate to take another swing at an old job. Art Marroquin and Donna Littlejohn in the Daily Breeze.

While they are playing in a field of 15 candidates - and counting - Robert Farrell and Rudy Svorinich Jr. have a unique quality that the other contenders don't possess.

The ability to say, "Been there, done that."

It's the multimillion-dollar question that has vexed the city of Los Angeles for years.

Facing continual, massive budget deficits year after year, how can the city come up with new sources of revenue, without resorting to soaking every taxpayer? Daily News

Ideas the city has looked at range from putting new fees on emergency services to posting more "no-parking" signs for street sweeping to privatizing facilities like the Los Angeles Zoo and the Convention Center, to a new tax on sports and entertainment events.

Enail your ideas to feedback/@dailynews.com/

Last year, the city's Planning Department came up with an ambitious goal: create a new in-house team to overhaul the city's complex, politically controversial billboard and sign regulations.Dakota Smith in the Daily News.

The proposed Sign Unit would be modeled after a four-person group in San Francisco that successfully helped that city get a handle on billboard blight.

But facing massive budget deficits, Los Angeles officials rejected the department's request for $500,000 to fund the group.

TIPOFF: Rep. Howard Berman gets endorsement from GOP stalwarts in potential race against Rep. Brad Sherman.
***
The Boeckmann's have supported some Democrats in the past, but aides say it has been a rare decision by them.

Cloaked in shadows, the bars of the jail cell that once housed Charles Manson slide open with a rumble that echoes eerily across the vastness of the abandoned Hall of Justice.Christina Villacorte in the Daily News.

At the entrance of the decrepit building in downtown Los Angeles, a grand staircase leads up to a foyer with marble walls, stately columns and gilded ceilings. All are grimy from neglect - but not for much longer.

The Hall is poised to begin a $231 million renovation this month, nearly 17 years after it was forced to shut down due to damage from the Northridge Earthquake.

Graduation rates continued to inch upward last year while dropout rates decreased at Los Angeles Unified schools, according to new district data released Thursday.Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

The district's high school graduation rate reached 56 percent in 2010-11, according to preliminary data, up from 55 percent in 2009-10 and 52 percent the year before.

Despite the improvement, LAUSD continues to have one of the lowest graduation rates in the state - above only Oakland Unified among big-city districts - and officials bemoaned the slow progress.

"LAUSD remains far from realizing its stated goal of graduating 100 percent of students, college-prepared and career-ready," said LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy.

Facing years of complaints from golfers and city officials, the city is once again looking at ways to revamp its golf course operations to make the system more efficient and even profitable.Daiy News.

The city's 10 courses are now managed under a hybrid system by which city employees are in charge of maintenance and rental of golf carts and private concessionaires run the pro shops and dining facilities, paying rent based on their earnings.

But a new draft report from a consultant hired to examine the city's golf operation says that the system could use improvement.

Moving to protect dozens of planned housing and commercial projects, the City Council on Wednesday voted to preserve the Community Redevelopment Agency by sending $96.5 million in local tax money to Sacramento. Dakota Smith in the Daily News.

The council had little choice but to send the funds. Earlier this year, Gov. Jerry Brown ordered all statewide redevelopment agencies to either transfer a portion of their tax increment revenue or shut down. The city had an Oct. 1 deadline to comply.

City Councilman Tony Cardenas was one of numerous council members to loudly complain about the loss of funds.

City officials announced Wednesday they had dropped an ambitious, 5-year-old plan to create a truck driving academy atop a portion of the closed Lopez Canyon Landfill. Daily News.

After a closed-door meeting, the City Council decided to not appeal a judge's ruling that would have required the city to perform a full environmental impact review for use of the 1.5 acre site.

"We were hoping the court would have said our mitigated negative declaration would have been fine with a few fixes," said Councilman Richard Alarcón. "But when the court said we would need a full environmental review, it wasn't worth pursuing."

With Los Angeles still facing a long-term budget deficit, city officials spent a few hours Wednesday brainstorming new ways to bring in desperately needed cash. Daily News.

The city's annual "revenue day" is an opportunity to entertain any proposal to generate new revenue or save money. Officials hope to add $100 million in revenue or savings over the next five years.

Suggestions include using technology to squeeze more money out of city parking garages and contracting more with Los Angeles-based companies so the tax revenue stays in the city.

LAPD officers were involved in more use-of-force incidents in the first half of 2011 than during the comparable period last year, due, in part to the early release of parolees, officials said Tuesday. C.J. Lin in the Daily News.

A total of 59 incidents were reported through June 30, an 11 percent increase from the first half of 2010, Deputy Chief Rick Jacobs told the Police Commission.

This year's tally includes 28 officer-involved shootings and 15 in which animals were shot, the report said. That reflects increases of 33 and 50 percent, respectively, over last year.

Sixteen years after the NFL left Los Angeles, the City Council approved a preliminary agreement Tuesday for a $1.2 billion downtown stadium that developers hope will attract a professional football team. Daily News,

Tim Leiweke, president and CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group, said the council's 12-0 vote approving the framework for the project's funding and timeline sends a strong message to the NFL that the city is behind the proposal for a 75,000-seat stadium.

Under the memorandum of understanding, the city would issue $280 million in tax-exempt bonds to relocate the West Hall of the Convention Center to accommodate the stadium. The deal requires AEG to guarantee that no public money be used for the project.

A plan for new Los Angeles County supervisor districts that mostly preserves the status quo drew sharp criticism from two supervisors and some outside experts who are pushing for an alternative plan to give Latinos more political clout. Christina Villacorte in the Daily News,

Supervisor Gloria Molina argued the redistricting proposal endorsed by the board's Boundary Review Committee would violate the Voting Rights Act by packing the largest concentration of Latinos into a single district and then dividing the rest of them among the other four districts.

She said Latinos should be the majority in two out of the five districts, since they represent 48 percent of the county's population.

Adult day health care providers reacted with skepticism Tuesday to Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to replace a program that caters to needy seniors with an array of managed health care options, calling it vague and "hastily assembled." Dakota Smith in the Daily News.

Last Friday, Brown released a formal plan to transition the 35,000 clients of California's 300 adult day care centers into managed health care programs.

Critics seized on the vagaries of the proposal.

Teachers and parents at Verdugo Hills High School are embroiled in a power struggle with Los Angeles Unified Superintendent John Deasy over the selection of a principal for the Sunland-Tujunga campus. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

With just one week remaining until the first day of classes, Deasy vetoed their hand-picked candidate and appointed an interim principal to succeed Diane Klewitz, who retired last year.

"I look forward to working with them on the selection of a principal," Deasy said. "But for the moment I have put an interim there as we continue to look for the right person for the job that I can be in consensus with."

It started nearly three years ago as an idea to generate more revenue for Los Angeles' coffers: Lease the city's largest public parking garages to private operators, with a large cash payment upfront. Daily News,

But the privatization plan ran into political obstacles, with City Council members wanting caps on parking rates, reserved parking spaces and so many other provisions that garage operators were dissuaded from participating.

Despite that failed effort, Los Angeles officials are debating whether to contract with outsiders to provide other basic services -- everything from libraries and parks to the zoo and animal care -- as a way to shore up the city's sagging finances.

TipoffL Audit to probe staff problems at always troubled agency' Roski also wooing NFL teams.

Stuck in traffic on the way to a Van Nuys hearing last week on the proposed downtown football stadium, City Councilman Bill Rosendahl suddenly heard his name called out.Dakota Smith in the Daily News.

A Carvel Ice Cream truck in the next lane eased up, and a man leaned out the window. "He said, 'Councilman, make sure that the stadium has a roof or cover so you can ... use it for the Convention Center,"' Rosendahl recalled.

Still in its early stages, the debate over the $1.3 billion stadium and renovated Convention Center has sparked only moderate - and mostly positive - feedback from the public, with opinions sometimes popping up in unorthodox settings.

The city is finally getting tough with Friedken Realty Group, the owner of the historic Chase Knolls Apartments in Sherman Oaks.Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News..

In a letter dated July 22, the city notified Mort Friedken -- president, chairman and co-founder of the San Francisco-based company -- that it would cancel a contract that reduces property taxes on the complex if much-needed repairs are not made.

It could cost the company millions if it doesn't take action.

"In general, the property does not conform to the provisions of the contract. The property is in a generally dilapidated condition," the letter says in part.

For decades, Los Angeles animal control officers have used firearms to humanely dispatch injured wildlife.Dana Bartholomew in the Daily News,

But the seizure this week of 120 guns as Los Angeles Animal Services launches a weapons audit has some activists questioning their use.

An outright ban could be on the table as LAAS drafts gun protocols based on input from police, staff and a study of animal shelter policies nationwide.

Neighborhood groups in northeast Los Angeles have filed suit against the city and the Autry National Museum, challenging an ambitious renovation at the Griffith Park landmark. Dakota Smith in the Daily News.

Filed by the Highland Park Heritage Trust and the Mount Washington Homeowners Alliance on July 26, the suit claims the city failed to consider the environmental impact of the exhibition space proposed at the Autry.

The suit also argues that the "underlying motive of the Autry is to move all collections off the Southwest Museum site and to dispose of the historic National Register of Historic Places building."

Joan Cumming, director of public relations at the Autry, said she had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment.

A deal to build a $1.3 billion downtown football stadium and remodeled Convention Center moved a step closer to approval Wednesday when a key city panel unanimously signed off on the plan. Daily News.

The Ad Hoc Committee on the Downtown Stadium and Event Center voted 4-0 for the memorandum of understanding, including Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who had earlier presented the most concerns about it.

Rosendahl said he was satisfied with a series of reports prepared by the city staff that Los Angeles is protected as much as possible from any direct costs.

The county's troubled Department of Children and Family Services will undergo yet another leadership change, after the resignation this week of acting director Jackie Contreras. Christina Villacorte in the Daily News,

She is the agency's third chief in eight months to step down; her last day is Sept. 16.

She will go back to working for Casey Family Programs, the nation's largest operating foundation that focuses solely on foster care and improving the child welfare system.

"I previously worked with Casey Family Programs in their strategic consulting arm, and this is an opportunity in their direct service," Contreras said.

A city animal shelter in Mission Hills that has been operated below capacity would be run by a private operator under a plan proposed Tuesday by a city official. Daily News,

City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana recommended that the Northeast Animal Care Center, 15321 S. Brand Blvd., Mission Hills, which has never operated at its full capabilities, be turned over to the private Best Friends Animal Society for a three-year contract.

The group would operate the facility, adopt out animals, run spay-neuter programs and perform all the actions the department does at its six shelters. Its workers would not, however, perform animal control activities or accept relinquished animals.

As political experts study the draft maps released last week by the California Redistricting Commission, the newly drawn boundaries are being scoured for anticipated battles in the state legislature. Dakota Smith in the Daily News.

One of the biggest skirmishes could go down in the San Fernando Valley.

A new state senate district stretches from Stevenson Ranch to Malibu, and from Moorpark to the 405 Freeway. The new area could see Sens. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, and Tony Strickland, R-Simi Valley, face off.

Statistically, the region is 40.5 percent Democratic and 34.5 percent Republican.

While city officials have waffled on whether motorists fined recently under the red-light camera program should have to pay up, justice officials say they will process the remaining 56,000 tickets issued through Sunday. Daily News.

The program officially ended Monday, but the fate of the remaining tickets and some 186,000 unpaid tickets is still uncertain.

Superior Court spokeswoman Katherine Roberts said judges had no plans to cease processing the tickets.

"We (also) have not noticed an increase in people contesting the red-light camera citations," Roberts said

Daily News
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has raised $123,500 for his legal defense funds to fight ethics violations filed against him.
Villaraigosa reported he had raised the money for three separate cases against him involving the receipt of free tickets to concerts and other events.
The mayor agreed earlier this year to pay fines of $20,489 to the city Ethics Commission and $21,000 to the Fair Political Practices Commission to resolve the cases.
Villaraigosa created the defense accounts to raises funds to cover his costs for attorneys and to pay the fines.
The reports showed he turned to a number of other current and former elected officials _ including former San Francisco Mayor Willie L Brown, Jr., former Assemblyman Jim Brulte, Assemblyman Dario Frommer and former Assembly Speaker Favian Nunez.
He also tapped into many longtime supporters, including Haim Saban and the Wasserman family.
--30--

Controller Wendy Greuel, Councilwoman Jan Perry and radio host Kevin James filed their campaign reports for the 2013 mayorar race, showing it sh ould serve to be a highly competitive race.
Greuel, relying heavily on her friends in the entertainment industry, reported raising $518,152 _ leading all challengers so far.
"From the first day that I opened a committee to raise money fo rmayor, tehre has been such a tremendous outpouring of support all across the city," Greuel said.
Last week, former First Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner filed his reports showing he has raised more than $400,000.
Perry said she will show she has raised $456,000 for the campaign.
James announced he has raised $91,000 for the campaign, which is in 2013.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will be termed out of office and there are a number of other potential candidates, including Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Council President Eric Garcetii and developer Rick Caruso.
***

Perry, whose downtown region benefited greatly during the building boom, received thousands and thousands of dollars from developers, architects, and real estate firms. Downtown developer Sonny Astani contributed $1,000, as did his brother, Marco Astani, the CEO of Astani Construction. San Francisco-based Swinerton Builders, one of the region's more popular builders, also contributed $1,000. Eric Owen Moss Architects, which is run by architect and Southern California Institute of Architecture director Eric Owen Moss, contributed $500. And Michael Woo, who serves on the city's Planning Commission, contributed $500 to Perry's campaign.
- Show quoted te

Cynthia Hansen was a rebel in her youth, hanging out with the wrong crowd, doing drugs, and ultimately going to prison for second-degree robbery.Christina Villacorte in the Daily News,

Now 30, and soon to be freed, she believes she has been reformed, thanks to a program that trains minimum-security inmates to become wildland firefighters.

"To fight fires was the most humbling experience of my life," she said. "To see people crying and thanking you for saving their house, kids drawing signs with stuff like `Thank you so much' and `We love you' - that made me feel like I can actually do something with my life."

Hansen volunteered to serve the last half of her seven-year sentence at Conservation Camp 13, which looks nothing like a prison.

Tipoff: Trutanich keeps foes on edge with decision to run for D.A.