Counties

The Better Business Bureau of Los Angeles/Orange Counties, which closed last week after running out of money, may be replaced by branch offices of a bureau based in San Bernardino County if a local proposal receives national approval. BBB officials confirmed Wednesday that the board of the beleaguered Los Angeles/Orange County bureau approved the branch-office plan at a private meeting Tuesday and will submit it to the Council of Better Business Bureaus in Alexandria, Va.

The number of reported hate crimes in Orange County fell by 21% last year, even though such crimes based on sexual orientation almost doubled, according to a report released Thursday. The Orange County Human Relations Commission found that 61 hate crimes were reported to authorities in 2012, continuing a general downward trend since reported hate crimes peaked at 101 in 2006. The most frequent target, the commission said, were blacks and people perceived to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.

In his first full day on the job, Gov. Jerry Brown walked right up to the third rail of California politics: Proposition 13. Heading into a meeting with local government officials Tuesday morning, Brown said implementation of the property-tax limits that Californians hold dear has contributed to the state's financial mess. The new governor said his budget proposal next week would include plans to return to cities and counties many government functions that Sacramento took over after Proposition 13 passed.

Authorities have arrested a purported "secretary" for the Mexican Mafia who allegedly helped funnel information through Los Angeles County jails - from her home in Kansas. Cecilia Virgen-DeLeon, 31, was taken into custody about 11:15 a.m. Wednesday in Salina, a town of about 50,000 in the heart of the state, L.A. County Sheriff's Deputy Francis Hardiman said in a phone interview from Kansas. The so-called secretaries of organized crime groups often use fraudulent cellphone accounts to help push information - about drug movements, hits and other matters - to shot-callers inside the jails, Hardiman said.

Unemployment in eight counties in California has topped 20%, according to figures released by the state Wednesday. Joblessness in California has hit a peak -- 12.5% in January -- the highest rates have been since the government began tracking unemployment numbers in 1976. Here are the eight counties in the state where unemployment is more than 20%. (Numbers are not seasonally adjusted. Colusa : 27.4% Imperial : 27.3% Merced: 21.7% Plumas : 22.3% San Benito: 21.1% Sutter: 21% Trinity: 25.8% Yuba: 20.4%

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has thrown its weight behind Laura's Law - which allows counties to create court-ordered outpatient mental health treatment for the severely ill who have cycled through hospitals or jails and refused voluntary care - saying in a resolution that such programs have been shown to "significantly reduce" homelessness, hospitalization and arrest. The resolution, authored by Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, directs the county's chief executive and legislative advocates to get behind five new state bills that would make it easier for counties to create such programs and secure "mental health treatment for those who refuse to get help on their own. " The back story: State lawmakers passed Laura's Law, patterned after New York state's Kendra's Law but which came with no funding, in 2002.

Thank you for your inspirational piece on the Lipkis couple ("The Green Team" by Connie Koenenn, July 20). It warms my heart to know about these community building efforts. I think Los Angeles can do a lot to promote these concepts. However, it is difficult to imagine that the powers that be, with Southern California's explosive growth, can coordinate other cash-poor cities to do the same. We need to coordinate counties, not just cities, to slow growth. ANDREW BASMAJIAN Santa Monica

Here are the unofficial returns from California by county in the Democratic primary for governor. Percentages listed are for Feinstein and Van de Kamp only; figures do not total 100%.

The Legislature is poised to offer health insurance to millions of additional low-income Californians, with the federal government covering much of the cost. The expansion would be a boon to counties, which collectively spend billions of dollars caring for the indigent uninsured. One sticking point, though, is what to do with the more than $4 billion in sales taxes and vehicle license fees the state has been sending back to counties every year to help pay for public health programs - and that the Brown administration wants to reclaim.

California courts, reeling from years of state budget cuts, are delaying hearings and trials, allowing records to sit unprocessed for months and slashing services at public windows, a judge's committee has reported. The report by the Trial Court Presiding Judges Advisory Committee was based on a survey of all presiding judges and prepared for the Judicial Council, the policy-making body for the courts. All but 10 of the state's counties responded to the survey. The survey represented the most in-depth look yet of how California courts are faring with less money and suggested that the effect of the cuts is growing.

A man at the center of a videotaped altercation with Kern County sheriff's deputies earlier this month died from heart disease, not baton blows, authorities said Thursday. The county coroner's office labeled David Sal Silva's death accidental, adding that the primary cause was hypertensive heart disease. Videos taken by witnesses showed baton blows and a struggle between Silva and deputies. But at a news conference Thursday in Bakersfield, Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said those blows were mainly to his midsection and were not fatal.

Irvine grew faster than all but seven other large U.S. cities between July 2011 and July 2012, with its population vaulting to nearly 230,000 last year, new census data show. The pace of growth was nearly five times as fast as the Southern California average. The increase continues a pattern for Irvine, where population climbed an average of 4.8% annually between 2000 and 2010. It rose 3.4% the next year and 4.2% last year, according to census data released Thursday. City officials see the numbers as proof that its meticulous planning has worked.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky wants the board to consider tearing down part of the troubled Men's Central Jail and building a facility to house mentally ill and drug addicted inmates, which he says would offer all prisoners a better chance of rehabilitation while potentially saving the county millions of dollars. Supervisors have been struggling over what to do with their aging and overcrowded jails for more than a year. Sheriff Lee Baca, who oversees the nation's largest jail system, initially called for spending nearly $1.4 billion to replace or renovate the Men's Central Jail and the adjacent Twin Towers, but the price tag was more than supervisors would accept.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court's two leading conservatives staked out opposite stands Monday over whether judges should play a greater role in second-guessing regulations issued by "unelected bureaucrats" in federal agencies. The divide arose when the court, by a 6-3 vote, upheld a rule adopted by the Federal Communications Commission that says cities and counties must decide within five months whether to approve an application for erecting a new wireless phone antenna. Los Angeles and San Diego had joined two Texas cities in challenging that rule as infringing on their local zoning authority.

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office plans to retry the case against Bell council members accused of misappropriating public funds by overpaying themselves for sitting on city boards and authorities that rarely met, according to defense attorneys connected with the case. D.A. spokeswoman Jean Guccione said Tuesday that prosecutors want a retrial after jurors in March issued a mixed verdict and the judge declared a mistrial on some counts. Jurors delivered a mixed verdict for Victor Bello, George Cole, Oscar Hernandez, Teresa Jacobo and George Mirabal, finding them guilty on multiple felony counts and acquitting them on other charges.

Los Angeles County supervisors unanimously approved a plan Tuesday to study tearing down part of the Men's Central Jail and replacing it with a facility designed for mentally ill and drug-addicted prisoners. The new facility could save the county millions of dollars and offer inmates a better chance of rehabilitation, according to Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who proposed the idea. Yaroslavsky has opposed earlier plans to spend up to $1.4 billion to renovate or replace the Men's Central Jail and the adjacent Twin Towers Jail.

Most of California's corporate headquarters are in urban counties, but there are others scattered throughout the state. A look at leading publicly held companies by county or groups of counties: (Please refer to the microfilm for details.)

According to the Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy, the state's top 10 counties were San Luis Obispo, Lake, Placer, Santa Clara, Sonoma, Riverside, Santa Cruz, Ventura, San Diego and Solano. The report ranked California's 58 counties on percentage increases in population, jobs, personal income and retail sales over the last five years. San Luis Obispo led by scoring well in all categories. It was second in both retail sales and new jobs.

After spending $160,000 to rescue two hikers lost in a canyon - one of whom was later charged with drug possession - Orange County officials voted Tuesday to endorse a legislative proposal that would allow cities and counties to try to recover the costs of such operations. The proposal, approved unanimously by Orange County supervisors, seeks to enable cities and counties to charge for an "extraordinary" search and rescue in cases in which the person was older than 16 and demonstrated "wanton or reckless conduct.

Palmela Green sits amid hundreds of fabric rolls in her West L.A. swimsuit shop, surrounded by pink and red sequins, animal prints, knits and faux furs. A photo of one of her recent projects, a swimsuit in a Lexus ad, is proudly displayed on a wall. Green, who works by appointment, is one of only a few designers - the pool also includes Lissa Walker and Merrilee Madrigal, who are both based in Orange County - in the area who create custom swimwear. Green's customers pick a fabric and then choose one of her styles or order a one-of-a-kind pattern.