Crime analysis for your neighborhood
Neighborhood rankings
Top per-capita rates in LAPD and sheriff neighborhoods for six months ending Feb. 16
- 1. Chesterfield Square
- 2. Unincorp. Santa Susana Mnts.
- 3. Rancho Park
- 4. Rancho Dominguez
- 5. Leimert Park
Property
- 1. Chesterfield Square
- 2. Athens
- 3. Vermont Vista
- 4. Green Meadows
- 5. Vermont Knolls
Violent
Crime alerts
Recent significant increases in LAPD-patrolled neighborhoods for the most recent week
- Sunland
Property
- Encino
- San Pedro
- Playa del Rey
- Watts
- Sherman Oaks
Violent
The Homicide Report
Tracking L.A. County's homicide victims
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
midnight
Hobby Lobby case: Defenders of religious freedom should be careful what they pray for
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will consider a proposition that will strike many Americans as bizarre: that large, for-profit businesses can refuse on religious grounds to comply with a federal mandate that they include contraception in their employee health plans.
Three companies — Hobby Lobby, a chain of craft stores with 13,000 full-time employees; Mardel, a bookstore chain; and Conestoga Wood Specialties, a cabinet manufacturer — are challenging the mandate. The businesses say it would require them to cover forms of contraception that the owners regard as equivalent to abortion — and thus offensive to their religious faith.
midnight
Unfair to Obamacare: Another ill-advised legal challenge
Opponents of the Affordable Care Act have mounted the most far-reaching legal challenge to the law since the (unsuccessful) attempt to have its insurance mandate declared unconstitutional. At issue is whether the subsidies the law provides to help lower-income adults buy policies will be available in the 34 states with federally launched insurance exchanges, rather than just the state-operated ones. The Internal Revenue Service ruled that any American who meets the income limits can qualify for a subsidy; the plaintiffs say subsidies should be available only in the 16 states that set up their own exchanges. The latter interpretation, frankly, is ridiculous.
The law requires every state to have an insurance-buying exchange for individuals and small businesses, but it gave state officials a choice: They could set up the exchange themselves, or they could leave that work to the federal government. The law also requires virtually all adult Americans to obtain coverage, starting this year, but provides subsidies on a sliding scale to lower-income earners who buy policies through a state exchange. Those who could afford a policy but don't buy one are subject to financial penalties, as will be many businesses if they don't provide affordable insurance to their full-time workers after this year.
midnight
Strippers file claim over actions of San Diego police officers
SAN DIEGO -- A lawyer for 25 strippers has filed a claim with City Hall asserting that police violated the strippers' rights by detaining them and forcing them to pose for pictures.
Dan Gilleon, attorney for dancers at Cheetahs Gentlemen's Club, which bills itself as the city's top spot for nude entertainment, said the strippers' rights were violated by an estimated 10 officers who arrived at the club recently for what was said to be a routine inspection.
midnight
State to send voter registration cards to Obamacare applicants
Heading off a lawsuit over compliance with a federal voting rights law, California officials have agreed to help millions of state residents register to vote.
Under a deal announced Monday by several voting-rights groups, the state will send voter registration cards to nearly 3.8 million Californians who have applied for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
midnight
Man suspected of shooting at police found dead in home
A man suspected of opening fire on two Los Angeles police officers in a sprawling Hollywood Hills home Monday was found dead inside after an hours-long standoff that disrupted the workday routine in the lush, secluded neighborhood.
The man was not immediately identified, pending notification of next of kin.
midnight
Woman freed after serving 32 years in 1981 killing
Mary Virginia Jones, 74, who was serving life without parole for her role in a 1981 murder, was freed from prison late Monday.
Jones walked out of Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood around 11 p.m. to big hugs from family and friends, who shared tears and laughter.
midnight
Hackers give a boost to credit monitoring firms
Increasing activity by data hackers has produced millions of victims and one clear winner: the credit monitoring business.
Services with names such as BillGuard and Identity Guard report a surge in sign-ups from people anxious to be protected. Nervous consumers worry that the parade of data breaches involving credit card, debit card and other personal information could leave them vulnerable to fraud and identity theft.
midnight
Egypt sentences group of 529 to death
CAIRO — Even by the baroque standard being set by the Egyptian judiciary under the nearly 9-month-old military-backed government, the scene that unfolded Monday in a courthouse south of the capital was extraordinary: 529 defendants simultaneously sentenced to death.
The verdict, which drew widespread condemnation and expressions of incredulity from human rights groups and legal organizations, was handed down at just the second session of a mass trial of nearly 550 men. The defendants, described as supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, were accused of acts of violence including attacking a police station and killing a police officer.
midnight
Central Basin's secret $2.7-million fund broke law, report says
The troubled Central Basin Municipal Water District violated the state’s open meeting laws when it created a $2.7-million fund in virtual secrecy, an investigation by the agency’s attorneys concluded.
The fund, created for a groundwater storage project, was managed without public hearings or notifications, and records related to it were among those subpoenaed by federal prosecutors.
midnight
Santa Clarita goes beyond politics as usual
Earlier this month, Santa Clarita settled a California Voting Rights Act lawsuit, and in doing so became the first city in California to embrace innovative election rules that could point the way to a more representative politics.
The lawsuit, filed last year, grew out of major demographic changes in the city. Not only had Santa Clarita grown by more than 60% since 1990; it had also seen a sharp increase in the city's non-white population, which went from 31% to 44% over a 10-year period, with Latinos now making up almost a third of the city. But as the city's ethnic composition changed, the makeup of the five-person City Council did not. Today's council remains entirely Caucasian.
midnight
Woman, 74, to be freed in 1981 killing
She spent three decades in prison as the outside world moved on.
Her children aged. Grandchildren were born. Friends passed away.
midnight
G-7 leaders agree to freeze out Russia
THE HAGUE — Leaders of seven of the world's largest economies on Monday agreed to freeze Russia out of the Group of Eight nations and threatened sanctions against key sectors of its economy if Moscow further invades or seeks to destabilize Ukraine.
The moves, approved by the heads of the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Japan and Canada, represented a growing alignment behind a strategy to prevent any escalation of the crisis involving Russia's incursion into Ukraine. But implicitly, the Group of Seven nations acknowledged that the standoff — with Russia in control of the Crimean peninsula and Europe moving only slowly to isolate Russia — may stretch on for months or years.
midnight
GM liability in fatal crash faces key test
Margie Beskau would seem to have a strong lawsuit against General Motors for millions in damages.
Eight years ago, her 15-year-old daughter, Amy Rademaker, died in a Chevrolet Cobalt — one of the cars the automaker has now admitted had a deadly safety defect. A faulty ignition switch shut off the car, leaving its teenage driver without power steering, brakes or air bags.
midnight
Man found guilty of fatally stabbing girlfriend in the neck 19 times
A 27-year-old man was found guilty Monday of fatally stabbing his on-and-off girlfriend 19 times in her neck at a Studio City park.
A jury in a Van Nuys courtroom found Stephen Joanou Jr. of Burbank guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Patrina “Trina” Sabella, who was found dead on March 20, 2012, the Burbank Leader reported.
midnight
Classmates, teachers honor teen skateboarder fatally struck by SUV
Students at El Dorado High School in Placentia on Monday paid tribute to a 16-year-old boy who was fatally struck by an SUV while skateboarding over the weekend.
Logan Wells, 16, was struck by an SUV on Bastanchury Road near Secretariat Way in Yorba Linda around 4:45 a.m. Sunday, investigators said. He later died at a hospital.