Santa Monica Community College protesters were pepper-sprayed last April. Report says more police resources should have been provided.A melee outside a Santa Monica Community College Board of Trustees meeting last April that resulted in protesters being hit with pepper spray could have been prevented if college administrators had provided additional police resources and moved the gathering to a la...

Four U.S. Marines face possible assault and hate crime charges in connection with the Labor Day weekend beating of a man outside a gay bar in Long Beach, authorities said Wednesday.

Survivors of the driver's boyfriend accuse the doctor of failing to report his patient so the DMV could take her license. Nobody disputes that 85-year-old Lorraine Sullivan steered her Toyota Corolla into oncoming traffic, causing a crash that killed her longtime boyfriend, who was in the front passenger seat.

Silver plans to refashion the 1939 building, a beloved Venice fixture that contains a historic mural, as the new home of his Silver Pictures. Joel Silver, producer of movie franchises "The Matrix," "Lethal Weapon" and "Sherlock Holmes," has bought the former U.S. post office in Venice and plans to refashion it as the new home of his Silver Pictures.

The black bear remains in a quarantine cage at a California sanctuary as officials grapple with a Colorado regulation that prevents his transfer there.If only the Glendale bear could hire a lawyer.

CalSTRS misses opportunities to reduce pension spiking, John Chiang says in a report, which cited abuses among managers and administrators.SACRAMENTO — California's teacher retirement system does not take adequate measures to prevent pension "spiking," missing opportunities to reduce such abuses by insufficiently auditing benefits, the state controller said Wednesday.

Officer Kenyon M. Youngstrom was fatally wounded by a motorist who was killed by a second CHP officer. A California Highway Patrol officer died Wednesday night, a day after he was gravely wounded in a freeway shootout in Contra Costa County, the agency said in a statement.

Nadia Lockyer, a former Alameda County supervisor and the estranged wife of state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, was arrested after a phone-in tip.A former Bay Area politician and the estranged wife of the state treasurer — who has struggled publicly with substance-abuse problems that led her to resign earlier this year — faces criminal charges in Orange County after being arrested on drug ch...

But the San Bernardino City Council postpones action on proposed Fire Department cuts. The city has filed for bankruptcy protection.In bankruptcy and facing a $45.8-million budget shortfall, the San Bernardino City Council on Wednesday voted to slash spending and eliminate close to 100 city jobs, but postponed action on proposed Fire Department cutbacks that could lead to station closures.

A panel of the 9th Circuit Court says that under the 4th Amendment, Los Angeles can seize some unattended possessions but must notify the owners.Los Angeles and other cities are barred by the U.S. Constitution from randomly seizing and destroying property homeless people temporarily leave unattended on city streets, a federal appeals court decided Wednesday.

Robbers strap an apparent explosive device to a Bank of America branch manager and force her to give them a large sum of cash. Police later safely remove the device, but the robbers remain at large. A bank manager said she was leaving her Huntington Park home for work Wednesday morning when two masked men snatched her in her garage.

A U.S. district judge says he will require tougher reviews than California wants before agreeing to dissolve the receivership that has run inmate care for six years.SACRAMENTO — A judge has again rejected the state's request for a speedy end to federal control of prison healthcare.

Costa Mesa can retain its ordinance governing behavior at City Council meetings, but can't include 'insolent' because it violates free speech rights.A Costa Mesa ordinance that bars "insolent" behavior at City Council meetings violates free speech rights, but the Orange County community may continue to eject people for being disorderly, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

Capitol's number crunchers wonder if proposed $200 million in subsidies could be used better elsewhere.SACRAMENTO — As Gov. Jerry Brown mulls whether to sign into law another round of subsidies for Hollywood production companies, the question that confronts him is how much each job on a movie set is worth to taxpayers.

Four Marines based at Camp Pendleton are accused of assault and hate crimes in the early morning attack on a film student in Long Beach. Four U.S. Marines face possible assault and hate crime charges in connection with the Labor Day weekend beating of a man outside a gay bar in Long Beach, authorities said Wednesday.

Despite many setbacks, Assemblyman Gil Cedillo perseveres and finally wins passage of a bill allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses.SACRAMENTO — Colleagues dismissed him as "one-bill Gil." Fellow Democrats labeled him politically toxic. But the tenacious Los Angeles legislator ultimately triumphed, keeping a promise to his dying wife.

Authorities Tuesday night were looking for a Rosemead wrestling coach who allegedly sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy

A powerful UC committee suspends its review of the proposal to switch from state to private funding for the university's main MBA program.UCLA's controversial plan to end state funding for the main MBA program at its management school and instead support it with tuition and donations has hit a significant roadblock that will at least delay the proposal.

Judge says the self-described UC Santa Barbara 'angel of death' should be moved to a less restrictive facility because he has made progress.A Santa Barbara judge has ruled that David Attias, who in 2001 declared he was the "angel of death" after killing four pedestrians and severely injuring a fifth, should be transferred from Patton State Hospital to a less restrictive outpatient program.

Responding to a judge's order, the Forest Service says it is thinning trees to reduce the risk of fires. Conservationists insist it is a logging plan. A new management plan for the Giant Sequoia National Monument places greater limits on timber cutting in and near groves of the world's largest trees, but would still allow logging in nearly a quarter of the monument.

The plan would shave $22.4 million off the city's $45.8-million general fund budget deficit, eliminating more than 100 jobs and probably closing all but one library.San Bernardino city officials Tuesday night were weighing a dramatic austerity plan for the insolvent city that would close libraries, slash jobs and contract out some services to the private sector.

A Riverside woman who sought a restraining order against her ex-boyfriend after refusing to marry him is found stabbed to death along with their young children.Selvin Chajon Rodriguez asked the mother of his young children to marry him.

The 2% increase will raise the fire protection district taxes for a single-family home by about $1 to $62.26 each year.Los Angeles County supervisors unanimously approved a tax increase Tuesday that would give their Fire Department an extra $1.5 million in annual revenue.

U.S. 9th Circuit rules that courts should assume sexual activity between a prisoner and a guard is not consensual unless proved otherwise. Sexual contact between a prison guard and an inmate should be presumed to be coercive, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The scandal-plagued city says he owes it hundreds of thousands of dollars, alleging he looked the other way when confronted with evidence of corruption.When he was Bell's police chief, Randy Adams was one of the highest-paid cops in the nation. Now the city wants it all back. After years of scandal that has left the city on the cusp of insolvency, Bell filed suit Tuesday, saying Adams owes his for...

John Whitaker, a child actor who later became hooked on drugs, makes reparations to those who lost loved ones in the drug war south of the border.The red-haired man who stepped onto the Olvera Street bandstand looked vaguely familiar, but it was his words that got my attention. John Whitaker, a 52-year-old Santa Clarita resident, was addressing a rally to raise awareness of cartel violence in Mexi...

A plan that relies on selling L.A.'s old U.S. Courthouse to help fund construction of a new office building doesn't add up for Republicans on a key House committee.The imposing white U.S. Courthouse on Spring Street overlooking the 101 Freeway has hosted some of Los Angeles' most memorable legal dramas.

About 50 students will have classes in the trailer, set up on a parking lot between two other schools. Despite a renovation, the trailer has its critics. When Marcus Tyson visited his new campus days before his senior year was set to begin, he stood in a nearly empty parking lot and declared that the trailer before him looked "like prison."

Rochelle Williams is arrested on 27 felony counts of forging documents.A Los Angeles County probation officer was arrested Tuesday for allegedly filing nine fraudulent workers' compensation claims over the last three years.

The San Gabriel Mountains blaze has consumed 3,600 acres and injured four people, including at least two firefighters, officials said. It could take a week to wrestle the fire churning through the Angeles National Forest into submission, authorities said Monday as the blaze grew to 3,600 acres and injured four people, including at least two of the 500-plus firefighters who had swarmed into the hil...