CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
May 22, 2013 | By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times
On its face, the election this week of a Los Angeles fifth-grade teacher to the Board of Education was a stunner. Monica Ratliff's low-budget effort included her boyfriend, a film school instructor, as her campaign manager. She had no paid staff and no meaningful help from her own politically active teachers union. Her strategy to achieve some name recognition was to mail out refrigerator magnets, which cost $5,000 in scarce campaign funds. Ten to 20 faithful volunteers knocked on doors every weekend.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
May 22, 2013 | By Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times
Jurors awarded an elementary school special needs student $1.4 million after she was sexually assaulted five times by a male classmate during an after-school program in Chatsworth. Santa Monica jurors made the decision Tuesday after an eight-day trial about how much the Los Angeles Unified School District should pay for the injuries the girl suffered because of inadequate supervision at the Superior Street Elementary campus. The jurors apportioned about $731,000 of the damages to the district, with the remainder apportioned to the perpetrator, according to attorneys.
NATIONAL
May 22, 2013 | By Joseph Tanfani, Richard Simon and Melanie Mason, Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - In a contentious climax Wednesday to a series of congressional hearings, Lois Lerner, a key IRS manager, invoked her right to not testify about the agency's targeting of conservative groups, igniting howls from Republicans and sparking a threat to bring her back for another round. Deprived of a crucial witness, members of Congress from both parties alternately grilled and scolded former Commissioner Douglas Shulman about the Internal Revenue Service's improper screening of conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
May 22, 2013 | By Emily Alpert, Los Angeles Times
Irvine grew faster than all but seven other large U.S. cities between July 2011 and July 2012, with its population vaulting to nearly 230,000 last year, new census data show. The pace of growth was nearly five times as fast as the Southern California average. The increase continues a pattern for Irvine, where population climbed an average of 4.8% annually between 2000 and 2010. It rose 3.4% the next year and 4.2% last year, according to census data released Thursday. City officials see the numbers as proof that its meticulous planning has worked.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
May 22, 2013 | By Anna Gorman, Los Angeles Times
As University of California patient care workers returned to the picket lines Wednesday, hospital administrators said they were gratified that so many others chose to come to work. More than three-quarters of union members who had been scheduled to work Tuesday did so, said Dianne Klein, spokeswoman for the UC office of the president. Hospital officials said they expected a similar turnout Wednesday. "The [union] leadership is engaged in this game of brinkmanship," Klein said.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
May 22, 2013 | By Dalina Castellanos, Los Angeles Times
Students and activists joined together Wednesday to file complaints against colleges and universities nationwide, alleging that the schools have failed to follow federal laws, including those involving the reporting of sexual assaults and discrimination. Attorney Gloria Allred announced that complaints were filed against Swarthmore College, Dartmouth College, USC and UC Berkeley on Wednesday morning. Some of these were Title IX complaints alleging a hostile environment for women.