Advisory Committees

Orange County supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to move forward with the creation of a civilian commission that would review misconduct complaints against county law enforcement. The board agreed to spend two months fine-tuning details of the proposal before giving final approval, a concession to the sheriff, district attorney and some board members who criticized the current version.

A task force set up by California's chief justice to consider statewide conservatorship reform is seeking public comments on a list of draft recommendations that include a "Bill of Rights" for people under conservatorship and improved ways to protect the assets of incapacitated adults from theft.

A presidential commission recommended major steps Wednesday to overhaul the treatment of military personnel wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying that a system criticized for shabby treatment and numbing bureaucracy needed "fundamental change."

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday signaled his intention to appeal a federal court decision ordering a special judicial panel to examine severe overcrowding in California's prison system. The governor's action comes a day after the chief judge of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals created the three-judge panel, following the recommendation of two federal judges.

The fate of a U.N.-backed initiative to fight organized crime hangs in the balance in Guatemala, where legislators will decide this week whether to scrap a plan to create an international team of investigators to aid the country's beleaguered criminal justice system.

When Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa scaled back an $11-billion plan for modernizing Los Angeles International Airport two years ago, he promised neighborhoods near LAX that he would embrace a different aviation strategy: sending air traffic to other airports across the region. To reach that goal, Villaraigosa resurrected an obscure five-county panel on air travel that had disbanded in 2003 because of lack of interest.

The Rev. Ann Gordon stood in front of her United Methodist congregation last fall and announced that she was now he. Surgery and testosterone had transformed Ann into the Rev. Drew Phoenix -- still as liberal and laid-back as always, but now legally male. Most in the small congregation accepted their pastor's transition; they even threw him a renaming party, complete with birthday cake.

The Bush administration announced a mortgage industry coalition Wednesday aimed at helping homeowners avoid being trapped in a rising tide of foreclosures. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. said the initiative would boost financial companies' efforts to help an estimated 2 million homeowners whose introductory mortgages with low rates are resetting at much higher rates, just as the housing industry suffers through its steepest downturn in 16 years.

The Office of Independent Review, which oversees investigations into alleged misconduct by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies, does a good job of making sure internal investigations and discipline are fair and has increased public confidence in the department, according to a report by the county executive. The Board of Supervisors ordered the review last month after agreeing to spend more than $3 million to fund the unit for the next three years.

SACRAMENTO -- Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez has appointed a former Democratic legislator to the state board that regulates accountants, despite the ex-assemblyman's sponsorship of a controversial bill last year on behalf of the accounting profession. The bill sponsored by two-term Assemblyman Rudy Bermudez (D-Norwalk) would have gutted state accounting regulations and exposed Californians to illegal tax shelters had it been passed in its initial form, consumer groups and former Atty. Gen.