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Billing it as the largest state-sponsored green jobs training program in the nation, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Monday announced a $75 million program to train 20,000 workers for environmental jobs. "We will need more workers to install the solar panels and insulate the homes and do all those things that we will need," Schwarzenegger said at an announcement at Los Angeles Trade Technical College. "We have two major problems in this state," he said. "We have high unemployment. That is crisis No. 1. Crisis No. 2 is the environment. This Clean Energy Workforce Training Program attacks both those problems."

Lou Dobbs had David from Freeport, N.Y., on the line, the caller musing darkly about President Obama "rushing all these programs through by whatever means," knowing he will soon be exposed as a fake, a fraud, a . . . Kenyan. At that point, a scrupulous radio host had three options: (A) hit the kill button (B) laugh and hit the kill button or (C) offer some push-back against the fantastical notion that Barack Obama was born on foreign soil and thus serves -- illegally -- as the Oval Office's first resident alien.

John and Ken's Tax Revolt on KFI's Talk Radio. The way it should be done.

A judge in Central California has taken the unusual step of tossing out, in advance, the results of an upcoming school board election after finding that it violated the terms of the California Voting Rights Act.

Villaraigosa has an impressive list of Hollywood supporters: Casey Wasserman (grandson of the legendary Lew Wasserman); Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger; HBO Films President Colin Callender; media mogul Haim Saban; Laker great Magic Johnson; 20th Century Fox Co-Chairman Jim Gianopulos; director-producer Jerry Zucker; syndicated television mogul Michael King; writer-TV producers Linda Bloodworth-Thomason and Harry Thomason;superagent Patrick Whitesell; DreamWorks Animation Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg; William Morris head Jim Wiatt; News Corp. President Peter Chernin. So far no other major candidate has declared, but there other people thinking about running -- namely billionaire mall magnate Rick Caruso. When reached by cellphone this...

Public health experts are cautioning people not to consume unpasteurized milk and cheese from Mexico after a new study found that those products have caused hundreds of individuals – mostly Latinos – to become sick over the years with a hardy form of tuberculosis. Their warning is part of county government's ongoing efforts to discourage consumers from buying queso fresco, or “fresh cheese,” and other unpasteurized dairy items from unlicensed street vendors and shops not certified by health regulators. Between 1994 and 2005, the county's Tuberculosis Control Program reported 3,291 cases of active infection. About 8 percent of those patients...

Schools Superintendent David L. Brewer's is coming under criticism from prosecutors for sending two high school administrators back to work after they were criminally charged with failing to report a student's sexual abuse claims. David Demerjian, head of the Los Angeles district attorney's Public Integrity Division, told the Los Angeles Times that it's "very unusual" for public officials accused of a crime to be allowed to return to their jobs -- particularly when they deal with children. "We prosecute a lot of public employees, and they are usually placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the trial," he said....

A fight between rival groups of black and Latino students at Locke High School quickly escalated into a campus-wide melee Friday, with as many as 600 students brawling until police restored calm with billy clubs. The troubled campus in South Los Angeles was locked down after the fight broke out at 12:55 p.m., as students returned from lunch to their fifth-period classes. Overwhelmed school officials called Los Angeles police for help, but students and faculty said it took about half an hour before dozens of officers, many in riot gear, restored order. "The kids were crazy, running from place to...

Judicial Watch filed suit in Los Angeles federal court last year in an effort to overturn the 29-year-old policy, arguing it was unconstitutional because it effectively prevented full cooperation between local police and federal agents in enforcing immigration laws. Under current rules, Los Angeles police officers cannot stop people for the sole purpose of asking about immigration status. But Norris said a lack of police involvement gives carte blanche to those who come to the U.S. illegally. That would stop if officers were allowed to inquire about immigration status, he said.

California nonnative students showed improving English proficiency this school year, with more than one-third demonstrating a level of fluency that could allow them to take higher-level course work, according to data released today by the state Department of Education. "Becoming fluent in English can open a world of new opportunities for every student. I am pleased to see that more English learners participating in the assessment are making good progress toward English language fluency," said state Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell in a written statement. "All children need strong English language skills in order to do well in the...

Even as Los Angeles County's sprawling court system seeks to mete out justice, security is becoming a growing concern as the number of threats against its 600 judges, commissioners and referees has more than doubled in the past two years. Threats against court personnel surged from 99 in 2006 to 267 last year, according to court records. And as violence and threats have risen, security costs have soared from $132 million three years ago to $169 million. In recent years, a court commissioner and his wife were gunned down at their home, a judge's child was threatened at school, an...

Alberta Trujillo sintió que estaba por dar a luz. Despertó a su novio, Margarito García, y le dijo que tenían que ir al hospital. Ninguno de los dos tenía auto ni licencia. Así que se abrigaron y empezaron a caminar hacia un hospital en el Este de Los Ángeles, a una cuadra de distancia. Trujillo tuvo que parar al cruzar la calle mientras García corría a la sala de emergencias a buscar ayuda.snip

Hines has pleaded not guilty to a series of felonies that could bring him a life prison term. Police are still searching for the intended victims, who have not come forward. Hines is a Four Trey Crip, said Los Angeles Police Lt. Paul Stalker, commanding officer of detectives in the department's Newton Division, which covers 10 square miles of South Los Angeles, a shifting mosaic of gang territories. The gunman's intended victims, investigators believe, were probably Bloods, perhaps members of a branch called AFC, or "All for Crime." Generally, Bloods control the east side of Central and Crips the west....

LONG BEACH (KABC) -- A man was kidnapped from his Long Beach business Thursday. A short time later, his family received a phone call demanding a large ransom. …It has now been just about 24 hours since that man was abducted from his auto repair shop. His kidnappers are asking for money for his safe return. … Police say at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, three Hispanic men came to the Mr. Auto Body Repair Shop on the border of North Long Beach and Paramount and ushered the owner into a car and drove off. Maurilio Robles, 47, was kidnapped. …...

Tapping the hot-button issue of immigration in the region, the Los Angeles City Council and a group of community leaders on Wednesday denounced a federal measure that would require employers to verify their workers are in the country legally. Calling it mean-spirited and intentionally divisive, the council voted 11-1 to oppose the measure proposed by Rep. Heath Shuler, R-N.C., which would beef up border patrols and use a computerized system to verify the legal status of job candidates. … …The council's vote came even as California Republican lawmakers reopened the statewide debate over immigration this week by unveiling a wide-ranging...

More than 9 million voters took part in the Feb. 5 presidential primary in California, setting a record for participants and marking the highest turnout rate in a primary since the 1980 election. According to a report by Secretary of State Debra Bowen, 55.7% of registered voters either cast ballots by mail or at precincts around the state. The 1980 turnout was 63.3%. Though the turnout percentage was not a record, the number of participants was. The largest number of voters in a previous primary was 7.9 million, in March 2000. Before the election, many analysts predicted that about half...

Tens of thousands of people - most of them women and girls from Thailand and Mexico, according to federal officials - are illegally trafficked each year into the United States, where they are forced to work as prostitutes, servants in private homes and laborers in sweatshops. In the past decade, the issue has aroused passions among activists as well as authorities who have poured money and manpower into fighting a war against human trafficking that surprisingly is as murky and convoluted as the battles against drugs and arms-smuggling. According to the California report issued in December - and Los Angeles'...

Email Warning. If you get an email from City-Bank, don’t follow the link. The email looks valid and tells you there is suspicious activity on your account. The phone number seems legitimate but the link to their site will direct you to a fake site and if you log in they will have your log-in information. This happened this morning to a friend.

NEW YORK -- Anti-immigrant sentiment is fueling nationwide increases in the number of hate groups and the number of hate crimes targeting Latinos, according to a watchdog group. The Southern Poverty Law Center, in a report being released today titled "The Year in Hate," said it counted 888 hate groups in its latest tally, up from 844 in 2006 and 602 in 2000. The most prominent of the organizations added to the list, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR, vehemently rejected the "hate group" label and questioned the law center's motives. FAIR said the center was using smear...

The body of an Ontario man who was beaten and then kidnapped from his home was uncovered in the San Bernardino Mountains on Saturday, five days after he disappeared, authorities said Monday. Santiago Contreras, 33, had been shot to death and was found on a mountain slope near California 138 in the Valley of Enchantment, but it was unclear when he was shot, according to Ontario Police Det. Jeff Higbee. An autopsy scheduled for today by the San Bernardino County coroner may determine when the shooting occurred, Higbee said. Mountain sightseers spotted the body late Saturday and contacted sheriff's investigators,...