Author: Amanda Covarrubias

Los Angeles police searched Thursday for the person who fatally shot a man on a sidewalk in South Los Angeles.

The shooting took place at East 93rd Street and Avalon Boulevard about 2:20 a.m., said LAPD Officer Norma Eisenman.

Police believe the shooter opened fire from a gray Yukon sport utility vehicle that had been seen in the area, Eisenman said. Shortly after the shooting, a vehicle matching that description crashed nearby. When police searched it, no one was inside and it appeared to have been abandoned, Eisenman said.

Police were searching for the suspect near West 104th Street and South Broadway.

— My-Thuan Tran

Map: There have been 148 homicides within two miles of this shooting since Jan. 1, 2007, according to the Times’ Homicide Report database. Click for an interactive map of Los Angeles County homicides.

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A powerful storm is expected to push into Southern California late Friday, bringing potential thunderstorms, heavy downpours, gusty winds and hail, according to the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

The forecast warned residents in recent burn areas to be alert for possible flash flooding and debris flows.

The brief storm that hit Wednesday moved eastward, and the area will get a respite from the rain Friday morning and afternoon.

But another storm moving over the eastern Pacific Ocean is expected to arrive in the late afternoon across the Central Coast and will move in overnight into Saturday morning for Ventura and Los Angeles counties, bringing a slight chance of thunderstorms.

Rainfall estimates for this storm range from 0.75 to 1.5 inches across coastal and valley areas, with 1.5 to 2.5 inches possible in the foothill and mountain locations. Burn areas could experience flash flooding, the forecast said.

Snow levels are expected to fall to between 4,500 and 5,500 feet by Saturday morning, which could affect the highest portions of the Santa Barbara County mountains and the Grapevine corridor.

The potential for significant snow and wind at higher elevations could bring a winter storm watch warning, forecasters said.

— My-Thuan Tran

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A suspected skid row drug dealer was in custody Wednesday on gun and drug charges after Los Angeles police recovered a small cache of weapons from his downtown hotel room, along with evidence he was packaging cocaine and marijuana to sell, police said.

Inside the hotel room of Jimmy Joe Dukes at the epicenter of skid row, LAPD detectives last Friday seized five guns, including two shotguns and one stolen handgun, police said. Detectives suspected the longtime skid row resident was dealing drugs out of his Southern Hotel room at 5th and San Julian streets, said LAPD Lt. Paul Vernon.

Dukes, 55, initially admitted he possessed one handgun and denied having any drugs, Vernon said. After he allowed detectives to search his room, however, they found four more guns, scales and equipment coated with cocaine and marijuana.

The detectives also recovered plastic bags for selling the drugs, ammunition for the guns, brass knuckles and more than $800 cash, Vernon said.

The skid row area, with its large homeless population, remains a relatively high drug-traffic area as dealers seek to prey on the most vulnerable in society. With a surge in LAPD policing there in recent years, dealers have been forced to operate off the streets.

Dukes has a history of two dozen arrests, stretching back 35 years, on suspicion of assault, drug dealing, and gun possession, according to police. His only felony conviction, however, was in 2004 for welfare fraud, Vernon said.

“Arrests like this one are important and emblematic for two reasons,” he said. “These arrests throw criminals’ guns into a hole, never to see the light of day, and they truly show the term ‘nonviolent’ offender is a misnomer.”

The Los Angeles district attorney’s office has charged Dukes with four counts related to firearms possession, including being a convicted felon in possession of a gun. He was also charged with one count of possession of cocaine for sale. He is being held in lieu of $105,000 bail.

According to the LAPD, skid row crime is down about 35% compared with 2005. Gun crimes remain relatively rare, accounting for about 3% of major crimes in downtown last year.

“Every gun police take off the street is a potential murder averted,” Vernon said.

— Richard Winton

Photo: Guns confiscated from a skid row hotel. Credit: Los Angeles Police Department

Former teen idol Leif Garrett pleaded not guilty Wednesday in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom to one felony count of heroin possession.

The ’70s heartthrob was arrested Feb. 1 by L.A. County sheriff’s deputies patrolling the Metro subway station at Pershing Square downtown.

Garrett, 48, was about to board a train and was sweating and shaking, deputies said. He told them he was hiding black tar heroin in his shoe, they said.

Garrett was released Feb. 3 after posting $10,000 bond, said district attorney spokeswoman Jane Robison. He is scheduled to appear back in court March 16.

The troubled former actor-singer has a history of drug-related offenses. The district attorney’s complaint cited  Garrett’s convictions on three previous charges, two in 2006 and one in 2001.

[Updated at 11:24 a.m.: Garrett’s attorney Andrew Flier called the accusations “out of character” for the former star, who he said had been turning his life around the last few years.

“He’s completely stayed out of trouble, he’s changed his life a lot, he’s taking care of his mother,” Flier said.]

— Amina Khan

Photo: A booking photo released Feb. 3 by the Los Angeles
County Sheriff’s Department showing former 1970s teen idol Leif Garrett, 48,
after he was arrested. Credit: Associated Press

Representatives from several unions gathered at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday morning to escort two big rigs filled with food and supplies to workers in Boron locked out of the largest open-pit mine in California.

Organizers were taking about $32,000 worth of dry goods — pasta, rice, beans and other essentials — and 500 American flags to the Kern County community, union representatives said. They planned to distribute the food and personal items after driving to the Rio Tinto Borax mines and then rallying at the local union office.

Mineworkers have been locked out since Jan. 31 after the employee union refused to ratify a new labor contract.

About 600 workers are expected to receive the supplies, said Glen Arnodo, staff director at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

Two van loads of carwash workers joined longshoremen, teachers and construction workers at the stadium parking lot as Connie Leyva, president of Local 1428 of the United Food and Commercial Workers, looked over the supply-filled big rigs.

“We want the workers to know that they’re not alone,” Leyva said. “The union stands behind their workers and we’re here for the long haul.”

— Amina Khan

Photo: Tori Galloway, 4, of Boron, looks at the people gathered at Dodger Stadium for a caravan to the mining town to deliver food and supplies. Her grandfather, Bill Galloway, works at the Rio Tinto Borax mine, where workers have been locked out since Jan. 31 after the employee union refused to ratify a new labor contract. Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

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The Santa Monica City Council has appointed environmental advocate Terry O’Day to serve in the seat left vacant last month when Mayor Ken Genser died.

O’Day, a 12-year resident of Santa Monica, is executive director of the group Environment Now. He earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in public policy from Stanford University and has an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

He completed the Coro Public Affairs Fellows Program and served for six years on the Santa Monica Planning Commission.

O’Day will serve on the council until Nov. 2, when voters may elect a new council member to serve the remainder of the term, which expires in 2012.

— Martha Groves

Heads turned on the 405 Freeway in Orange County on Tuesday morning as motorists saw a man skateboarding along the shoulder during rush hour after he ran out of gas.

Motorists began calling the California Highway Patrol about 8:15 a.m. with reports that a man was skateboarding on the right shoulder of the southbound freeway near Red Hill Avenue in Tustin, said CHP Officer Denise Quesada.

Officers and the freeway service patrol were able to give the skateboarder enough gas to restart his car. He was not cited.

“This is very unusual,” Quesada said. “Usually people walk off the freeway or use their cellphone and ask for a towing service.”

— Amina Khan 

Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich has filed a lawsuit accusing an array of businesses and individuals of erecting illegal supergraphic signs–vinyl or plastic images that can cover the entire side of a building–at 12 locations across the city.

The nuisance abatement lawsuit filed Monday contends the oversized advertisements were placed illegally on the Sherman Oaks Galleria, the Howard Hughes Center in Westchester and buildings in North Hollywood, Sherman Oaks and elsewhere.

In his first billboard nuisance case since he took office July 1, Trutanich said he intends to seek fines of up to $5,000 a day for each day an illegal supergraphic is on a building. In cases in which a sign is illegally placed next to a freeway, Trutanich also intends to seek $10,000 plus $100 for each day an unpermitted sign is up.

The filing was the latest move in the city’s long-running struggle to enforce its outdoor advertising laws. Neighborhood activists have voiced particular ire over supergraphics, saying companies have illegally covered several stories of a building without facing any consequences.

Trutanich’s lawsuit was filed against 27 defendants, including World Wide Rush, which already has a separate billboard case pending before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The company is seeking to strike down the city’s ban on the installation of new supergraphics.

Gary Mobley, the attorney for World Wide Rush, said he had not yet read the new lawsuit. But he said he believed the city’s case violated a federal injunction barring it from seeking the removal of nearly two dozen supergraphics installed by his client.

Mobley said he went to court last week demanding that U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins hold the city in contempt for continuing to pursue a separate criminal case against World Wide Rush over a sign that faces the 10 Freeway at the corner of National and Westwood boulevards.

“It appears that the city is setting up a major confrontation with Judge Collins on respecting her permanent injunction,” he said.

Lawyers for the city did not immediately respond for comment.

In the lawsuit, Trutanich said the illegal supergraphics are a public nuisance, distracting motorists, adding to the city’s visual clutter and making it more difficult for firefighters to enter windows in the event of a fire or other emergency.

— David Zahniser at L.A. City Hall

Photo: Former City Councilman Jack Weiss talks with a protester in 2008 in front of a supergraphic on a building on West Pico Boulevard at Overland Avenue in Los Angeles. Credit: Karen Tapia-Andersen / Los Angeles Times

Map: The locations of the supergraphics. Click for an interactive map of where the supergraphics are located. Credit: Google Maps

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It’s the universal mantra of nearly all animal-welfare advocates: Spay and neuter your pets.

To promote that cause, the nation’s largest animal welfare organization, the Humane Society of the U.S., proclaimed Tuesday national Spay Day.
For those who would like to show off their animals, the organization is sponsoring a Spay Day Online Pet Photo Contest. Friday is the last day to enter.

In Los Angeles, various groups are raising consciousness and holding events (although perhaps none as cleverly named as the Central Missouri Humane Society’s “Spay-ghetti” Dinner and Silent Auction.)

“So many animals are dumped at our shelters every day,” said Lisa Lange of PETA. “There aren’t enough good homes for all of them, so we must reduce the number born, and that is so easily done through spaying and neutering—people just need to hear the message.”

PETA enlisted Los Angeles Laker Ron Artest to hand out free spay/neuter coupons last Friday at the corner of Beverly Boulevard and Sweetzer Avenue under the PETA billboard he graces accompanied by a pit bull. “IT’S A SLAM DUNK: HAVE YOUR DOG SPAYED OR NEUTERED” it reads. 

Artest had a dog several years ago that suffered from a bone disorder and needed daily care he could not provide on his schedule. So he gave the dog to someone who still cares for it, according to Lange.

Artest has no dogs currently—and has been open about admitting he once had “no clue what it meant responsibility-wise,” said Lange. “He has a better understanding of what it means now.”

SPCA-LA’s Specialty Spay/Neuter Center is booked solid Tuesday with appointments for sterilizations. In honor of Spay Day, the center is offering gift bags for humans, canines and felines.

The center, which is open for operations Tuesdays through Thursdays, provides financial help to low-income pet owners seeking the procedures for their animals and accepts $30 off coupons provided by the city.

Meanwhile, for L.A.’s Department of Animal Services, “we’re considering it Spay Month,” said general manager Kathy Davis. Department officials will hold a news conference Wednesday at their Harbor Center shelter and conduct a tour of their sterilization clinic.

On Saturday, they will hold a “Pits and Pals” Spay Day at the North Central shelter. The event is marketed toward pit bulls—which make up a huge number of dogs in the shelters—but all breeds are welcome. The on-site clinic and the Amanda Foundation’s "Spaymobile"—a mobile veterinary van—will offer sterilization services there.

People with lower incomes may qualify for free services. Pet owners may call (888) 349-7388 for an appointment.

The city of Los Angeles has a law requiring most dogs and cats to be spayed or neutered. The Humane Society of the U.S. estimates that 3 million to 4 million cats and dogs are euthanized in shelters each year in this country.

Most animal advocates believe the best way to cut down on that death rate is to prevent the births of unwanted animals. Spaying and neutering are the only “100 percent effective methods of birth control for our pets,” says Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of the Humane Society.

— Carla Hall

Authorities were trying to determine Tuesday what caused a fatal big-rig collision on the 710 Freeway in East Los Angeles.

The accident occurred at 9:20 p.m. Monday just north of Slauson Avenue, and ended in the death of a 29-year-old woman whose Honda Civic was rear-ended by the big rig in the northbound lanes.

The truck overturned and the Civic spun out of control, sustaining major damage and trapping the woman inside. L.A. County Fire Department officials pronounced her dead at the scene, said Sgt. Jerry Espinoza of the California Highway Patrol.

The big-rig driver was treated at White Memorial Hospital for minor injuries.

— Amina Khan

The West Hollywood City Council has approved a 10-story mixed-use development on Santa Monica Boulevard that will replace an old strip mall.

The four buildings at 7300-7328 Santa Monica Boulevard were approved Feb. 16.

The project will include 32,300 square feet of retail space, 294 condominiums and 76 units of affordable rental housing for senior citizens.

However, the approval came with a warning to residents and property owners in eastern West Hollywood, according to the WeHo News.

“So be wary. … West Hollywood east will soon become as desirable as West Hollywood west,” said Councilman John Duran.

The Los Angeles County Flood Control District faces a state fine of almost $275,000 for allegedly allowing bacterial pollution to flow into the harbor at Marina del Rey for more than two years.

The staff of the Los Angeles region of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board issued a complaint against the district Feb. 18, recommending $274,896 in fines.

The board, part of the California Environmental Protection Agency, cited 186 violations since 2007 of the district’s storm water permit, which was issued in accordance with federal and state clean-water standards.

The water board is scheduled to vote May 17 on the complaint. The panel could modify the fine, reject it or let it stand.

The regulatory action and fine are precedent-setting, said Samuel Unger, the water board’s assistant executive officer and principal engineer. Previous storm drainage complaints typically dealt with industrial or construction discharges, Unger said.

Kerjon Lee, a flood-control district spokesman, said a statement was coming, but he could not comment further.

Under its permit, Unger said, the district was required to comply with bacterial water quality standards at Marina del Rey by August 2007.

The complaint alleges that the district failed to meet the deadline and the pollution continued in subsequent years.

The action stems from intensive state and federal regulatory efforts designed to improve the water quality of Marina del Rey harbor, Santa Monica Bay and other heavily polluted waterways frequented by waders and boaters.

Urban runoff is a major contributor to sullied waterways.

The flood control district, part of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, is legally obligated to maintain its storm sewer system so that it does not discharge bacterial and other pollutants into streams, rivers, harbors or the ocean, Unger said.

The complaint alleges that the district has known for years — and failed to report to the regional water board — that its diversions and pump station had not been properly designed and maintained.

The system failed to divert runoff flows from 22 catch basins near Washington Boulevard in Venice to the Hyperion Waste Water Treatment plant, Unger said. Instead, he added, the contaminated water flowed to a pump station and then into the harbor.

“Basically, this makes the water unsafe, unhealthy for recreation,” said Unger.

The board’s goal is to have the defects cleared up by summer, he said.

All the violations occurred in the so-called summer months — April 1 to Oct. 31 — when rainfall is minimal. Runoff during such periods can come from sources such as street cleaning, car washing or excess lawn irrigation.

A “much larger challenge,” Unger said, is how to regulate flows during the rainy season, when volumes of water coursing through storm drains can be much higher.

“We’re working on fixes there,” Unger said.

— Patrick J. McDonnell

Crews worked Monday to repair the Union Pacific rail line damaged in Central California when a fire sparked by a freight train derailment halted some freight in its tracks and forced the rerouting of other trains.

The accident occurred about 9:30 p.m. Saturday at the entrance to a tunnel on the Tehachapi Loop south of Keene. A tanker car filled with denatured alcohol burst into flames, producing a black column of toxic smoke, according to the Kern County Fire Department. No injuries were reported.

The alcohol fire was allowed to burn through the night in the tunnel, but it spread to at least two other cars, one containing polystyrene plastic pellets and the other full of corn meal.

The fire grew into a stubborn blaze that firefighters battled until late Sunday when the tankers were extinguished, said Capt. Brandon Smith of the Kern County Fire Department. A fire patrol remained on site Monday as a safety precaution and to deal with the few remaining smoldering objects, Smith said.

The train owned by BNSF railway had been traveling from Barstow to Stockton on Union Pacific tracks, officials said.

Because of the crash, BNSF was unable to move some freight through the area. The blockage  backed up 44 BNSF trains, said company spokeswoman Lena Kent.

She said the rail repairs could be completed as early as Monday night.

The company would not disclose financial losses associated with the fire, Kent said.

The railroad is rerouting most traffic from Roseville, Colton and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach onto its coastal line, Hunt said.

Union Pacific spokesman Aaron Hunt said the cause of the derailment had not been determined.

“We inspect our tracks every day, and derailments can be caused by a number of factors," he said. "You can have a track problem, some kind of a minor crack in the rail, or a problem with a wheel on a locomotive. But we don’t have any idea yet.”

— Amina Khan

The cities of Claremont and Covina are scheduled to celebrate the grand opening Wednesday of two new bike stations that organizers say mark a significant step toward building alternative transit in greater Los Angeles.

The bike transit centers are located along the San Bernardino Metrolink train line and will provide indoor bike parking, restrooms, accessory sales, bike repairs and rental services, organizers say.

“Bikestation bike transit centers make biking to and from public transportation safe and convenient, addressing the common concerns people have about riding bikes … and enabling more people to use alternative transit more often,” Andrea White-Kjoss, president and chief executive officer of Mobis/Bikestation, said in a statement. The company helped develop the new bike system.

Ribbon-cutting ceremonies are scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. Wednesday at the Claremont Depot, 200 W. 1st St., and 11 a.m. at the Covina Metrolink station, 600 N. Citrus Ave. Festivities include food, music and group bike-riding.

— Ching-Ching Ni

Manhattan Beach Fire Chief Scott Ferguson, 48, has been named the new chief of the Santa Monica Fire Department, authorities said Monday.

Ferguson succeeds Jim Hone, who retired this month, said Santa Monica City Manager Rod Gould.

The appointment follows a nationwide search that attracted more than 67 candidates and interviews with 20 finalists over the last month, Gould said.

Ferguson will be introduced to the public at a March 9 City Council meeting and will assume his new post  March 29.
Before heading up the Manhattan Beach department, Ferguson served fire
departments in Vancouver, Wash., from 1988 to 2002; and in Peoria, Ariz,, from 2002 to 2007.

"The experience I’ve gained throughout my career has prepared me for this new challenge," Ferguson said in a statement.

Ferguson received a master’s degree in management from Wayland Baptist
University in Phoenix. He and his wife, Maria, have two grown children.

— Ching-Ching Ni

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Anthem Blue Cross refused to pay for one of its California members to get a liver transplant at an Indiana University hospital to save money, a lawyer for the patient told jurors Monday in a high-profile trial expected to shed light on how the insurance giant decides what medical care to cover–and what to deny.

"People buy insurance hoping they are never going to need it," lawyer Scott Glovsky told jurors in a downtown Los Angeles Superior Court. "And Blue Cross sells it hoping people will never need it. Why? Because they make more money."

In 2006, Blue Cross had approved a liver transplant for Ephram Nehme at the UCLA Medical Center. But, as Nehme’s condition deteriorated, his UCLA physician told him he would die waiting for an available organ in California, and he recommended he go to a transplant center affiliated with Indiana University, where wait times are shorter.

Blue Cross refused to approve the surgery in Indiana. Nehme went to Indiana anyway, paying $205,000 out of pocket for the January 2007 surgery that saved his life.

Now Nehme, 62, said he wants to change the way Blue Cross and other insurers do business.

"I’m trying to stop their unfair practices," Nehme said outside court. "I’m trying to save lives. There are a lot of people who need liver transplants, and they should be able to get them wherever they need them."

In a statement, Anthem Blue Cross said it has approved more than 98.5% of all transplant requests since July 2004 and considers each one on a case-by-case basis. The company says consulting physicians reviewed Nehme’s case and determined that it was not necessary for him to go to Indiana to expedite his surgery.

Jerry Flanagan, healthcare director for the Consumer Watchdog advocacy organization, said at a news conference outside the courthouse that Nehme’s case was "Exhibit A" in insurance industry abuses that healthcare reform efforts must address.

He said insurers raise insurance rates and deny treatment to boost profit.

Nehme said he has received a notice that his Blue Cross premiums are set to increase March 1 by 50%–from $1,000 to $1,500 a month.

— Lisa Girion

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Births to teen moms in California reached a record low in 2008, according to new figures released by the state Department of Public Health.

About 35 babies were born that year for every 1,000 teen females, nearly two fewer babies than the 2007 rate.

“California is bucking a national trend in which we see the teen birth rate across the country climb, while California’s rate has fallen,” said department spokesman Ken August.

The U.S. teen birth rate for 2007 was 42.5 per 1,000, up from 40.5 in 2005.
The California birth rate, which has been lower than the overall U.S. rate since 1999, has dropped significantly since 1991, when nearly 71 children were born per 1,000 teen women.

The new numbers also reveal a steep decline in the Latina teen birth rate. While figures for African Americans, Caucasians and Asians and Pacific Islanders dropped only slightly between 2006 and 2008, the rate among Latinas fell from 65 in 2006 to 56.9 in 2008.

Only one group rose – multiracial babies, from 24.6 in 2006 to 29.0 in 2008.

— Amina Khan

Photo: Sandra Teddy / Getty Images

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Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Monday he hopes to shave $2 million from the city’s budget by folding the department that oversees the network of 90 neighborhood councils into another agency.

The plan would push the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, created by voters more than a decade ago to increase citizen participation at City Hall, into the Community Development Department, which oversees the distribution of federal grant funds.

That move could draw a legal challenge from backers of neighborhood councils, who contend the City Charter calls for a Department of Neighborhood Empowerment.

“I would be surprised if this is legal, and I would be surprised if the city attorney has been asked about this,” said Greg Nelson, who ran the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment from 2001 to 2006.

Nelson warned that neighborhood councils would be “the stepchild of a much larger department” under the proposed arrangement. A spokesman for City Atty. Carmen Trutanich did not immediately comment.

But Councilman Richard Alarcon pointed out that the City Charter prohibits the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment’s duties from being transferred to another agency only during the first five years of its existence. After that, the department can be moved into another agency by city ordinance, he said.

“I think it can be done legally,” Alarcon said of the mayor’s proposal.

Villaraigosa released a statement Monday saying the merger would eliminate 27 jobs and place the network of neighborhood councils into a “more efficient” department that works better with neighborhoods.

“The consolidation effort will not only create cost savings, but will serve to take the bureaucracy out of community empowerment,” he said in the statement.

The proposal led to the announcement by BongHwan Kim that he will resign by June 30 as head of the Neighborhood Empowerment Department. Richard Benbow will run the renamed Department of Community Development and Neighborhood Empowerment, according to the mayor’s statement.

— David Zahniser

Photo: L.A. Times file

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A Laguna Hills jeweler was convicted Monday of sexual battery on an 18-year-old female customer and was sentenced to one year in jail and five years of formal probation, officials said.

Fereydoun Ghavami, 57, who pleaded guilty to one count of felony sexual battery, also will be required to register as a sex offender, the Orange County district attorney’s office said in a statement.

The teenager went into Ghavami’s store on Lake Forest Drive in October 2008 to buy her mother a necklace, officials said. Ghavami offered to give her a free belly chain, and he put his hands around her waist as if to put it on her. But instead of putting the chain on her, he put his hands down her pants, the district attorney’s office said.

— Ching-Ching Ni

Crews were working Monday to repair a ruptured water main on Crenshaw Boulevard in Hawthorne.

Traffic was diverted after the 4 a.m. rupture at El Segundo Boulevard, said John Dewey, a spokesman for  Golden State Water Co.

The flooding occurred near the border between Hawthorne and Gardena. There was no word on how long it would take to repair the damaged pipe.

The problem should not impact water service for Golden State’s clients, Dewey said.

— Patrick J. McDonnell

Map: The location of the ruptured water main. Click to enlarge. Credit: Google Maps