The Brief

The L.A. City Council on Wednesday voted 12-3 to approve a police contract that increases spending on officer pay by $1 billion over the next four years.

Mayor Karen Bass had sought to boost raises and bonuses, contending the city could better recruit and retain officers whose ranks had fallen below 9,000 at the start of the fiscal year — the lowest number in the past decade.

The starting salary for an officer would rise from the current $74,000 to more than $86,000 in the first year of the agreement, with further increases over the life of the contract.

Councilmember Traci Park said the contract with the Los Angeles Police Protective League demonstrates a "long-overdue" commitment to the officers it represents.

"And it sends a message that Los Angeles takes public safety seriously," Park said.

But critics of the contract say funneling more money to LAPD — already the most expensive department, costing the city more than $3 billion annually — will burden future budgets and shortchange other agencies.

"It shouldn't take us seven years to fix a sidewalk," said Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez before casting a "no" vote, along with Hugo Soto-Martinez and Nithya Raman. "We shouldn't be limited in the number of alleys we can repave."

Raman said the "enormous" police expenditures "potentially prevents us from being able to build out an alternative response to nonviolent calls for service which are the majority of 911 calls." Many of those calls, she said, involve homelessness and mental health issues.

Newly-elected Councilmember Imelda Padilla brought up her incarcerated brother as she expressed the need for more investment in social services. But she voted for the contract, reasoning that the council had to address LAPD staffing levels.

"We also need our police officers to do their basic duties, such as helping us clean up encampments that my constituents no longer want to see anymore," Padilla said.

The first year of the contract with the police union would add $123 million to the LAPD's budget, followed by $75 million in FY '24-25; $91 million in FY '25-26 and another $95 million in FY '26-27. By the last year of the contract, $384 million will have been tacked on to what the city spends annually on police payroll.

A slow leak from a chemical tank smeared an orange cloud across the sky of a Southern California neighborhood on Tuesday, but authorities said they quickly got it under control.

Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Aaron Katon said authorities responded to a business that makes cleaning products after receiving a call shortly before noon about the cloud. Police evacuated a nearby middle school as a precaution, Katon said.

They do not yet know what the chemical was, but all shelter-in-place orders have been lifted, he said. The regional air quality management district has deployed staff to the area to investigate, said Connie Villanueva, a spokesperson for the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The company, Shepard Bros., could not immediately be reached for comment.

Three company employees reported minor respiratory irritation and declined further treatment, Katon said.

The leak occurred in the city of La Habra near a mix of residential neighborhoods and industrial warehouses about 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Anaheim.

Keary Godinez, who works in a nearby restaurant, said she saw what appeared to be a dark yellow cloud spread across the sky. The 20-year-old said she watched students across the street board buses to evacuate, but police told her the eatery could remain open.

“It looked like pollen dust,” Godinez said, adding she didn’t detect a smell from the cloud. “It just kind of smeared in the sky and started going away.”

La Habra Mayor Jose Medrano had urged residents to shelter in place and said some streets were being evacuated.

Luis Gomez, who manages a nearby pickleball program, said earlier Tuesday he saw the cloud, called police and was told anyone within a mile radius of the location was under an evacuation order.

The Los Angeles Lakers will unveil a statue of former coach Phil Jackson outside their downtown arena next year.

The Lakers announced the plan Tuesday to honor Jackson, who led the Lakers to five championships and seven NBA Finals appearances during two stints totaling 11 seasons as their head coach.

The statue will be unveiled April 9 before the Lakers’ home game against Minnesota.

After his famed tenure leading Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls to six championships, Jackson joined the Lakers in 1999 and immediately began another era of major success for the 17-time NBA champion franchise.

His first three teams in Los Angeles won championships behind the dynamic duo of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, and the Lakers added two more titles in 2009 and 2010 led by Bryant and Pau Gasol. His Lakers also made the NBA Finals in 2004 and 2008.

Jackson set the Lakers franchise record for coaches with 610 victories while leading his teams to the playoffs in every year of his tenure, which ended in 2011.

“Phil Jackson defines championship basketball for a reason,” Lakers governor Jeanie Buss said in a statement. “His masterful approach to coaching brought out the best in some of the greatest athletes to ever play the game. After he accepted my dad’s invitation to join the Lakers, Phil’s unmatched creativity and commitment to excellence restored our championship legacy, bringing five titles and setting a standard of excellence for generations to come. It is a great joy to be able to mark that achievement with the statue he so richly deserves.”

Jackson will be the ninth person associated with the Lakers to be honored with a statue in Star Plaza outside their arena. He joins Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Bryant, O’Neal, broadcaster Chick Hearn and former coach Pat Riley, whose statue was unveiled earlier this year.

Jackson’s 11 championships as a head coach are the most in NBA history. The North Dakota native and former New York Knicks forward is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.