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During a "Morning Joe" discussion on how "the media is far ahead of the rest of America on gay marriage," MSNBC commentator Donny Deutsch said "the country is not caught up to New York and L.A." "There are other social issues about women, such as women in the workplace, and to your point, and I agree, the country is not caught up to New York and L.A.," Deutsch said on Wednesday morning.

Report: Teacher at heart of LA school district molest scandal was paid $40,000 to resignArticle by: Associated Press Updated: February 10, 2012 - 4:47 PM LOS ANGELES - The former third-grade teacher who has been charged with committing lewd acts on students was paid $40,000 to drop an appeal of his firing, a newspaper reported Friday. The Los Angeles Unified School District settled with Mark Berndt because it couldn't defend his February 2011 firing, district general counsel David Holmquist told the Los Angeles Times. Berndt was removed from the classroom in January 2011 and dismissed as the Los Angeles County...

As L.A. Probes Sex Abuse Charges, Staff Replaced At Elementary Schoolby Mark Memmott February 7, 2012 08:00am "In a dramatic move to quell parents' fears, Los Angeles school officials said they will temporarily replace the entire staff of an elementary school south of downtown Los Angeles, where two teachers have been accused of lewd acts against students," the Los Angeles Times writes. KPCC's Pass/Fail blog says that "the district has never relocated an entire staff before." The changes at Miramonte Elementary School "will affect everyone from the principal to secretaries to teachers to custodians, [L.A. Unified Superintendent John] Deasy said....

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Joint military training exercises will be held evenings in downtown Los Angeles through Thursday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The LAPD will be providing support for the exercises, which will also be held in other portions of the greater Los Angeles area, police said. Training sites ``have been carefully selected to ensure the event does not negatively impact the citizens of Los Angeles and their daily routine,'' a department official said. The training, which a department official said would involve helicopters, has been coordinated with local authorities and owners of the training sites, police...

Tempers flared Tuesday night at a Los Angeles Police Commission community forum on a controversial proposal to ease the towing and impound policy for unlicensed drivers. Under current laws, the cars of unlicensed drivers are towed and impounded for 30 days if they are stopped by officers. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck has proposed lifting the 30-day impound and giving the registered owner or a licensed driver a reasonable chance to retrieve the vehicle. Critics, including the LAPD police union, say the changes just reward lawbreakers and put politics above safety. The meeting in Northridge was packed with residents who were...

Through his well-chronicled derelictions of duty, Roger Mahony, the cardinal emeritus of Los Angeles, placed a number of ticking time bombs near his successor's feet. Last week, one of them went off. Archbishop Jose Gomez, who replaced Mahony last year, announced that Los Angeles auxiliary bishop Gabino Zavala had submitted his resignation to the Vatican after fessing up about two children he fathered years before.The media fatuously describes this scandal as Archbishop Gomez's first "controversy." But it belongs entirely to his predecessor. Cardinal Mahony appointed Zavala to his position in 1994. Did Cardinal Mahony know about Zavala's children? (The Los...

MINNEAPOLIS – When Meredith Aby met with members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia in 2006, she asked what it would take to get them to stop fighting. Jess Sundin did the same during her trip to Colombia 11 years ago. They returned and openly wrote and spoke about their experiences, while criticizing the U.S. government’s involvement in that country. FBI documents recently found by the anti-war activists suggest the trips may have started an investigation into apparent connections between local activists and radical groups in Colombia and the Middle East. One document says the probe expanded to include...

Thousands of Los Angeles County workers who collected a reported $48 million in unused vacation pay could dramatically impact both the county’s budget and pension funds, according to county officials. KNX 1070′s Vytas Safronikas reports the Board of Supervisors is outraged over a new report showing dozens of retirees receiving hefty compensation packages. The Los Angeles Times reported on one Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. Marie Hannah who retired with a $143,000 annual pension and a one-time payment of $183,683 for unused time off. The package was reportedly for a combination of 325 days of vacation pay, sick time, comp...

LA Arson Suspect Identified, Possibly Motivated by Deportation BattleBy RICHARD ESPOSITO, RAY HOMER, KATIE KINDELAN and COLLEEN CURRY Good Morning America – 15 hrs ago Officials this evening identified a man arrested after a series of 52 blazes in the Los Angeles area as Harry Burkhart, 24. Burkhart was charged this afternoon with one count of arson of an inhabited dwelling, with more charges expected as the investigation proceeds, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told reporters. Burkhart was being held without bail. "These were serious and potentially deadly crimes that needlessly endangered thousands of innocent lives," Villaraigosa said. "These crimes...

Nurses who went on strike in the San Francisco Bay area and Los Angeles to be locked outBy Associated Press Updated: Saturday, December 24, 10:50 PM OAKLAND, Calif. — Hospital officials say nurses who staged a one-day strike against nine hospitals in the San Francisco Bay area and Los Angeles will not be allowed to return to work Friday. Thursday’s strike — the second in three months — and the planned lockout are the latest in a series of disputes between nurses and hospital management over health care costs, staffing levels and sick leave. The California Nurses Association — the...

The city of Los Angeles is weighing a lawsuit against Occupy LA protesters to recoup financial damages sustained during the two-month encampment.

William Jefferson Appeal Could Weaken Corruption StatuteBy Amanda Becker Roll Call Staff Dec. 12, 2011, Midnight A federal prosecutor warned Friday that if the conviction of former Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) is reversed on appeal, it would place many fraudulent acts committed by lawmakers outside the scope of current bribery law. Jefferson was convicted of 11 corruption charges in 2009, but his legal team is arguing that since the former Congressman’s scheme to connect businesses in which he had a financial stake with foreign governments was not related to his formal legislative duties, his activities are not covered by the...

Sacramento, CA --(Ammoland.com)-In a victory for self-defense civil right activists, a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge has ordered the City of Los Angeles to produce documents relating to the LAPD’s policies and procedures for processing applications for a carry license. In 1992 and 1994, the City’s unlawful refusal to properly process carry license applications was challenged in two lawsuits. To settle the suits, LAPD agreed to a court ordered application processing procedure. The LAPD agreed to a definition of “good cause” that was articulated in the settlement, and agreed that all citizens who request a carry license permit application would...

<p>Los Angeles police said a protester apparently fired shots at a security guard outside the Chinese Consulate on Thursday afternoon, missing his target and hitting a building in the compound instead.</p> <p>There were no initial reports of injury, though details were still developing.</p>

Occupy L.A., wind damage may add to $72-million city budget shortfallDecember 2, 2011 | 2:20 pm Less than six months into its fiscal year, the city of Los Angeles faces a $72-million budget shortfall, raising the prospect of new cuts in services in coming weeks, according to a report released Friday. City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana, budget advisor to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council, called, as part of his interim financial status report, for nearly two dozen city agencies to absorb a combined $21 million in reductions. And he warned that the shortfall could grow once city officials...

After raids, Wall Street protesters shift tacticsUpdated: Nov 30, 2011 4:37 PM EST By CHRIS HAWLEY Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) - The overnight police raids in Philadelphia and Los Angeles that dismantled two of the nation's biggest Occupy Wall Street encampments leave just a few major "occupations" still going on around the U.S. But activists are already changing tactics and warning of a winter of discontent, with rallies and marches every week. The camps may bloom again in the spring, organizers said, and next summer could bring huge demonstrations at the Republican and Democratic conventions, when the whole world...

No license, no car — that policy, which activists have long complained unfairly punishes illegal immigrants who cannot get driver’s licenses, may be about to change. Earlier this year, the Los Angeles Police Department began allowing unlicensed drivers at sobriety checkpoints a free pass from having their car towed and impounded if a licensed driver was available to take it. Since then, Mayor Villaraigosa has been developing a new policy with the LAPD that would expand that change to include traffic stops and reduce the number of 30-day impounds, which can cost hundreds of dollars in fees. The police union...

UPDATE Monday at 9:35 a.m.: Los Angeles police are holding off on a plan to forcibly evict Occupy LA protesters from their encampment near city hall for now, the Los Angeles Times reports. Still, the paper reports that a few refused to leave the street and that four people were arrested after several protesters began throwing things at police. Hundreds of police wearing riot gear have lined the streets but currently continue to show restraint. The LAT: "Police said that there are still no plans to begin evicting people from the City Hall park, which was officially closed at midnight...

Occupy LA Eviction is Occupy Movement's Last Stand -- FinallyBy L. Vincent Poupard | Yahoo! Contributor Network – 2 hrs 46 mins ago COMMENTARY | The Occupy LA encampment is preparing to face an eviction notice one minute after midnight Monday. While some are sure to pack up and move on, many others are preparing to resist that planned eviction. With the Occupy Movement winding down, it appears that this will be the movement's last stand. Occupy LA started like other parts of the movement across the U.S. It was a movement that had lofty goals of changing the way...

SPRINGFIELD, La (NBC33) — A Springfield man says he pulled a gun on an alleged burglar to protect his property, and his life, Tuesday morning. Tom Casey says the house he’s been fixing up for his son has been broken into five times. This past weekend, he set up a deer alarm inside to stop the robberies. He never believed he’d actually catch someone in the act. When the little alarm went off in his house down the street, Casey decided to go investigate. “I didn’t think it was anything. I had just drove past there, and I didn’t see...

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A coalition of labor unions and community groups have announced plans for a massive march in support of the “Occupy LA” encampment. More than 1,000 protesters are planning to shut down streets in downtown Los Angeles at 7 a.m. Thursday. They will meet at the Bank of America plaza on Hope Street and march to the corner of Figueroa and Fourth streets, where they plan to shut down the intersection and drop large banners from nearby overpasses. Demonstrators say rush hour drivers should expect serious delays and street closures in downtown Los Angeles near the 110...

The Occupy movement came to Los Angeles aiming for Wall Street titans, but farmers market vendors are the first to take a real hit. Two weeks ago, about 40 vendors who sell on the City Hall lawn every Thursday were forced off the property after protesters refused to remove their city of tents. .. Since that relocation, profits have plummeted, vendors have pulled out and shoppers have become scarce. "The cause is good," said Genaro Lopez, a vendor who initially helped protesters with free sodas and burritos. "But this is our bread and butter, and we've taken a huge hit."...

Los Angeles faces tens of million of dollars in additional borrowing costs after the City Council told anti-Wall Street protesters the city intends to cut ties with banks involved in financial wrongdoing, City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana said. The city may have to pay $27.8 million in termination fees and replacement costs in just one program if it's prohibited from doing business with banks providing letters of credit for an infrastructure program, Santana said today in a memo to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and city leaders. Additional debt service would cost $14.9 million a year if it has to refinance commercial...

Protesters camped out on the lawn outside City Hall said Thursday that — rain or shine — Los Angeles officials are starting to show signs of support for the movement that has spawned demonstrations in multiple U.S. cities. An estimated 400 people are spending their sixth day on the streets of downtown voicing their frustration over the direction of the U.S. economy, jobs, and health care. The group now believes they may be able to stay on the lawn permanently and that sentiment in City Hall for their platform could be growing. At least one official is expressing support for...

Archbishop Philip Hannan, whose 23 years as influential leader of the Archdiocese of New Orleans capped a career which included time spent as a World War II combat chaplain and confidant to political leaders such as John F. Kennedy, has died.  He was 98.Hannan died shortly after 3 a.m."Archbishop Philip Hannan peacefully died in his sleep, he was called home to the Lord," said current Archbishop Gregory Aymond. "At 98, he lived a full life dedicated to God and his church. We will miss him. We commend him to the Lord." The Archdiocese of New Orleans confirmed Hannan will be...

Held By:South Central L.A. Tea Party Event: The South Central L.A. Tea Party (SCLATP) will be attending the California Legislative Black Caucus Town Hall Meeting. We encourage ALL tea party supporters and citizens concerned about out-of-control spending in Sacramento, high taxes, and the future of this great state to show up! Rep. Maxine Waters and Rep. Karen Bass may be in attendance. The California Legislative Black Caucus is the state arm of the Congressional Black Caucus. WHAT: Join SCLATP at the California Legislative Black Caucus Town Hall Meeting. We recommend you register if you wish to get inside the...

A Sun man is in the St. Tammany Parish Jail after deputies say he kidnapped his estranged wife in an attempt at rekindling their relationship. Eric Quave, 34, 84266 Terrell Road, Sun, was taken into custody shortly before 8 p.m. Friday after authorities say a warning shot from a neighbor thwarted his efforts. Capt. George Bonnett, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office, said the wife went to the Sun home the couple had previously shared and the two spoke civilly for a time but things got heated when the wife told Quave she did not want to reunite. Bonnett said Quave...

The regular monthly business meeting of Louisiana Open Carry Awareness League (aka LOCAL) will be held at 6:30pm on Wednesday, September 7, 2011 in the meeting room of the Shoneys Resturant on Hwy 51 near I-10 in Laplace, La. All LOCAL members and anyone interested in Open Carry are encouraged to attend. www.laopencarry.org

BATON ROUGE -- For the first time in modern history, Democrats no longer hold a majority of Louisiana's registered voters.View full sizeTimes-Picayune archive The Advocate reported that voter statistics show Democratic registration has dipped below 50 percent for the first time since 1957 -- the earliest date that records cover

If you listen to the entire conversation, you will notice that the people involved are trotting out the same tired arguments that have been dispelled by thinking people. I love when Tony Valdez talks about how bad stereotypes are and then stereotypes white men. This just shows how dogmatic relativism is -- as well as self-refuting. Timothy McVeigh is even brought up (http://vimeo.com/11541869). You also hear Mr. Valdez ask -- in what he thinks is fair-and-balanced -- a question to someone who will spin it one way, rather than having a guest on that would give a response that truly...

SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) - A convenience store clerk fought back as an armed duo burst into the store where he was working. Those bandits got a big surprise of their own, before rushing out for their own safety. The attempted armed robbery happened just after 11:30 Wednesday night at the Fina gas station and store in the 44-hundred block of Hilry Huckaby Drive in north Shreveport. The owner said he's just grateful that his little brother survived. He granted me access to the store and the security system which captured the whole thing on tape. The surveillance video shows two...

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Despite the objections of his neighbors, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has ordered city officials to proceed with a plan to erect a six-foot wall around the mayor’s mansion. The wall — which would flank the sides of Getty House in Hancock Park — recently drew the ire of local residents in February when Villaraigosa filed a request for a local variance that prohibits any fencing that exceeds 42 inches in height. A proposed design for the wall includes “embedded” security features...

If the U.S. soccer team were hoping for the home advantage during Saturday's Gold Cup final then they were in for a nasty surprise. Despite being the 'home' side in California's Rose Bowl stadium, the majority of fans - most of them American born of naturalized Mexicans - booed and jeered the U.S. team. The surprising scenes were followed by angry outbursts from U.S. team goalkeeper Tim Howard, who was visibly shaken after the entire post match ceremony was conducted in Spanish. Speaking after the game, Howard said: '[tournament organisers] CONCACAF should be ashamed of themselves. 'I think it was...

In a racially mixed corner of Shreveport, La., a small group of white voters protested loudly this year that they did not want to be part of a majority black district when the legislature redrew the state’s political boundaries. The Republican-led statehouse complied, drawing a line around the community to accommodate them. That line is at the heart of a case before the Justice Department that is seen as a critical test of how the Obama administration will interpret the controversial Voting Rights Act as it rules on a new wave of redistricting plans. The law, passed in 1965, was...

2theadvocate > Blogs > Louisiana Politics Guns on campus bill killed in committee Posted by Jordan Blum | Capitol News Bureau | on June 1, 2011 | 3:00 p.m. UPDATED 7:32 p.m. Travis Spradling/The Advocate State Rep. Ernest Wooton, No Party-Belle Chasse, testifies Wednesday for a bill that would permit allowing concealed handgun permit owners to carry concealed handguns on college campuses. The bill failed in the House committee Wooton chairs. Legislation that would have allowed handguns on college campuses died quickly Wednesday in a Louisiana House committee without any public testimony allowed because of a time crunch. House Bill...

Yesterday, the Louisiana Senate unanimously passed NRA-backed Senate Bill 39. Sponsored by state Senators Eric LaFleur (D-28) and Neil Riser (R-32), this bill would clarify that Louisianans may purchase a long gun in any state, and allow a citizen of any other state to purchase a long gun in Louisiana, so long as both states allow such purchases. SB 39 has been assigned to the House Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice.

Supporters refute notion that concealed carry laws lead to higher gun violence BATON ROUGE, La. – In a legislative session filled with bills to heavily alter Louisiana’s higher education system, students of public universities and colleges may soon experience one more adjustment: concealed weapons on campus. HB 413, sponsored by Representative Ernest Wooton (I – Belle Chase), would allow licensed individuals to bring concealed firearms onto campuses of public universities, colleges, and post-secondary vocational schools. The bill was introduced to the House on April 25. The state’s 36,000 concealed handgun permit holders would have the same self-defense rights they possess...

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck has adopted a common-sense approach to dealing with unlicensed drivers and the cars they drive. Under Beck's new rule, when officers at sobriety checkpoints stop unlicensed drivers, they can issue them tickets or, if they have no identification, arrest them. But police are no longer allowed to impound a car if a licensed driver or the registered and licensed owner is on hand or can pick up the car in a reasonable amount of time. This helps officers do their jobs while complying with a federal court ruling that set limits on when cars...

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Wednesday ordered his managers to impose 42 furlough days on city employees in four union groups after those workers rejected his proposal for cutting the budget shortfall. Employee groups representing more than 6,300 full-time workers voted against the labor agreement that the mayor negotiated last month with leaders of the Coalition of L.A. City Unions. Balloting finished Tuesday. The deal with the coalition was supposed to save $69 million in the coming fiscal year. Villaraigosa had promised employees who made a series of concessions — including a 4% reduction in pay and the postponement...

Two young men trying to burglarize a truck in Chalmette got the worst of it when one got his arm rolled over by the getaway driver and the other was shot at by the owner of the vehicle, St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy James Pohlmann said. Both men escaped in a gray Dodge following the 7 p.m. incident Wednesday night in the 2300 block Corinne Drive. The truck's owner, who came outside of his home with a handgun when he saw someone climbing into his vehicle, told deputies he thought he hit the driver of the getaway car...

Los Angeles -- Elvira Sosa left Mexico for the United States more than 30 years ago, but last year was the first time she'd been counted as part of the U.S. Census. Sosa was among thousands of illegal immigrants in Los Angeles who filled out a census form last year, and city officials said the response, especially among Latinos, might have saved the area money and congressional representation. The increased count was purposeful: A Census Bureau outreach program...included Spanish call centers that would field questions about the census, plus billboards, bus advertisements and fliers with information... The response: The 2010...

...The president's visit threatens to disrupt Holy Thursday activities at St. Augustine Catholic Church, which is across the street from Sony Pictures in Culver City. Trish Gusman, the parish business manager, said she has heard — but has been unable to confirm — that police will be closing off streets in a wide area around the church. That would make it difficult for parishioners to reach St. Augustine's on one of the holiest days of the year, commemorating Jesus' Last Supper. "We haven't been able to get information from the Police Department or City Hall to find out what times...

Gov. Bobby Jindal would sign a bill requiring presidential candidates to provide a copy of their birth certificate to qualify for the Louisiana ballot if it reaches his desk, a spokesman said Monday. SNIP The bill by state Rep. Alan Seabaugh, R-Shreveport, and Sen. A.G. Crowe, R-Slidell, would require federal candidates who want to appear on Louisiana ballots to file an affidavit attesting to their citizenship, which would have to be accompanied by an "original or certified copy" of their birth certificate. The requirement also would apply to candidates for U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives.

President Barack Obama's packed April 20-21 San Francisco/Los Angeles fundraising calender may net him and the Democratic National Committee upwards of $7 million, according to our calculations of events as described by party insiders. Here's the April 20 San Francisco rundown for the president: *Big ticket dinner: The high end $35,800-a-seat dinner slots -- there were 60 exclusive seats in San Francisco -- have quickly sold out -- despite that initial "sticker shock" we told you about. The take: $2.1 million. Those who get into the Pacific Heights home of salesforce.com CEO Mark Benioff -- a residence that used to...

Imagine for a moment that every single person living in the city of San Jose, plus another 150,000 or so, just up and left. Vanished. Poof. Gone. Leaving their homes, business buildings and factories behind. That is, in effect, what has happened to the city of Detroit, according to 2010 U.S. Census data released this week. The city that boasted 1.8 million residents in 1950, and was the nation's economic engine for most of the 20th century, now is home to 714,000 people, a population loss of some 1.1 million — with a 25% drop in the last decade alone....

Emulsified oil, oil mousse and tar balls from an unknown source were washing up on beaches from Grand Isle to West Timbalier Island along the Gulf of Mexico, a stretch of about 30 miles, and it was still heading west Monday afternoon, a Louisiana official said. The state is testing the material to see if it matches oil from last April's BP Deepwater Horizon disaster. Oil spill response workers under the direction of the U.S. Coast Guard and state officials were scrambling to block more of the material from coming ashore. ES&H Corp. has been hired to oversee the cleanup....

In a move closely watched by other Southern California law enforcement agencies, LAPD Chief Chalie Beck has ordered his officers end the practice of immediately seizing the cars of undocumented immigrants who are stopped at sobriety checkpoints. The move comes amid concerns that police were unfairly targeting those drivers. The news came as a relief for Maria Ranjel of Boyle Heights. Her husband and three sons are undocumented immigrants who drive all the time, even though they're ineligible to apply for drivers licenses in California. “We know well that it’s against the law to drive without a license but it’s...

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck announced Monday that his officers will no longer automatically tow the cars of illegal immigrant drivers stopped at sobriety checkpoints. The policy comes in response to the concerns of Latino civil rights activists, who say impound fees are unfairly costing otherwise hardworking illegal immigrant drivers hundreds of dollars. Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said his department impounds about 1,000 cars a year from illegal immigrants at sobriety checkpoints – not because they’re drunk but because they don’t have driver’s licenses. “As we reviewed our impound policies it became obvious to me that they...

LOS ANGELES—Police are preparing for possible violence on the streets in

Feds back Jefferson verdict111-page filing says jury got it right Bruce Alpert - Washington bureau Saturday, March 12, 2011 WASHINGTON -- A federal jury properly found that former Rep. William Jefferson engaged in "numerous bribe schemes" to "unjustly enrich himself and his family," so a federal appeals court should allow the jury's guilty verdict to stand, prosecutors say. In a 111-page filing late Thursday to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., the prosecutors urged the court to reject Jefferson's argument that the verdict, guilty on 11 of 16 corruption charges, must be thrown out. Jefferson's attorneys argued...