Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
News, notes and observations from LA Observed and selected media sources. Sometimes daily, often in the morning.
The State Water Resources Control Board took the unprecedented step of declaring certain types of water waste a criminal infraction similar to a speeding violation, with $500 fines. Bee, OC Register, NYT, AP
California’s drought will cost the state’s economy $2.2 billion and an estimated 17,100 jobs, but consumers will largely be spared higher prices, according to a major study by UC Davis. Bee
Also: Water use in California is going up not down. AP
Mayor Eric Garcetti said Tuesday that the city would help shelter immigrant children who have been detained after crossing the border and has begun talks with a federal agency about doing so. “Before you get partisan, before you tell me where you are on immigration -- these are children,” Garcetti said Tuesday at a forum hosted downtown by Politico Magazine. LAT
In a departure from the "broken windows" policing championed by former LAPD Chief Bill Bratton, city and county officials on Skid Row will ease up on arrests for petty offenses while concentrating mental health, medical, housing and sanitation services. LAT
With City Hall and LAPD union officials headed back to the negotiating table, the two sides spent Tuesday taking public jabs at each other over the failure so far to reach a contract agreement. LAT
Comparing the voter fraud charges against Richard Alarcon and Rod Wright. LAT
Also: Defense rests without either Alarcon testifying. DN
The Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 Tuesday to fully implement Laura's Law, a state law that allows counties to pursue court-ordered outpatient treatment for people with serious mental illness. LAT
Patt Morrison talks earthquakes with Lucy Jones, the U.S. Geological Survey seismologist seconded by Mayor Eric Garcetti's office to spend a year creating the city's first seismic resilience plan. LAT Op-ed
Tim Draper, the Silicon Valley investor behind the farcical Six Californias boomlet, sounds like the worst kind of political empty suit. SF Chronicle
A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy whose patrol car fatally struck cyclist Milton Olin Jr. in Calabasas in December was texting shortly before the collision and may have been distracted, according to court documents. DN
10 Best Restaurants in the San Fernando Valley, from Amy Scattergood and Besha Rodell (they cheat and include the geographically incorrect Saddle Peak Lodge.) LA Weekly
The Angels' Mike Trout was the MVP of the All-Star Game, won by the American League. LA Register
Dear @ericgarcetti @instagram followers, do you really think leaving a comment on a photo of an LA sunset will get your sidewalk fixed?
— Off-Ramp (@KPCCofframp) July 16, 2014Have you witnessed anyone wasting water in your neighborhood? Call our assignment desk at (818) 863-7600
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) July 16, 2014I just combined butter, brown sugar and sea salted almonds in a nonstick frying pan and turned on the stove. This will end badly.
— Steve Chiotakis (@RadioChio) July 16, 2014