Los Angeles County Department Of Public Social Services

After a weekend of unsuccessful bargaining, representatives of the county's largest employees union reiterated their threat to launch an indefinite strike by more than 5,000 social workers today, to be followed by a one-day general strike of all 41,000 union members Tuesday.

A county laptop computer that contained individuals' Social Security numbers was stolen last month, according to a county report. The password-protected computer assigned to a county auditor-controller employee held the names and Social Security numbers of 28 people enrolled in the Department of Social Services' Refugee Employment Program. The auditor-controller's office is sending letters to the affected individuals advising them to protect themselves against identity theft.

Bolstered by a vigorous job market that has sent welfare cases tumbling, Los Angeles County expects to amass a windfall this year of more than $300 million in surplus funds for public aid. The county's good fortune has raised a thorny issue often faced by those blessed with an embarrassment of riches: what to do with all of the extra cash.

State lawmakers Thursday expressed concern that Los Angeles County is sitting on millions of dollars in unspent welfare funds and said they may set a deadline for the county to use the money or lose it. Those officials fear that if the money--expected to reach $800 million over the next five years-- goes unspent, federal authorities might reduce future welfare expenditures to the state. "It's very embarrassing to realize that L.A. County has all this money, it's ridiculous," said state Sen.

Sixty-eight caseworkers and clerks will be laid off from the county's welfare office in Glendale as of July 31--a cut of almost 20% in manpower for a branch that serves more than 30,000 clients a month, officials said Monday. As the county grapples with an unprecedented financial crisis, officials say a total of 1,782 employees in the county's Public Social Services Department who now serve the unemployed will soon be without jobs themselves.

Chaos reigned at welfare offices on Monday as Los Angeles county workers staged a one-day sickout to protest working conditions and stalled contract negotiations. The walkout came on a day when thousands of homeless and indigent people were scheduled to pick up welfare checks and food stamps at 31 regional offices of the Department of Public Social Services. County officials said they asked clients to leave the offices and return today unless they faced emergency situations.

For a time, the Los Angeles County investigators tracking one of the largest and longest welfare frauds in recent years didn't know exactly who it was they were after. Their quarry was just a face--the same face--found on a handful of driver's licenses bearing different names--Corrie Mae Moorehead, Corrie Grayson, Paula Garry among them. She had allegedly used the aliases to gain welfare payments and food stamps totaling up to $5,000 a month during the last few months of her seven-year scam.

State lawmakers Thursday expressed concern that Los Angeles County is sitting on millions of dollars in unspent welfare funds and said they may set a deadline for the county to use the money or lose it. Those officials fear that if the money--expected to reach $800 million over the next five years-- goes unspent, federal authorities might reduce future welfare expenditures to the state. "It's very embarrassing to realize that L.A. County has all this money, it's ridiculous," said state Sen.

A coalition of community activists is urging Los Angeles County to form a new public agency to manage its troubled home-care system, which provides support services for more than 78,000 sick and disabled residents.

Gov. Pete Wilson on Thursday signed a hastily drafted bill that will allow cash-strapped Los Angeles County to receive $45 million in state and federal funds this year, an infusion that will save the jobs of more than 1,200 welfare workers. Wilson's action came just hours after he vetoed a plan that would have allowed the Board of Supervisors to siphon $75 million in transit funds for county health-care programs in each of the next five years.

Despite dramatic changes that have overhauled California's welfare system, the county welfare department is still not adequately serving recipients, according to a report released today--the one-year anniversary of CalWORKS in Los Angeles--by the Welfare Reform Coalition.

Bolstered by a vigorous job market that has sent welfare cases tumbling, Los Angeles County expects to amass a windfall this year of more than $300 million in surplus funds for public aid. The county's good fortune has raised a thorny issue often faced by those blessed with an embarrassment of riches: what to do with all of the extra cash.

The state official once charged with monitoring California's child support program said the state never fully investigated claims that Los Angeles County had falsified documents to reap millions in incentive funding. Rather than investigate those allegations in 1993, Vivienne DuFour said state monitors concentrated on their routine review of whether the county was complying with technical performance guidelines. Even that review found problems.

Los Angeles County faces penalties of nearly $1 million for errors in its food stamp program and could face even stiffer fines at a later time, officials said Thursday. A review of food stamps issued for last year found that the county's Department of Public Social Services erred in 10.92% of its allocations. The national average is under 10%. As a result, the county faces a possible $948,000 sanction, part of $2.8 million in penalties that may be levied against the state, officials said.

A social worker assigned to the Canoga Park office has been arrested and charged with embezzling an estimated $600,000 in welfare funds during the past four years, and more arrests are expected, county officials said Thursday. Jennifer Castillo, 41, of Van Nuys, was arrested in June after a joint investigation by the Department of Public Social Services and the district attorney's office, said Sandra Semtner, spokeswoman for the social services department.

Reacting to criticism from some quarters that Los Angeles County's proposed welfare reform plan lacks sufficient detail and a strategy to achieve its goals, welfare officials now say they want the Board of Supervisors to consider key measures over a period of several months rather than all at once.

Supervisor Gloria Molina on Tuesday asked the county Department of Public Social Services to delay sending notices to welfare recipients about proposed changes in family grant programs. State officials had asked the department to send out a notice to welfare recipients notifying them that the Legislature has passed a bill making them ineligible for increased payments if they have additional children while on welfare.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday ordered welfare officials to report in two weeks on ways to relieve overcrowding in welfare offices. The action was prompted by complaints from welfare recipients, especially at the South-Central Los Angeles office, that they have had to stand for as long as six hours in line outside because of crowding inside. The problem grew worse last week when fire officials enforced occupancy limits inside offices.

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies are trying to determine whether a bloody, painted cow's tongue found dangling on the entrance to a welfare office, with the names of 14 employees pinned to it, represents a cult threat to the county workers. The tongue was found on the door about 6 a.m. by arriving workers at the Lancaster office of the Department of Public Social Services at 349-B E. Ave. K on July 28, Deputy Paul Ullman said Monday.

A plan by Los Angeles County to change its system of distributing welfare checks is drawing protest from community groups, businesses and property owners who contend that it will disrupt the economic stability of entire neighborhoods. The new arrangement is a portent of the sweeping restructuring of virtually all aspects of public assistance in California and across the nation, generated by the welfare legislation signed in August by President Clinton.