Search

This article provides information on gang activity in Los Angeles, California. Police officers, in an effort to curb increasingly violent gang activity, have taken to the streets. In December 2006, the murder of a young black girl stunned the city, demonstrating the growing violence among impoverished minority youth. Members of the community have begun the process to reverse a surge of gang violence, promising more officers, school and community counseling, and cooperation among agencies.

The article discusses the increasing Latino and black gang violence in Los Angeles, California. Crimes motivated by racial, religious, or sexual orientation discrimination rose 34% in 2006 compared to 2005. Los Angeles Human Relations Commission director Rabbi Allen Freehling attributed the rise in hate crime to socioeconomic "desperation."

The article reports on the city of Los Angeles, California and their use of water from the Owens River. In 2006, Los Angeles reversed their policy regarding use of the Owens River under legal pressure from the Sierra Club and Owens Valley Committee. Owens Lake once again has water from the river for the first time in over 100 years. There has already been a return of wildlife to the area.

The article discusses how James Dawson has made a commitment to coach a Little League team in his old Watts neighborhood. Dawson and his wife had lived in and raised a family with two sons in the Watts section of Los Angeles, California for 26 years. A son, Salim Dawson, had returned to Watts to coach the same team his father was now coaching, but he had been murdered. Dawson has moved from Watts to a safer community, but he plans to continue commuting to Watts to provide some stability.

The article reports on the aggressive campaign of Armenian-Americans against the plan of Public Broadcasting Service to show a debate after its documentary program involving the Ottoman Turk's massacres of Armenians in Los Angeles, California.

LOS ANGELES -- And on the first day without a state budget, the men and women of God gathered in prayer at the Capitol to beg that he guide the mortals in closing a gap of biblical proportions. A day after California lawmakers missed the June 15 deadline to have a budget in place, leaders representing 10 faiths sought ''divine wisdom'' on Wednesday, offered prayers and demanded that God occupy a seat at the budget negotiating table, joining the so-called Big 5: the governor and the four ranking Senate and Assembly leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

LOS ANGELES -- A seven-foot-tall Latin cross in the middle of both the Mojave Desert and a Supreme Court case on the separation of church and state has been stolen, federal officials said Tuesday. The cross, made of metal tubing reinforced with concrete and bolted to a base on a rock, about 200 miles east of here, was discovered missing Monday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

LOS ANGELES -- A powerful earthquake southeast of Tijuana shook Southern California on Sunday afternoon, damaging buildings in northern Mexico and border cities in California and Arizona and rattling a seismically sophisticated population as far north as Los Angeles and Las Vegas as chandeliers swayed, homes shook and the earth seemed to slide under the feet of people emerging from Easter church services for well over a minute. The 7.2-magnitude quake struck just after 3:30 p.m. local time, and was centered 16 miles southwest of Guadalupe Victoria in Baja California, Mexico, and about 110 miles southeast of Tijuana, said the United States Geological Survey. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

LOS ANGELES -- The Arizona Legislature gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a proposal that would allow the police to arrest illegal immigrants on trespassing charges simply for being in the state. The provision, which opponents and proponents call a first in the nation, is part of a wide-ranging bill whose sponsors say they hope will make life tougher for illegal immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Nearly 15 years after the Los Angeles area's two professional football teams left for other cities, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill to clear the way for a new stadium seen as pivotal to drawing a team to the region. Ever since the Los Angeles Raiders (now in Oakland) and the Rams (St. Louis) left after the 1994 season, civic leaders, politicians and the National Football League have considered various schemes in a number of cities to woo a team here, the nation's second-largest television market. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The head of the city's water department, who lately has faced criticism over a series of major water main breaks and has had to defend conservation programs and planned rate increases, resigned Friday to take a job with the Clinton Climate Initiative. H. David Nahai, who had been general manager and chief executive of the Water and Power Department since 2007 and a commissioner for two years before that, said in a letter announcing his move that his new job would allow him to focus on ''the central challenge of our time, global warming.'' [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Station fire, which in over a month has burned away nearly a quarter of this vast, mountainous backdrop to the Los Angeles skyline, is finally just about out, sending all but a handful of firefighters home. Now, the scientists swoop in. Adam Backlin and Liz Gallegos, federal biologists, stood thigh-deep in a stream last week, sweeping a large net over and over like frustrated anglers to collect Santa Ana speckled dace fish as part of research on the damaging effects of fire on fragile wildlife. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This arid city is always looking for water. Lately, a lot of it can be found cascading down the streets. To the threat of quakes, wildfire and mudslides that give Los Angeles an air of impending collapse, add a multitude of recent damaging water main breaks that have buckled streets, flooded businesses, exasperated residents, blocked traffic and perplexed engineers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

More than two months after he died, and following a steady trickle of gossip over how and where he would be laid to rest, Michael Jackson was entombed Thursday night at a highly guarded mausoleum in a Los Angeles suburb. About 200 people, including Elizabeth Taylor, Lisa Marie Presley, Macaulay Culkin, Quincy Jones and many other celebrities, attended the nearly 90-minute ceremony behind the gates of the heavily guarded Forest Lawn cemetery here, several miles north of downtown Los Angeles. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Residents began returning to their homes Wednesday in several neighborhoods that had been threatened by a large wildfire chewing through the foothills near Los Angeles as cooler temperatures and moister air allowed firefighters to begin gaining in their battle to control the blaze. The authorities cautioned that the fire remains dangerous and largely out of control, but firefighters have gained enough of an upper hand to lift evacuation orders in parts of La Crescenta, La Canada-Flintridge and Altadena. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A wildfire threatening thousands of homes in the Los Angeles suburbs, which firefighters were making progress in controlling on Tuesday, is likely to be remembered as not the biggest, not the worst, but one of the weirder blazes in Southern California in recent years. The fire at one point was spreading in five directions, and the gale-force winds that normally whip Southern California fires into infernos that swallow whole neighborhoods were absent. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A deadly wildfire that has burned for nearly a week in the foothills north of here has destroyed dozens of homes and threatened thousands of others on Monday, frustrating firefighters with its unusually rapid and unpredictable spread. The fire, burning in rugged terrain at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains about 20 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, has consumed more than 100,000 acres, or more than 150 square miles, about the size of the Bronx and Queens combined. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Fierce wildfires threatened Southern California for a third day Tuesday after leaving two people dead and heralding the start of the most intense period of the fire season here. The most severe fires, fanned by harsh dry Santa Ana winds typical of the fall, were burning several thousand acres at the rim of the San Fernando Valley. A homeless man and his dog died on Monday when fire engulfed the wood-and-cardboard shack where they lived along a freeway embankment, and another person died in a collision on a freeway ramp attributed at least in part to thick smoke shrouding the area. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Faced with a persistent drought and the threat of tighter water supplies, Los Angeles plans to begin using heavily cleansed sewage to increase drinking water supplies, joining a growing number of cities considering similar measures. Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa, who opposed such a plan a decade ago over safety concerns, announced the proposal on Thursday as part of a package of initiatives to put the city, the nation's second largest, on a stricter water budget. The other plans include increasing fines for watering lawns during restricted times, tapping into and cleaning more groundwater, and encouraging businesses and residents to use more efficient sprinklers and plumbing fixtures. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A day before thousands are expected to converge here as part of the annual May Day pro-immigration rallies nationwide, police officials said Wednesday that new technology, training for officers and better communication would prevent a repeat of the melee that concluded demonstrations in Los Angeles last year. Tens of thousands of immigrants and their supporters marched peacefully last year across the country, and although organizers predict lower numbers this year, they said marchers would again demand legal status for illegal immigrants and an end to raids aimed at deporting them. Rallies are planned in New York, Chicago, Boston, Houston, Denver and many other cities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on the anti-corruption policy which directs the officers of the Los Angeles, California Police Department and narcotics unit to disclose personal financial information to the department. The policy demands about 600 officers serving in the units to submit information within two years about the income as well as bank accounts, stock and property holdings and other financial assets. This policy will help the department to uncover an officer's unexplained wealth.

The article reports that Los Angeles, California has decided to install ticket gates at its transit system. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has voted to install 275 ticket gates at 17.4-mile subway and many light-rail stations. This was decided after a study revealed that the authority sustained about a loss of $5.5 million annually.

The article reports that Los Angeles, California, city officials have agreed to permit homeless people to sleep on the sidewalks until 1,250 units of low-cost housing are built. Under a settlement reached between the City Council and the American Civil Liberties Union of South California, homeless people will be allowed to sleep in sidewalks from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. However, the Council ruling says that they will not be allowed to lie down within 10 ft of the entrance of a building or parking lots.

The article discusses a report on the police handling of a pro-immigration demonstration in Los Angeles, California, in May 2007. In a report, the Los Angeles Police Department acknowledged that poor training of police commanders led to clash between the police and demonstrators. The police accepted that the riot police had not been given crowd-handling training. The report also revealed that the police communication was in English while the protestors were largely Spanish speaking.

The article reports that judge Larry Fidler has decided to give new instructions to jury members in the murder trial of music producer Phil Spector on September 19, 2007 in Los Angeles, California. The instructions will include the need for jury members to press on with deliberations. The interruption has left the murder trial in a state of suspended animation following more than four months of testimony. Spector was accused of killing actress Lana Clarkson.

The article reports on the murder trial involving American music producer Phil Spector. Jurors in the murder trial told judge Larry Fidler of Superior Court in Los Angeles, California on September 18, 2007 that they were deadlocked. It was reported to the judge that the jurors were split 7 to 5 even after four ballots. The judge asked them to have a break and resume deliberations on September 19, 2007. Spector is accused of killing actress Lana Clarkson in 2003.

The article reports on a declaration made by police chief William Bratton of Los Angeles, California regarding the failure to control a clash between the police and demonstrators at an immigration rally on May 1, 2007 in Los Angeles, California. According to Bratton, he was mystified as to why 500 to 600 police officers could not contain a group of 20 or so demonstrators. It took 28 minutes for the officers to break up the crowd.

The article reports that a brush fire burned nearly one fifth of Griffith Park in Los Angeles, California on May 9, 2007 before firefighters brought it under control. The fire, according to Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, heralded a severe fire season. It burned more than 800 acres of the park. The fire department in Los Angeles took the unusual step of using water dropping helicopters to control the fire, said Douglas Barry, Chief of the department.

The article reports on the criminal charges of organ trafficking leveled against two officials of the cadaver donor program at the University of California in Los Angeles, California. They have also been charged with conspiracy and grand theft. The accused officials were found involved in illegal trading of body parts donated for medical research. Official Henry Reid and his associate Ernest Nelson were arrested on March 7, 2007.

The article reports that gangs with roots or association with Los Angeles, California have spread to 40 states and seven countries. This piece of information has been offered by the law enforcement officials from countries in North and Central America in the International Chiefs of Police Summit on Transnational Gangs. According to J. Stephen Tidwell, assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the Los Angeles office, the city is ground zero for modern gang violence.

The article reports that the city government officials in Los Angeles, California, have declared that they would demolish the Latino gang, which was allegedly involved in various hate crimes, including the murder of a 14-year-old African American girl. Police officers and federal agents would intensify electronic surveillance of the gang.

The article informs that a deal about makeshift encampments in the Skid Row area of Los Angeles, California has been rejected by the Los Angeles City Council in September 2006. The place is one of the largest concentrations of homeless people in the U.S. Different crimes like prostitution and drug dealing often occur in the area.

The article reports that Hollywood actors are protesting to preserve the South Central Farm in Los Angeles in California.

The article focuses on the protests taking place in Los Angeles, California against the changes made in the immigration laws of the United States.

The article reports that a sheriff's deputy has been charged of shooting a passenger in Los Angeles.

The article reports on the program of Los Angeles, California leaders to solve traffic congestion problem in the city. Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa promised to design a plan to tow parked cars blocking major roads and study on the possibility to add more bus express lanes.

The article reports on the racial riots, which had left one inmate dead and dozens injured, in Los Angeles County jails, in California. The riots involved black and Latino inmates taking their conflicts from the streets to the prison cells. Thus, the sheriff's department has locked down all jails.

The article focuses on the appeal of African-American parents for better schools and the address of race-class issues at Ladera Heights in Los Angeles, California.

The article discusses the problem of homelessness in Los Angeles, California.

Reports on the power disruption incident after utility workers doing maintenance work accidentally cut a line in Los Angeles, California.