Compton

What happens to the 40% of food produced but never eaten in the U.S. each year, the mounds of perfect fruit passed over by grocery store shoppers, the tons of meat and milk left to expire? At Ralphs, one of the oldest and largest supermarket chains on the West Coast, it helps keep the power on. In a sprawling Compton distribution center that the company shares with its fellow Kroger Co. subsidiary Food 4 Less, organic matter otherwise destined for a landfill is rerouted instead into the facility's energy grid.

Marcel Melanson was a hero in Compton. The fire battalion chief led teams that raced to help victims of car crashes and street violence. Three years ago, he got national exposure as a star of a BET reality TV program that followed Compton firefighters on emergency calls. "We're constantly battling the perception of the city," he told the Los Angeles Times when the show premiered. "It's constantly thought of as this bad place. " On Friday, he was back in the public eye, but under very different circumstances.

Final results from Compton's primary election released Thursday showed longtime Mayor Eric Perrodin ousted and political newcomer Aja Brown headed for a runoff with former Mayor Omar Bradley, who is facing a corruption trial. Incumbent Perrodin, the city's longest-serving mayor, trailed in third place. A deputy district attorney and former Compton police officer, Perrodin ran on a reform platform in the 2001 election in which he defeated Bradley. Perrodin got praise for bringing businesses such as Starbucks and Home Depot to the city, but he came under fire over city contracts that went to friends and family members, absenteeism from meetings and, most recently, a $40-million budget deficit.

What happens to the 40% of food produced but never eaten in the U.S. each year, the mounds of perfect fruit passed over by grocery store shoppers, the tons of meat and milk left to expire? At Ralphs, one of the oldest and largest supermarket chains on the West Coast, it helps keep the power on. In a sprawling Compton distribution center that the company shares with its fellow Kroger Co. subsidiary Food 4 Less, organic matter otherwise destined for a landfill is rerouted instead into the facility's energy grid.

Initial election results in Compton's hotly contested race for mayor showed former Mayor Omar Bradley - whose 2004 conviction on corruption charges was overturned by an appeals court last year - heading into a runoff with political newcomer Aja Brown. The results could signal an ouster of Mayor Eric Perrodin, a deputy district attorney and former Compton police officer who unseated Bradley in 2001. However, with 1,176 vote-by-mail and provisional ballots yet to be verified by the county registrar, the final results may not be known for another week.

Known for her flamboyant hats and dazzling jewelry, Bernice Woods relished being in the public eye. So when the longtime community volunteer and former Compton city councilwoman died last month, her children opted to place her open casket in the drive-thru display window of Robert L. Adams Mortuary in Compton. "My mother was a community person," said Gregory W. Woods, 55, the youngest of the deceased woman's 10 children. "She meant so much to so many people. It is only fitting and proper that she would be viewed this way. " Adams funeral parlor, a fixture in Compton since 1974, brings to the business of death a convenience of the living: drive-thru viewing of the dead.

The report on present-day Compton ("Black Middle Class Keeps the Faith for Compton," Part I, June 26) and its proud residents is a lucid testimonial not only on pride of ownership, but also pride of community. The article should be read by all ethnic groups who, despite social stigma and stereotypes nurtured by bigots believing in "exclusive neighborhoods," continue to think that the latter is the sole way to go on the road to the American success story. The Compton story defies this.

Compton voters head to the polls Tuesday morning to cast their ballots for the next mayor in a crucial election for a city that has struggled with a $40-million deficit. Twelve candidates are vying to become Compton's chief executive, including former Mayor Omar Bradley whose conviction on corruption charges was overturned last year. Prosecutors plan to retry him. Bradley's next court date is eight days away. [For the record, 12:16 p.m. April 16: An earlier version of this post said there were 11 candidates; there are 12. ]

Compton Mayor Walter R. Tucker III wants to declare as a city landmark an apartment that George Bush called home for a mere six months in 1949. That's a nice thought perhaps, but an unnecessary gesture. Tucker's proposal brings to mind the contrast between the Compton of mid-century and the Compton of today. Back then the area attracted an ambitious oilman with a young family. Today, the Santa Fe Gardens apartment complex that was home to a man who would be President is quite troubled.

Compton residents went to the polls Tuesday to cast their votes for the city's next mayor, choosing from a crowded ballot filled with familiar and unknown names. A dozen candidates appeared on the ballot, including current Mayor Eric Perrodin; former Mayor Omar Bradley, whose conviction on corruption charges was overturned last year; several community activists; and some newcomers, including urban planner Aja Brown and former child star Rodney Allen Rippy, who appeared in Jack in the Box commercials.

A group of parents and students have filed a federal lawsuit against the Compton school district alleging a pattern of abuse and racial profiling of Latinos by school police. One family alleged that school police targeted a student's father for arrest and deliberately got him deported to Mexico after he filed a complaint against an officer. In another incident, school officers allegedly beat, pepper sprayed and used a chokehold on a bystander who was taking video of an arrest on his iPod, and erased cellphone videos taken by students.

A 16-year-old girl was found guilty Friday of murdering her mother and stepfather, capping a two-week trial in which the teen admitted driving to buy party supplies while her mother's decomposing body was in the back of her vehicle. Jurors quickly rejected defense arguments that Cynthia Alvarez was an innocent victim of horrific abuse who had been helpless as her violent teenage boyfriend killed her parents in her Compton mobile home in October 2011. After deliberating about three hours, the jurors found her guilty of first-degree murder in both killings, with some members of the panel saying outside court in Compton that they believed Alvarez plotted and actively participated in the slayings.

A teenage girl plotted the murder of her parents and assisted her boyfriend in the killings, giving him a hand signal when her mother was heading to bed and helping him ambush her stepfather, a prosecutor told jurors Thursday. Deputy Dist. Atty. Kristin Trutanich urged the Compton jury not to feel sympathy for the girl, who testified that she suffered years of abuse at the hands of the victims and watched helplessly as a controlling boyfriend carried out the October 2011 slayings in the family's mobile home.

A 16-year-old girl charged with murdering her mother and stepfather tearfully told a Compton jury on Monday that she did not kill them but admitted writing incriminating notes to her boyfriend and handing him a knife during one of the slayings. Cynthia Alvarez testified that she kicked away a folding knife that her stepfather carried while her boyfriend, Giovanni Gallardo, attacked him with a baseball bat in her family's Compton mobile home on Oct. 12, 2011. She said Gallardo used another knife she gave him to stab the victim multiple times.

A Compton jury heard conflicting portraits Tuesday of a 16-year-old girl charged with murdering her mother and stepfather, whose bodies were found more than a year ago buried in separate shallow graves. Cynthia Alvarez sat quietly wearing a pale-blue cardigan, her hair tied back in a ponytail, as a prosecutor told jurors that the teen had confessed to the October 2011 killings and carried them out with her boyfriend, Giovanni Gallardo. Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Kristin Trutanich said the young couple lay in wait for the two victims and, following the slayings, planned a Halloween party to take place in the family's mobile home in Compton.

The cooking of the South has never quite caught on in Southern California. But lately we've lucked into a few newish places with a distinctly Southern bent mixing it up with the usual California/Mediterranean fare. Biscuits lead the way, but you can also find Lowcountry shrimp boil riding shotgun with venison carpaccio, and pork ribs with potato salad on the same menu as grilled octopus with preserved lemon. The Hart & the Hunter Brian Dunsmoor and Kris Tominaga, executive chefs and proprietors, once pop-up auteurs, have grown into this permanent space in the raffish Palihotel.

Standard and Poor's rating service put the city of Compton's lease revenue bonds on credit watch with negative implications Friday afternoon because of a lack of response to inquiries and allegations of fraud and "abuse of public moneys. " The city's leave revenue bonds, rated BB, could suffer additional penalties. "Should we fail to receive sufficient independently audited financial information from the city, we could withdraw or suspend the ratings in accordance with our procedures for withdrawal or suspension," S&P said in a release.

Final results from Compton's primary election released Thursday showed longtime Mayor Eric Perrodin ousted and political newcomer Aja Brown headed for a runoff with former Mayor Omar Bradley, who is facing a corruption trial. Incumbent Perrodin, the city's longest-serving mayor, trailed in third place. A deputy district attorney and former Compton police officer, Perrodin ran on a reform platform in the 2001 election in which he defeated Bradley. Perrodin got praise for bringing businesses such as Starbucks and Home Depot to the city, but he came under fire over city contracts that went to friends and family members, absenteeism from meetings and, most recently, a $40-million budget deficit.

Compton High School has two tennis courts, a coach and now, all the gear it can use, including rackets, balls and even shoes. What's lacking is a team. But that's beginning to change. The school started signing up prospective tennis players last week as a donation of equipment and regulation nets was being unloaded. Curious students approached the tennis court to ask what the commotion was about and left as team members with racket bags filled with gear. "Guess we play tennis now," Tatiarria Hayes, 16, joked with her best friend, Robin Butler, 15, both holding black and green bags.