Los Angeles World Airports

Land purchased decades ago in Palmdale for an intercontinental jetport that was never built might become a solar power plant under a proposal advanced Monday by the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners. The board voted to solicit the ideas of energy companies and utilities interested in constructing a solar farm on part of the 17,750 acres that Los Angeles World Airports bought in the early 1970s for more than $100 million. "This is a potentially excellent use of that land as we wait for an airport," said commission President Alan Rothenberg.

Los Angeles and other California cities and counties may bar the Hare Krishnas and other groups from panhandling at airports, the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday. The state high court, reviving a 1997 Los Angeles ordinance aimed at LAX, ruled that bans on soliciting at airports do not violate state constitutional guarantees of free speech. Lawyers for Los Angeles said that about 100 individuals representing at least 15 groups solicit money regularly at LAX. Thursday's ruling is expected to lead other airports to consider ordinances similar to L.A.'s law, which would ban solicitations in the interior terminals, parking lots and adjacent sidewalks.

A lawyer representing six current and former employees of Los Angeles World Airports said Wednesday that the city's Ethics Commission has dropped a conflict-of-interest investigation into travel to China and New England by his clients. Attorney Terree Bowers said Ethics Commission Executive Director LeeAnn Pelham directed her staff to close the investigation, which was examining whether the airport officials violated the law by receiving discounted trips from an association that represents dozens of international airlines that use Los Angeles International Airport.

The nation's economic downturn continued to pound the Los Angeles airport system in 2009, causing LAX to shed millions of passengers while the number at Ontario International Airport fell to a level not seen in two decades. Figures released Tuesday by Los Angeles World Airports show that the passengers handled by LAX fell 5.5% from 59.8 million in 2008 to 56.5 million in 2009. At Ontario, which once set growth records, the volume dropped 9.6% to 4.9 million. Meanwhile, Van Nuys Airport was knocked off its perch as the nation's busiest general-aviation facility by Deer Valley Airport outside Phoenix, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Air passengers headed to the United States from Canada, Europe and elsewhere faced hours of delay Sunday because of tightened security imposed after a Nigerian man allegedly tried to bomb a Northwest Airlines flight headed from Amsterdam to Detroit. The new security measures varied, but at many airports, travelers flying to the U.S. were limited to one carry-on and were subject to pat-downs or last-minute bag screenings at the gate. Once on the plane, many were told to stay in their seats for the last hour of the flight.

A nonprofit agency that has managed taxicabs at Los Angeles International Airport for years has been recommended for another LAX contract, although a 2007 city audit found that the company had mismanaged money and violated state workers' compensation laws. After evaluating competing proposals from two companies, the staff of Los Angeles World Airports recommended Friday that airport commissioners at the Jan. 11 meeting award a new five-year concession contract to Authorized Taxicab Supervision Inc. An evaluation panel concluded that the firm was the most qualified bidder.

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday agreed to return more than $21.2 million to the operator of LAX to settle legal claims that airport funds were misappropriated in violation of federal regulations. On its last vote of the year, the council unanimously approved a plan for the city to repay $18.1 million to Los Angeles World Airports, which had been accused by the Federal Aviation Administration of improperly diverting the funds to L.A. Inc., the city's convention and visitors bureau.

Tenants at Van Nuys Airport on Thursday called on Los Angeles officials to freeze proposed rent increases and consider handing over the management to a private company that might run the popular airfield more efficiently. The action, sparked by the worst economic downturn in decades, is another indication of widespread dissatisfaction with the way the city has run its outlying airports, including L.A./Ontario International and Palmdale Regional, which is now closed. The Van Nuys Airport Assn.

Los Angeles World Airports is re-interviewing job candidates this month for a position that was at the center of a personnel investigation into whether one of the agency's top managers helped to promote a female co-worker with whom he had a personal relationship. The investigation targeted Raymond Jack, the operations manager at Los Angeles International Airport, and Jane Kinyanjuis, an entry-level superintendent in the same division who was promoted to Superintendent II this year.

City ethics investigators have recommended that civil charges be brought against six current and former officials at Los Angeles World Airports who allegedly accepted thousands of dollars worth of discounted trips to China and New England from an association that represents dozens of international airlines that use LAX. According to records obtained by The Times, the trips involved a weeklong cruise last year along the New England and Canadian coasts...