Recently in Washington, D.C. Category

Some 200 Valley residents braved the heat to attend a town hall meeting Sunday held by U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, voicing their concerns over the lingering recession, health care, foreign affairs and other pertinent issues for the congressman. Talai Ansari in the Daily News.

Sherman, who serves on the House Committee on Financial Services, opened the meeting by addressing economic issues facing the nation including bailouts and state budget woes. Sherman reminded his constituents that he did not vote for the Wall Street bailout, to which the crowd applauded.

But he warned attendees at the packed Reseda High School auditorium that "the recession would be hard on us for another two years."

Even as the White House held a summit on immigration Thursday, Latino leaders in Los Angeles called on President Obama to quickly press immigration reform legislation despite reports the votes aren't there in Congress for its passage. Tony Castro in the Daily News.

"Rest assured that the individuals gathered at this conference are impatient for action now on a broken immigration system," Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, said on the opening day of the group's annual conference.

"We are ready to work with this president, this Congress, in partnership to assure that this reform occurs. We need it now. It can't wait. We need it in the first term of this president."

The government is charging Angelo Mozilo, the former chief executive of mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp., and two other company executives with civil fraud. Daily News.

The case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission also accuses Mozilo of illegal insider trading, according to an agency spokesman.

Countrywide was a major player in the subprime mortgage market, the collapse of which in 2007 touched off the financial crisis that has gripped the U.S. and global economies.

This is getting to be a habit.
Last week, it was an appearance before AIPAC.
This weekend, it is the White House Correspondants Association Annual Dinner on Saturday night, for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

"Israel will always have a friend in the city of the angels," said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as he kicked off the annual AIPAC policy conference Sunday morning. (UPDATE: Check out the video.) Capital J.

Villaraigosa said Israel's struggle in the Middle East echoes his own Hispanic community's "struggle for civil rights" and said that when it comes to the Jewish state, "my roots run deep" -- recounting visiting his Jewish neighbors while growing up in East Los Angeles.

The mayor also said he would work to ensure that cities and counties across the country steer clear of investing with companies which do business with Iran. Los Angeles was the first city in the country to pass a Iran divestment measure in 2007.

Thanks to U.S. taxpayers, the city of San Fernando could soon have a network of "virtual patrol" cameras around town helping police monitor for crime in busy areas. Troy Anderson in the Daily News.

A Providence Holy Cross clinic in North Hollywood could help gang members get tattoos removed.

Glendale's Police Department could improve its ability to test DNA with a new crime laboratory.

All are projects sought in the San Fernando Valley congressional delegation's latest earmark requests - federally funded projects demanded by constituents but derided by critics as pork-barrel spending during a fiscal crisis.

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer on Saturday warned her Democratic supporters to prepare for a tough re-election campaign next year. Associated Press in the Daily News.

Boxer, announcing her bid for a fourth term during the California Democratic Party convention in Sacramento, told delegates to anticipate attacks by special interest groups.

Even though she easily won re-election in 1998 and 2004, Boxer has been a consistent target of Republicans because of her relatively liberal views. She attributed the animosity she generates from conservatives to being unafraid to stand up to anybody, including former Vice President Dick Cheney.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Monday that Caliornia has received the most money under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Nearly $13.5 billion has already been awarded to California to date, according to the Obama Administration, which is almost $4 billion more than the second-most awarded state, the gov ernor;s office announced.
"Gov. Schwarzenegger made it clear that he would do what it takes to bring as much Recovery Act funding as possible back to California to help our state through this difficult economic time," said Recovery Task Force Director Cynthia Bryant. "We will continue to scour every available pot of Recovery Act funding that can benefit California."
The federal government's tally of Recovery Act funding awarded by state can be found here: http://www.recovery.gov/.

Law enforcement officials are vastly expanding their collection of DNA to include millions more people who have been arrested or detained but not yet convicted. The move, intended to help solve more crimes, is raising concerns about the privacy of petty offenders and people who are presumed innocent. New York Times in the Daily News.

Until now, the federal government genetically tracked only convicts. But starting this month, the FBI will join 15 states that collect DNA samples from those awaiting trial and will also collect DNA from immigrants who have been detained - the vanguard of a growing class of genetic registrants.

Disgruntled taxpayers across the country brewed their tax-day tea on the stove of outrage Wednesday and seasoned it with bitter lemon.Brandon Lowrey in the Daily News.

"Maybe some green lemons, not quite ripe," said Debi Devens, a 50-year-old housewife from La Crescenta who organized an anti-tax "tea party" in Glendale.

"These are about repealing the stimulus, lower taxes, smaller government. It's not about Democrats versus Republicans. We all must follow a budget, and that includes the government."

As President Barack Obama makes his first official trip to Mexico, activists are intensifying the campaign for comprehensive immigration reform, an issue they fear has been overshadowed by the economic slump.Tony Castro in the Daily News.

Reform leaders say they were relieved by recent reports that Obama, who will meet today with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, plans to speak publicly about the issue in May and will press lawmakers from both parties to begin discussing legislation by the fall.

"We know that good will and promises in this politically charged atmosphere are not going to be enough," said Juan Jose Gutierrez, spokesman for the Los Angeles-based Full Rights For Immigrants Coalition.

Not everything is cutbacks and furloughs in the news business these days,
The Tribune Co., which owns thge Los Angeles Times, is popping to have Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as its guest at the Gridion Dinner this weekend _ the annual event where the Washington elite make fun of each other about their being.....well, the Washington elite.
Villaraigosa was already half-way there, speaking in Chicago to Latino leaders.
One quirky thing about the mayor's travels, he appeared on teh morning cable shows that were gathered in Los Angeles to cover President Obama's town halls while the mayor was in Chicago.

Buoyed by adoring Los Angeles crowds far from Washington's political wars, President Barack Obama guaranteed Americans on Thursday that the nation's economy will recover, though he asked them for patience. Daily News.

At a town hall forum held at the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex, Obama looked every bit the campaigner as he sometimes mocked his GOP critics and sometimes asked people to forgive his shortcomings. In general, his demeanor and message were more upbeat than in recent days when public fury over executive bonuses dominated politics.

And on Leno
Lining up outside NBC Studios Thursday to see President Obama tape "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," Nancy Frysinger of Victorville hoped the leader of the free world would take the opportunity to lighten the nation's serious mood with a joke or two.Bob Strauss in the Daily News.

"We need a laugh," said Frysinger, 62. "America needs a lot of laughs right now."

Despite word from Washington that there'll be fewer federal raids on medical-marijuana dispensaries, Los Angeles police and city officials said Thursday they'll still go after storefront pot peddlers who sell to school kids and recreational users.Brandon Lowrey at the Daily News.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder declared this week that the federal Drug Enforcement Agency would not arrest medical-marijuana patients or raid dispensaries that had not broken state laws.

It was a clear break from the Bush administration's pot policy, which called for raids on medical-marijuana dispensaries even after California voters legalized them.

America's detention system for immigrants has mushroomed in the last decade, a costly building boom that was supposed to sweep up criminals and ensure that undocumented immigrants were quickly shown the door.AP in the Daily News

Instead, an Associated Press computer analysis of every person being held on a recent Sunday night shows that most did not have a criminal record and many were not about to leave the country - voluntarily or via deportation.

An official Immigration and Customs Enforcement database, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, showed a U.S. detainee population of exactly 32,000 on the evening of Jan. 25.