Recently in media Category

From the Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman says the department has begun an internal affairs investigation into why a deputy acting as a bailiff detained and handcuffed a Superior Court spokeswoman inside a downtown Los Angeles courtroom.

Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore says deputy public information officer Vania Stuelp was handcuffed Tuesday after she refused to leave the area usually occupied by attorneys and would not follow the deputy's directions. He says Stuelp was not arrested.

Whitmore says Stuelp walked into the well area to inform a French television crew they could not film in a certain area of the court.

Court was not in session at the time.

Whitmore says a sheriff's sergeant arrived recognized her as the court spokesperson and directed that she be released.

Back on Oct. 23, we asked Crime Scene readers if The Foothill Cities Blog would ever return to cyberspace.

After a lengthy absence due to computer problems, they're back -- with a slightly new look.

Here's the poll results:

Answer
	Yes		51.85%
	No		48.15%

The gun, and several others were seized as part of the county's DISARM program, officials said.

Reporter Brian Day attended an Antonovich press conference downtown Monday morning, but had some difficulty getting answers to a couple of key questions.

Like, why does Antonovich care about stuff that happens outside the Fifth *Supervisorial district?

How many guns of this caliber have been seized in the San Gabriel Valley?

Unfortunately he didn't get answers to those questions. Just a nice photo of Antonovich with a ton of guns.

*I've corrected this post. As Tony Bell points out below, Supervisor Mike Antonovich represents the Fifth Supervisoral District. My bad. The rest stands. Officials told Brian the guns came from the 77th Precinct, which is outside the Fifth District.

I would still like to know how much of the money and guns that were seized as part of DISARM came from the San Gabriel Valley?

A parody of the Los Angeles Times Web site had me laughing this morning, especially this story about the "creepy" Burger King mascot, complete with mugshot:

For months, he'd been sneaking into customers' homes at dawn, disrupting their slumber with offers of cholesterol-rich breakfast items.

"People were definitely creeped out," an LAPD spokesman said. "But there wasn't much we could do besides tell them to get a restraining order."

Then, three months ago, the frozen-faced mascot apparently snapped, leaving a trail of bodies, blood and curly fries. Police were baffled at first - crime scene tests indicated the killer's DNA consisted solely of polystyrene resins and Thousand Island dressing. h/t Fishbowl LA 

Looks like another cop has filed a discrimination suit against the Monrovia PD.

This time the cop is saying he's being discriminated against for testifying in a previous case. I wonder how the Monrovia media machine is going to spin the latest story. Here's what Nate McIntire will report in tomorrow's paper:

MONROVIA - A Monrovia police officer has filed a lawsuit against the city alleging he was harassed and retaliated against for cooperating in a previous racial discrimination case against the Monrovia Police Department.

Matthew Donald Thompson said he provided statements supporting the claims of racial discrimination and harassment filed by Glenn Cobb, a former Monrovia police officer who sued the department in 2006.

Cobb settled with the city, which admitted no liability, in November 2007.

Turns out we may have been pursuing an urban myth.

Reporter Serene Branson, of KCBS/KCAL, told me that she was assigned to look into the case of the Pasadena "Panty Bandit" after a producer at the station read a blog entry here earlier today.

So Serene calls the Pasadena cops and they tell her the story is a rumor. A detective there said he polled all the detectives in the department and none are looking into reports of a "Panty Bandit" raiding dressers and closets in upper-class neighborhoods.

"An urban myth," she said. "They said a similar story circulated around town about a month ago."

Maybe it's a good thing we only considered the story a brief. Here's the "Gridiron Girls" blog, which has a page devoted to Serene and an interview. 

Certain events retain a power that stays with you for life. Clearly the Kennedy assassinations or that of Martin Luther King have that sort of effect on people.

I would argue that June 18, 1994 might be one of those moments -- certainly in my life.

The title of this post should give away the content (if the picture doesn't). I spent that Friday from about 6:30 a.m. until at least 11 p.m. outside Parker Center, O.J. Simpson's Brentwood home and back outside Parker Center as part of one of the most surreal events I'll ever cover.

Here's some of what we ran the following day:

Simpson's arrest ends day of drama

'Fallen American hero' faces murder charges in death of former wife, her friend

By Tom Scanlon, Tori Richards and Frank Girardot Staff Writers

O.J. SImpson took off on the longest, most dangerous run of his life before being arrested on murder charges last night.

"O.J. Simpson is in custody," said LAPD Cmdr. David Gascon at a 10 p.m. news conference. "He is being booked and processed."

The double murder defendant -- called a "fallen American hero" by the man in charge of prosecuting him was arrested at his Brentwood home after a 60-mile 90-minute police chase. The chase began in Orange County and crossed much of Los Angeles with Simpson, 46, keeping police away by pointing a gun to his head.

The 8:50 p.m. arrest of Simpson, accused of killing his ex-wife and her male friend capped a bizarre day that included a bomb scare, fears that Simpson would kill himself, a mysterious 911 call to the home of murdered Nicole Brown Simpson, pleas by officials to have Simpson turn himself in, a police force on the defensive and a public reading of an emotional note from Simpson.

The former USC and National Football League star running back had eluded police since 11 a.m. when he was suppossed to turn himself in.

The question of the day was "Where's O.J.?" For most of the day the Los Angeles Police Department had no answer.

He was considered armed and dangerous, and after he was finally arrested, a gun was recovered from the cat that led police on a chase watched by much of the country.

Simpson was carrying photos of Nicole Simpson and their daughter when he was arrested. Gascon said SImpson would be taken to the Men's Central Jail. He probably will be held there -- perhaps under a suicide watch -- until Monday, when he is likely to ... 

I stumbled across a Web site this morning called "Vice Tube" its a round up of criminal activities chronicled on YouTube. Interesting blog. Check it out here.

It's one of several crime-themed blogs put up by our friend Trench Reynolds with the Crime News Network.

In the course of researching a column for Friday's paper, I ended up interviewing Munir Sirhan, brother of Sirhan Sirhan, the accused assassin of Robert F. Kennedy who died 40 years ago Friday.

Munir had some interesting things to say and introduced me to some people who believe there's more to his brother's story than the lone gunman narrative.

Among those taking up Munir's cause are Summer Reese, who is affiliated with KPFK radio, and Dr. William Pepper, who has a pretty interesting history of his own, and knew both Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy.

Pepper and several other researchers interested in the Kennedy assassination are getting together tonight near LAX to discuss new theories and information that's become available in recent months.

Here's a YouTube video about the organization known as COPA.  

Thursday was Pasadena Star-News education reporter Caroline An's birthday.

She celebrated in style apparently with a cake and a Tiara.

Notice the absence of foil balloons

El Monte resident Candace Aikin testified before a grand jury in Joliet, Illinois last week regarding the disappearance of her niece.

Her niece happens to be Stacy Peterson, a 23-year-old woman who went missing in October and has become the missing woman case that the cable news networks love to cover, mostly because of her husband Drew.

For good reason perhaps. According to Wikipedia:

Drew Walter Peterson (born January 6, 1954), is a former Bolingbrook, Illinois police sergeant and alleged double-murderer who has received nationwide attention in the United States for becoming a suspect in a police investigation following the death of his third wife and subsequent disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy.^[1][2] Peterson has repeatedly denied involvement in both cases.

Here's part of what Aiken said, according to thekansan.com:

"At the end they asked me what kind of a mother (Stacy) is, what kind of a person she is and would she ever leave her family. That was really hard," Aikin said, still visibly shaken from her testimony. "I'm glad I was able to talk to the jurors and tell them my love for Stacy and what a great person she is, and to be able to help the case in any way that I can."

<snip>

Aikin, of El Monte, Calif., last saw her niece in August. Although Peterson had told her aunt of marital problems for more than two years, Aikin said Peterson was seriously considering leaving the relationship by the time she visited in August.

"She wanted out," Aikin said. "There was so much pressure. Fear too."

 

When former candidate for mayor, Aaron Proctor, (whose site is linked
to on this blog) posted this defamatory post about me - which included
ugly graphic sexual slander - the Pasadena blogging community was
completely silent.

http://www.proctorformayor.com/2008/05/22/step-by-step-heart-to-heart-left-right-left-we-all-fall-down/

I think we have lost the ability to see "hate". I mean, if this post
isn't hate, what is? Does the right to "Free Speech" cover...this?
No, I do not think it does.

The weird thing was, what made Proctor so angry was my writing about my
research on Rene Amy. I hadn't even mentioned Proctor, yet he reacted
to it like he himself had been "stung".

Why?

WASHINGTON, May 29 (Reuters ) - U.S. communications regulators are considering auctioning a piece of the airwaves to buyers willing to provide freebroadband Internet service without pornography.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is proposing to auction an unused piece of 25 megahertz wireless spectrum, with the condition that the winning bidder offer free Internet access and filter out obscene content on part of those airwaves, a spokesman for the FCC said on Thursday.
"We're hoping there will be increased interest in the proposal; and because this will provide wireless broadband services to more Americans, it is certainly something we want to see," said FCC spokesman Rob Kenny.
Under Martin's proposal, the winner would be allowed to use the rest of the airwaves for commercial services.
The plan would address criticism from some consumer advocates, who say the government has not done enough to get broadband service into more U.S. households. It also could win praise from anti-obscenity watchdog groups.
"I think there are a number of features of the plan that would be attractive to various constituencies," said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Blair Levin.
But the plan got a lukewarm response from existing wireless carriers.