Complaints

Los Angeles Police Department investigators routinely fail to fully investigate citizens' complaints against allegedly abusive officers, often omitting or altering crucial information in ways that help exonerate the officers, according to a report to be released today. The 34-page report by the Police Commission's inspector general raises questions about the department's ability to police itself, adding to still-unresolved problems highlighted in previous reports.

Public animal shelters will never look like -- or be run like -- the Four Seasons. But according to animal welfare activists, volunteers and private rescuers, the shelters operated by the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care & Control sometimes resemble dog pounds of yore.

In the shadow of the $440-million "bird's nest" Olympic stadium, migrant workers toil for a few dollars a day. A few miles away, bulldozers destroy a neighborhood where petitioners gather to seek justice from the government. Farther afield, foreign journalists endure sporadic harassment despite promised press freedoms, with Chinese reporters, bloggers and activists facing far greater restrictions.

Grover Cleveland High School Principal Bob Marks has his limits. On Thursday, it was the labeled diagram of a vagina splashed across the front page of the student newspaper's Valentine's Day issue. Flustered teachers rushed to confiscate the publication, but with some copies already in circulation and the Reseda campus in an uproar, it quickly became a hot read for the school's roughly 3,700 students. And some of the contraband issues made their way home, getting a quick reaction from parents.

Orange County supervisors Tuesday gave final approval to a plan to create a civilian oversight agency that will review misconduct complaints against county law enforcement officers, capping months of planning to establish it. The plan, put forward in May by board Chairman John Moorlach, creates a review board modeled on one used in Los Angeles County to take citizen complaints, investigate deaths and serious injuries involving Sheriff's Department personnel, and examine all deaths in custody.

Their beef isn't with the burger. Merchants near some Southern California In-N-Out Burger restaurants say their gripe is with growing traffic jams at drive-through lanes that are keeping customers from getting in and out of their stores. Long lines of idling cars whose occupants are waiting for made-to-order double-doubles, fries and chocolate shakes sometimes spill into streets and block driveways and alleys, according to owners of adjacent businesses.

Business was brisk one recent night as the smell of sizzling carne asada floated from an East Los Angeles taco truck. A row of customers sat on folding chairs, tacos and quesadillas in hand. Two blocks down Cesar Chavez Avenue, Jesus Huerta's La Tia Tamale restaurant stood empty. "If they weren't there," Huerta said of the shiny chrome-sided Taqueria "El Pecas" truck, "I'd be selling right now."

A year has come and gone, and Karol Potter is dreading another long, hot summer. A loyal Metrolink rider, she complained last year that the bustling, sun-baked east platform of the Santa Ana train station lacked basic human comforts, such as shade, drinking water and restrooms.

After a year of near-naked environmental activism in Ojai, the Pastie Lady has decided to hit the road for greener pastures. Jennifer Moss, 32, caused community strife and gained local celebrity for the bike rides she took daily through the center of town, clad only in a hemp G-string and pasties. But last week, she said she'd grown tired of police harassment in the Ventura County city of 8,000, and moved to Ashland, Ore.

Distraught over the results of cosmetic surgery on her nose, Katherine Chen did what many people do when they're unhappy with a doctor. She consulted a malpractice lawyer and filed a complaint with the Medical Board of California. But the 22-year-old college student didn't stop there. Chen logged onto her home computer and wrote a tearful review about her experience, posting it to a website that encourages consumers to rate their healthcare providers.