Los Angeles County Board Of Supervisors

Responding to a long-running pattern of child abuse deaths that might have been prevented, Los Angeles County supervisors Tuesday will consider a renewed attempt to ease communication among agencies that deal with troubled families. The proposal calls for an interlinked computer system that would expand child abuse investigators' ability to access records showing a family's criminal, educational and medical histories, including critical clues about dangers faced by children.

Los Angeles County supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to launch an investigation into potential flaws in the child welfare system that might have played a role in the deaths of three children over the last month. Child welfare authorities had at one point investigated the care of the three children who died. Statistics show that in the last three years, a dozen children or more have died annually as a result of abuse or neglect despite the fact that their cases had come to the attention of social workers.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday launched an investigation into how the Sheriff's Department conducted a narcotics-search operation at Los Angeles Trade Tech College in which 33 students, all minorities, were detained. The Oct. 17 incident has fueled allegations of racial profiling from civil rights groups and sparked changes in the way the Sheriff's Department communicates with the Los Angeles Community College District.

Despite facing a looming budget crunch, county supervisors will today consider giving Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley a 23% pay raise in an attempt to keep his salary on par with those of other county department heads and top prosecutors elsewhere in the state. If three of the five supervisors approve the proposal, Cooley would make $292,300 a year, up from his current $236,829. Such a raise would make Cooley the highest-paid elected official in Los Angeles County government.

Los Angeles County supervisors backed off a threat Tuesday to ban plastic shopping and grocery bags that environmental experts call unsightly and destructive. Instead, officials chose the weakest of five alternatives recommended by county executives: a volunteer program that leaves it to supermarket and store owners to coax customers into packing their purchases in reusable containers.

Nearly 400 people jammed a West Adams church hall Saturday to watch a rare event in local politics: a debate featuring three candidates for an unusual vacancy on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Healthcare, education and jobs took center stage as candidates for the 2nd District seat promised to fill the gap left by the closing of King-Harbor Medical Center, reduce school dropout rates and bolster job creation and training. Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard C. Parks, a former L.A.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke, who nearly two years ago announced she would retire from one of the region's most powerful elected positions, endorsed Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard C. Parks on Thursday in the hotly contested race to succeed her. The veteran politician's endorsement of Parks, whom she called "dedicated and thorough," comes as the former Los Angeles police chief competes with state Sen.

A majority of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors raised objections Thursday to plans to shut 11 clinics, even though health officials have quietly floated contingency plans for far more drastic cuts in the coming year. Three supervisors said the county should look elsewhere for the painful cuts that lie ahead, but severe cost-cutting looks increasingly inevitable as deficits of $195 million to $331 million are projected for the department in the next fiscal year.

The field of candidates to replace retiring Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke was set Friday when the filing deadline passed for June's primary election. As expected, declarations were filed by City Councilman Bernard C. Parks and state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, two popular Los Angeles Democrats who already have the backing of influential voting groups. Burke's central county district extends from mid-Los Angeles south to Carson.

When it came time to make his endorsement in the hot race to succeed Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke, Sheriff Lee Baca didn't pick just one candidate to fill the 2nd District seat. He picked two. His selection of both state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles) and Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard C. Parks -- widely considered the two leading contenders -- was not a matter of hedging his bet in the June 3 race, a Baca spokesman said.