This is Kevin Roderick with LA Observed for KCRW. (Click here for an audio link to this story.)
The week's subject is the kidnapping and murder of a 17-year-old Los...
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Police Chief William Bratton has agreed to give the city's General Services Department authority over retired and off-duty officers who moonlight as security guards at movie and television shoots, a city councilman said Friday.
Bratton had intended to...
Brownouts: Rolling reductions in staffing called risky.
In a plan that no one wants to implement, the Los Angeles Fire Department will begin service "brownouts" on Thursday unless there is a breakthrough in bargaining.
The plan,...
The plan signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this week to balance the state's budget could leave California facing shortfalls in future years of more than $15 billion, according to an analysis released Thursday by a major Wall Street credit rating firm.
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The County's Department of Children and Family Services today said it would increase oversight of child abuse investigations, review past cases and provide more training to social workers as officials deal with public outrage over the beating death of a 6-year-...
The hills will sparkle with star power Saturday as celebrities past and present play in the 38th annual Los Angeles Police Family Fun Day and Celebrity Golf Tournament at Trump...
Los Angeles police officials investigating the beating death of a 6-year-old boy raised questions today about why the boy was living with the man who is now accused of killing him.
Police issued an arrest warrant this afternoon for 36-year-old Marcas...
A transient accused of abducting and killing teenager Lily Burk was charged Tuesday with murder, kidnapping and robbery -- charges that could make him subject to the death penalty.
A hulking, handcuffed Charles Samuel, 50, was led into Los Angeles County...
IT has been seven years since California implemented its own statewide Amber Alert system. In that time, the system has helped recover 179 abducted children.
Created by a bill that I authored in 2002 and named after 9-year-old Amber Hagerman who was...
The murder of 17-year-old Lily Burk has received saturation coverage. Does a brutal crime contain any lessons about the failure of treatment programs or the risk of early parole? Progam guests include Paul Weber: President, Los Angeles Police Protective League...
For the first time in California history, courts will close one day each month because there isn't enough money to keep them open. Advocates for battered women say domestic violence programs around the state could be shut down. And officials are preparing for...
The man charged in the slaying of 17-year-old Lily Burk has 10 criminal convictions in the last 30 years including felony burglary and home invasion, according to information from the L.A. Dist. Atty.'s Office.
Most of the convictions were for...
The Los Angeles Police Commission took steps Tuesday to ensure that the city's red-light enforcement cameras keep operating, even if the financially struggling company that operates the high-tech system is liquidated to pay creditors.
Nestor Traffic...
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to line-item veto more than $600 million in state programs to rebuild California's reserve fund when he signs a budget revision today.
...
Mexican authorities have detained five people in connection with last week's fatal shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol agent, but U.S. investigators have not said whether they are suspects in the case.
The detainees were arrested within two days after...
A City Council committee is considering asking Chief William Bratton to delay a plan to prohibit retired and off-duty officers from wearing their uniforms while controlling crowds and managing traffic at film and television shoots.
Bratton is set to...
The state's new budget will cost the city of Los Angeles more than $200 million in lost revenue, a harsh reality that launched a spirited debate among City Council members Tuesday.
Councilman Paul Koretz prompted strong rebukes from other council members...
The city of Los Angeles was awarded a $16.3-million, three-year grant today for 50 new police officers as part of the nation's federal economic stimulus package.
But city officials had hoped to be able to hire up to 450 officers through the program to...
It was 5:45 a.m. when the 88-year-old woman awoke to a noise that she thought was just a pesky neighborhood cat roaming through the shrubs outside her kitchen.
Shuffling into the kitchen of her Porter Ranch home to shoo away the cat, the woman instead...
Lily Burk, 17, was set to become a senior at North Hollywood's Oakwood School. Her body was found early Saturday, July 25, 2009, in downtown Los Angeles. A 50-year-old parolee is in custody in connection with the case.
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While Sacramento police and firefighters are receiving accolades from local officials for making contract concessions during tough times, our governor has summarily rejected any and all attempts by California correctional peace officers to do the same.
...
The bright yellow fliers posted along Sepulveda Boulevard dare street walkers to try a new path. Some take up the offer, though the women are suspicious as they enter the air-conditioned office building in Van Nuys.
What's the catch? Will I be arrested?...
Charlie Samuel is the poster child for the kind of thugs classified as "non-violent offenders" despite a history of violent behavior -- the kind of hopeless criminal who would be included in the governor's planned release of 27,000 convicts to reduce prison...
The LAPD, FBI, DMV and district attorney's office teamed up to track a Pakistan native in L.A. and 13 accomplices who allegedly paid DMV workers in several states to provide fraudulent documents.
On a spring day last year, a Pakistani man...
I killed an innocent man by drinking and driving. As a result, many lives were ruined. I feel deep pain and remorse.
Because of this, I have had a lot of time to evaluate the state's prison system, which is the largest drain on California's economy...
WASHINGTON - Trying to tamp down an uproar over race, President Barack Obama said Friday he used an unfortunate choice of words in commenting on the arrest of black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and could have "calibrated those words differently."
The...
After spending untold millions of dollars in its implementation, the Los Angeles Police Department has at long last been freed from the federal consent decree under which it has been operating for the past eight years. The decision to terminate the consent...
There have been 20 confirmed cases of swine flu in the Los Angeles County Jail system, with most of the infected inmates housed at the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic, the Sheriff's Department reported today.
Inmates diagnosed with the virus have...
(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
A job seeker waits to use a phone...
Los Angeles (myFOXla.com) - Unable to win concessions from the firefighters union, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today approved a plan to reduce the Fire Department's projected $39 million budget deficit by not staffing several fire companies and ambulances on a...
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