July 02, 2015

 

City News Service 

 

Mayor Eric Garcetti recently directed all city departments to defer enforcement of a recently adopted ordinance allowing faster dismantlement of homeless encampments until the City Council can amend it.

 

“I strongly support the enactment of laws that enable the city to ensure that its public areas are clean and safe,” Garcetti said. “However, the city must balance the need to maintain its sidewalks with the rights of the people who have no other choice but to live on them. In my view, the ordinance passed by the City Council to revise Los Angeles Municipal Code Section 56.11 does not adequately achieve the proper balance.

 

“At the time of passage, the City Council asked the Ad Hoc Com­mittee on Homelessness to consider amendments that would enable smarter law enforcement, more compassionate treatment of homeless Angelenos, and strengthen the city's ability to withstand legal challenge. To date, neither the Com­mittee nor the full Council has had an opportunity to consider and vote on amendments to accomplish those purposes.

 

“Accordingly, I am returning the ordinance without signature to council. While it will become law, I will direct all city departments to defer enforcement of the ordinance until the committee and City Council consider the pending amendments and adopt changes to the ordinance. In the interim, all city departments shall continue to use existing citywide protocols for the removal of personal property.”

 

The ordinance approved by the City Council on June 22, shortened the noticing period before removing personal items from parks and sidewalks from 72 hours to 24 hours. No notice will be needed for the removal of bulky items from sidewalks and parks. The city would be required to store any non-bulky belongings for 90 days. If the items are not claimed, the property may be discarded.

 

The ordinance was adopted as city officials worked to reach a settlement in a lawsuit filed against the city by several homeless people. The case led to an injunction preventing the city from removing the belongings of the homeless. During the debate over the ordinance, Coun­cilman Jose Huizar acknowledged there were flaws in it, but said the city has “court requirements, settlement discussions that are happening, so we have to move forward with something.”

 

The ordinance would allow officials to remove personal items that remain at city parks — including beaches — past closing time and when there is already a sign at the park stating that leaving behind items is prohibited. If there is no sign, the city would need to give 24 hours notice before items are removed. The ordinance also banned tents on sidewalks from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. but allows the homeless to set up tents to use as shelter at night. If the city does not have enough space to store the items left on sidewalks, officials would not be allowed to remove them, city attorneys said.

 

Any item that is a health or safety risk — such as something that could spread disease, contains vermin, or is a dangerous weapon — would be discarded without any advance notice. Items considered contraband or evidence of a crime could also be removed by the city without notice.

July 02, 2015 

By JULIA HOROWITZ 

Associated Press 

 

Gov. Jerry Brown this week signed a hotly contested California bill to impose one of the strictest school vaccination laws in the country in the wake of an outbreak of measles at Disneyland late last year.

 

WHAT PROMPTED THE BILL

 

After a measles outbreak at Disneyland in December sickened over 100 people in the U.S. and Mexico, Democratic Sens. Richard Pan of Sacramento and Ben Allen of Santa Monica introduced the bill, designed to raise immunization rates in under-vaccinated pockets of the state.

 

The state’s overall vaccination rate appears sufficient to maintain what immunologists call herd immunity, or the percentage at which enough people are vaccinated to protect the community as a whole. But suburban areas have seen a decline in immunizations in the past decade, with some schools having immunization rates near 50 percent. Herd immunity for measles is between 92 and 94 percent, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preven­tion.

 

Pan, who is a pediatrician, and Allen, whose father has polio, framed the legislation as a crucial public health measure, holding that the Disneyland outbreak is only a hint of what’s to come if community immunity continues to drop.

 

WHAT IT DOES

 

California now joins West Virginia and Mississippi as the only states without a personal-belief exemption for vaccines. Medical exemptions will still be available for children with serious health issues. When considering exemptions, doctors may take family medical history into account.

 

Effective the 2016-17 school year, children whose parents refuse vaccination and are not granted a medical exemption must be homeschooled. School-age children who currently claim a personal-belief exemption will need to get fully vaccinated by kindergarten and seventh grade, the state’s two vaccine checkpoints. The law applies to both public and private schools, as well as daycare centers.

 

The California Assembly’s Health Committee also approved legislation requiring home daycare providers and daycare center workers to be vaccinated against measles, pertussis and influenza.

 

WHAT SUPPORTERS SAY

 

In a rare message accompanying his signature, Brown expressed his support for the new law.

 

“The science is clear that vaccines dramatically protect children against a number of infectious and dangerous diseases,” Brown wrote. “While it’s true that no medical intervention is without risk, the evidence shows that immunization powerfully benefits and protects the community.”

 

The bill’s supporters, including doctors, hospital representatives and health advocates, celebrated the news at an elementary school this week. Lawmakers held babies, declaring the public would be better protected as a result of the bill.

 

“The science is clear,” Pan said. “Californians have spoken. The governor and the Legislature have spoken. No more preventable contagions. No more outbreaks. No more hospitalizations. No more deaths. And no more fear.”

 

CONTINUING BACKLASH

 

The bill has proved contentious, with thousands of parents calling representatives and protesting at the Capitol. One state senator said pushback has been so fierce that he briefly closed his district office out of concerns for his staff’s safety. Amid this intensity, the bill passed through four legislative committees and survived votes in both houses. The Senate approved amendments to the bill, and the governor signed it less than 24 hours later.

 

Opponents of the bill were deeply emotional Tuesday, but they vowed to continue their fight. Our Kids Our Choice, an advocacy group that rallied against the bill, said it still has a number of options and is considering both litigation and taking the question directly to voters through a referendum. Pan and Allen said they are confident the bill would withstand a legal challenge, noting similar laws have held up in state courts and even in the Supreme Court.

June 25, 2015

 

By REBECCA SANTANA 

Associated Press 

 

In the moments before his death, a slain New Orleans police officer struggled with the man accused of shooting him from the back seat of a police vehicle as the man shouted, "Let me go before you kill yourself!" according to court documents released Monday.

 

The documents shed new light on the encounter Saturday morning that took the life of Officer Daryle Holloway and sparked a 24-hour manhunt for the suspect, Travis Boys.

 

Boys is accused of shooting Holloway from the back seat of a police vehicle — after being frisked and handcuffed — and then escaping.

 

According to the application police made Saturday requesting an arrest warrant for Boys, he shot Holloway from the back of the police vehicle through an access window, hitting him once on the right side.

 

Then the two fought for the gun.

 

"While Officer Holloway struggled with Boys over control of the weapon, Boys yelled three times, 'Let me go before you kill yourself!" the documents said.

 

Boys was able to crawl from the back of the vehicle to the front through the access window and then escape the car, according to the documents.

 

"Holloway grew weak from his injury and could no longer hold on to Boys," officers wrote in the warrant request. The police car later crashed into a utility pole.

 

Holloway was wearing a body camera that authorities used to confirm what happened, police said.

 

Boys did not use the officer's gun, which was still in his holster, and police don't know how the suspect got hold of the weapon he used.

 

Police Superintendent Michael Harrison said Boys had previously been frisked, raising questions about whether he was searched thoroughly. The police chief pledged to investigate thoroughly.

 

Authorities recovered two weapons in the police vehicle: a .38-caliber revolver that had been used in the initial assault for which Boys had been arrested and a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson that was used to shoot the officer, police said.

 

Boys was first detained early Saturday after police were called to a New Orleans house over a disturbance. Boys was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault after a person at the house said he fired a shot, according to police.

 

The 45-year-old Holloway was working the day shift and tasked with driving Boys to jail when the shooting happened.

 

Authorities swept the city Saturday and Sunday looking for Boys. Rifle-toting police in bulletproof vests, some with trained dogs, searched for Boys, checking backyards and crawl spaces under houses as helicopters circled overhead.

 

Officers on Saturday spotted Boys in a stolen truck and gave chase. The truck crashed into a house, and Boys got out with officers in pursuit, but he eluded them again.

 

Then on Sunday morning, a rookie police officer and his trainer spotted Boys — still wearing his now-broken handcuffs — trying to board a city bus. He tried to escape again by getting on the bus and then off but was arrested.

 

Holloway died from a single gunshot wound to his chest that pierced his lungs, heart and major blood vessels, the city's coroner said.

 

Holloway was a 22-year veteran of the New Orleans police force, described by family and fellow officers as a dedicated officer with an infectious sense of humor.

 

"My family lost a loved one and the city lost a really good dude," said David Belfield III, an uncle of Holloway's. "If you were with him for 10 minutes, he'd have you laughing."

 

Belfield called his good-natured nephew a model police officer who treated others with patience. He said he was much-liked by his fellow officers, by those he worked with on the streets and in the tough public housing projects of eastern New Orleans.

 

"He was always giving you the benefit of the doubt," Belfield said. "We need more like him on the force."

 

He said Holloway's funeral was scheduled for Saturday.

 

Associated Press writer Cain Burdeau contributed to this report.