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Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger leads a list of 19 so-called "stakeholders" who will meet with President Obama at the White House to discuss immigration reform Tuesday afternoon. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Los Angeles Police Department Chief William J. Bratton, Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti and former Republican Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida are also attending, the White House says. The Obama administration says the group will discuss "the importance of fixing the broken immigration system for our nation's 21st century economic and security needs." Other administration officials attending include U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder, Homeland...

Michelle did not die curing cancer, saving the rain forest, or protecting the lives of others. Michelle died for the very thing B. Hussein Obama is trying to destroy, capitalism. As you go about your day today, as you go about your life, each and every day, remember what it is that made America the greatest nation in the world, people like Michelle, who participated in capitalism, lived their lives to the fullest and made the American dream their dream.

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Police Chief William Bratton stunned the city Wednesday by announcing he will step down after a seven-year tenure in which he instituted major reforms of the once-scandalized Police Department and began a turnaround of its relations with minorities. "For me personally and professionally it is the right time," Bratton, 61, told a City Hall news conference where he revealed he will begin working with a global security firm. Bratton said when he came to the Police Department, "it was a troubled organization in what was arguably a very troubled city."

This just in from Yahoo: LAPD William Bratton is stepping down as chief of the LAPD. Bratton is part of the problem with big city policing these days. There was a time when Los Angeles had one of the best and toughest big city police departments in the entire nation. The legendary police chief, William Parker, molded the LAPD into a tough, no nonsense crime fighting machine, and apolitical at that. Parker was followed by some very able and professional chiefs as well including Ed Davis and Daryl Gates who worked to keep the department highly professional and independent of...

LA police chief: Jackson investigation might turn criminalBy Deutsche Presse Agentur His statements Thursday to CNN were the clearest indication yet that some of the many doctors who treated Jackson over the years could have helped him illegally get the prescription drugs that were suspected of being a factor in his death. Bratton's comments came as the Jackson family was waiting for the results of the pop star's official autopsy and the independent autopsy that were conducted shortly after his June 25 death. "We are still awaiting corroboration from the coroner's office as to cause of death," Bratton told CNN....

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Looting and vandalism that broke out in the aftermath of the Los Angeles Lakers' basketball championship won't keep the city from celebrating the team's victory: City officials and the Lakers are planning a victory parade they hope will overshadow unrest the police chief blames on a mob of "knuckleheads." Police were reviewing security video and media images Monday to identify suspects who caused damage downtown the night before. Police Chief William Bratton said many known gang members were in the crowd. "These knuckleheads seem to really relish their opportunity in the dark," Bratton said. A parade...

Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton has recorded a robo-call campaign message on behalf of Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama. Bratton, who was scheduled to deliver an address on urban policing at Johns Hopkins University this evening, could not be reached immediately for comment. The message reportedly criticizes the record of Republican Party presidential nominee John McCain on law enforcement issues. A spokesperson for Bratton confirms that he has recorded the political campaign message but would not provide details of its content

LAPD Chief William Bratton warns that Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda could be preparing an attack to disrupt or influence the U.S. elections. Bratton said in a New York Daily News opinion piece, "Bin Laden probably realizes it could become markedly more difficult to paint the United States as the great Satan with a new president who is admired internationally."

LAPD Police Chief William J. Bratton has come out -- in favor of gay marriage. As a wedding gift to friend and celebrity publicist Howard Bragman and his longtime partner, Chuck O'Donnell, Bratton made it official: He and his wife, former Court TV diva Rikki Kleiman, strongly believe that gays have a right to marry. And in honor of Bragman and O'Donnell, who wed this past week in Norwalk, the chief and Kleiman have made a donation to Equality California, a group seeking to stop a state ballot measure this November that would ban same-sex marriages. "The Constitution guarantees life,...

January 15, 2008 'Supercop' Bratton in Playboy A nod to laobserved for catching this one. Los Angeles Police Chief Wililam Bratton is touted as "the most influential crime fighter in recent history" in the February issue of Playboy, on sale starting today. Joe Domanick, a long-time chronicler of the nation's second-largest police force in the nation, pens the piece with the headline "Supercop." Bratton is rumored to be on the short list to head the Department of Homeland Security or the FBI in a Hillary Clinton administration. He’s so influential that his archnemesis, former New York City mayor and now...

EXCERPT William J. Bratton, former NYC police commissioner under Mayor Giuliani endorsed Gov Spitzer's plan to license illegals. Chief Bratton was NYC police commissioner from 1994-96, during the first term of Mayor Giuliani, but the two men famously feuded, with Giuliani resentful that Mr. Bratton — a pioneer of the city’s Compstat program — was getting credit for the city’s reduction in crime. In March 2007, Giuliani began trying to mend fences with Bratton and met privately; afterward, Mr. Bratton said he “enjoyed” the tête-à-tête. In May 2007, the two men met in Los Angeles. In a statement released by...

Rudy Giuliani floated an extraordinary olive branch to bitter rival William Bratton, hinting he'd consider his estranged former top cop for a high federal post.....in this week's New Yorker magazine.....

The two men, Rudolph W. Giuliani and his former police commissioner William J. Bratton, had not spoken to each other in 10 years. When they had crossed paths at social gatherings, they exchanged little more than icy nods. But time, tragedy and a presidential campaign have started to change all that.

The highest-ranking offical at MacArthur Park immigration rally has been demoted from deputy-chief to commander, officals announced today, as the fallout continued over the clash between police and demonstrators

In a show of solidarity with families confronted by police during Tuesday's immigrant rally at MacArthur Park, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told Cinco de Mayo audiences around Los Angeles on Saturday that action would be taken against officers found to have violated the law. The mayor stepped up to a downtown pulpit Saturday night and vowed, "There will be consequences.

Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton on Sunday offered his strongest apology yet for the actions of an elite platoon of Metropolitan Division officers who swarmed a May Day immigration rally in MacArthur Park, and said that those officers are off the streets until he finds out what went wrong. Saying he watched extensive videos of Tuesday's incident, which left several reporters and rally attendees injured by batons and rounds of foam bullets and sock-like projectiles, Bratton called the officers' conduct indefensible. "I feel comfortable apologizing…. Things were done that shouldn't have been done," Bratton told a group of...

Los Angeles (AP) -- William Bratton, the nation's most famous man in blue, was tapped to lead a Los Angeles Police Department shamed by scandal and to win public trust while stamping out crime in the gang-ridden neighborhoods most distrustful of police. Five years later, he is up for another contract and on an offensive to show his progress to a public shocked by images of police violently clashing with protesters Tuesday at an immigration rally. Bratton's bid for a new contract has earned endorsements from key groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and most City Council members. And...

LAPD Veteran Taped Assaulting TeenVideotape Shows Officer Assaulting Handcuffed Youngster Inside Holding Cell LOS ANGELES, Dec. 8, 2006(AP) A videotape shows an officer assaulting a handcuffed teenager inside a police station holding cell, but the images won't be made public, the police chief said. Sean Joseph Meade, 41, was arrested Thursday for investigation of assault under color of authority. He was released on $10,000 bail, and a court appearance was scheduled for Monday. Police Chief William J. Bratton said the confrontation was part of an internal investigation, so the videotape won't be released publicly. The department is still wrestling with...

A defiant Police Chief William J. Bratton on Tuesday rejected a call to apologize for criticism of some Los Angeles City Council members, including Bernard C. Parks. Bratton said he had a right to speak his mind because the former police chief turned politician has been attacking him for more than a year. Bratton made the remarks a day after City Council President Eric Garcetti called on the chief to apologize for and recant a statement he made publicly that Parks and Councilman Dennis Zine "don't know what the hell they are talking about" when they criticized changes in LAPD...

City Council President Eric Garcetti called Monday on LAPD Chief William Bratton to apologize for telling two city councilmen to "mind their own business" on the issue of the LAPD's hiring standards. Garcetti joins five other City Council members, who last week asked the Police Commission to investigate Bratton's "unprofessional and unnecessary" comments. In a letter sent directly to the chief, Garcetti said the remarks were inappropriate for a general manager, and he asked Bratton for a retraction. "These unprofessional words on your part are significant because you are a high-ranking representative of our city, and your tone sets an...