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In an unprecedented action, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday to craft a proposed measure, aimed for the November ballot, that would give the board the ability to remove Sheriff Alex Villanueva and future elected sheriffs from office. Lawyers for the county were tasked with writing a charter amendment that would go before county voters on Nov. 8. If their measure receives a majority of votes cast, the board would be granted the power to remove an elected county sheriff for the first time in its history. Removing a sheriff would take a vote of four...

A Temple City-based COVID-19 testing firm that contracts with Los Angeles County vehemently denied allegations Tuesday by Sheriff Alex Villanueva that the company shares patient DNA data with the Chinese government, a concern that prompted the sheriff to announce his department will no longer use the county’s chosen testing provider. “Fulgent is an American company, and its founder, board of directors and leadership team is made up of United States citizens,” Fulgent Genetics Chief Commercial Officer Brandon Perthuis said in a statement Tuesday. “Fulgent Genetics operates privately and independently in the People’s Republic of China and does not share personal...

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva spoke out yesterday against the vaccine mandate for members of the police force.

The L.A. County Board of Supervisors approved a vaccine mandate for all county employees that went into effect on Oct. 1, and Villanueva has previously said he does not plan to enforce the mandate. On Thursday, Villanueva took his concerns to the public, noting that “homicides continued to rise” and might continue to do so, while as much as “20%-30% of [the Sheriff’s Department] workforce is no longer available to provide service” with the mandate in place. “The Board’s vaccination mandate is causing a mass exodus within the Department, which is an absolutely absurd result … We are experiencing an...

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva called an egg-throwing attack this week on Black Republican recall candidate Larry Elder by a White woman wearing a gorilla mask a hate crime and blamed "woke privilege" for liberal silence on the issue. "QUESTION: How is this not a hate crime? ANSWER: Because "woke privilege" means a white woman can wear a gorilla mask and attack a black man without fear of being called a racist. Where is the outrage from our politicians?" Villanueva tweeted on Thursday. Villanueva said he plans to investigate the attack as a hate crime because the woman wore...

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva wrote to the L.A. Board of Supervisors on Wednesday to ask them to declare a “state of emergency” on the local homeless crisis, saying that “failed policies” were causing death on the streets. Villanueva has recently adopted a more assertive approach, vowing to clear homeless encampments from the Venice Beach area and standing up to the L.A. City Council on its failure to contain the spread of tent cities throughout the city. This week, he stepped up his efforts by calling on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors to act, in a press conference....

Los Angeles County's sheriff has revealed that he has only spoken to the county's new reform-minded district attorney once since he took office as he warns that criminals believe they will face no consequences under his tenure. Sheriff Alex Villanueva is an outspoken critic of DA George Gascón, who won his seat this past fall on a reform agenda that Villanueva says gives comfort to criminals and shortchanges victims. Villanueva is increasingly concerned with whether Gascón will fully prosecute any violent protesters as the city braces for possible demonstrations in the wake of the police-involved deaths of Daunte Wright in...

Mayor Eric Garcetti has asked Gov. Gavin Newsom to mobilize the National Guard to help Los Angeles deal with worsening looting, vandalism and violence on the streets. The move comes less than an hour after the mayor expanded expanded a curfew, first set for downtown, to the entire city from 8 p.m. Saturday to 5:30 a.m. Sunday. Sheriff Alex Villanueva said he is also seeking help from the National Guard. The decision came as the situation in the Fairfax District deteriorated, with shops, including Nordstrom and the Apple store, vandalized and looted. A small police kiosk in the mall was...

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who was sued by gun-rights groups after trying to shut down firearms dealers in the wake of coronavirus concerns, is abandoning the effort. The sheriff said Monday he's heeding a federal Department of Homeland Security advisory issued on Saturday that listed gun and ammunition dealers as “essential critical infrastructure workers." Villanueva called the non-binding memo “persuasive" and announced that his department won't order or recommend closing businesses that sell or repair firearms or sell ammunition in the nation's most populous county.

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to remove Sheriff Alex Villanueva as head of the county's emergency operations. On Monday, Villanueva came out and blasted the vote. "If you're asking the public to stay home, cooperate with authorities, the same applies to the Board of Supervisors," the sheriff said. "They need to remain focused on this united front against the spread of the coronavirus so that together we can save lives." The move is based on a report on the communications efforts after the 2018 Woolsey Fire and comes as more cases of...

Neither hurricanes nor 9/11 caused as big a surge in gun sales as Coronavirus - Gun shop owners have never seen such a surge in sales — not after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, not in reaction to mass shootings, not even when Category 5 hurricanes threatened to flatten South Florida. Fear and uncertainty about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic are motivating people to buy guns and ammunition as they seek protection from possible doomsday disintegration into lawlessness, with home invasions, looting, runs on banks, and fights over food, medicine, hospital beds and shelter across the land. "Our sales are...

LATEST, March 24, 8:43 p.m. Los Angeles County health officials backtracked Tuesday on their announcement that a child died from coronavirus, saying it’s possible the death was caused by something else.

After hours of pushback from residents, gun stores, Second Amendment organizations, and even the county attorney, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva reversed course early Wednesday morning and now says his office is suspending attempts to force firearm retailers to lock their doors. Villaneuva announced the move on social media, saying it will be up to Gov. Gavin Newsom to determine what is, and isn’t, an essential business.

Society is on lock-down and on the brink of being under martial law, and citizens are beginning to panic over scarcity as grocery store shelves remain empty. Meanwhile, the sheriff in town is releasing criminals and reducing arrests, all while telling citizens not to do anything to protect themselves. If this sounds like the plot of a “Joker” reboot, you’ll be shocked to learn that it’s literally the strategy of Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva.

An official from the nation’s largest sheriff’s department vowed this week to “physically remove” ICE agents from its county jails. Speaking at a Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, Sheriff Alex Villanueva from the Los Angeles County sheriff’s office said he eliminate the presence of federal immigration agents from the city’s county jails. “We are going to physically remove ICE from the county jails," Villanueva told the board, using the acronym for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.