Judge considers moving Carona trial
SANTA ANA – A federal judge today said he would consider moving the public corruption trial of former Sheriff Mike Carona out of Orange County after hearing of alleged efforts by a talk radio show to taint the jury pool.
In arguing for the change of venue, an attorney for Carona told U.S. Judge Andrew Guilford that the hosts of KFI’s “John and Ken Show” have been regularly coaching listeners how to lie to get on the jury and then how to vote to convict Carona.
Guillford called the revelations by Carona attorney Brian Sun “shocking.
“I find it extremely unfortunate that a radio show would suggest people lie in this court,” Guilford said. “That’s not what American justice is all about. . .
‘Murder Moratorium’ — 40 hours of peace starts tonight!
LOS ANGELES — Can you ban murder and violence? The Los Angeles City Council is asking L.A. to proclaim a 40-hour period of peace. It coincides with the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Junior. Will this “murder moratorium” really work?
How to slow down the homicide rate, 98 so far this year in Los Angeles alone? Too close to home for young people like Aneeka Hill.
“I am hurt by it, and I’m mad, I’m upset, I’m angry, I’m scared,” said Baldwin Hills resident Aneeka Hill.
The response from community activists and the City Council: a call for a 40-hour period of peace in the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King. . .
SF cements its role as “sanctuary city”
SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco is launching a new campaign tonight to tell illegal immigrants they’re welcome in the city.
San Francisco is a so-called sanctuary city. What that means exactly– and how officials are getting the word out.
The city’s message will appear on TV, radio, posters and brochures in five languages.
The extensive outreach campaign will be directed at undocumented workers and their families in San Francisco. . .
Poll: Make gas guzzlers pay higher fees
Californians support the idea of charging “green” vehicle fees that would make drivers of gas guzzlers pay higher taxes and offer discounts for those driving less-polluting vehicles, according to a survey by a transportation researcher at San Jose State University.
The state now charges drivers registration and licensing fees and gasoline taxes at rates that do not take into account vehicles’ pollution levels. But the survey, conducted by Asha Weinstein Agrawal, a research associate with the university’s Mineta Transportation Institute, found that Californians would support a variety of taxes and fees to raise money for transportation improvements as well as combat global warming, including:
Raising vehicle registration fees, which now average $31, to an average of $62 and having higher-polluting vehicles pay higher rates and cleaner cars lower rates. . .
I went to the new, improved, streamlined RivCo Superior Court Wednesday morning to cover The People vs. Elmer Fudd.
Dead wabbits in the woad!
For the record, it’s The People vs. Donald Burgess — a Riversider arraigned on misdemeanor willful abandonment of animals. There are a million wabbit stories in the City of the Arts. This is one of them.
Burgess, an ex-Marine, lives in a housing tract on Hollenbeck Drive near Riverside’s Five Points area. In 2006, a neighbor began raising rabbits. As a rule, rabbits frown on abstinence. And lo, they multiplied. . .
Mexico reconquers California? Absolut drinks to that!
