Los Angeles News Blog

​The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union the represents rank-and-file members of the Los Angeles Police Department, on Friday issued a statement calling Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's prisoner-release plan "dangerous and unacceptable."

The governor's plan was submitted to a three-judge panel that is overseeing a federal mandate forcing the state to reduce its prison population by 40,000 criminals in the next two years. Of course, the Governator didn't really mean it when he submitted his latest proposal: He's biding for time while appealing the population-reduction ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

U.S. Attorney

​On Veteran's day we told you about the strange saga of 39-year-old Steven Burton, who the U.S. Attorney has accused of posing as a war hero -- uniform, Purple Heart, the whole get-up. We were recently forwarded photos of a man who might or might not be Burton posing in a decidedly sexual manner.

A U.S. Navy Commander at her high school reunion broke the case open when she spotted the suspect in full Naval dress, rare medals and all and, suspicious, asked to take photo with him. She forwarded the image to authorities, and they charged him with unauthorized display of armed forces medals. After we wrote about it, a male reader came forward to allege that the suspect had contacted him previously in an online chat room, claimed to be a Marine, and told him he liked to pick up guys at gay bars while dressed as a military man. He alleges they struck an ongoing, flirtatious internet relationship (and that the suspect had claimed to be someone else but later admitted to his own identity). We're not sure if the claims are true, but the accompanying photos appear to depict Burton in a wholly different kind of uniform. Is it really him? (Warning: NSFW, and possibly NSFL -- not safe for lunch).

Fox

Herbert.

​A Thousand Oaks man was arrested after allegedly paying boys from a local high school to spit on him, slap him and yell profanities at him, the Ventura County Sheriff's Department reports.

Authorities say some teens even alleged that the suspect, identified as 39-year-old Charles William Hersel, paid them to urinate and defecate on him. Ventura County Sheriff's officials say the suspect lured teens via MySpace but soon had a steady flow of victims as word got around tony Westlake High School that he was paying to get spit on.

Me so racist.

​A lawsuit from a woman who claimed Miley Cyrus violated her civil rights and those of other Asian-Americans when she stretched her eyes out with her fingers for a photo was thrown out Friday.

Claimant Lucie Kim argued that the photo, exposed in February, infringed on her civil rights, but a local judge wasn't having it. The shot drew some ire from Asian-American leaders, including the the OCA, which demanded an apology from Cyrus.

A Sunland interior designer pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud this week after he had claimed disability to the tune of more than $147,000 and an insurance company worker happened to catch the man on television -- working.​

Ronald E. Hunt, 56 continued working as a designer even as he claimed to be unable to work. But an employee with an insurance company paying his disability claim spotted him on an HGTV home improvement show and told the California Department of Insurance.

Assemblyman Alberto Torrico.

​Gang members have been spotted on MySpace and YouTube and have now spread to Facebook and Twitter. It's a natural migration: The "sets" rely on technology to communicate like everyone else. But now lawmakers are seeking ways to keep tabs on gangsters online.

State Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico, who's running for state Attorney General, held a select committee hearing in Southern California Thursday called "Gangs 2.0: The Emerging Threat of Cyberthugs."

​Neon Tommy, the publication of the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, this week takes a look at the Weekly and some of the changes that have taken place at the paper in recent months, including the hiring of Editor-in-Chief Drex Heikes, a well-respected journalist who has edited the Los Angeles Times Magazine and more recently oversaw a Pulitzer Prize-winning series at the Las Vegas Sun.

Let's get this out of the way first. As the Tommy admits, it got a few things wrong: It stated that the Weekly's editorial staff consists of six people -- three editors and three staff writers. It left out music editor Randall Roberts, web editor Erin Broadley, food blog editor Amy Scattergood, and copy editors Karre Jacobs and Mel Yiasemide. Editorial creative director Darrick Rainey, assistant art director Jason Jones and designer Mitch Handsone were also left out of the editorial head count. There are seven full-time print and web staff writers: Gendy Alimurung, Patrick Range McDonald, Libby Molyneaux, Christine Pelisek, Scott Foundas and Liz Ohanesian, who is also the online editorial assistant. On the part-time/regular-freelance tip there's critic at large Steven Leigh Morris, assistant listings editors Siran Babayan, Falling James and Derek Thomas, as well as columnists Nikki Finke, Jonathan Gold and Lina Lecaro. Neon Tommy also said the news blogger is an editor. We can assure you, he is not.

​Nikki Finke nailed it. Oprah Winfrey is signing off of her network show in 2011 to focus on her cable channel, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), which is scheduled to debut in January of that year, it was announced Thursday.

The speculation is that Winfrey will have a show similar to her blockbuster, syndicated program, the Oprah Winfrey Show, on her network. The move will likely result in a much smaller audience, but it could also sway some of her regular viewers to flood her network, which is being launched in a deal with Discovery.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Let me see that bong ba-bong bong bong.

​The man cannot be fooled: U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach announced Thursday they seized a bong-load of paraphernalia that was shipped to the U.S. from China disguised as holiday ornaments.

The goods were described as "glass figures and Christmas ornaments," but, as a statement from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency reads, "The highly decorated glass pipes did not fool CBP officials." Did you hear that stoners? The feds roll ninja style, so don't even try.

​In one of those only-in-L.A. factoids, we're amused to report that one of the places the Motion Picture and Theatrical Trade Teamsters say is difficult to access for location shoots is the iconic, industry-marking Hollywood sign.

Yes folks, only in L.A. could Hollywood have a hard time filming "Hollywood." Other sore spots: the AT&T Building downtown, County-USC Medical Center, Farmers and Merchants Bank downtown, the Griffith Park Observatory, the Japanese Heritage Museum in Little Tokyo, Library Park at the Central Library, the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce Headquarters, the Los Angeles Zoo, and the Terminal Annex Post Office.