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New York City Council Member Antonio Reynoso (D) has introduced a bill to abolish the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) gang database as gang crime reaches a new high throughout the city. By October 2021, more than 100 children aged under 18 were involved in street-gang related shootings. Almost all of the children killed in gang-related violence in New York City are minorities, predominantly black. A police source told the New York Post that, “the gangs are eating these kids alive.” A gang member has also been arrested in relation to the stabbing-murder of a Columbia University student, injuring a...

New York City Council Member Antonio Reynoso (D) has introduced a bill to abolish the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) gang database as gang crime reaches a new high throughout the city. By October 2021, more than 100 children aged under 18 were involved in street-gang related shootings. Almost all of the children killed in gang-related violence in New York City are minorities, predominantly black. A police source told the New York Post that, “the gangs are eating these kids alive.” A gang member has also been arrested in relation to the stabbing-murder of a Columbia University student, injuring a...

New Attorney General Kamala Harris took office Monday with a rapid-fire barrage of promises to target everything from violent gangs to online scams to truancy and prison recidivism rates. Minutes after her swearing-in, Harris sent a message that she plans to be an activist as California's top cop, an innovator with a motto identical to the title of her book: "Smart On Crime." "Ultimately, being smart on crime is about doing more preventing and less reacting, it's about being tough and being tough-minded, doing more of what works and less of what doesn't," she said. Harris, who narrowly defeated Los...

California's death penalty has been in limbo since 2006, when a federal judge stayed the execution of Michael Morales, who was sentenced to death for the brutal 1981 murder and rape of 17-year-old Terri Winchell. The judge was fearful lest the state's three-drug lethal injection protocol would cause Morales undue pain. Since then, a number of states have switched to a one-drug protocol. Why hasn't California? The answer could be that Gov. Jerry Brown and Attorney General Kamala Harris don't want the death penalty to work. Brown and Harris are personally opposed to the death penalty, but when they campaigned...

With the stack of ballots left to count sharply diminished, San Francisco Dist. Atty. Kamala Harris continued to hold a steady lead Tuesday in the race for attorney general, making victory over Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley all but assured. Harris, the Democrat, led the Republican nominee by nearly 53,000 votes — 4,385,438 to 4,332,596 — according to a Times review of updated vote tallies in all 58 counties. Although the gap remains narrow in one of the closest statewide races in California history, the chance for Cooley to pick up enough votes to make up the difference...

It's looking more likely that Democrat Kamala Harris will be the state's next attorney general, as the San Francisco prosecutor continues to hold on to her lead in the still-undecided race. In the days after the Nov. 2 election, the results had see-sawed between Harris, a Democrat, and her Republican opponent, Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley. For the last week, however, Harris has maintained a comfortable lead - as of Friday afternoon she was up by about 43,000 votes, according to the secretary of state. There are still an estimated 500,000 ballots left to be counted in a race...

DWAYNE BROWN (Host): Most results are in, but the race for California attorney general may not be decided for weeks. We're joined on Morning Edition by nonpartisan Sacramento political consultant Leo McElroy. Republican Steve Cooley, Leo, leads democrat Kamala Harris by about 41,000 votes in the attorney general's race. What's at stake? LEO MCELROY (Political Consultant): Well, there are a couple of things at stake. For one thing, Cooley pretty much becomes the state-wide leader of the republican party if he manages to win because the republicans got shut out in every other race. So Cooley suddenly becomes a giant...

A late overnight surge in votes that carried San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris into the lead in the race for state attorney general has her campaign declaring victory today. With 100 percent of precincts reporting as of 12:39 p.m., Harris, a Democrat, led Republican Steve Cooley, the Los Angeles district attorney, 45.9 percent to 45.7 percent, according to the California Secretary of State's Office. Harris had trailed Cooley until the early morning hours. "In spite of Steve Cooley's Dewey-esque declaration of victory" late Tuesday night, a statement from Harris' campaign said, "San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris will be...

San Francisco -- San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris squeezed past her GOP opponent overnight to take a narrow lead in the race for state attorney general. With 99.2 percent of precincts reporting, Harris is barely ahead of Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley by just one-third of a percentage point, according to the secretary of state. She is leading by 22,299 votes, though things could still change: Complete results from Riverside County, a GOP stronghold have not yet come in, and all of the absentee and provisional ballots have yet to be tallied. Cooley claimed victory after taking a...

The races for lieutenant governor and attorney general are too close to suggest that any candidate has a firm edge going into Tuesday's election, according to the latest Field Poll released Friday. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, is hanging onto a slim five-point edge of 42 percent to 37 percent over Republican Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado. The survey also found that Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley – the GOP candidate for attorney general – has dipped to a one-point lead over Democratic rival Kamala Harris, San Francisco's district attorney. The latest survey, which was conducted Oct....

California's political watchdog agency has dismissed a complaint by Democrat Kamala Harris, candidate for attorney general, that a national Republican group is conducting an illegal $1.6 million advertising campaign against her. Harris' complained Monday that the 30-second attack ad by the Republican State Leadership Committee was required to contain a disclaimer listing their top two donors and failed to do so. The Fair Political Practices Commission tossed the complaint out Tuesday, ruling that the ad is exempt from the requirement because it is "issue advocacy" that does not specifically encourage a vote for or against a candidate. The FPPC already...

It's November 3, 2010. You think you are waking up to a sunny California morning only to realize it's a dark, dark day. Jerry Brown is governor, Gavin Newsom is lieutenant governor, Kamala Harris is attorney general, and the rest of the Democrat ticket has prevailed. California is going to be controlled by San Francisco politics. Got your attention now? Tea Party folks have brought a refreshing candor to the conservative scene, demanding from conservative candidates a return to conservative principles. But we don't live in a perfect world. And in California, we live in a deeply skewed political landscape...

The Chronicle has learned that Equality California, the LGBT rights organization that has been at the vanguard of the fight to secure same sex marriage in California, will launch commercials next week at two top-o-the-ticket Republicans who said they would defend Proposition 8 in court: guv candidate Meg Whitman and AG hopeful Steve Cooley.

On the day before Easter 2004, David Lee Hill fatally shot San Francisco Police Officer Isaac Espinoza and wounded his partner with an AK-47 assault rifle as they approached him for acting suspiciously in the city's Bayview area. District Attorney Kamala Harris' decision not to seek the death penalty has become a lightning rod in this year's race for state attorney general pitting her against Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, a leader in sending killers to death row. "Voters are going to want an attorney general who does not impose his or her own personal ideology or political...

Former Bell, CA City Manager Robert Rizzo, after a March DUI arrestIn a press conference moments ago, Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley announced charges against the eight Bell, California city officials who were arrested today after they inflated their salaries, allegedly using around $5.5 million in public funds. Former Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo, who allegedly banked close to $800,000 a year, was charged with "53 counts of misappropriation of public funds and conflict of interest," according to the Los Angeles Times.According to the Times, "Angela Spaccia, former assistant city manager; Mayor Oscar Hernandez; councilmembers George Mirabal, Teresa...

At least eight city of Bell officials were arrested this morning as L.A. County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley prepared to announce criminal charges in the municipal salary scandal.

L.A. County prosecutors have launched a multipronged investigation into the city of Bell, examining allegations of voter fraud as well as conflicts of interest involving city business.In an interview with The Times, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley described the investigation as “rapidly expanding and full-fledged,” saying investigators have been gathering evidence since March. Cooley’s comments indicate a larger probe than prosecutors had acknowledged up to now. Until now, the district attorney has said it was looking at what it called high salaries paid to City Council members, who earned nearly $100,000 until they cut their own salaries on...

Career prosecutors Steve Cooley and Kamala Harris won the GOP and Democratic primaries for attorney general Tuesday, paving the way for a tough November race between the moderate Republican district attorney from Los Angeles and the liberal San Francisco prosecutor. Harris, whose campaign has been dogged by fallout from a scandal at the San Francisco Police Department crime lab, beat out a crowded field of challengers that included three state assemblymen, a former Los Angeles city attorney, and Silicon Valley executive Chris Kelly, who poured $12 million of his own money into the race. "This campaign was about who we...

Heavily armed officers in helmets, bulletproof vests and, oddly enough, Bermuda shorts stormed his store, handcuffed him, disabled security cameras and seized his drugs before taking him to jail. When he asked why his shop was invaded, an officer responded, "We're closing them all down." Those words could prove prescient after Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said last week he wants to shutter clinics that sell pot for profit. Cooley's plan is the latest salvo in a prolonged conflict in California over whether medical marijuana is truly having its intended effect or is being abused by the larger...

By Jeffery M. Leving and Glenn Sacks Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley and LA County Child Support Services Department Director Steven Golightly recently announced a sweeping new campaign against so-called “deadbeat dads.” They say their new “Most Wanted Delinquent Parent” list is modeled on the FBI's fabled “10 Most Wanted” list. On paper the 10 offenders owe over $2 million, but it’s very questionable that Cooley & Golightly will be collecting much--according to the California Judicial Council, 80% of California child support debtors earn poverty level wages. Golightly’s action is particularly remarkable considering that the California Department of...