Quorum

The City Council's regularly scheduled 10 a.m. meeting was canceled Tuesday because not enough members showed up to create a quorum. With only nine of the council's 15 members in attendance, Council President Eric Garcetti ended the meeting shortly before 10:30 a.m. The move irritated Councilman Dennis Zine, who said he was finishing a regularly scheduled committee meeting in an another part of the building at the time of the cancellation. Hours later, the council's Planning and Land Use Management Committee lost its own quorum.

A quarrel at the Los Angeles City Council over strategies for helping homeless residents on Friday sparked a campaign debate over Councilman Eric Garcetti's frequent absences from meetings as he runs for mayor. The council's 10 a.m. meeting came to a halt after council members Richard Alarcon and Jan Perry got into a dispute over efforts to encourage the installation of public restrooms and storage facilities at apartments planned for the homeless. Alarcon stormed out before a vote could be held on a plan to provide $18 million for construction of housing for the "chronically" homeless, or those considered most difficult to house.

A quarrel at the Los Angeles City Council over strategies for helping homeless residents on Friday sparked a campaign debate over Councilman Eric Garcetti's frequent absences from meetings as he runs for mayor. The council's 10 a.m. meeting came to a halt after council members Richard Alarcon and Jan Perry got into a dispute over efforts to encourage the installation of public restrooms and storage facilities at apartments planned for the homeless. Alarcon stormed out before a vote could be held on a plan to provide $18 million for construction of housing for the "chronically" homeless, or those considered most difficult to house.

Wisconsin unions: An article in Section A on March 19 about a judge suspending a Wisconsin law that limits collective bargaining for most public workers said Assembly Democrats had left the state over the issue. In fact, it was Democrats in the state Senate whose flight to Illinois deprived the majority Republicans of a quorum.

Wisconsin unions: An article in Section A on March 19 about a judge suspending a Wisconsin law that limits collective bargaining for most public workers said Assembly Democrats had left the state over the issue. In fact, it was Democrats in the state Senate whose flight to Illinois deprived the majority Republicans of a quorum.

Thousands of issues of Brigham Young University's student newspaper were pulled from newsstands because a front-page photo caption misidentified leaders of the Mormon church as apostates instead of apostles. An apostate is a person who has abandoned religious faith, principles or a cause. The photo in Monday's Daily Universe was of members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a governing body of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The caption called the group the "Quorum of the Twelve Apostates."

Question: There are 58 units in our common-interest development. Last January our homeowner association annual assessment fees went up $52. Is a ballot vote consisting of 27 owners legally binding to approve that increase? Answer: Even assuming all the quorum requirements were met, without knowing how many people attended the meeting, where the vote took place and how many owners participated in that vote, or if there was a meeting, it is difficult to make a determination.

Arcadia residents are being asked to vote on Sept. 15 in favor of a bond issue to renovate our city schools. This is a commendable project and should be supported by all who vote. To make it possible for the school district to place this bond issue before the voters, it was necessary for the city to call the election for the amendment of the City Charter. The plan was to place some innocuous issues before the voters. If you look at the list in your ballot you will see that all but one of the propositions is truly innocuous.

Unocal Corp. said Tuesday that it has changed the quorum rule for its annual meeting in response to a takeover threat by an investor group led by Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens Jr. It is the second bylaw change in less than a month triggered by the threat of Pickens' group, Mesa Partners II, to take over or restructure Unocal, parent of Union Oil Co. of California. The Pickens group has spent about $1.1 billion accumulating 13.6% of Unocal's 173.7 million common shares.

One citizen's thanks to Barry Horstman and the Los Angeles Times for reporting on the latest shenanigans of the City Council ("Close but No Quorum," July 17). It is interesting that all four of the council members who should have been at the meeting on time to provide at least a quorum to do the business they get paid for--Ron Roberts, Wes Pratt, Bruce Henderson and Bob Filner--are also running for reelection this fall. A curious way to demonstrate your value to your constituents. But perhaps more interesting are the excuses offered for tardiness and absence.

Senate Republicans in Wisconsin used a surprise legislative maneuver to advance a bill that would strip collective bargaining rights from most public sector workers, a move accomplished without the presence of 14 Democratic senators who fled the state to stall the measure. Republicans voted 18 to 1 Wednesday night to pass the non-fiscal provisions of Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill, including those that would eliminate or severely limit collective bargaining rights for most public employees.

The Wisconsin Assembly braced on Thursday for a vote on the bill that would limit collective bargaining for most public employees, while state police searched for Senate Democrats who remained out of state. Even as demonstrators continued to chant and sing their protests against Gov. Scott Walker's plan to curb collective bargaining for most state workers, excluding police and fire personnel, lawmakers prepared to move the bill along. Though the measure is expected to easily pass the Republican-controlled Assembly, it also needs Senate approval.

Wisconsin Republicans on Monday turned up the heat on Democratic state senators who fled to Illinois last week to block passage of a controversial bill that would eliminate collective bargaining for most public employee unions. Republican Gov. Scott Walker warned that if his proposal is not passed by Friday, the state could miss a chance to refinance bonds and save more than $100 million. To make up the gap, Walker said at an afternoon press conference, 1,500 state workers would have to be laid off. "For those 14 Senate Democrats, you've had your time," Walker said.

Question: There are 58 units in our common-interest development. Last January our homeowner association annual assessment fees went up $52. Is a ballot vote consisting of 27 owners legally binding to approve that increase? Answer: Even assuming all the quorum requirements were met, without knowing how many people attended the meeting, where the vote took place and how many owners participated in that vote, or if there was a meeting, it is difficult to make a determination.

Thousands of issues of Brigham Young University's student newspaper were pulled from newsstands because a front-page photo caption misidentified leaders of the Mormon church as apostates instead of apostles. An apostate is a person who has abandoned religious faith, principles or a cause. The photo in Monday's Daily Universe was of members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a governing body of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The caption called the group the "Quorum of the Twelve Apostates."

The struggle for the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk sabotaged another effort by Iraq's parliament to approve a law Sunday allowing crucial local elections this year, a stalemate that also raised questions about whether major Shiite and Sunni parties were deliberately stalling on sending people to the polls. Despite a meeting of senior Iraqi leaders and U.S. and U.N. officials seeking a compromise on Kirkuk, members of parliament failed even to muster a quorum for Sunday's emergency session.

The City Council, unable to muster a quorum to vote on an apartment project because of conflicts of interest by three of its members, has voted to send the permit application for the proposed complex at 516 N. Atlantic Blvd. back to the Planning Commission. The commission rejected the 34-unit project last December, but the developer, Atlantic Villa Development, appealed to the council.

For the first time in decades Wednesday, the Orange County Board of Supervisors met for a regularly scheduled meeting but couldn't conduct business. Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder was on vacation in the Soviet Union, Supervisor Roger R. Stanton was on a 3-day holiday and Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez had to leave town unexpectedly Tuesday evening because of a family emergency. That left only Board Chairman Thomas F. Riley and Supervisor Don R. Roth to oversee the three public hearings that were on the board's Wednesday agenda.

The City Council's regularly scheduled 10 a.m. meeting was canceled Tuesday because not enough members showed up to create a quorum. With only nine of the council's 15 members in attendance, Council President Eric Garcetti ended the meeting shortly before 10:30 a.m. The move irritated Councilman Dennis Zine, who said he was finishing a regularly scheduled committee meeting in an another part of the building at the time of the cancellation. Hours later, the council's Planning and Land Use Management Committee lost its own quorum.

Missing from Thursday's session of the Iraqi parliament were about half of the members, including the speaker, the former speaker and two former prime ministers. Also missing: a sense of urgency. American officials have been pressing Iraqi leaders to prove their commitment to ending sectarian strife by enacting landmark legislation before mid-September, when the Bush administration is to present its next report on Iraq to Congress.