L.A. County Sheriff: New law plays ‘significant’ role in crime rise

Sheriff of Los Angeles County Jim McDonnell talks during an interview in Los Angeles on Thursday, July 23, 2015. McDonnell says a recent change in law that makes certain drug and property crimes misdemeanors instead of felonies is a "significant" reason for an increase in county crime and has taken away the incentive for people to seek treatment for addiction. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) 

A recent change in California law making certain drug and property crimes misdemeanors instead of felonies played “a significant role” in the rising crime rate in Los Angeles County and has taken away the incentive for addicts to seek treatment, Sheriff Jim McDonnell said Thursday.

In an interview with The Associated Press, McDonnell also said legalizing marijuana for recreational use is a bad idea and that recent public backlash against police over use of force is having an impact on his agency, the largest sheriff’s department in the country.

Many in law enforcement have criticized Proposition 47, which voters passed in November. To ease overcrowding in the prison system, it reduced the penalties for shoplifting, forgery, fraud, petty theft and possession of small amounts of drugs — including cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines.

So far this year, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reports a 3.39 percent increase in violent crime and a 6.9 percent increase in property crime.

“We had 10 years of crime reductions, we were at 50-year lows in many areas on crime statistics, and all of a sudden, right after November when 47 kicked in that changed and fairly dramatically, very quickly,” he said. “It would be naive to say that 47 didn’t play a major role in that.”

McDonnell said the law prevents authorities from leveraging the threat of a felony charge to get addicts into treatment. As a result, county treatment rolls are down 60 percent.

“People are no longer incarcerated, they’re not in treatment, they’re out reoffending on the street,” McDonnell said.

Proposition 47 came after California’s 2011 prison realignment law, which pushed many criminals into county jails to decrease state prison populations. Jails previously housing only people awaiting trial or those sentenced to less than a year now also hold more hardened criminals serving longer terms. McDonnell said one county inmate has a 42-year sentence.

“That’s not something we’re equipped to deal with effectively,” McDonnell said. “The state prison system has been sued and had consent decrees over it, and it’s predictable that as a result, we’re going to have the same kind of lawsuits and the same kind of damages.”

One of the goals of Proposition 47 was to use savings from reduced jail populations to fund drug treatment programs as an alternative to incarceration. But there’s been no savings in Los Angeles County — the jails are filled with about 18,000 inmates.

Before Proposition 47, the jails were overcrowded and inmates served just 10 to 15 percent of their sentences. Now they’re serving 90 percent of the sentences, McDonnell said, but there’s no money for the treatment services.

McDonnell also said DNA databases are less robust because those charged with Prop. 47 crimes aren’t required to provide DNA samples. A bill that would have ensured authorities could continue collecting such samples died last week in the Senate Public Safety Committee, after passing in the Assembly.

McDonnell touched on a number of other law enforcement issues:

• Body cameras are being tested by the department and he hopes to provide them to deputies on patrol and in jails. McDonnell said deputies shouldn’t be able to review the camera footage before making an initial statement in any use of force incident.

After the initial statement, he said deputies could then review the video and make a supplemental statement.

This approach has been supported by civil libertarians and differs from the Los Angeles Police Department, which has a policy that allows officers to review body camera footage before providing a statement.

• Marijuana legalization is bad for society. He said pot is far more potent today and so the gentle buzz people expect is far more intense and sometimes produces hallucinations. There are many unresolved questions about how law enforcement will test for levels of intoxication.

• Media coverage of violent police encounters is having an impact on law enforcement. Deputies are worried that any use of force could be misconstrued when captured on video, McDonnell said. Less than 1 percent of the millions of daily police contacts with the public result in uses of force, but those are what people focus on, he said.

McDonnell is planning a 32-hour course for deputies on crisis intervention training, especially to deal with the mentally ill, which make up 40 percent of the use of force contacts for deputies.

Albertsons sues Haggen over $36 million in grocery inventory

Haggen has run into problems as it tries to win over customers in California. Albertsons has sued Haggen, accusing it of refusing to pay for $36 million of inventory at 32 stores it acquired. 

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

By SHAN LIcontact the reporter

Supermarket giant Albertsons has filed a lawsuit against Haggen, accusing the grocer of fraud in failing to pay more than $36 million as part of the sale of 146 grocery stores.

Haggen, a Pacific Northwest chain, bought those stores from Albertsons and Safeway, which were forced by the Federal Trade Commission to sell them as part of a merger. Among the stores are 83 in California, mostly in the south.

Haggen has made a name for itself in the Pacific Northwest with fresh produce and meats. But analysts said compeition for shoppers is fierce in Southern California.

 (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

According to the lawsuit filed in federal court in California, Albertsons says that Haggen refused to pay for $36 million of inventory at 32 stores it acquired. Nearly $5 million in inventory at an additional six stores will be past due Tuesday -- bringing the total to more than $41 million, the complaint said.

Haggen waited until deals closed on all 146 stores before notifying Albertsons that it would not pay for the inventory, the lawsuit alleged. The reasons -- related to unspecified issues that Haggen contends occurred during the acquisition process -- are "baseless," the lawsuit said.

"Haggen's acts were fraudulent in nature and done with malice and a willful disregard for Albertsons' rights," the lawsuit said.

In a statement, Haggen said it notified Albertsons in June of Albertsons' violations under the purchase agreement and possible further violations related to requirements of the Federal Trade Commission and various state attorneys general. Haggen declined to disclose those alleged violations.

By filing a lawsuit, Haggen said Albertsons appears to be trying to avoid "addressing its wrongful conduct."

Haggen "had hoped that the parties could amicably address these issues," the company said. "Haggen will mount a vigorous defense and aggressively prosecute its counterclaims."

Haggen has had to cut staff hours and lay off workers as it struggles to make headway in the competitive Southern California market.

Many shoppers have complained that Haggen's prices are higher than the supermarket it replaced. Analysts said nearby grocery stores are also rolling out discounts in a fierce battle to win over customers.

Last week, Haggen acknowledged in a statement that it is facing "unprecedented" competition in the Southwest.

Diamond Bar Price Drops For Fourth Day After Hikes The average price dropped 1 cent on Friday, 1.4 cents on Saturday and six-tenths of a cent on Sunday.

The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County dropped Monday for the fourth consecutive day following a seven-day stretch of increases totaling 75.7 cents, decreasing six- tenths of a cent to $4.266.

The average price dropped 1 cent on Friday, 1.4 cents on Saturday and six-tenths of a cent on Sunday after rising to its highest amount since May 4, 2014, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service.

The average price is 21.3 cents more than one week ago, 65.1 cents higher than one month ago and 19.9 cents above what it was one year ago.

The Orange County average price dropped for the fourth consecutive day following a seven-day stretch of increases totaling 77.8 cents, decreasing four- tenths of a cent to $4.244. It dropped eight-tenths of a cent on Friday, 1.1 cents on Saturday and eight-tenths of a cent on Sunday

The Orange County average price is 22.5 cents more than one week ago, 70 cents higher than one month ago and 20.6 cents above what it was one year ago.

Prices “are likely to remain elevated until the repairs to the Torrance refinery are completed later this summer,” according to the “This Week in Petroleum” report issued by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance remains offline because of an explosion in February, reducing the supply. The operator is awaiting approval from the South Coast Air Quality Management District to use a refurbished piece of equipment, Marie Montgomery of the Automobile Club of Southern California told City News Service.

--City News Service

Pending sales of Tres Hermanos Ranch unearths preservation efforts

The city of Industry is putting up for sale a large parcel of property they own in Chino Hills, Calif. May 5, 2015. The working cattle ranch, with a reservoir, called Tres Hermanos is located east of Diamond Bar on Grand Avenue.File/Leo Jarzomb/Staff Photographer

When the City of Industry bought the 2,450-acre Tres Hermanos Ranch, preservationists cried foul. They became unhinged after hearing the business-centric city planned a series of reservoirs and hydro-power plants that would destroy the oak-and-walnut woodland.

But after nearly four decades, nothing ever happened. Now, in a twist of fate, development of the greenbelt may become reality.

Thirty-seven years later, the nearly untouched land in Chino Hills and Diamond Bar was pried from the hands of the Industry Urban-Development Agency by the state as a condition of ending redevelopment. Last month, the former redevelopment agency turned over the pristine swatch of land to a commercial real estate broker. Now, one of the biggest bidding wars in the history of Southern California real estate is only days away.

The pending sales touched off an angry response from residents who don’t want to see hillsides turned into strip malls and condo complexes. It also provides a new opportunity for preservation groups to buy the land. Like a toppled dictator, the City of Industry’s grip on Tres Hermanos has slipped, creating a free-for-all atmosphere and the biggest development threat on land loaded with trees, bobcats and raptors since city ownership began in 1978.

“This is a spectacular piece of property,” said broker Graham Gilles from The Hoffman Co., an Irvine-based firm handed the rights to sell the land to the highest bidder starting the end of the month. “It is 2,500 acres that I don’t think exists in California today.”

The land is split: 1,700 acres are in Chino Hills and 720 acres in Diamond Bar. City of Industry officials said it could fetch $125 million for the state. Well-heeled developers are lining up to file a bid, Gilles said, with speculation the former cattle-grazing ranch could become hundreds of homes, a commercial center or both. But the possibility of homes and strip malls carved into one of the last untouched spaces in the region has spurred a nascent effort from Diamond Bar and Chino Hills residents who want to see the land preserved.

“It sounds simplistic. But even if it is just a minute, being able to look into the distance and not see any human structures. It has an effect on you. It is almost like a relief from all the urban everything we are constantly surrounded by,” explained Dan Swenson, 45, of Chino Hills, who has started a letter-writing campaign to keep the land undeveloped.

A “Save The Tres Hermanos Ranch” group emerged on Facebook about six weeks ago after news of the pending sale went public. The group met at the Diamond Bar Community Center on May 31 and has grown to about 400 members.

“That thought of taking our last open lands, with cows and pastures and a little lake, really bothered people. So, about three or four of us got together to see if this could be mitigated,” said Brian Worthington, 48, a spokesman for the group who is also running for Diamond Bar City Council in November.

The group is suggesting numerous options, from a regional park, to part development/part parkland to outright purchase by way of a Kickstarter online campaign to raise cash.

They’ve attracted students from Cal Poly Pomona’s John T. Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies, who are working on a preservation plan, wrote Ashley Cupp, a regenerative community fellow with the center, on the group’s Facebook page.

Swenson has written a letter to Kelly Elliott, Inland Empire District superintendent for the California State Park, suggesting the state annex the land into the existing 4,000-plus acre Chino Hills State Park to the south.

Elliott, in a June 4 letter, responded by saying the state parks department is holding off on new land purchases because it is reorganizing its acquisition department. However, Elliott did not completely close the door.

“The Tres Hermanos property is one of many areas identified as desirable additions to Chino Hills State Park with current willing sellers,” she wrote, adding that the state has met with the Trust for Public Land regarding buying a parcel of land near Prado Dam.

“Inland Empire District staff continues to explore options and collect information during this interim period, regarding potential acquisitions,” she wrote.

Swenson pitched the idea of cities banding together to buy open space. Monrovia residents voted to tax themselves to buy land in the San Gabriel Mountain foothills in 2000. Swenson mentioned Boulder, Colo.’s open space management efforts in a letter to Joann Lombardo, director of community development for Chino Hills.

“She responded by saying open space preservation would be dealt with through the development process,” Swenson said.

Swenson, who has a doctoral degree in environmental science and engineering from UCLA, says he’s cautiously optimistic. He doesn’t want to see the land sold to a developer and the possibility of some amount of preservation a defacto response to more density and traffic, especially on already-clogged Grand Avenue and the 60 and 57 freeways.

“That would be unfortunate if we would lose that opportunity,” he said.

Why are gas prices climbing so rapidly in Inland Empire?

Low gasoline supplies have boosted prices 59.3 cents since Thursday. Reasons for the price spike include a lack of foreign oil and refinery issues in Torrance and Carson. (File photo by Steven Senne/Associated Press) 

RIVERSIDE — The largest daily increase since Oct. 5, 2012, pushed the average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in the Inland Empire above $4 for the first time in nearly a year today.

The average price in Riverside and San Bernardino counties rose 15.3 cents to $4.073, the first time the average price had been above $4 since July 26, 2014, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service.

The average price has risen 59.3 cents since Thursday, including 10.8 cents on Monday. It is 46.7 cents higher than a month ago but 2.8 cents less than one year ago.

The sharp increases are the result of inadequate supply to meet demand caused by several factors, according to Marie Montgomery of the Automobile Club of Southern California.

Montgomery said Southern California refineries didn’t receive any shipments of foreign oil last week as they were outbid by competitors in Mexico and other areas, forcing them to draw down inventories to their lowest levels in a year to make enough fuel to meet demand, which is up from last year.

The ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance remains offline because of an explosion in February. The operator is awaiting approval from the South Coast Air Quality Management District to use a refurbished piece of equipment, Montgomery told City News Service.

The gasoline supply was further reduced because the Tesoro refinery in Carson is at least partly offline for annual maintenance, Montgomery said.

Landmark Iran nuclear accord is ‘opportunity to move in a new direction,’ Obama says

President Barack Obama, standing with Vice President Joe Biden, delivers remarks Tuesday in the East Room of the White House in Washington after an Iran nuclear deal is reached. After 18 days of intense and often fractious negotiation, diplomats Tuesday declared that world powers and Iran had struck a landmark deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in relief from international sanctions.Andrew Harnik — The Associated Press

VIENNA >> After long, fractious negotiations, world powers and Iran struck an historic deal Tuesday to curb Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in relief from international sanctions — an agreement aimed at averting the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran and another U.S. military intervention in the Middle East.

The accord marks a dramatic break from decades of animosity between the United States and Iran, countries that alternatively call each other the “leading state sponsor of terrorism” and “the Great Satan.”

“This deal offers an opportunity to move in a new direction,” President Barack Obama said in early morning remarks from the White House that were carried live on Iranian state television. “We should seize it.”

In Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said “a new chapter” has begun in his nation’s relations with the world. He maintained that Iran had never sought to build a bomb, an assertion the U.S. and its partners have long disputed.

Beyond the hopeful proclamations from the U.S., Iran and other parties to the talks, there is deep skepticism of the deal among U.S. lawmakers and Iranian hardliners. Obama’s most pressing task will be holding off efforts by Congress to levy new sanctions on Congress or block his ability to suspend existing ones.

Sunni Arab rivals of Shiite Iran have also expressed concern over the deal. And Israel, which sees Iran as an existential threat, strongly opposes leaving the Islamic republic with nuclear infrastructure in place.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has furiously lobbied against a deal, called the agreement a “bad mistake of historic proportions.”

The nearly 100-page accord announced Tuesday aims to keep Iran from producing enough material for an atomic weapon for at least 10 years and impose new provisions for inspections of Iranian facilities, including military sites.

The deal was finalized after more than two weeks of furious diplomacy in Vienna. Negotiators blew through three self-imposed deadlines, with top American and Iranian diplomats both threatening at points to walk away from the talks.

Secretary of State John Kerry, who did most of the bargaining with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, said persistence paid off. “Believe me, had we been willing to settle for a lesser deal we would have finished this negation a long time ago,” he told reporters.

The economic benefits for Iran are potentially massive. It stands to receive more than $100 billion in assets frozen overseas, and an end to a European oil embargo and various financial restrictions on Iranian banks.

The breakthrough came after several key compromises.

Iran agreed to the continuation of a U.N. arms embargo on the country for up to five more years, though it could end earlier if the International Atomic Energy Agency definitively clears Iran of any current work on nuclear weapons. A similar condition was put on U.N. restrictions on the transfer of ballistic missile technology to Tehran, which could last for up to eight more years, according to diplomats.

Washington had sought to maintain the ban on Iran importing and exporting weapons, concerned that an Islamic Republic flush with cash from sanctions relief would expand its military assistance for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government, Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and other forces opposing America’s Mideast allies such as Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Iranian leaders, backed by Russia and China, insisted the embargo had to end as their forces combat regional scourges such as the Islamic State.

Another significant agreement will allow U.N. inspectors to press for visits to Iranian military sites as part of their monitoring duties, something the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had long vowed to oppose. However, access isn’t guaranteed and could be delayed, a condition that critics of the deal are sure to seize on.

Under the accord, Tehran would have the right to challenge U.N requests, and an arbitration board composed of Iran and the six world powers would then decide on the issue. The IAEA also wants the access to complete its long-stymied investigation of past weapons work by Iran, and the U.S. says Iranian cooperation is needed for all economic sanctions to be lifted.

IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said Tuesday his agency and Iran had signed a “roadmap” to resolve outstanding concerns, hopefully by mid-December.

The deal didn’t come together easily, as tempers flared and voices were raised during debates over several of the most contentious matters. The mood soured particularly last week after Iran dug in its heels on several points and Kerry threatened to abandon the effort, according to diplomats involved in the talks. They weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the private diplomacy and demanded anonymity.

But by Monday, the remaining gaps were bridged in a meeting that started with Kerry, European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Zarif joined later joined the meeting, and shortly thereafter, the ministers emerged and told aides they had an accord.

The deal comes after nearly a decade of international, intercontinental diplomacy that until recently was defined by failure. Breaks in the talks sometimes lasted for months, and Iran’s nascent nuclear program expanded into one that Western intelligence agencies saw as only a couple of months away from weapons capacity. The U.S. and Israel both threatened possible military responses.

The United States joined the negotiations in 2008, and U.S. and Iranian officials met together secretly four years later in Oman to see if diplomatic progress was possible. But the process remained essentially stalemated until summer 2013, when Rouhani was elected president and declared his country ready for serious compromise.

More secret U.S.-Iranian discussions followed, culminating in a face-to-face meeting between Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at the United Nations in September 2013 and a telephone conversation between Rouhani and President Barack Obama. That conversation marked the two countries’ highest diplomatic exchange since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution and the ensuing hostage crisis at the American embassy in Tehran.

Kerry and Zarif took the lead in the negotiations. Two months later, in Geneva, Iran and the six powers announced an interim agreement that temporarily curbed Tehran’s nuclear program and unfroze some Iranian assets while setting the stage for Tuesday’s comprehensive accord.

It took time to get the final deal, however. The talks missed deadlines for the pact in July 2014 and November 2014, leading to long extensions. Finally, in early April, negotiators reached framework deal in Lausanne, Switzerland, setting up the last push for the historic agreement.

The disputes are likely to continue, however. In a foreshadowing of the public relations battle ahead, Iranian state TV released a fact sheet of elements it claimed were in the final agreement — a highly selective list that highlighted Iranian gains and minimized its concessions.

Among them was an assertion that all sanctions-related U.N. resolutions will be lifted at once. While a new U.N. resolution will revoke previous sanctions, it will also re-impose restrictions in a number of categories.

Associated Press writers Bradley Klapper and Julie Pace in Washington contributed.

Diamond Bar Gas Prices Spike Check the map below for the best gas price in your town

The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County recorded its largest daily increase since May 1 today, rising 11.1 cents to $3.656.

Marie Montgomery of the Automobile Club of Southern California said she didn’t have an explanation for the rapid price jumps.

“We’ve seen many times before where the wholesale prices spike crazily and then very quickly go back down, so the hope is that this is what will happen here too,” Montgomery told the Orange County Register.

http://www.gasbuddy.com/

“A panic is going on, then when the buyers (gas station owners) receive more balanced information, the prices go back down very quickly. It’s good for consumers that the retail prices don’t move as often as the wholesale ones do, which can spike and bottom out, one day to the next.”

The sharp increase is the result of an extraordinary convergence of fuel supply problems, according to Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com, which bills itself as the leading provider of retail fuel pricing information and data.

“The federal government’s report Wednesday identified California supply problems that are compounded by a dearth of imports where they’re most needed,” said Patrick DeHaan, GasBuddy’s senior petroleum analyst.

” It triggered a significant spike in Los Angeles spot gasoline prices. GasBuddy users are already reporting some stations that have hiked gas prices in Southern California by over 80 cents per gallon.

“We’re anticipating increases that could surpass 50 cents a gallon in Southern California by next week.”

The average price in Los Angeles County had dropped 48 of the previous 52 days. It is 10.3 cents more than one week ago but 6.5 cents less than a month ago and 50.8 cents lower than one year ago.

The average price in Los Angeles County had dropped 48 of the previous 52 days. It is 10.3 cents more than one week ago but 6.5 cents less than a month ago and 50.8 cents lower than one year ago.

The Orange County average price had dropped 50 of the previous 54 days. It is 13.5 cents more than one week ago but 1.4 cents less than a month ago and 52.2 cents lower than one year ago.

--City News Service