Impoundment

Citing reports that at least a handful of absentee ballots had been mailed to voters who are now deceased, Republican Bob Turner obtained a court order impounding absentee ballots cast in the special election in New York's 9th Congressional District. Bill O'Reilly, a spokesman for the Turner campaign, said in an email that the campaign requested that the ballots be impounded after "getting serious reports of election fraud. " "Many Democrats -- including deceased ones -- were sent ballots without applying," O'Reilly said.

The state Senate on Tuesday voted to restrict cities' ability to impound cars driven by people caught at sobriety checkpoints without driver's licenses. The action came as a direct response to the city of Bell, which made it a practice to confiscate vehicles from unlicensed motorists — many of them illegal immigrants — and then charge high impound fees or sell them in order to fill city coffers. Currently, cities can hold cars taken from unlicensed drivers for 30 days, with impound fees accruing each day. If unclaimed, the vehicles may then be auctioned off, something that often happens when fines and fees exceed the car's value.

For a two-man operation, the Police Department in tiny Maricopa has developed an outsize reputation. The chief, the sergeant and the 20 volunteers who help them have been accused of running a costly speed trap, sapping motorists' desire for a return visit to the oil field town 40 miles southwest of Bakersfield. One local businessman even put up billboard-size signs outside his gas station warning travelers to watch themselves because the department "wants your cars and your money.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck has adopted a common-sense approach to dealing with unlicensed drivers and the cars they drive. Under Beck's new rule, when officers at sobriety checkpoints stop unlicensed drivers, they can issue them tickets or, if they have no identification, arrest them. But police are no longer allowed to impound a car if a licensed driver or the registered and licensed owner is on hand or can pick up the car in a reasonable amount of time. This helps officers do their jobs while complying with a federal court ruling that set limits on when cars can be seized.

Los Angeles police last week joined a growing list of law enforcement agencies across the state in changing policies for impounding vehicles of unlicensed drivers, a shift prompted by complaints that illegal immigrants were being unfairly targeted at DUI checkpoints. For years, activists and some city officials have charged that police are increasingly punishing illegal immigrants who cannot get driver's licenses by towing and sometimes impounding their cars for 30 days. Once a car is impounded, fees to release the vehicles can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Under criticism that it was unfairly targeting undocumented immigrants, the Los Angeles Police Department on Friday announced changes to its rules for impounding cars of unlicensed drivers at sobriety checkpoints. Previously, LAPD officers at such checkpoints followed stringent protocols that called for them to impound a car whenever the driver was found not to have a valid license, regardless of whether the driver had been drinking. Those rules have drawn the ire of immigration advocacy groups that said they disproportionately targeted undocumented immigrants, who are not able to obtain licenses legally in nearly all U.S. states.

A memo discovered in files of the Bell Police Department appears to outline a game in which police officers would compete to issue tickets, impound cars and arrest motorists. Titled the "Bell Police Department Baseball Game," the memo assigns "singles," "doubles," "triples" and "home runs" to progressively more serious infractions, starting with parking tickets and moving up to impounded vehicles and felony arrests. "Non performers," the memo said, would be "sent for minor league rehab stint.

A memo discovered in Bell police files appears to outline a game in which police officers compete to issue tickets, impound cars and arrest motorists. Titled the "Bell Police Department Baseball Game," the memo assigns "singles," "doubles," "triples" and "home runs" to progressively more serious infractions, starting with parking tickets and moving on to vehicle impounds and felony arrests of drivers. "Non-performers," the memo says, are "sent for minor league rehab stint. " The discovery of the memo comes as the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether Bell police violated the civil rights of residents through aggressive towing of cars and code enforcement.

As city administrators' salaries were rocketing upward in Bell and council members' stipends were among the highest in the state, the city went on an aggressive push to increase municipal revenue by impounding cars in the city, police officers say. Officers in this poor, largely immigrant community were pushed to have more cars towed and, at one point, were given what some patrol officers said amounted to a daily quota. Several officers said they were reprimanded when they failed to find cars to tow and were warned that City Hall jobs could be at risk if impounds did not accelerate.

Nearly two months after the seizure here of a charter plane carrying 35 tons of weapons shipped from North Korea, the mystery remains as to where the rockets and other armaments were headed. Iran, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates were reportedly listed on the flight plan; the former Soviet republic of Georgia was cited as the charter company's operations base; and the captain has said that Kiev, Ukraine, was the destination. This week, Iran denied that it was the intended recipient, according to wire reports, arguing that it had no need for the weaponry because it has its own arms industry, which makes rockets, tanks, jet fighters, light submarines and missiles.