AltWeeklies Wire
Charter School Cheatsnew
How to cut in line and pervert the concept of public education.
L.A. Weekly |
Gene Maddeus |
10-13-2011 |
Education
Los Angeles' Red-Light Ticket Ripoffnew
I was captured on camera doing a “California roll” while making a right turn at a red light. The damage was $446 plus a $64 traffic-school fee and a pricey separate fee that an eight-hour traffic school charged.
L.A. Weekly |
Michael Goldstein |
01-04-2010 |
Transportation
LAPD Audit: New Chief Releases a Report Showing Broad Mismanagementnew
The city may not be as safe as the 1950s like Bill Bratton often boasted, but apparently the bookkeeping by the Los Angeles Police Department is “stuck” in that decade, and a new and embarrassing audit is roiling City Hall—by explaining how bad things really are.
L.A. Weekly |
Patrick Range McDonald and Christine Pelisek |
12-18-2009 |
Economy
L.A.'s Medical-Weed Warsnew
Today Los Angeles stands as the nation's pot capital, a mecca for buying and selling the drug under the guise of the medicinal use initiative California voters approved 13 years ago. The conditions are testament to a breakdown in basic governance unseen in any other major California city.
L.A. Weekly |
Patrick Range McDonald and Christine Pelisek |
11-30-2009 |
Drugs
Chaos in the Casitas: Lawless Speakeasies Get a Grip on L.A.new
The casitas operate in what appear to be shuttered, recession-emptied storefronts or hollowed-out homes. But inside, patrons can get almost anything they want, in a one-stop shop: drugs, gambling, heisted cigarettes, after-hours booze and "B-girls" -- slang for "bar" girls, or prostitutes, who charge about $60 for sex.
L.A. Weekly |
Christine Pelisek |
11-09-2009 |
Crime & Justice
All Sides In L.A.'s Pot Wars Agree: City Hall is Incompetentnew
The disparate groups in the pot debate agree on one thing: Los Angeles City Hall has been almost comically inept at complying with simple state deadlines for municipalities to create rules for medicinal marijuana.
L.A. Weekly |
Patrick Range McDonald and Jill Stewart |
10-23-2009 |
Drugs
The Assassination of Deputy Abel Escalantenew
A young father had nothing to do with LAPD's killing of Danny Leon last year. The 27-year-old officer most likely heard about it on the news, like everyone else. But, federal prosecutors believe, Escalante died for it.
L.A. Weekly |
Christine Pelisek |
10-16-2009 |
Crime & Justice
A Year Late, L.A. Tries to Uninvite its Unvetted Pot Shopsnew
The Los Angeles City Council now faces one of its potentially most expensive legal battles ever, a war over medical pot that could draw in shady drug dealers, serious medical-marijuana activists, gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown -- and even U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
L.A. Weekly |
Daniel Heimpel |
09-25-2009 |
Drugs
Foster Youths in L.A.: A Before-and-After Storynew
L.A. is home to the largest foster-care agency in the U.S., with many of its 7,000 employees fighting valiantly to try to fix the system and the lives of children caught in it. But with John, on a brisk night on a corner frequented by former foster youths now homeless, you notice only the system's failings.
L.A. Weekly |
Daniel Heimpel |
09-11-2009 |
Children & Families
Bye-Bye, Bill Brattonnew
Media coverage has been filled with praise for Bratton, but some are questioning how he could so readily accept a job right after Michael Cherkasky played a key role in helping to hand Bratton a historic career and political victory -- the lifting of the consent decree.
L.A. Weekly |
Jill Stewart |
08-14-2009 |
Crime & Justice
L.A.'s Yawning Loophole for Pot Dispensaries Spawns a Woodstock Economynew
In 2005, every city in California was busy adopting ordinances to allow for medical-marijuana storefronts while keeping out the bad actors and illegal peddlers. But the Los Angeles City Council couldn't get it done.
L.A. Weekly |
Daniel Heimpel |
07-17-2009 |
Drugs
Envirowimps: L.A.'s Big Green Groups Get Comfynew
Big-time environmental activists in Los Angeles have left the street-fighting to the little guys.
L.A. Weekly |
Patrick Range McDonald |
07-10-2009 |
Environment
Is L.A. As Safe As Bratton Says It Is?new
The Los Angeles Police Chief says the city is as safe as it was in 1956. But Bill Bratton is manipulating numbers and acting like a politician.
L.A. Weekly |
Patrick Range McDonald |
05-01-2009 |
Crime & Justice
Enslaved in Suburbia: Two Women, Two Fractured American Dreamsnew
Inside the world of trafficked indentured servants and the visa violators who care for our old.
L.A. Weekly |
Gendy Alimurung |
02-20-2009 |
Business & Labor
A New 'Ban' Would Allow 20 Areas Citywide Thick With Billboardsnew
The Los Angeles city planning department’s proposed outdoor-advertising rules and billboard ban is not much of a ban at all.
L.A. Weekly |
Christine Pelisek |
01-30-2009 |
Housing & Development
