tLOS ANGELES - Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean C. Logan is reminding eligible voters that the registration deadline to vote in the Nov. 6 general election is Monday, Oct. 22, at 11:59 p.m.Potential voters can apply online at lavote.net; mail in a voter registration form, available at libraries, post offices and most government agencies; or drop off a ... Read more →
FPPC says L.A. County may have breached state law
LOS ANGELES - The state's political watchdog agency says Los Angeles County may have violated a California law regulating campaigns when it paid to run television ads in support of a homeless services tax ballot measure last year, it was reported.After a recent hearing, the Fair Political Practices Commission found probable cause exists that members of the Board of ... Read more →
County updates smoking restrictions to include vaping, pot
LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to update anti-smoking ordinances to include e-cigarettes and marijuana.The new rules banning vaping and smoking e-cigarettes and marijuana at all outdoor dining areas of restaurants and bars in unincorporated county areas and on the periphery of any county facility are expected to be adopted early next ... Read more →
L.A. County looks for alternatives to ‘payday’ and other high-cost lenders
LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to explore alternatives to high-interest loans marketed to low-income consumers with few financial options.Supervisor Hilda Solis authored the unanimously approved motion that calls for staffers to work with financial institutions and community-based organizations to develop alternatives and create a ... Read more →
Environmentalists sue L.A. County for Tejon Ranch records
LOS ANGELES - The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Los Angeles County planners for allegedly failing to release records related to a plan to develop a roughly 12,300-acre site in the northwest Antelope Valley.The Tejon Ranch Co.'s Centennial development is a mixed-use project encompassing 19,333 residential units -- including 10 percent ... Read more →
L.A. County votes 3-1 to support Prop 10
LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 3-1 Tuesday to officially support Proposition 10, which would give local governments more leeway to enact rent control laws.Supervisor Kathryn Barger dissented and Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas abstained.The measure on the Nov. 6 ballot seeks to repeal the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which bans rent ... Read more →
Metrolink CEO announces plans to retire
LOS ANGELES - Metrolink CEO Art Leahy announced Friday he will retire in January from the agency he has led since 2015.Leahy, who began his career as a bus driver for the Southern California Rapid Transit District, eventually became chief operations officer of that agency, and went on to serve as CEO of Metro, general manager of Metro Transit in Minneapolis-St. Paul and CEO ... Read more →
L.A. County moves toward limiting use of plastic straws
LOS ANGELES - Plastic straws may be available only on request in unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County -- including Quartz Hill, Littlerock and Lake Los Angeles -- beginning in January.The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors directed its lawyers Tuesday to draft an ordinance requiring all businesses that serve food or drinks to ask customers if they want plastic ... Read more →
L.A. County ends collection of old probation fees
LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to stop collecting fees ordered years ago to cover the cost of juvenile detention.The county ended the practice of charging families for housing their children in juvenile halls or camps nearly a decade ago, but kept collecting fees that were court-ordered prior to February 2009.In ... Read more →
‘Reform L.A. Jails’ initiative will wait for 2020 vote
LOS ANGELES - A bid to grant subpoena power to the watchdog commission that oversees the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department will go to voters in March 2020, after failing to gain adoption by the Board of Supervisors Tuesday.Backers of the "Reform L.A. Jails Initiative" gathered nearly a quarter-million signatures in support of the measure, which would also give the ... Read more →
L.A. County adds another $1.4B to bring budget to $32.8B
LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved $1.4 billion in changes to the county's budget Tuesday, bringing the total to $32.8 billion.The supplemental budget also reflects a final accounting of money raised and spent during the fiscal year ended June 30. Revenues in excess of the amount budgeted for the year and money that went unspent totaled $1.9 ... Read more →
L.A. County approves wage increase for IHSS workers
LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday recommended a wage increase for in-home health care workers.Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Janice Hahn co-authored a motion to authorize an increase in the county's contribution to the workers' pay by $1 over the next three years, subject to state approvals. If the state agrees to pay 65 percent of the ... Read more →
Prescribers to get letters when patients die of overdose
LOS ANGELES - Seeking to blunt the increase in opioid overdose deaths, the Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to notify prescribing doctors when a patient dies of an opioid overdose."This is a creative and easy strategy that will save lives and I am eager to implement it in L.A. County," said Supervisor Janice Hahn, who recommended the program.In 2017, 488 Los Angeles ... Read more →
Los Angeles County receives $1.4 million from DOJ to combat opioid crisis
LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles County will receive about $1.4 million in federal funding to combat the opioid crisis, part of nearly $320 million awarded nationwide, the Department of Justice announced."President Trump has made ending the opioid crisis a priority for this administration, and under his leadership, the Department of Justice has taken historic action," Attorney ... Read more →
L.A. County pushes back against ‘public charge’ rule
LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to oppose a plan by the Trump administration to bar legal immigrants who accept government subsidies from gaining permanent residency in the United States.Supervisor Hilda Solis championed the resistance, saying the proposed change was "dangerous" and would increase homelessness and threaten ... Read more →
L.A. County expected to fight new Trump immigration rule
LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles County officials are getting ready to oppose a controversial Trump administration proposal that could deny permanent residency or citizenship to immigrants who use public assistance programs.The Board of Supervisors is expected this week to consider sending a letter to federal leaders asserting that the proposed rule would cause "significant harm" ... Read more →
Antonia Jimenez appointed director of L.A. County Public Social Services
LOS ANGELES - The woman who has been serving as acting director of the county Department of Public Social Services was given the job full time by the Board of Supervisors, the agency announced Thursday.Antonia Jimenez has been the agency's acting director since March, overseeing the department's annual budget of $4 billion.She joined DPSS in 2015 as chief deputy of the ... Read more →
L.A. County kicks off ‘L.A. Free the Vote’
LOS ANGELES - County officials and civil rights advocates gathered on the steps of Men's Central Jail Tuesday to launch "L.A. Free the Vote," a campaign to bring voter awareness to jail inmates.The launch coincided with National Voter Registration Day."The right to vote is fundamental to our democracy, yet more than 1 million citizens in Los Angeles County have not ... Read more →
NorthLake development clears hurdle with L.A. County
LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 Tuesday to move forward with approvals for the first phase of NorthLake, a mixed-use development in Castaic opposed by environmental groups.Supervisor Sheila Kuehl abstained from the vote, raising concerns about blocking the migration of mountain lions and other wildlife, as well as a plan to fill in a ... Read more →
L.A. County cracks down on cockfighting
LOS ANGELES - Seeking to stop illegal cockfighting while allowing bird lovers to breed and show roosters, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors adopted an ordinance Tuesday limiting the number of mature male chickens that residents can keep in unincorporated areas."There's no question in my mind that this county needs to take action," Supervisor Kathryn Barger ... Read more →