Riverside, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties say that assessors are going to pull in the lowest numbers in property tax collections in more than 10 years—bad news for their cash-poor local governments. In the past, revenue from property taxes provided a steady source of income for cities. Assessors say that the reduction in auto sales, a high rate of foreclosures and low real- estate sales will devastate the tax rolls.
To help reduce their debt, California counties have imposed work furloughs and pay cuts, postponed city repairs and reduced public services. In Los Angeles County, assessor Rick Auerbach estimates a 1% reduction in the county’s $1.1 trillion property-tax base and estimates that the losses will be even greater in coming months.
The recent ban placed on medical marijuana dispensary closures by L.A.’s U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien has everyone wondering why O’Brien ordered prosecutors to back off, then abruptly changed his mind and sent a confidential memo to prosecutors lifting the ban. O’Brien’s decision to temporarily halt prosecutions was made just days after Attorney General Eric Holder stated at a Washington, D.C. press conference that medical marijuana prosecutions would not be a priority for President Obama’s Justice Department. A Justice Department official stated that the attorney general did not direct O’Brien or any other U.S. attorney to alter policies regarding the prosecution of such cases.
State Controller John Chiang has announced that California has resumed tax refunds. Since adopting a new budget, payments for income-tax refunds and grants for college students, needy families, the elderly, the blind and the disabled—frozen when California ran out of cash in February—are generally back on track.
Governor Schwarzenegger’s administration has rolled out a new ethics policy. A review of senior advisors’ economic statements is set to root out conflicts of interest. Statements for officials’ travel expenses will be posted on the Web. Recently, a state Cabinet official resigned amid speculation regarding her outside income and the free use of government expense accounts by her top aide and other appointees of the governor. New ethics rules apply to all senior staff members.
It looks like a San Diego zoo worker is responsible for skin infections at the zoo. A baby elephant being hand-raised by zoo keepers because its mother couldn’t care for it was infected along with 20 human caretakers. This is the first case of methicillin-resistant ataphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in a zoo elephant and the first recorded transmission of the bug from zoo animal to human being, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The infection has proven resistant to antibiotics.
The state’s interagency Climate Action Team has issued the first of 40 reports outlining what Californians must do to deal with floods, erosion and other disastrous effects of rising sea levels. Computer models suggest that hundreds of thousands of people and billions of dollars in property and infrastructure are at risk if ocean levels rise 55 inches by the end of the century. This change will affect coastal development in areas targeted for a rise in sea levels, halt federally subsidized insurance for property likely to be affected and require that all coastal structures be built to adapt to the change.
The state department of education estimates that it will lay off about 26,500 teachers, plus 15,000 bus drivers, janitors, secretaries and administrators.
Rotting and damaged warships off San Francisco Bay are not going to cause environmental contamination, according to federal scientists. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration noted that levels of PCBs, toxic metals and other compounds were generally no higher around the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet of ships than anywhere else in the bay area waters. Because of the findings, the agency said that it won’t recommend specific cleanup in any areas near the fleet of 70 ships that will remain in the bay, ready for action in case of war.
The owner of an Orange County car dealership that accounts for about five percent of all Lamborghinis sold worldwide has pleaded guilty to a felony charge involving wire fraud. The man, 45-year-old Viken Keuylian from Laguna Beach, could get the maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. A report from Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Stolper stated that Keuylian defrauded Volkswagen Credit Inc. out of nearly $12 million. Keuylian owned Lamborghini of Orange County in Santa Ana and Lamborghini of Calabasas, now closed. Volkswagen Credit loaned the money to Keuylian to purchase the cars on his lots, and he was to repay the loan when he sold the vehicles. He managed to get around paying by telling Volkswagen Credit that cars he had sold were on the lots. He used the money to pay debts, including some connected with a vineyard and a Beverly Hills Lotus car dealership.
The U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the Inglewood Police Department as the incidence of officer-involved shootings of unarmed suspects increases. This is the second look by the Justice Department focusing on community protests last year when Inglewood officers shot and killed four people— three of whom were unarmed—in a four-month period. The Los Angeles County Office of Independent Review started investigating at the request of the city, which found that Inglewood police officers resorted to physical or deadly force in many of their arrests.
Vo Duong Tran, a former FBI agent, made plans to rob an Orange County ”stash house” that he thought was filled with $500,000 in drug money. The now-disgraced agent came all the way from New Orleans hoping to get rich but instead was convicted in a Santa Ana federal court on charges related to the botched home-invasion robbery. Tran, 41, conspired with a supposed accomplice (actually an undercover FBI agent) to commit the robbery. He had hoped to create a crew of criminal associates to commit violent crimes.
The father of teenager Brandon McInerney, who is accused of gunning down a gay classmate, was found dead in the living room of his home. The death of 45-year-old Bill McInerney is being blamed on an accidental head injury. Brandon McInerney is being tried as an adult for the death of classmate Lawrence “Larry” King. The two boys (both 15 years old) had been fighting for days before the attack, and it is alleged that King had a romantic interest in McInerney. The hearing was postponed with news of the elder McInerney’s death.
Ed Boks, manager of Los Angeles’ Department of Animal Services, has said that the department is returning to giving low-income residents vouchers for free spaying and neutering of their pets. Boks had suspended the program two weeks earlier, but animal-welfare advocates protested. So did members of the Los Angeles City Council. “It’s time for Mr. Boks to find another place to work,” Councilman Dennis Zine said. “It’s been a continuing saga of him and his mismanagement.”
