Miguel Santana

The board that governs San Diego prep athletics Tuesday approved a releaguing proposal for the Grossmont League but turned thumbs down on expanding the San Diego Sectional playoffs. The CIF Board of Managers approved without discussion a recommendation that the nine-team Grossmont League be split into two smaller leagues. One, which will fall in the 2-A ranks, will comprise El Cajon, El Capitan, Grossmont and Valhalla. Granite Hills, Helix, Monte Vista, Mt.

A Los Angeles County task force found an estimated $500,000 worth of antibiotics and other medications Thursday during a raid at the Lynwood home of a woman suspected of operating an unlicensed medical clinic. The woman, whose name was not released, was cited with a misdemeanor charge of selling prescription medicine without a license. She could be charged with a felony if authorities find restricted drugs, such as Valium or codeine.

A nonprofit group that delivers services to people with HIV and AIDS wants voters to force the city of Los Angeles to create its own health department, separate from the county. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a longtime critic of the county's health bureaucracy, wants the city to operate its own health agency rather than rely on the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. The foundation has begun gathering signatures for a 2014 city ballot measure to do just that. The county department is too big and does an abysmal job of disease control, foundation President Michael Weinstein said.

One in five Los Angeles County residents -- nearly 2.2 million people -- are receiving public assistance payments or benefits, a level county officials say will rise significantly over the coming months as the fallout from the recession continues.

Saying that it has no choice in the face of persistent budget deficits, the Los Angeles City Council agreed Tuesday to examine a package of controversial cost-cutting proposals that one councilman likened to a "declaration of war" on city workers and business. The action, suggested by Councilman Bernard C. Parks, directs City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana to prepare reports in a number of areas where the city could potentially reduce costs, including doing away with a shortened work week for police officers, deferring or eliminating proposed employee raises and abandoning efforts to reduce the business tax. The city currently faces a budget shortfall of $150 million to $160 million, according to Santana, although Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and others have said it could be less than $100 million.

Two of the four employee groups that rejected Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plan for worker concessions last month have ratified it on the second go-round — sparing them from dozens of unpaid days off in the coming year, union officials said Friday. Villaraigosa said he will abandon plans for up to 42 furlough days for 5,500 clerks, security guards and other city workers who had originally balked at more employee givebacks. The agreement between the city and civilian employee unions delays a package of raises and requires a 4% pay cut, with proceeds going to pay for the rising cost of retirement benefits.

Some Los Angeles city workers criticized a move to cut doctors affiliated with Cedars-Sinai and UCLA from an employee health plan and urged city leaders to restore access to those physicians. The cash-strapped city opted for the slimmer network of medical providers from Anthem Blue Cross, in part to save $7.6 million in health premiums next year. The city estimates that about 2,200 city workers and their dependents may lose access to their doctors under these health contracts, which cover about 60,000 people overall.

The price tag for rebuilding a wing of the Los Angeles Convention Center, part of a plan to construct a downtown NFL stadium, has jumped nearly $40 million due in part to more expensive design features, two high-level city budget officials said Tuesday. The cost of razing and relocating a section of the center increased from $275 million to nearly $315 million after city officials added an acre-sized ballroom, a new security system and improvements linking the building with a nearby outdoor plaza, said City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana.

The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to hire a "litigation cost manager" in an effort to trim Los Angeles County's tab for lawyers' fees, legal fees, judgments and settlements -- a bill that reached $167 million last year. The vote comes after months of wrangling between the county counsel's office, which handles claims and lawsuits against the county and its departments, and the board, which approves some settlements.