SWAT Officer’s Retaliation Suit Alleges LAPD Has Gang Arrest, Gun Quotas

A Los Angeles police officer is suing the city, alleging management took career-damaging steps against him to keep him quiet about purported illegal quotas that commanders ostensibly established to increase specific crime statistics involving guns and gangs. Officer John Walker’s Los Angeles Superior Court retaliation suit, filed Wednesday, seeks unspecified damages. A representative for the […]

Los Angeles Receives $7M in Federal Funds to Address Impact of Gun Violence

Los Angeles received $7 million in federal grants to address the impact of gun violence, City Attorney Mike Feuer announced Thursday. Feuer’s office received $5 million from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration and $2 million from the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance toward a program to help children who have been […]

Council Committee Recommends Ordinance Banning Oil Drilling in Los Angeles

A council committee recommended adoption of a proposed ordinance Thursday that would phase out oil and gas extraction in Los Angeles, moving the city a step closer to banning oil drilling. The Energy, Climate Change, Environment Justice, and River Committee voted unanimously to advance the recommendation to the City Council. The item was also referred […]

Fall Festivals, Genre Films, New Wave and Elote: What to Do This Weekend in LA

Friday you can take the family to decorate gourds and pick out pumpkins at the Brentwood Country Mart’s Fall Festival, and then geek out over props and tv and film memorabilia from horror and sci-fi classics at Icons of Darkness.  Saturday you don’t want to miss getting your food and drink on at Guerilla Taco’s […]

La Cañada Flintridge Man Pleads Not Guilty in `Hit Man’ Case

A La Cañada Flintridge real estate developer who allegedly planned to hire a gang member to kill two rivals pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal charges. Arthur Aslanian, 53, is charged in a federal indictment with one count each of conspiracy to use interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire and use of interstate […]

Jury Resumes Deliberations in Case Against Ex-UCLA Campus Gynecologist

Jurors resumed their deliberations Thursday in the criminal case against a former UCLA campus gynecologist accused of sexually abusing seven female patients. The panel got the case against James Mason Heaps on Wednesday and spent about 1 1/2 hours in discussions. In her rebuttal argument Wednesday, Deputy District Attorney Rosa Zavala told jurors that Heaps […]

Motorist Arrested in Connection With Sept. 17 Hit-And-Run Crash

Redondo Beach police Thursday said an arrest has been made in connection with a vehicle striking two teenagers on an electric bicycle and fleeing the scene. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies located the vehicle and motorist Tuesday in the city of Rolling Hills Estates, said Redondo Beach police Capt. Jon Naylor. “The person of interest […]

Activists Call for More Police in Downtown LA After Store Owner’s Killing

Community leaders gathered in the downtown Los Angeles Fashion District Thursday to call on police to step up patrols in the area in response to the broad-daylight fatal stabbing of a business owner, and they called for the two teen suspects in the slaying to be tried as adults. Du Young Lee, 56, was fatally […]

Firefighters Contain Quarter-Acre Brush Fire At Hansen Dam Recreation Area

Firefighters Thursday contained what is now estimated to be a quarter-acre heavy brush fire at the Hansen Dam Recreation Area. Initial reports determined that at least half an acre had burned. Firefighters with Los Angeles County, L.A. City and the Angeles National Forest were dispatched to the location at 12:10 p.m., the Los Angeles Fire […]

Woman’s Body Discovered in Drop Slot of Clothing Collection Box

A woman’s body was found stuck in the drop slot of a clothing collection box in Santa Clarita Thursday morning. The discovery was made by a passerby about 10 a.m. in the area of Lyons Avenue and Orchard Village Road, according to a watch commander at the sheriff’s Santa Clarita station. “People go in there […]

Fire Damages Auto Repair Shop in Lancaster

Fire damaged a metal-clad auto repair shop in Lancaster Thursday. Firefighters dispatched at 10:30 a.m. to 43251 Division St. had the blaze out at 11:14 a.m., the Los Angeles County Fire Department reported. No injuries were reported and a cause of the fire was under investigation.