Venice homeless encampment highlighting divisions at Los Angeles City Hall
Venice homeless encampment highlighting divisions at Los Angeles City Hall
At a recent Los Angeles City Council meeting, members voted on whether to ban camping at the location under the city’s municipal code 41.18. The measure passed, but not unanimously. Council member and mayoral candidate Nithya Raman joined three others in voting against it.
The Venice intersection near Rose and Main is lined with tents, bicycles and belongings. Some neighbors say crime is a real issue.
"Just mayhem — I watched a guy get shot and killed across the street," said a neighbor, Michael. Families who live nearby say they increasingly avoid walking through the area.
"It’s not like I feel safe enough to just go and stroll by myself, " one woman said. "Go take a look at Council District Raman’s district," Councilmember Traci Park responded. "Talk to her constituents about how they feel having violent, unregulated encampments near their schools.
A girl accused her relative of abuse. Then LAPD linked him to a rape unsolved for decades
A man arrested last year for allegedly sexually assaulting a young relative has now been linked to the rape of another teenager in 1997 in Koreatown, according to recent court filings in the long-unsolved case. The Koreatown investigation languished for nearly three decades until a DNA hit led to Wilfredo Romeo Perez, an LAPD sex crimes detective wrote in a sworn affidavit seeking Perez’s arrest. Det. Ernesto Escoto wrote in the April 7 affidavit that Perez became a suspect after a young woman in his family reported to authorities that he had been sexually abusive for years. Perez’s relative first reported the alleged assaults last April, telling investigators from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department that the abuse began when she was 11 and occurred multiple times, according to the affidavit. Police said that Perez was out on bond after being charged with continuous sexual abuse of a minor and other related crimes. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is set to return to court next month, court records show. When police uploaded Perez’s genetic profile into a national database, they received a hit matching him to evidence collected in the 1997 case, according to Escoto’s affidavit. The victim in that incident, then 14, told police her attacker had been sitting in his car when he threatened to kill her family if she didn’t perform oral sex on him. He then repeatedly assaulted her, police said.
Stabbing outside Union Station in downtown LA leaves man dead
A stabbing outside Union Station in downtown Los Angeles early Wednesday left a man dead, authorities said. Firefighters were called to the scene around 5:30 a.m. by station security. When crews arrived, they found an injured man at the scene. The Los Angeles Fire Department said the victim was taken to a hospital where he later died. According to the police department, the victim, described only as a man in his 40s, was believed to be homeless. No suspect information was available.
13-year-old boy named suspect in North Hills shooting near Sepulveda Middle School
A 13-year-old boy was named a suspect in a shooting that occurred in front of a middle school in North Hills Wednesday. When police responded to the shooting at around 3 p.m., they found the victim, a 17-year-old boy, shot in the thigh, Cpt. Garrett Peyton of the Los Angeles Police Department told NBC Los Angeles. The victim was not a student at Sepulveda Middle School, but he was walking toward the school to pick up a younger sibling. The 13-year-old suspect was yet to be arrested, police said. His firearm was located and collected at the scene. It was not immediately clear whether the teen is affiliated with any gang. The shooting happened in front of the school on school property, but it was not within the school fencing. "The injured person was not a Sepulveda Middle School student," the school principal said in a message to the school community. "Due to the proximity to our campus, we placed the campus on lockdown and requested the assistance of the Los Angeles School Police Department."
Man Sustains Graze Wound in South L.A. Car-to-Car Shooting
A man suffered a graze wound Thursday in a car-to-car shooting in the Vermont Square neighborhood of South Los Angeles. The shooting was reported about 5:45 a.m. in the 1600 block of West 53rd Street, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The victim was in stable condition and no suspects were in custody, an officer said. Video from the location showed a bullet-ridden black SUV. A white Prius was seen speeding from the location, according to CBS2.
LAPD investigating Valley Glen home burglary as string of San Fernando Valley crimes continues
Los Angeles police are investigating a home burglary that happened in Valley Glen late Wednesday night, just hours after another San Fernando Valley home was also targeted. Officers were called to the home, located in the 6800 block of Vanscoy Avenue, at around 9:30 p.m., upon learning of a burglary, Los Angeles Police Department officers told CBS LA. Upon arrival, they found that the home had been broken into, but the suspects were nowhere to be found. Aerial footage captured by SkCal showed that the glass backdoor of the home had been shattered. Police were unable to provide information on the suspects involved as they began their investigation. It's unclear how much, if anything, was taken from inside the home. Officers also did not say if anyone was inside the house when the alleged burglars entered.
1 arrested, another person sought in North Hills copper wire theft
One person was taken into custody and another is being sought after police say they were cutting copper wire in North Hills early Thursday. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, officers were driving near Roscoe Boulevard and North Burnet Avenue around 2:30 a.m. when they spotted two people cutting the wire from nearby utility poles. Officers approached them and were able to take one of them into custody for grand theft. The second person was able to get away. It was not clear how many wires were cut. No further details were immediately available.
Silver Alert issued for 78-year-old woman missing in L.A. County
A Silver Alert was issued by the California Highway Patrol for a 78-year-old woman last seen in Los Angeles County. Details are limited and it’s unclear just exactly how Jeanne Litvin went missing, but authorities said she was last seen around 7:30 a.m. in the 5800 block of West 3rd Street in Los Angeles. “She has a mental deficiency and has not been seen or heard from since,” investigators with the Los Angeles Police Department said in a news release. “Her family is concerned for her safety.” Described as approximately 5’ 2” tall, weighing around 140 pounds with brown hair and eyes, Jeanne was last seen wearing a red and black striped sweater and black skirt. “Litvin is believed to be on foot,” officials said in a post to X. Authorities are asking anyone who may have information about her whereabouts or anyone who spots her to call 911 immediately.
Nebraska woman kidnaps child at knifepoint, slashes him before fatal OIS
Omaha police on Tuesday shot and killed a woman they say slashed a young boy with a knife outside of a Walmart after taking him from another woman inside the store. The suspect approached a female shopper and a 3-year-old boy, then displayed a large knife she had shoplifted from the store and “took possession of the child, essentially kidnapping the child,” Deputy Chief Scott Gray said. The suspect told the woman to walk in front of a shopping cart, and she followed with the child at knifepoint, Gray said. They proceeded out of the store and down a driveway where the two women had “some verbal back and forth” for several minutes until officers arrived, Gray said. After receiving a 911 call, police arrived outside the Walmart and gave the suspect commands, at which point she began “swiping the knife at the child, cutting him across the face,” Gray said. At least one officer fired at the suspect, and she died at the scene. Body-worn camera images police released show the woman raising a knife over the young boy sitting in a shopping cart as an officer aims a gun at her.
Woman on FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted list arrested in north Florida
Kansas City authorities have announced the arrest of a local woman listed on the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted list. The arrest comes just one day after the FBI’s Kansas City Division held a press conference to announce that the agency was offering a $1 million reward for 50-year-old KaShawn Nicola Roper. She is accused of shooting and killing 23-year-old Jazmyn Henrion in August 2020. The High Springs Police Department said it arrested Roper during a traffic stop in north Florida. The police department said officers conducted a traffic stop within the city of High Springs just after 10:20 a.m. after receiving a tip of a person in the area believed to be Roper. “The High Springs Police Department commends the strong collaboration between local and federal law enforcement partners in this case,” said High Springs Police Chief Antoine Sheppard.
Public Safety News
Father drowns, teen son rescued after being pulled from lake in Lincoln Heights
A father was pronounced dead from drowning and his teenage son was rescued after they were pulled from a lake in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Lincoln Heights. Firefighters responded to the scene in Lincoln Park just after 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Los Angeles firefighters pulled a 16-year-old boy from the water but initially struggled to locate his father, who remained submerged. About 30 minutes later, firefighters found the man at the bottom of the lake. LAFD Capt. Cody Weireter said paramedics performed CPR on the father, believed to be about 60 years old. The father was taken to a hospital unresponsive. The teenager was treated for non-life-threatening injuries. It's unclear why the father and son were in the water.
Los Angeles firefighters investigating fires inside Amazon cargo containers in back-to-back weeks
Los Angeles Fire Department investigators are looking into a pair of fires that broke out inside of Amazon cargo containers being hauled through downtown Los Angeles in back-to-back weeks. The first blaze was reported at around 5:20 a.m. on Thursday, April 9 as the train moved through the Union Pacific rail yard near the 3900 block of E. Valley Boulevard, according to LAFD crews. They said that it took just over an hour to fully extinguish the flames, which had engulfed dozens of Amazon packages. Despite being aware of the fire, crews said that the train's engineer continued to drive the train into the rail yard so that they could easily access the container and extinguish the flames. The second fire happened nearly a week after the first, on Tuesday April 14, in nearly the exact same spot, at around 5:45 a.m. Similar to the first incident, the train was pulled into the rail yard, near the 500 block of Mission Road, where LAFD crews got to work extinguishing the flames.
Fire breaks out at apartment building in Koreatown
Fire crews responded to a building fire in Koreatown after receiving a report of an apartment fire Wednesday afternoon. The fire broke out inside a three-story vacant apartment building on New Hampshire Avenue near Vermont Avenue at around 5:20 p.m., fire officials said. Heavy flames and smoke were reported inside one of the units. At one point, the fire spread to the attic. The Los Angeles Fire Department requested additional resources to put out the flames. After 80 firefighters aggressively attacked the fire, they declared a knockdown shortly before 6 p.m. No one was injured from the fire. The cause of the fire was under investigation.
California sees the most measles cases in 7 years as disease resurges nationwide
California in 2026 has already seen its highest number of annual measles cases in seven years, health officials said, amid an ongoing resurgence of a notoriously infectious disease once considered effectively eliminated in the United States. The looming new domestic beachhead for the disease comes as vaccination rates have tumbled nationwide in recent years — in some areas falling well below the herd immunity threshold experts say is necessary to keep it from spreading. “There are pockets of vulnerability, like in communities, that can really lead to outbreaks going wild,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a UC San Francisco infectious diseases expert. So far this year, there have been at least 40 confirmed measles cases in California. That’s well above the 25 recorded in all of 2025, according to Dr. Eric Sergienko, chief of the state Department of Public Health’s communicable disease control division. It’s also already the state’s highest single-year tally since 2019, when there were 73.
Local Government News
LA Council Authorizes Audit of Commodity Procurement Process
The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to request an audit of its commodity procurement process, citing a need to ensure the city receives the most optimal prices for purchased products. Wednesday’s motion — introduced by Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky and seconded by council members Imelda Padilla and Tim McOsker — instructed City Controller Kenneth Mejia to conduct the audit. The report is expected to evaluate the city’s request for bid process, the price of supplies compared to what other government agencies pay, the use of “piggybacking” contracts, and a review of all contract stipulations that limit the pool of applicants seeking contracts with the city. The council further instructed the General Services Department and the City Attorney’s Office to develop a policy allowing flexibility in commodity contracts or to nullify them outright if it is better to do so. Such a policy may also allow the city to compare supplier pricing against the current market, and require vendors to offer the most favorable pricing available to the city.
