75 killings this year equal a 27% increase from this last year, but the LAPD says they are random and unrelated, according to KFWB News 980 on air. One of those include a murder this morning. There has been a 5% decline in violent crime overall and a 25% drop in gang-related homicides. "Try telling that to the people I represent," said LA City Councilwoman Jan Perry in the Daily News report on gang violence.......

Be careful who you root for. L.A. County Federation of Labor's leader Maria Elena Durazo is taking some heat for her recent endorsement of Barack Obama, and her subsequent decision to take a leave from her post to work on his campaign. Speaking of labor...today was the launch of the Los Angeles County Business Federation, a coalition of local businesses hoping to emulate--and perhaps defend against--the organizational power of unions. The group "so far......

Graham Crackers?...

The Los Angeles Business Journal reports that delays at major Southern California ports have frustrated so many shippers that they are diverting freighters to other West Coast ports. David Greenberg writes, "A major South Korean shipping company, fed up with delays at the Port of Long Beach, will begin diverting its biggest freighters to Portland, Seattle and Vancouver as shippers continue searching for alternatives to congested facilities in Southern California. Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd.......