California suppressed consultant's report on inmate suicides

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown has pointed to reams of documents to make the case in court and on the stump that California's prison crisis is over, and inmates are receiving good care. But there is at least one document the administration wanted to...

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California bill would allow lesser charges for drug possession

State Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), shown during a legislative session in 2012, has introduced a bill that would let prosecutors file misdemeanor rather than felony charges in cases of simple possession of heroin, cocaine and other hard drugs....

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Convicted rapist Luster testifies he's a victim of bad legal advice

Testifying in a blue prison jumpsuit with his ankles chained, Andrew Luster cast himself Wednesday as a victim of tragically bad legal advice. Serving a 124-year sentence on rape and drug charges, Luster, the great-grandson of cosmetics giant Max Factor,...

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L.A. to ask high court to overturn ruling on homeless belongings

Citing an immediate public health threat, the city of Los Angeles will ask the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to overturn a lower-court ruling preventing the random seizure and destruction of belongings that homeless people leave temporarily unattended...

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Labor pours millions into L.A. races

Nearly $4 million in independent expenditures have poured into Los Angeles city election campaigns in recent weeks, with more than three-fourths coming from groups tied to organized labor. Much of the debate on union spending before the March 5 vote...

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Deasy group aids 3 school board candidates

Los Angeles schools Supt. John Deasy isn't on the ballot Tuesday, but you'd hardly know it, based on the undercurrent of the school board election. A coalition of local organizations, wealthy donors and L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa have decided that...

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Garcetti holds potential interest in Beverly Hills oil drilling

In his bid for Los Angeles mayor, Eric Garcetti has promoted himself as the greenest of candidates. The city councilman from Silver Lake has pushed for an expansion of L.A.'s rooftop solar-panel program and the creation of thousands of clean-energy...

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Wendy Greuel acquired a love of politics from working with Tom Bradley

In the early 1980s, Wendy Greuel was at a crossroads. In one direction was the family building supply company housed in a dusty North Hollywood warehouse. The other way, a career at Los Angeles City Hall in Mayor Tom Bradley's administration beckoned....

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Healthcare overhaul may threaten California's safety net

Millions of uninsured Californians will gain medical coverage under the national healthcare overhaul beginning in January, but Guadalupe Luna won't be one of them. Luna, an illegal immigrant and tamale vendor in Los Angeles, doesn't qualify. So she...

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Perry, a financial underdog, makes race a three-way contest

With the Los Angeles mayoral primary a week away, an aggressive mail campaign by Jan Perry has helped push her into a three-way fight with Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti for two spots in a May runoff. From the start, Garcetti and Greuel have seen each...

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Despite stumbles, Baca named 'Sheriff of Year' by national group

For Sheriff Lee Baca, the last couple years have been rough. His department is being investigated by the feds. A county commission examining abuse in Baca's jails found him to be disengaged and uninformed, saying he probably would have been fired in...

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Early news reports worried Dorner victim's father, document shows

Even as Irvine police were trying to confirm the identities of a young couple found shot to death in an Irvine parking garage early this month, the department's on-duty watch commander received a late-night call from former LAPD Capt. Randal Quan. According...

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For L.A. County's child protective services agency, change is slow

For years, the top director of Los Angeles County's child protective services agency sat in an office hidden behind an unmarked, locked door. When current director Philip Browning arrived, he made an early decision to use a doorstop to prop it open....

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The evolving views of Kevin James

First in a series of articles focusing on key periods in the lives of the mayoral hopefuls. If it weren't for paparazzi shooting topless photographs of actress Jennifer Aniston, Kevin James might never have become a talk radio show host — or gone on...

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Tough challenges lie ahead for college trustees

The Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees faces a host of immediate and pressing issues this spring, chief among them: the selection of a new chancellor, budget uncertainty and increasing pressure to move struggling students more quickly...

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Mahony answers questions under oath about clergy sex abuse cases

A "relatively unflappable" Cardinal Roger Mahony answered questions under oath for more than 3 1/2 hours Saturday about his handling of clergy sex abuse cases, according to the lawyer who questioned the former archbishop. "He remained calm and seemingly...

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City union groups give big money to Greuel campaign

Outside campaign committees affiliated with two powerful city employee unions have spent more than $2.2 million on their bid to make Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel the city's next mayor, according to Ethics Commission records posted Saturday....

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Bloomberg's meddling in L.A. Unified races is paying for junk ads

If you're like me, your mailbox is getting stuffed with political mailers. What to do? The best course of action is to take a shovel and dig a hole in the backyard, toss the mailers in and set them ablaze. At best, they're filled with useless simplifications...

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Digital billboard company issues $100-million threat against L.A.

An outdoor advertising company fighting to preserve dozens of digital billboards across Los Angeles warned this week that it would seek "substantially" more than $100 million from City Hall if it is ordered to remove any electronic signs targeted in...

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Deputy shoots, injures driver after short chase in Orange County

By Hailey Branson-Potts, Los Angeles Times February 23, 2013, 8:46 p.m. A short chase that began early Saturday in a McDonald's drive-through in Stanton ended when authorities hit the suspect's vehicle and shot and wounded him, authorities said....

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Dorner and the LAPD legacy

I expected fireworks in South Los Angeles this week, when LAPD Chief Charlie Beck showed up at a community meeting to talk about Christopher Dorner, the ex-cop turned killer whose manifesto cast the department in an ugly light, resurrecting decades of...

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Councilman's preferred successor holds edge in Westside district

When Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl decided in October to retire and focus on battling cancer, he anointed Mike Bonin, his longtime chief of staff, as his preferred successor. The March 5 primary election now seems Bonin's to lose. Of four...

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