RL NEWS: March 2, 2015

Skid Row Robbery Suspect Dead after Brawl with Police in LA

LOS ANGELES — On March 1, a brawl with police officers resulted in the death of a robbery suspect in downtown Los Angeles, official said.

Los Angeles Police Department officers attempted to detain a robbery suspect on San Pedro Street, when the suspect began fighting police and an officer-involved shooting followed on March 1, officials said.

The incident took place at about noon. Officers were responding to robbery report near 545 S. San Pedro St.  When officers approached the suspect, the man reportedly began resisting arrest. The officers attempted to use a Taser to subdue him, but the suspect continued to fight and resist the officers.  They fell to the ground.

Police officials said that the suspect attempt to grab one of the officers’ handguns. An officer-involved shooting took place.

Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics responded and pronounced the suspect deceased at the scene and then transported the suspect’s body to the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Officer.  Two of the officers involved in the incident suffered minor injuries, were treated and released.  Officials said that the man may have been homeless living on skid row.

Several sources captured the portions of the incident on video. Officials said that a specialized task force will review the evidence.

The division’s investigation will be conducted in coordination with the LAPD’s Office of Inspector General and presented to the Board of Police Commissioners to determine whether the use of deadly force was consistent with department policies and procedures.

If anyone has any information about the incident is asked to call (213) 486-5230.

LA, LB Ports Get Approval to Work with Congestion Relief Regulators

LONG BEACH —Federal Maritime Commission gave approval to the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, on Feb. 26, to find new ways to prevent congestion and cargo delays, while improving the transportation network and air quality.

In December, the Harbor commissions overseeing the neighboring ports requested the Federal Maritime Commission to expand working agreements in an effort to find long-term solutions to the congestion that had slowed the movement of cargo shipped through Long Beach and Los Angeles in recent months.

The tentative contract agreement reached on Feb. 20 by longshore labor and management will help the ports work through the backlog of containers.

The expanded agreement specifies that the two ports can exchange information on projects and programs in addition to rates, charges, operating costs, practices and regulations related to marine terminal, trucking, rail and vessel operations.

The two ports handle about 43 percent of the nation’s total import traffic and 27 percent of its total exports.

Garcetti Launches Refurbishing Program

LOS ANGELES —  On Feb. 27, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti launched “OurCycle LA,” a program that would refurbish city computers set for replacement and give them to residents in need.

Computers not suitable for refurbishment will be recycled by a local e-waste social enterprise company committed to providing job training to previously incarcerated Angelenos who face barriers to employment.

Garcetti worked with other officials and agencies to collect about 10,000 old computers from all city departments.  The computers were donated to the LA Cleantech Incubator, which contracted withhuman-I-T, a local nonprofit that transforms old technology into educational tools for those in need. The nonprofit evaluate each computer.  About 3,000 computers qualify to be fully retooled by human-I-T and loaded with software including Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Office and a Web browser.  The computers that are not viable will be transferred to Isidore Electronics Recycling.

The refurbished computers will either be donated to nonprofit centers that provide computer labs to low-income communities or given directly to families who have never had high-speed Internet at home.   Nonprofit recipients are determined by a lottery throughL.A. Shares, and individual participants are recruited byCommunity Build and theKoreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance.

Individual recipients will be required to participate in digital literacy training and to sign up for high-speed Internet service, which will be provided by Best Buy’s Geek Squad, the Youth Policy Institute and Citi.

Details:ourcyclela.com