Results tagged “losangelescounty”

The tragic March 2008 murder of 17-year-old high school football standout Jamiel Shaw made national headlines, and led to a movement to get legislation on the books that would grant "Los Angeles police officers the right to arrest undocumented gang members before they commit crimes," according to cbs2. But "Jamiel's Law" and its supporters "did not obtain enough signatures to place the measure on the May city election ballot."

The California Department of Transportation has told local officials how many miles they've covered and at what cost in 2008, according to abc7.com. Here's a look at some of the numbers:

LA prides itself on being a standout among other American cities for its weather, celebrities, and attractions. One distinction, however, points to the darker side of life in our troubled metropolis--the fact that over "two million people living in Los Angeles County - about 20 percent of the area's population - receive welfare or other public aid," according to the Daily News. In fact, our county tops the list nationwide, per Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who said: "We have the highest human service burden of any county in the country in sheer numbers. Two million people is the size of some countries; that's how big our problem is." Officials believe numbers will continue to rise as our economic woes continue. Local offices are "ill-equipped to deal with the growing throng of indigent people," and, as of the end of 2008 LA County was drawing $334 million a month from local, state, and federal governments.

After deferring a $150 million payment to Los Angeles County, the Board of Supervisors has voted to take California's controller, John Chiang, to court. The payment was withheld because of the ongoing budget crisis; the Board, however, calls the deferment unconstitutional and says the revenue the state owes the county is badly needed," abc7.com is reporting. Los Angeles is not the first, or only county in California to sue the state and the controller. San Bernardino County's Board of Supervisors also voted to sue when a $204 million payment needed for welfare and other programs was deferred this month. Other lawsuits are coming from San Diego, Sacramento, and San Joaquin Valley, too.

When the state isn't going to pay your county, what happens when the county says they aren't going to pay the state?

When my friend’s from Back East visit Los Angeles I like to take them to the San Gabriel Valley for an authentic Chinese meal. They typically note the lone 12” letter featured on the restaurant door and conclude “C is for Chinese.”

Welcome to California. We lost 100,000 jobs this past year, unemployment has hit a 14-year record at 8.3 percent (8.9 in LA County) and around 189,000 homes were lost to foreclosure in the first three quarters of 2008. That's why Senator Barbara Boxer released a report today--entitled "The Realities of Recession in California"--that has the results of interviews with every county in the state and a group of select cities.

1 in every 9 homeless people in the United States live in Los Angeles County, and just this past year, 393 of them died. The Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness (LACEHH), along with other advocacy and service organizations, are holding candlelight vigils to memorialize those who died, and thousands across the country are doing the same, for the National Homeless Persons' Memorial Day. In Santa Monica, a vigil is planned for 4:00 p.m. at the 3rd Street Promenade, just south of Arizona Avenue. And in Studio City, a vigil at the same time will be held at Laurel Canyon and Ventura Boulevard. At both events,which will last one hour and a half, the names of the 393 dead will be read aloud, followed by the word "Presente" which means "here" or "present" in Spanish. Candles will be provided.

We've been receiving quite a few voting related questions, so keep on leaving comments asking more. Earlier, we tackled video and photography. Now we clarify some questions regarding Early Voting and Vote-by Mail.

Governor Sarah Palin is a woman of many interests. We've seen her lean out of an airplane to gleefully shoot wolves, and we've delighted in her ability to catch and gut a fish. And now, thanks to a recent L.A. Times article, we also know that she loves to gamble.

Now in a water drought, Los Angeles County is planning to spend close to a million dollars on scientific magic that supposedly creates rain. It's called cloud seeding:

Yesterday's most contentious race was that for the seat for the 2nd District on the County Board of Supervisors. Considered a highly-paid and powerful lifetime position once you're seated, the race between California State Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas and LA City Councilman (former LAPD Chief), Bernard Parks was extremely heated.

The June 3 election had a meager turnout compared to February 5th's Super Tuesday primary and the expected numbers for the upcoming November presidential contest. Statewide, there are 16,123,787 registered voters and only 3,583,827 people, or 22.2%, came out to the polls in California, where the population was last estimated at 36,457,549 by the US Census Bureau.

Holy! See all that blue? Most likely, your street has been caught on camera. After this past summer when Google initially released a very limited Street View function in Los Angeles, a vast improvement in coverage all over Los Angeles and Orange counties was recently released.

Who looks and studies the sample ballot? We all know how to vote, right? Well, after Super Tuesday's "double bubble" controversy (which was thankfully solved for the most part), it might be good to brush up on those bubble filling skills. And LAist Featured Photos contributor coffeextv found this statement upon looking through the sample ballot: "Shall Los Angeles County be declared the sun and leisure capitol of the world?"

In the past, there have been government created top ten lists for Los Angeles's worst gangs and Santa Monica's most vulnerable homeless. Now, the Los Angeles County's Child Support Services Department has begun a program starting today that will put western style wanted posters around the county.

UPDATE!!! The event has moved to in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater. Check Facebook for updated details.

Not that we did not know already, but now it is official: Mike Huckabee announced shortly before 6:30 p.m. PST that he is dropping out of the race. The presumptive Republican nominee, John McCain is expected to hold his victory speech later tonight in Dallas (UPDATE: McCain began his victory speech at 6:48 p.m. PST -- "Stand up and fight for America, the contest begins tonight" MSNBC live on air reports that his teleprompter failed during the speech).

Today the small town of Montrose, known first as "Glendale's first suburb," hits the big 9-5, and the Founders Day Celebration is expected to be a big draw.

The Daily Breeze has the low-down on the latest from Super Tuesday's ugly non-partisan voting mishap where nearly 50,000 votes went uncounted because of a tricky "double bubble" on ballots. Los Angeles County registrar Dean Logan has announced more than 50% of uncounted votes will be counted. Here are the technical details:

When police arrived last night to a call, the suspect was standing in the middle of the street holding a handgun. Luckily, no struggle occurred. Unfortunately, moments before it was not so good:

Two women and a 4-year-old girl were killed and two other children were wounded in a shooting Monday night in a Baldwin Park neighborhood, police said.

Continue reading "3 Dead in Baldwin Park Sadness"

You can't block a sidewalk, it's a public right-of-way, and in West Hollywood doing so can get you arrested as TMZ reports:

By our count, six camerapeople were busted last night; two outside the salon where Brit was getting her hair done and four outside Villa nightclub where Lindsay was partying. Two TMZ photogs were among those busted.

Continue reading "Paparazzi Get Arrested Blocking Sidewalk Stalking Britney Spears"

One year ago, Los Angeles County received the distinction of being number one in the nation for the amount of medical marijuana dispensaries in the country, with close to 50 in operation.

Score one for the passengers: budget airline carrier JetBlue is announcing that they will begin service between LAX and airports in New York and Boston this May. They also have plans to increase service from their Burbank and Long Beach locations, meaning more flights for consumers to choose from, which will increase competition with other carriers (like Southwest) and thereby lower airfares. They'll now be flying to JFK Int'l three times a day, and Boston's Logan Int'l once a day.

An Op-Ed follow up to this morning's news...

Both the Democrat and American Independent parties held open primaries on Super Tuesday. Voters who declined to state an affiliation were handed a "nonpartisan" ballot and were allowed to select a presidential candidate in either of the open primaries.

On Tuesday, 3,878,340 Californian's went to the polls. More than 42% voted for Barack Obama and 52% supported Hillary Clinton, who carried the state on the back of Los Angeles County and much of the California interior, including the heavily Latino communities of San Joaquin and Fresno Counties.

Calling it the "double bubble" where Decline-To-State/Non-Partisan voters had to ink a Democratic bubble at the top of their card in order for their ballot to count, Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo called on the Los Angeles County Registrar and California Secretary of State to review and make sure the intent of everyone's vote counted.

In a quite quickly put-together press conference slated for 2:00 p.m. today at the First Street Steps at City Hall, Councilmen Eric Garcetti and Dennis Zine will be reminding voters that if you're nonpartisan or 'decline to state,' you must mark the box at the top of the ballot if you want to vote for an American Independent or Democratic candidate.