Maywood official resigns over council split on police contract with Cudahy

Maywood City Councilman Sergio Calderon announced his resignation this week, saying he was frustrated with the council's split over renewing its contract for providing Cudahy with police services.

Calderon's announcement at Tuesday's council's meeting stunned officials.

“I was shocked that he did it in this manner,” said Councilman Felipe Aguirre. “Everyone was shocked.”

The council, which is divided over whether to renew the contract, will now decide how to fill Calderon’s seat.

Negotiations with Cudahy officials have been going on for months. Maywood currently provides police services to the nearby city.

A recent audit by Maywood showed that it was losing millions of dollars under its agreement with Cudahy. But Cudahy officials have agreed to increase payment for services.

The contract is set to expire in 2011.

“There’s still time,” Aguirre said. 

-- Ruben Vives

Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman announces retirement

Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman announced Tuesday that he will be retiring in March after nearly 21 years heading the department.

In making his announcement, Freeman said he plans to spend more time with his family and pursue personal projects.

“It has been my honor and privilege to serve the people of Los Angeles County, alongside the most unselfish, caring, and courageous men and women of the department,” he said in a statement. “There were many challenges, but meeting them brought a great deal of satisfaction.”

As head of the county Fire Department, Freeman oversees an agency long considered among the leaders in firefighting tactics and strategy. In addition to traditional structure and water-rescue units, the department has a large Air and Wildland Division that includes camp crews, bulldozer units and water-dropping helicopters.
 
Freeman is the second-longest serving chief since Spence Turner, who commanded the department for 27 years from 1925 to 1952.

O.C. supervisors, in reversal, ask governor to cancel fairgrounds sale

The Orange County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution today asking Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to "immediately cancel the proposed sale of the Orange County Fairgrounds."

The 4-0 vote marks a reversal from July, when the board approved a resolution in favor of selling the fairgrounds to a local government agency or nonprofit. Supervisor Chris Norby was absent for today's action.

The governor earlier this year proposed liquidating half a dozen state properties to raise funds to help ease California's budget crisis, and the state put the 150-acre Costa Mesa site on the auction block last month, giving bidders a deadline of Jan. 8.

Supervisor John Moorlach said the board initially supported the sale because they thought the terms would allow it to be sold to a local nonprofit or government.

But since then, state officials have indicated through auction documents and letters that they want to maximize profit, possibly by selling the land as something other than a fairgrounds, and that has fueled speculation that it could be sold into private hands and developed.

"It's creating so much aggravation that the easiest way to keep the fairgrounds a fairgrounds — which was our overarching goal — is just to cancel the sale," Moorlach said.

But that doesn't mean the county doesn't have a Plan B: Like the city of Costa Mesa and a nonprofit formed by the governor-appointed fair board, the county is exploring making a bid of its own for the property.

After all, quipped Moorlach, "The governor doesn't always do what we ask."

--Tony Barboza in Orange County

Reddock withdraws nomination to Los Angeles pension board

The newest appointee to a Los Angeles pension board has withdrawn her nomination after a city councilman voiced concern about her refusal to name her legal clients, city officials said today.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had named attorney Angela Reddock to the Fire and Police Pensions system, an agency whose board members have come under scrutiny in recent months regarding the potential for conflicts of interest.

Although council members were scheduled to vote to confirm Reddock today, Councilman Bernard C. Parks raised questions after reading correspondence between Reddock and the city Ethics Commission, which is charged with identifying potential conflicts of interest for new city commissioners. Reddock told the commission in an e-mail that she did not plan to name any client that had paid her more than $10,000, citing attorney-client privilege.

Placentia officials, Caltrans reach tentative settlement over failed rail project

Placentia officials said Wednesday that they have tentatively agreed to pay $5.5 million to settle a claim by Caltrans that the north Orange County city misspent more than $36 million in state funds to finance a now-defunct rail corridor project.

The dispute involved the $650-million OnTrac project, which was shelved in 2006 after failing to receive federal funding. The proposal, which included sinking 5 miles of railroad tracks into a concrete trench, dragged the city deep into debt and forced officials to cut services and sell park land to recoup their losses.

After almost two years of negotiations, Caltrans agreed to reduce its claim to $5.5 million — a move, city officials say, that spared Placentia from filing for bankruptcy protection.

“It is a great relief that this chapter in the city’s history is about to be closed,” said Mayor Pro Tem Joseph V. Aguirre. “Everyone in the city has been focused on resolving this and the stigma it has left.”

O.C. Fair board's actions regarding sale of fairgrounds may be illegal, county counsel says

The top attorney for the county of Orange is urging an investigation of the local fair board, saying its hiring of a lobbyist and law firm to influence the sale of the Orange County fairgrounds by the state may have been illegal.

In a Oct. 30 letter, County Counsel Nicholas S. Chrisos asked the state attorney general’s office to investigate the Orange County Fair Board, saying members’ use of public funds to lobby state officials over the terms of the fairgrounds sale appeared to violate a state law prohibiting public officials from having a financial or personal interest in a contract or sale.

The state put the 150-acre Costa Mesa property up for auction last month in an attempt to raise funds to help ease California's budget crisis.

At its July 29 meeting, the fair board hired former state Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman and the law firm Nossaman, Guthner, Knox and Eliot to lobby the governor’s office, Chrisos wrote.

D.A. opens inquiry to see if City of Industry mayor has conflict of interest

The Los Angeles County district attorney has opened an inquiry into the mayor of Industry’s business connections with the city to determine if conflict-of-interest laws may have been violated, The Times has learned.

The review is focusing on Mayor David Perez and was prompted by a complaint lodged in September, said David Demerjian, head of Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley’s Public Integrity Division. The complaint alleged that Perez “may have a financial interest in contracts between the city and companies he’s affiliated with,” said Demerjian, declining to identify the complainant.

Perez said he was not aware of the probe. “I feel confident that I’m doing everything legally,” he said in a telephone interview.

Last month, The Times reported that companies partly owned by Perez, a member of a prominent, deeply rooted family in the San Gabriel Valley town with less than 100 voters, held multimillion-dollar contracts with the city to collect trash and provide public maintenance services.

Perez stressed the agreements were in place long before he joined the council in 2001, when he says he removed himself from any business dealings with the city. He also says he has relied on the advice of city lawyers and their reviews of agendas to avoid ethics problems.

Both the City of Industry and Perez have raised their profiles recently with a controversial push to bring a professional football team and an $800-million stadium complex to the eastern end of the heavily commercial city, near the junction of the 57 and 60 freeways.

Charlie Beck named L.A.'s new chief of police

The Los Angeles City Council today appointed Charlie Beck as the city's new police chief.

The council unanimously approved Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's nomination at a hearing this morning. There was no organized opposition to the nomination of Beck, currently an LAPD deputy chief, but the stakes are high.

The choice comes at a time of uncertainty for the department as Beck will be given the task of sustaining former Police Chief William J. Bratton’s hard-won gains amid dwindling city budgets. Beck, 56, has risen quickly through the department’s command ranks in recent years and was viewed widely as the favorite to be selected by the mayor.

From his success in rehabilitating the Rampart Division, which had been at the center of a corruption scandal, and later as head of the LAPD’s forces in South Los Angeles, he has earned praise from police and civic leaders for blending a tough stance on crime with a progressive approach to improving the police department’s relationship with the public.

L.A. mayor and teachers union to compete for control of Jefferson High

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the teachers union will compete for control of Jefferson High School under one of the nation’s most closely watched school-improvement initiatives. Today marks the first key deadline — the final day for groups inside or outside the Los Angeles Unified School District to turn in “letters of intent” for reform plans.

Up for grabs are 12 struggling existing schools and 18 campuses that are scheduled to open next fall.

The joust over Jefferson, located in the Central Alameda neighborhood south of downtown Los Angeles, was both revealed and underscored by dueling news conferences this morning. United Teachers Los Angeles struck first, at 7 a.m., in front of the Jefferson entrance. The timing had more to do with allowing students and teachers to participate before the start of school than with upstaging the mayor, but the rhetoric was nonetheless defiant toward outside forces seeking to take over.

“Politicians have to stop using public education as their means to beat their chests,” said UTLA President A.J. Duffy. “As they say in the commodities market, this is all about their futures -- their political futures.”

Medical marijuana groups threaten to sue if L.A. bans sales

Two medical marijuana groups are threatening to sue the city of Los Angeles if the City Council passes an ordinance that bans the sale of medical marijuana. Two council committees are meeting today to try to finish drafting an ordinance that contains the controversial provision.

Dispensary operators have consistently said they are uncertain they could stay open with such a restriction. Most collectives, which are required to be not-for-profit, sell marijuana to their members, but they consider it a donation to reimburse their costs.

The prohibition on sales was written by the city attorney’s office. In a lengthy analysis of state law and court decisions, City Atty. Carmen Trutanich concluded that over-the-counter sales of medical marijuana are not allowed. Instead, he said, collectives are shielded from prosecution only when they are growing it.

Both medical marijuana organizations, the Union of Medical Marijuana Patients and Americans for Safe Access, take issue with Trutanich’s view, saying he has misinterpreted the law and the court decisions.

Santa Monica group wants to expand no-smoking laws

Some Santa Monica residents want to expand local no-smoking laws to balconies and patios.

Santa Monicans for Non-Smoking Renters Rights also wants the city to create nonsmoking sections for multifamily residential buildings, including individual units.

The group already has successfully lobbied the City Council to ban smoking in common areas of apartments and condominiums.

Read more about the no-smoking efforts at the LookOut News.

At emotional hearing, panel approves landmark curbs on Southern California fishing

In a move greeted with scattered applause and boos, a state blue-ribbon panel late today voted unanimously to approve landmark fishing restrictions for the Southern California coastline, creating a patchwork of havens for marine life needed to replenish the surrounding seas while leaving some waters open for fishing.

The five-member panel, which convened at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel in Los Angeles, voted to recommend to the state Fish and Game Commission a compromise intended to sustain the 250-mile coastline's economic and environmental health. The commission is expected to take up the plan in December. It has usually approved plans recommended by the panel.

In an interview, panel Chairwoman Catherine Reheis-Boyd said, “We’re not going to make everyone happy, but this has to be done.”

“It’s agony to weigh the environmental goals against peoples’ livelihoods,” she said. “We have to consider the socioeconomic impacts, especially here in Southern California, where the urban-ocean interface is greater than anywhere else in the nation."

The plan was forged during a year of contentious negotiations between conservationists and fishing interests over slivers of beach, access to kelp beds and submarine canyons, and the locations of parking lots and restrooms that could affect water quality, larval production and marine life between Santa Barbara and the Mexican border.

Of particular concern to fishing interests were maps delineating the extent of coastal hook-and-line fishing and deep-sea trawler access that would be sacrificed in the interest of stemming the decline of fish stocks that are the cornerstone of recreational and commercial fishing — for lobster, urchin, squid, sea bass, sheepshead, yellowtail and swordfish — and tourism.

Conservationists grumbled that the economic effects on the fishing industry outweighed scientific guidelines to ensure the long-term health of Southern California's ocean in the minds of some panelists. Commercial fishermen clad in black T-shirts predicted job losses and business closures.

Elected officials tried to intervene on behalf of their constituents. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa dispatched a letter to the panel urging that they approve tough restrictions. A week ago, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution urging the panel to protect kelp and canyon habitats on both sides of Point Dume but leaving the waters off Palos Verdes Peninsula open to fishing. State Assemblyman Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) supported that plan.

George L. Osborn, a lobbyist for the California Fish and Game Wardens Assn., told the panel late this afternoon, "We do not have the resources to enforce regulations currently on the books. This is a matter that jeopardizes officer safety."

At today's meeting, a group led by Laguna City Councilwoman Verna Rollinger supported a proposal to ban fishing along seven miles of coastal waters. "I want fish in the ocean, and on my dinner plate," Rollinger said. "To do that, we have to restore the ocean."

Tempers flared. The panel was discussing proposed fishing closures when kayak fishing enthusiast Charles Volkens, 44, stood up and angrily shouted at the panelists: "You have not listened to us throughout this whole process!"

-- Louis Sahagun

MWD board OKs subsidies to boost Carlsbad seawater-to-drinking-water project

A proposal to create the first major seawater desalination plant in Southern California received a major boost today when regional water managers approved a subsidy for the operation that could eventually grow to $350 million.

The privately owned plant would be built in Carlsbad, next to the Encina power station. When completed, it would produce enough water annually to serve roughly 100,000 households in San Diego County.

Read more about the project at Greenspace, The Times' environment blog.

L.A. County supervisors to name Buzz Aldrin 'honorary consul general to the moon'

The L.A. County Board of Supervisors is heading for the final frontier: Space.

At the behest of Supervisor Mike Antonovich, the board is appointing Gemini 12 and Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin as its very own "Honorary Consul General to the Moon from Los Angeles County."

Aldrin was the second man to step on the moon in July 1969.

The Board of Supervisors, famous for presentations of elaborate scrolls, will give one to Aldrin on behalf of the 24 Apollo astronauts who reached the vicinity of the moon.

According to the board's agenda, the astronauts represent the "highest ideals of a seasoned American military officer, American military aviator, American veteran, and American space explorer."

-- Richard Winton

More breaking news in L.A. Now:

Shouting, shoving at meeting on Southern California fishing restrictions

Michael Jackson's mother no longer objects to estate executors

L.A. school leaders, community groups to debunk inflammatory flier aimed at undocumented parents

Judge delays legal squabble between L.A. city attorney and controller

Judge considers allowance for Joe Jackson; new Michael Jackson estate allegations

MTA report calls for light rail, not rapid bus line, on Crenshaw corridor

L.A. school leaders, community groups to debunk inflammatory flier aimed at undocumented parents

Southern California police look for possible links to Cleveland serial-killer suspect

Santa Monica Pier to be anointed as Route 66 terminus

Dog rescued, another badly injured in Long Beach blaze

LAPD Chief-Designate Beck to appear at Mar Vista town hall

L.A. school leaders, community groups to debunk inflammatory flier aimed at undocumented parents [Updated]

Two L.A. Unified School District leaders plan to hold a news conference this morning with community groups to debunk a Spanish-language flier claiming illegal-immigrant parents who sign a petition calling for a charter school will be deported.

[Updated at 8:45 a.m.: A previous version of this post incorrectly stated that the teachers union was holding the news conference.]

The 10 a.m. news conference outside the teachers union headquarters in the Wilshire District is the latest development in ongoing disagreements over a proposal to improve 30 struggling or new campuses, with the school district and its teachers union stalled in crucial negotiations.

[Updated at 8:59 a.m.: A previous version of this post said the disagreement was over control of the schools, but actually involves proposals to improve the campuses.]

Becoming a charter school is one option for the 30 campuses designated for reform plans. Charters are independently managed and frequently nonunion. They often have been criticized by United Teachers Los Angeles, the teachers union, but there is no evidence the union's leadership is responsible for the flier.

Participants in today’s news conference are expected to include school board President Monica Garcia, school board member Yolie Flores Aguilar and representatives of several allied community organizations.

Flores Aguilar authored the resolution that allows groups inside or outside the district to bid for control of new or struggling schools. Garcia is a close ally of L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has supported the Flores Aguilar resolution.

L.A. Unified has fewer students; charter school enrollment rises sharply

Enrollment in traditional Los Angeles-area public schools has declined this fall, even as the number of students enrolled in charter schools has exploded, according to just-released data.

The drop at traditional schools is slightly more than 3%, with enrollment falling to 617,798 students. The number of students at independent charters is up nearly 19%, to 60,643 students. More students attend charter schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District than in any other district in the country.

Charter schools operate like their own school districts, with control over most of the funding generated by their students. With the opening of new charters in the Los Angeles area, the enrollment shift was not entirely unexpected, but it nonetheless has broad implications for the nation's second-largest school system. When the district sheds students, it also loses the funds that accompany them, which puts pressure on a district budget with built-in costs for services and facilities.

Fewer students ultimately result in staff reductions --- over and above those already caused by the state budget crisis.

Even if the charter students are added in, district enrollment is down 1.4% from last year, continuing a recent trend. The latest numbers are culled from an annual survey called “norm day,” which is important for setting staffing levels at schools as well as determining future funding.

-- Howard Blume

Crews working to repair Van Nuys water main break

A full shutdown is expected shortly of a water main that ruptured today in Van Nuys, unleashing a geyser three stories high at the corner of Van Nuys Boulevard and Sherman Way.

Los Angeles Fire Department and Department of Water and Power officials were on the scene shortly after the 10:42 a.m. rupture. The nearly 20-foot geyser was soon reduced to a steady flow of water rising through the hole in the street.

No injuries or evacuations were reported but the street was flooded, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Erik Scott. TV news coverage showed water shooting from the street well above a nearby one-story building. No damage was reported.

Pasadena outdoor watering limited to one day a week in winter

Pasadena residents are limited to just one outdoor watering day a week after the city’s first-ever winter water restrictions took effect Sunday.

In the summer, sprinklers were allowed to run Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays before 9 a.m. or after 6 p.m. Now residents must choose just one of those days each week to water their lawns, although the restriction does not apply to watering by hand or drip irrigation systems.

After Pasadena experienced record-low rainfall two years ago, the city implemented a water conservation plan that required the regulation of sprinkler systems, prohibited residents from hosing down pavement and required the immediate repair of leaky plumbing fixtures.

MTA's rail-car contract falls apart at last minute, scuttling hundreds of jobs [Updated]

A tentative and controversial deal to build 100 rail cars for Los Angeles County's transit system has fallen through -- taking with it plans to build a $70-million factory that would have created hundreds of local jobs.

Last-minute negotiations failed to result in a contract with AnsaldoBreda, an Italian manufacturer that is three years behind schedule on an existing contract to deliver 50 rail cars to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Despite those delays -- and the delivery of cars that were 6,000 pounds heavier than specified -- AnsaldoBreda was positioned to win the new $300-million contract through an option with a deadline of Friday at midnight.

Just weeks ago, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had hailed the impending deal because the company said it would build the rail cars at a new Los Angeles factory. Villaraigosa had cited a study estimating that the plant would deliver $368 million in economic activity, including 650 factory jobs and close to 1,000 union construction jobs to build the facility. The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor had lobbied the MTA board in favor of the contract.

Today, the mayor expressed disappointment. "In these tough economic times, it was important to make every effort to bring good jobs to L.A. and simultaneously exercise due diligence to protect public funds in pursuing this contract,” Villaraigosa said in a statement. “Unfortunately after months of negotiations, at the last minute, satisfactory financial guarantees were not provided and the deal was not signed.”

Hours before the deadline, the company raised new issues -- including a cap on daily penalties for delivering rail cars behind schedule, said MTA spokesman Marc Littman. Transit-agency negotiators declined to make additional concessions and the time period to reach an agreement expired.

The deal’s disintegration has ramifications beyond the future work, said MTA board member Richard Katz, a Villaraigosa appointee. He cited an agreement under which AnsaldoBreda was going to provide two free rail cars, which sell for $3 million each, to make up for building the vehicles heavier than specified. The heavier cars forced the MTA to reinforce some bridges.

In tones that reflected the soured relations between the company and local officials, Katz called AnsaldoBreda “unprofessional and so unbusinesslike,” and said the company's inability to perform under its existing contract could result in litigation.

Officials from AnsaldoBreda could not be reached, but the company has defended its work and says it can point to the successful delivery of rail cars in other cities.

[Updated at 10:26 p.m.: In a statement, AnsaldoBreda president and CEO Giancarlo Fantappié said that his company had provided sufficient financial safeguards for MTA and that he regretted a deal could not be reached "despite multiple efforts to negotiate in good faith on both sides." He added: "Despite this turn of events, Los Angeles continues to represent a focal point for our strategy in America." AnsaldoBreda is eligible to take part in new bidding to build the rail cars.]

The MTA intends to rebid the work quickly and hopes to sign a contract that will result in local jobs, Katz said.

The effort to exercise the option with AnsaldoBreda has long had critics, including county Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who in a statement called the latest development “a victory for taxpayers.”

The company “failed once again to deliver on a promise made to the people of Los Angeles County," said Antonovich, who also sits on the MTA board. “Los Angeles city insiders and special interests attempted to ram through a substandard outfit, creating costly delays in the MTA's ability to seek a legitimate firm to build rail cars.”

-- Howard Blume

Galatzan endorses former rival Krekorian in L.A. City Council race

Los Angeles School Board member Tamar Galatzan, who finished third in September’s special election to replace former Los Angeles City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, announced Friday that she is endorsing former rival Assemblyman Paul Krekorian.    

Krekorian, a lawyer who won his California Assembly seat in 2006 after serving on the Burbank Board of Education, will face off against former Paramount Pictures Corp. executive Christine Essel in the runoff election Dec. 8.

Essel has raised $141,000 for her general election bid to Krekorian’s $63,000, and both candidates have accepted matching funds. The 2nd Council District includes parts of Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Valley Village, North Hollywood, Sun Valley and Sunland-Tujunga.
 

Los Angeles DWP workers to get pay raise

Even as police officers go without raises in each of the next two years, the Los Angeles City Council moved ahead with a plan today to give employees of the Department of Water and Power raises ranging from 2% to 4% in each of the next five years.

Three hours after it approved a two-year contract with the Police Protective League that offers zero pay increases, the council forwarded a package of five raises to International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 18.

Asked to explain the deal, City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana, the top budget official, said: “I’m not talking about the IBEW” – a reference to the DWP’s union.

L.A. faces $100-million shortfall despite cost-cutting moves approved today

The Los Angeles City Council faces a $100-million budget shortfall even after passing a trio of cost-cutting measures today that include two labor contracts and a plan for shaving 2,400 civilian employees off the payroll.

The council voted for a two-year pact with the police officers’ union that seeks to reduce police overtime expenses by 83% next year and a separate deal that cuts the pay of 22,000 civilian employees by 4.4% through June 30.

City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana said he will present a new round of budget-cutting proposals in December or January, once the city knows how many workers have agreed to retire. But he argued that today's votes represent progress.

“One hundred million sounds like a lot, but when it started out at $400 million, it’s much more tangible,” he said.

L.A. schools leader considers shortened school year to balance budget

Los Angeles schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines has asked his chief financial officer to study the possibility of shortening the school year to offset part of an expected shortfall of at least $500 million, The Times has learned. 

The strategy, if adopted for the 2010-11 school year, would run counter both to the direction of national reform efforts and to the wishes of Cortines, who agrees with research touting the benefits of an extended academic calendar.

"You know I fought fiercely for a longer school year and a longer school day," Cortines said.

Seventh L.A. pension board member resigns

Continuing an exodus that began six months ago, a pension board appointee of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa resigned today, the seventh to depart amid increased scrutiny of the state’s public employee retirement systems.

Board member Moctesuma Esparza did not respond to a request for comment on his departure from the City Employees’ Retirement System, whose investment portfolio suffered a 20% loss last year.

But a spokeswoman for the mayor confirmed last week that the city’s lawyers were trying to determine if Assembly Bill 1584, signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Oct. 18, made it impossible for Esparza to serve on the seven-member board.

AB 1584, written by Assemblyman Edward Hernandez (D-West Covina), bars volunteer pension board members, such as Esparza, from selling investment products to public employee retirement systems in California in their professional lives.

L.A. City Council selects Google as its e-mail provider

The Los Angeles City Council decided today to outsource its e-mail system to Google Inc., making it the largest city in the nation to make such a move and handing the search giant a big victory in its quest to become a software provider to the world's cities and businesses.

The council voted 12-0 after more than two hours of debate. The $7.25-million contract would move all 30,000 city employees to Google's so-called cloud over the coming year.

Read more at the Times' Technology blog.

-- David Sarno at City Hall

More breaking news in L.A. Now:

Doctor continued prescribing addictive drugs even after Anna-Nicole Smith refused rehab, witness says

Man arrested, allegedly admits to multiple sexual assaults

L.A. officials express support for smoking ban in outdoor dining areas

Police commission meeting to pick finalists for LAPD chief

Big crowds expected at Staples Center and L.A. Live tonight

Interstate 5 reopened in Burbank after big-rig fire, multicar collision

Asian Americans in L.A. County voted in record numbers in 2008, supported Obama

Water main break causes 7-foot sinkhole in Yorba Linda

Celebrity burglaries puts spotlight on aggressive paparazzi

County clinics gave swine flu vaccine to anyone who showed up, even the low-risk and insured

Four Marines from Camp Pendleton killed in Afghanistan

LAPD apologizes for flag faux pas

Second suspect arrested in alleged gang rape of Bay Area high school student

Pasadena to honor Latino boxing coach