Security

MINNEAPOLIS  - The bombings at the Boston Marathon didn't so much heighten concern or raise fears among the Angels as much as affirm what they have felt for a while, that as professional athletes playing America's pastime they could be targets. "If somebody is crazy enough, you can probably do quite a bit of damage because there are just certain places that are pretty exposed," slugger Mark Trumbo said. "I think, by and large, there is a good level of security in stadiums, but I don't think anybody is 100% safe unless you're the President and have 24/7 security.

There was a moment of silence at the beginning of Monday's Dodgers game to honor the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. The stadium was on heightened alert, with the Los Angeles Police Department adding extra patrols. The Dodgers organization turned off the scoreboard during the memorial. Security was being tightened across Southern California, at airports, on public transportation and at other large venues. Law enforcement officials said they took the steps to reassure the public while guarding against the possibility of potential attacks related to or inspired by the Boston explosions that left at least three dead and dozens injured.

WASHINGTON - It was the kind of event that had long been predicted - even considered inevitable. But the explosions Monday in Boston, which appeared to be the first successful terrorist strike against a U.S. city since Sept. 11, struck at the nation's sense of safety in public places and sparked a search for answers. "In some ways, this ruptures the psyche," said Juan Carlos Zarate, deputy national security advisor in the George W. Bush administration who is now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said Monday his department will increase officer deployments at sporting events in response to explosions that killed at least two and injured nearly two dozen others at the Boston Marathon. Beginning with the Dodgers-San Diego Padres baseball game Monday evening, Beck said the additional police presence would include deployment of bomb-squad personnel, dogs and other "precautions geared to preventing a similar event. " "We will be increasing deployment at all scheduled sporting events in the near future," Beck said.  "I've already been in contact with the Dodgers about this.

Law enforcement authorities are beefing up security across Southern California in the wake of Monday's explosions at the Boston Marathon. At Los Angeles International Airport officials are increasing checkpoints at entrances and where crowds gather. More bomb-sniffing dogs will be on patrol inside and outside the airport. The Los Angeles Police Department is increasing security at Dodger games. Orange County officials plan more patrols at sporting and entertainment events. PHOTOS: Explosions at Boston Marathon   Two explosions rocked the finish line area of the Boston Marathon, killing two people and injuring dozens, according to the city's police Twitter account.

In a city still reeling from a shooting rampage that killed six and severely injured a congresswoman, contrasting giveaways are being proposed for a handful of its working-class neighborhoods. One would dole out free shotguns to poor adults. Another would hand out free school supplies to needy children. Talk of the gun giveaway has divided residents in the Tucson neighborhoods of Midvale Park, Pueblo Gardens and the Grant-Campbell area. These communities now find themselves thrust in the middle of a nationwide conversation about gun ownership after they were singled out by a fellow Tucson resident as high-crime neighborhoods that he believed could benefit from free firearms.

Los Angeles police are searching for the assailant who killed a security guard outside a strip mall in Panorama City Thursday night. Police said the guard was shot about 10 p.m. in the 15000 block of Roscoe Boulevard. The victim was described as a 48-year-old male who had patrolled the mini mall for 12 years, KTLA reported. The man was found on the pavement and pronounced dead at the scene. The guard was armed but still had his gun in his holster when he was discovered, a relative told KTLA.

WASHINGTON -- President Obama's proposal to trim Social Security's cost-of-living adjustments has sparked not only Democratic outrage, but Republican confusion. In the days since Obama put the idea in his 2014 budget, Republicans' reactions have included support, opposition and refusal to commit. The proposal was once a mainstay of the GOP's deficit-reduction overtures to the White House. House Speaker John A. Boehner said Thursday that the idea, the so-called chained Consumer Price Index, “is the least we must do to begin to solve the problems in Social Security.” DOCUMENT: President Obama's 2014 budget But the chairman of the House Republican Congressional Committee, who is trying to preserve the party's majority in the House in the next election, called it a “shocking attack on seniors.” “You're trying to balance this budget on the backs of seniors and I just think it's not the right way to go,” Rep. Greg Walden of Oregon told CNN.   That potentially off-message comment provoked swift rebuke from the powerful Club for Growth, the conservative advocacy group that supports the measure as a starting point for reining in spending on government entitlement programs.

SAN FRANCISCO - The escalating cyber attacks on corporate and government computers have provided a rare opportunity for bipartisan legislation to address the problem. But rather than sailing through Congress, the latest cyber security legislation is exposing a fault line in the tech industry. On one side stand some of tech's biggest companies, such as Intel Corp., Oracle Corp. and IBM Corp., which are pressing for more government action. On the other side are thousands of smaller tech firms and privacy activists who have launched online protests to raise the alarm over a bill they say harms privacy and civil liberties.

A security guard was shot and killed near a liquor store in a Panorama City strip mall, Los Angeles police said Thursday night. The guard was gunned down shortly before 10 p.m. in the 15000 block of Roscoe Boulevard, Lt. Paul Vernon of the Los Angeles Police Department told The Times. It was not immediately known what sparked the violence. Homicide detectives were en route to the crime scene late Thursday. Since January 2007, at least 15 homicides have been reported in Panorama City, according to a Times Homicide Report database . Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call (877)