Author: City News Service

Los Angeles County reported 3,360 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, Dec. 17, along with 27 additional deaths associated with the virus and eight more confirmed cases of the Omicron variant. The number of new cases is the highest in months, and comes one day after officials announced stepped-up efforts to combat the pandemic, including new rules for attending large events. The new Omicron cases brings the county’s confirmed total to 38. Of the eight cases reported Friday, five people were fully vaccinated and one received a booster. One person reported international travel and one person reported domestic travel, according…

Gov. Gavin Newsom Friday announced new measures to fight a statewide rise in property and violent crimes. In unveiling his “Real Public Safety Plan,” Newsom said he will ask for a quarter-million dollars in competitive grants for law enforcement to address organized shoplifting attacks, and $30 million to help prosecutors fight retail, auto and rail theft crime. He said his plan would create a new program to help small businesses that have been the victims of smash-and-grab heists. Additionally, Newsom announced grants for small retailers that have been hit by crowds of shoplifters, and promised to propose a new law that would allow citizens…

A former coroner’s office investigator was awarded $8.4 million Friday in her whistleblower suit against Los Angeles County in which she said she was forced into early retirement in 2017 in retaliation for raising suspicions about the death of an 8-year-old disabled boy. A Los Angeles Superior Court jury deliberated for less than a day before finding in favor of Denise Bertone, who also is a registered nurse. She was hired in 2002 and for years investigated the deaths of infants and children, according to her lawsuit filed in November 2018. Lawyers for the county denied that Bertone was subjected to…

LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Inglewood’s longtime city treasurer is suing the city, the mayor and members of the City Council, alleging her salary was cut, and that she was locked out of City Hall after questioning the handling of the city’s finances. Wanda M. Brown’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges state Labor Code violations, intentional infliction of emotional distress and defamation. She seeks unspecified damages in the suit filed Wednesday. The 78-year-old Brown was first elected in 1987 as Inglewood’s city treasurer and has maintained her post ever since, serving under three different mayors, including current Mayor James T.…