LOS ANGELES — Jamiel Shaw Sr. never gave much thought to the immigration status of gang members in his South Los Angeles neighborhood. With his military wife deployed to Iraq and two sons to raise, there were football practices to manage, shoes to buy, college applications to consider.

But in the two months since his older son, Jamiel Jr., was gunned down by a man the police say is a gang member who was here illegally from Mexico, Mr. Shaw has been able to think of little else.

“I don’t care about illegal people who are working here and taking care of themselves,” Mr. Shaw said. “I just feel I am obligated to target illegal aliens in gangs. . .

L.A. prepares massive water-conservation plan

With vital and often-distant water sources shrinking, Los Angeles officials today will revive a controversial proposal to recycle wastewater as part of a plan to curb usage and move the city toward greater water independence.

The aggressive, multiyear proposal could do much to catch the city up to other Southern California communities that have launched advanced recycling programs.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s effort could cost up to $2 billion and affect a wide range of daily activities. For example, residents would be urged to change their clothes’ washers, and new restrictions would be placed on how and when they could water lawns and clean cars. . .

Schwarzenegger’s budget shows lessons learned
By George Skelton

SACRAMENTO — In Arnold Schwarzenegger’s continuing education as governor, he presumably now has learned three lessons:

Lesson No. 1: Never say “never,” as in “Read my lips . . .”

Lesson No. 2: Don’t be afraid to flip-flop in an emergency, especially when you’re not running for reelection.

Lesson No. 3: Close your ears to the simplistic mantra, “We don’t have a revenue problem; we have a spending problem.” Most of all, don’t parrot the chant. You may wind up eating your words. . .

In releasing his revised budget Wednesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed deeper cuts to health care and welfare programs for the poor even as his administration calculated that the projected demand for government assistance is growing.

The Republican governor proposed $627 million more in cuts to health and human services, making it harder for poor families to qualify for welfare and health coverage.

“I know this is going to be very difficult … this is why I had a hard time to make those cuts,” Schwarzenegger said. “But the absolute bottom line is we cannot spend money that we do not have. . .

Karen Bass sworn in as California Assembly speaker

SACRAMENTO — Los Angeles Democrat Karen Bass vowed urgent action to address California’s budget crisis Tuesday when she was sworn in as Assembly speaker, the first African American woman to lead a legislative body in U.S. history.

Bass struck some of the few somber notes in a joyous celebration of the occasion, telling a chamber packed with well-wishers that “we have to respond to the current economic crisis the way we would a natural disaster.”

“We have to toss aside the boxes we put ourselves in and the labels we place on others and come together to get the job done,” Bass said. . .

SLEUTH TO PSYCHO
A woman stole my wallet and all I got was a lousy detective
By Jennifer Stockdale

The woman who stole my wallet six months ago thinks I’m a psycho victim. The police detective who was assigned to investigate the crime told me so; it was pretty much the only thing about the whole unfortunate incident that I didn’t find out first, by myself.

“Just leave it alone and let the courts handle it!” said Detective Lorraine Peck of the Long Beach Police Department, phoning on April 10 to scold me for trying to contact the woman who robbed me last Oct. 18. “There are all kinds of civil rights people waiting to get a hold of a case like this.”

A case like this . . .

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has dumped his plan to release about 22,000 lower-risk inmates from prison before they complete their terms, The Bee learned Monday.

The revised budget he will present on Wednesday will jettison the plan, which would have freed prisoners doing time for crimes such as drug possession and car theft who had less than 20 months to go on their terms.

The governor had sought the change as part of a 10 percent, across-the-board general fund budget cut to deal with a multibillion-dollar deficit. . .

Racism alarms Obama’s backers

WASHINGTON - Danielle Ross was alone in an empty room at the Obama campaign headquarters in Kokomo, Ind., a cellphone in one hand, a voter call list in the other. She was stretched out on the carpeted floor wearing laceless sky-blue Converses, stories from the trail on her mind. It was the day before Indiana’s primary, and she had just been chased by dogs while canvassing in a Kokomo suburb. But that was not the worst thing to occur since she postponed her sophomore year at Middle Tennessee State University, in part to hopscotch America stumping for Barack Obama.

Here’s the worst: In Muncie, a factory town in the east-central part of Indiana, Ross and her cohorts were soliciting support for Obama at malls, on street corners and in a Wal-Mart parking lot, and they ran into “a horrible response,” as Ross put it, a level of anti-black sentiment that none of them had anticipated.

“The first person I encountered was like, ‘I’ll never vote for a black person,’ ” recalled Ross, who is white and just turned 20. “People just weren’t receptive. . .

John McCain outlines a plan to tackle global warming

PORTLAND, ORE. — Distancing himself from President Bush, John McCain pledged a new era of environmental stewardship Monday as he outlined his plan to address global warming, a cause he has embraced since activists hounded him during his 2000 run for president.

At a wind turbine manufacturer here, McCain called for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by mid-century and pledged to take the lead in pressing rising economic powers India and China to cut emissions.

“I will not shirk the mantle of leadership that the United States bears,” McCain said, alluding to Bush, who withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol, the international agreement to curtail emissions. “I will not permit eight long years to pass without serious action on serious challenges. . .

SOARING $ALARIES: A TWO-PART SERIES by The L.A. Daily News

Thousands on L.A.’s payroll earning more than $100,000

As Los Angeles grapples with its largest budget deficit in history, lucrative compensation packages for thousands of city workers are driving much of the gap, and there’s little end in sight.

In the past year alone, gross annual payroll costs have soared $120 million for nearly 48,000 city employees – $90 million of that going to 35,000 civilian and sworn workers – and bumped the total payroll up to $3.2 billion, or nearly half Los Angeles’ $7 billion budget.

While city leaders seek to close a looming $406 million budget shortfall with everything from fee hikes to service cuts, a Daily News review of salary data shows more than 21,000 city workers take home $70,000 or more a year and more than 6,000 take home more than $100,000. . .

On March 2, 2008, Jamiel Shaw Jr., 17 was gunned down by 19 year old Pedro Espinoza, a 18th Street gang member who had been arrested on the same day of Jamiel’s funeral according to the Los Angeles District Attorney. Espinoza had spent nearly four months in a Los Angeles County jail for exhibiting a firearm and resisting arrest before he was released March 1, 2008 just 28 hours before he murdered Jamiel. Within a week, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency had filed paperwork naming Espinoza a potential candidate for deportation. If convicted for this crime, he will most likely received a life sentence, so the immigration hold brings no heavier punishment for this offense. It turns out that when Espinoza was four years old, he was smuggled into the United States from Mexico and he grew up in a neighborhood just west of Shaw’s Arlington Heights home.

When the murder was reported in the local news, Jamiel was characterized as the son a military mother, who was a successful high school athlete that was not involved in street gangs in any way. The media described this murder as “senseless” and when it was determined that Espinoza was an illegal alien, the story of Shaw’s murder was being highlighted by the media’s strongest critics against illegal immigration, including Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and Lou Dobbs. According to Bill O’Reilly, “Jamiel was just walking around, he wasn’t a bad kid, he’s an athlete, he was at the wrong place at the wrong time” (March 24, 2008 – The O’Reilly Factor). . .

State Lawmakers Consider Porn Tax Hike

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Strippers and porn stars traveled to Sacramento Monday for a hearing on adopting a tax increase on porn.

The Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee is scheduled to consider AB 2914, an adult entertainment tax that will be boosted from eight to 25 percent in a proposal to tax strip clubs, porno videos and other adult entertainment.

Opponents of the bill said the large tax increase constitutes censorship and would make California products less competitive. . .

In tell-all book, memorabilia dealer claims O.J. Simpson confessed to Nicole’s murder

A memorabilia dealer who profited from O.J. Simpson for many years is the latest former crony to write a tell-all book, this one alleging that a groggy Simpson confessed to killing his ex-wife after he was acquitted.

Mike Gilbert also claims he helped his former friend wiggle out of the murder charges by suggesting how to bloat his hands so they wouldn’t fit the notorious bloody gloves.

Gilbert’s book, “How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder: The Shocking Inside Story of Violence, Loyalty, Regret and Remorse” (Regnery Publishing, 232 pages, $27.95), is due in stores Monday. It was released to the Associated Press in advance. . .

Inland counties consider barring sex offenders from jobs driving ice cream trucks

Elected leaders in San Bernardino and Riverside counties could ban registered sex offenders and other criminals from driving ice cream trucks in unincorporated county areas.

The San Bernardino County ordinance could be approved at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, said David Zook, spokesman for Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt, who introduced the ordinance. If approved, it could take effect in July.

Riverside County supervisors could consider their proposed ordinance within 30 to 60 days, said John Field, chief of staff for Supervisor John Tavaglione, who is drafting it. . .

And here are the taped conversation transcripts to better help you taint the jury in your town!

Monica Ramos
P.O. Box 972925
El Paso, TX 79997

And if you would like to donate to the Ramos/Compean defense fund, send a check to:

BPA Legal Defense Fund
P.O. Box 47208
Tampa, FL 33647

All donations that are designated for Agents Ramos and Compean will be used to fund their legal defense and assist their families in their hour of need.

The president of Santa Monica’s school board said Thursday that a “breakdown in communication” prevented the board from fully examining a 2006 complaint against a teacher who was charged this week with molesting five of his female students.

Oscar de la Torre, president of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District board, said he and other board members learned about the 2006 complaint only this week after Lincoln Middle School teacher Thomas Arthur Beltran, 60, was arrested. De la Torre said then-Principal Kathy Scott, who reported the allegations to police, is no longer with the district.

“There was a transition in leadership, and I think the communication [channels] suffered a breakdown,” De la Torre said. “The school board was never alerted to the allegations in 2006. . .

California tax proposals target beer-loving, pornography-watching yacht owners

SACRAMENTO — As state leaders hunt for politically palatable solutions to the swelling budget shortfall, some Democrats are proposing unorthodox ways to generate cash.

Strip clubs, six-packs, grocery bags and iTunes downloads are all in their sights as alternatives to broad income or sales tax hikes. So are gas guzzlers and yachts—and a tax loophole for criminals.

Despite tough odds of overcoming an oath signed by their Republican colleagues to stop any tax hikes, Democratic lawmakers seem confident that their ideas will carry the day. They predict the public won’t stand for painful cuts to schools and healthcare to close a shortfall the governor now pegs as high as $20 billion, and say anti-tax forces will ultimately have to accept that more revenue is needed to bring the state into the black. . .

Senate leader Don Perata announced late Wednesday that he was dropping the recall campaign of Sen. Jeff Denham, due to his “best judgment about how to stop the long, slow slide into another long stalemate” on the budget.

Perata had initiated the recall last summer, after Denham, R-Atwater, sided with the majority of Senate Republicans in blocking passage of the budget during a 52-day standoff.

A campaign committee linked to Perata, D-Oakland, and the Democratic Party spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the recall campaign.

At a late afternoon news conference on the steps of the Capitol, Perata said he decided not to pursue the recall after meeting Wednesday with Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill. . .

Federal prosecutors want Carona trial to stay in O.C.

Carona’s lawyers, who filed for a change of venue last month, can not prove that comments on “The John and Ken Show” on KFI-AM, (640) and other pretrial publicity has prejudiced Carona’s right to a fair trial in Orange County, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett A. Sagel argued in a 23-page brief.

And even if some jurors are swayed by remarks from talk show hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou – who have told listeners that they think Carona is guilty and that their fans should lie to get on the jury to convict – there are other alternatives to insure a fair trial. . .

Crowing roosters ruffle feathers

If the City Council gets its way, Angelenos can still have chickens come home to roost – but only one of them can be a rooster.

Cock-a-doodle-do-ing in the wee hours of the morning, illegal backyard cockfighting and odors have led to a surge in neighborhood complaints from the northeast San Fernando Valley to Compton.

But the city has nothing on the books to control its noisy fowl problem.

“We deal with barking dogs, why can’t we deal with crowing roosters?” asked Janice Hahn, the councilwoman who proposed Wednesday limiting roosters to one per household.

Now, most Los Angeles residents can have only three cats and three dogs. But the sky is the limit on roosters. . .