Moratoriums

With hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles operating in violation of a moratorium, the City Council will start the process of shutting some down Tuesday by voting on exemption requests filed by 16 dispensaries. Most, if not all, of the requests probably will be denied because the dispensaries did not register with the city by the moratorium's deadline in 2007. A denial would allow the city to take legal steps to force them to close.

A regulation banning the establishment of new fast-food restaurants in South Los Angeles is unlikely to curb obesity rates, according to a study by researchers at Santa Monica think tank Rand Corp. Concerned about high levels of obesity, the lack of traditional grocery stores and a proliferation of fast-food eateries, the Los Angeles City Council approved a moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in one of the poorest sections of the city last year. It has extended the ban through March of next year.

Stunned by the spread of medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles, the City Council moved Tuesday to close a loophole that had encouraged their rapid growth. The council also rejected a dozen applications from dispensaries that sought permission to operate despite the city's moratorium and prepared to extend the ban for six months beyond its expiration in September. And a council committee unveiled a revamped proposal for a comprehensive ordinance to replace the moratorium.

A law that would bar fast-food restaurants from opening in South Los Angeles for at least a year sailed through the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday. The council approved the fast-food moratorium unanimously, despite complaints from representatives of McDonald's, Carl's Jr. and other companies, who said they were being unfairly targeted.

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday approved a three-month moratorium on billboards and super-graphics wrapped around buildings, a pause designed to give the city time to replace its current restrictions on outdoor advertising, which many consider ineffective. The temporary ban comes after years of court challenges and political maneuvering that have undermined existing billboard regulations.

A moratorium of up to one year on new medical marijuana dispensaries was endorsed Tuesday by a City Council committee, but the panel wants to see an ordinance drafted before sending it to the full council for consideration. The council's Planning and Land Use Management Committee asked the city attorney's office to draft an interim control ordinance providing two six-month periods during which new dispensaries would be prohibited from opening. Dozens of dispensaries have opened in L.A.

A judge Thursday blocked two executions in North Carolina, creating a de facto moratorium on capital punishment in the state until it changes its lethal injection procedure. The ruling by Superior Court Judge Donald W. Stephens in Raleigh means that 11 states, including California, have now halted executions stemming from challenges to lethal injection.

Aiming to end a court-imposed moratorium on capital punishment in California, the Schwarzenegger administration Tuesday proposed new procedures to execute inmates by lethal injection, saying the changes "will result in the dignified end of life" for condemned inmates. The state, in papers submitted in response to a court challenge to lethal injection, said officials would stick to the three-drug protocol that has been blamed for excruciatingly painful deaths of inmates nationwide.

The Los Angeles City Council gave final approval Wednesday to a one-year moratorium on new medical marijuana dispensaries, a move designed to buy time for city officials seeking to draft new regulations covering marijuana facilities. The council voted 10-2 for the temporary ban, with Councilmen Bernard C. Parks and Greig Smith dissenting.

The Los Angeles Police Department has imposed a moratorium on impounding the vehicles of unlicensed drivers amid concerns that the practice may be unconstitutional, officials said Tuesday. The decision touches on what has long been a hot-button issue, because many unlicensed drivers who have their cars towed are illegal immigrants who cannot get driver's licenses.