The state filed disciplinary proceedings Thursday against a prominent accounting firm that failed to detect any financial irregularities in Bell, where former city leaders now stand accused of looting the town’s treasury as it teetered on the edge of bankruptcy. Mayer Hoffman McCann, which audited the books for dozens of cities in California, could be fined $1 million and lose its license to practice in the state. The firm has asked for a formal hearing before an administrative law judge. The accusation by the Board of Accountancy follows a December report from the state controller that excoriated Mayer Hoffman’s work in Bell, calling its audits little more than a “rubber-stamp.” The auditing firm repeatedly gave a clean bill of fiscal health to Bell, where eight ... Continue reading →

Amid all the bad news about budget cuts to public schools there is a bright spot: More money is now available for free and subsidized school meals, and not just for school breakfast and lunch. For about a decade, federal grants allowed schools to serve after-school snacks like juice and crackers. But youth nutrition advocate Matt Sharp says educators had concerns about the program. “Which is that the amount of snacks are too small, too few, driving some students to run off campus to purchase much less healthy options from vendors outside school gates or convenience stores,” he said. A year and a half ago, a boost in the federal allocation expanded that snack into a meal. The goal was to tackle two problems: rising ... Continue reading →

A woman named Katy McCaffrey says her iPhone was stolen aboard a Disney Cruise in April, but she's hot on its trail thanks to technology — specifically the so-called "cloud." In a Facebook album posted yesterday titled "Stolen iPhone Adventures," McCaffrey reveals the man she believes is responsible, a Disney Cruise employee named Nelson, whose pictures taken with her phone were automatically pushed to her thanks to Apple's Photo Stream. "This is Nelson," McCaffrey wrote next to this sunset shot of the man, who is wearing a name tag. "Nelson stole my iPhone." McCaffrey also included intimate pictures of a woman she refers to as Nelson's (pregnant) girlfriend, who also appears to work on the Disney Cruise, social gatherings featuring other employees, and even a ... Continue reading →

Good news for sand and surf-loving Angelenos: The beach water is getting cleaner. The water at 82% of L.A. County beaches earned A or B grades from April to October last year, up from 75% the previous year, according to Heal the Bay’s annual Beach Report Card, released Thursday. Last year, the Santa Monica-based environmental group reported a dip in water quality that bucked years of steady improvement. That was attributed in part to heavy rainfall. Heal the Bay credited the gains to a drier winter and the construction of more facilities to capture, treat and divert tainted storm water before it reaches the ocean. The city of Los Angeles has completed eight such projects from Pacific Palisades to Playa del Rey, the group said. ... Continue reading →

A former Long Beach high school football star convicted of raping a classmate a decade ago had his conviction dismissed Thursday after his accuser recanted her story. Brian Banks trembled with sobs after a brief hearing in which prosecutors said they had no objection to his conviction being reversed. His mother and girlfriend, seated in the courtroom, let out cries of joy. "My only dream in the world is just to be free," Banks said at a post-hearing news conference, his eyes red from crying, his face frozen in disbelief. Banks was a 17-year-old college football prospect when, in 2002, a classmate accused him of kidnapping and raping her. Banks maintained the sex was consensual, but his lawyer suggested he take a plea deal rather ... Continue reading →

Deborah Pauly, the outspoken Villa Park councilwoman who drew community ire when she protested outside an Islamic charity event, was removed this week from a leadership position with the Orange County Republican Party's central committee. Party officials said Pauly, who is running for county supervisor, has been a divisive figure. Her removal comes days after Orange businessman Bob Walters mailed letters on Pauly's behalf to voters on "George Wallace for President" letterhead. The stationery appears to have been left over from Walters' stint as chairman of Wallace's failed campaign for president in 1967. The mailer urged citizens to vote for Pauly, who is in a heated race for a supervisor’s seat, and was the subject of a complaint to the state's Fair Political Practices Commission. ... Continue reading →